Backlight inverter was the culprit

My BenQ Joybook 5000 notebook have been acting out for about year now. In a few irregular occasion, the lcd screen just dimmed out (or off). You can somehow still make the image displayed but it was so dimmed like putting the brightness to the lowest level. And I was like, "Dammit, first the cooling fan gave up and now the screen!"

Fortunately, after educating myself (through Googling :p) of what causing it, I was bit relief. Apparently the backlight inverter (the thing that tell the lcd backlight to turn on or off) was feeling the heat from MAXed out brightness. Intermittently, it will shut down when it got too hot.

But the fortunate aren't so as it cost me RM280 for the repair! So last Monday (i.e. 10Nov) I dragged my 2.8kg notebook to Lowyat (to be more specific, Vital Computers on Level 2) and have my screen fixed instantly. Good that everything Lowyat's is prompt.

That reminded me of my sister's more unfortunate Compaq 1000 notebook disaster when the motherboard died (but of course due to spillage by her 2-year-old daughter). It cost her exactly RM850 to replace the entire motherboard but as Lowyat is, I walk away with the newly 'refurbished' Compaq in just an hour :)

Lesson Learnt:
1) Don't max out the brightness of your LCD
2) Don't let your children play with the notebook with drinks somewhere near!

Walimatul Urus Faiz & Nadirah

Time goes by, and you hardly notice. 4 years of my most beautiful life was luckily shared with my special someone. And tomorrow, I'll take the next step... getting hitched :) I'm here glad to invite those who know me or Nadirah to our wedding reception. Check out the jpegs...

Kajang. Saturday, 12 July 2008














































Alor Star. Saturday, 19 July 2008

PocoPoco Dance

It's January 26, and my day started early today. I'm up by 5.15 - that's even earlier than my work day, which i have to commute like an hour to KLCC. It's our PMU annual gathering (aka family day) today. So en route to Genting View Resort (the venue of course) at 7.40am, it was the usual hillside's foggy morning. So foggy, i barely have sight of what's up front 10 yards.

Sleepy, coz it's after all Saturday :p But I'm very much fortunate having my fiancé coming along or rather I'm coming with her... we both work in PMU.

Family day is just a family day, but to highlight the morning, we had a poco-poco dance to ramp up the crowd's energy. It sure is interesting seeing a bunch of people learning how to dance :p

Going back to places

Getting to know places is almost always fascinating. Let's reserve sometimes for those moments when we just like to be by ourselves, at our most familiar surrounding. But it is always more intriguing to be back at places we've been. There are memories of the holidays in the beach, in the far-fetch island with loved ones. Or maybe just revisiting your old college and university.

People say, experiencing a journey is half the fun - planning it holds the other half. And I most definitely in the latter part. It has been a while since I left my so-called second home. It has been where I practically lived and pursued my undergrad for five full years. It is where joy meets sorrow, where my heart set and grow. I've lost old flame, found new love and lived so high. And as time pass by, the day draws nigh.

I'll be looking forward to see what's what and what's been tronoh ipoh manjung bota lumut taiping :)

Life is twisted at the very best

Life sure is twisted. Make a plan for one thing, but don't be surprised if it turned out completely out of dimension.

It took me 5 years to finish off a degree in electronics; and I'll tell it wasn't a walk in a park. Or at least to me ;) So when I finally got the scroll, like anybody else, I was expecting a job within my major profile. Yikes! Was I wrongly predict life.

I start off as an application developer. For the uninitiated, all I was doing is pure Java programming, and if that sounded geeky, it is because it is. Truth be told, it's the best suited job I've ever had. Withal, I couldn't work there for long. I was a sponsored student and being so, leave you bonded to the company for years, unless you have cash to repay all the loan lump sum. :-O

Just a couple of months working as an A/D, my sponsor offered me a job. Again, hoping to land at least a managerial position in electrical department, I got not entirely the opposite, just a little off the dimension in reality. Business planning: my new job scope. But it's not the job definition that makes my life felt goes deja vu. It is the unofficial expectation they had upon me: an English expert.

I'm just a decent writer (not the best at it either), be it in English or Bahasa, but that does not make me an expert in said languages. :-?

P/s: I have to be discreet on naming companies, just in case ;)

Eyeing for Treo 680

Why the Treo series?

• It's a pda-phone (I need something practical to jot things down, on the go).
• It's has a stylus (Smartphone navigating through keys & buttons? Non-intuitive. Palm felt very strongly on having a stylus/touchscreen).
• It integrates a full qwerty keyboard (Very important as I don't feel like writing using the stylus.. have you tried? You'll end up using virtual keyboard).

Why the 680?

• It's within my budget, below RM 2000
  
• It uses Palm OS, much more intuitive operating system and with fewer clicks to open up application.
• The casing colour is cuter, and more sporty.
  

Why not the 750v?

• It is to damn expensive (RM 2988)
• It uses Windows Mobile as its OS (Oh God! No...)
• I don't need the damn 1.3mp camera anyway.

14.12.2005 Trip to Sitiawan

Recollection from last night (13.12.2005), when Eda called and confirmed her visit to Sitiawan (her future sister-in-law's in Felcra Jerih) with Bihah - expected to arrive at Medan Gopeng via bus at 1.30pm today.

10.04am Woke up from a late night, saw Chronicles of Narnia at midnight.

01.10pm Got in my car and headed towards Medan Gopeng via Kinta city.

01.41pm Eda called, announcing her arrival while I were still steering pass Hospital Pantai.

01.54pm Picked up Eda and Bihah and proceeded towards Sitiawan via Batu Gajah and had a quick stop for lunch at KFC Batu Gajah.

03.09pm Continued our journey, entering Ipoh-Lumut highway and made a turn at Sitiawan/Lumut junction after about half-hour drive from Batu Gajah.

05.00pm Estimated time of arrival at Felcra Jerih, Sitiawan and at Kak Ogy's. We had some not so tea time with Nescafe and some afternoon delicacies.

06.08pm Left Kak Ogy's and headed back towards Ipoh since Eda and Bihah had another bus trip to Kota Bharu to catch.

06.41pm Stopped by UTP for Asar prayer, and consequently Maghrib. A light conversation were engaged between Rinaldi and Eda over their highschool stories.

07.56pm Continued our journey towards Medan Gopeng, but not before having some roundtrip around UTP compound.

08.44pm Passed through Ipoh and had our dinner before going straight to Medan Gopeng. Eda had Nasi Goreng Kampung, Bihah had Nasi Goreng Daging Merah and I had Nasi Goreng Paprik. The treat was on Bihah.

09.42pm Arrived at Medan Gopeng.

09.58pm Eda and Bihah hopped onto Transnasional heading towards Kota Bharu, and farewells were exchanged among us.

10.00pm Left Medan Gopeng and headed towards UTP via Batu Gajah. Trip milestone were recorded along the journey.

10.42pm Arrived at UTP and in my room.

Medan Gopeng - Junction to Batu Gajah (10 km), Junction to Batu Gajah - Junction to UTP/Ipoh (18 km), and Junction to UTP/Ipoh - UTP (12 km). Total trip from Medan Gopeng to UTP via Batu Gajah is exactly 40 km.