Today in Kuching

Today, I am in Kuching for two reasons. Ah Jon 3 monthly review and a further test on my own gall bladder situation.
He got his blood test and he complained that the needle seems to be huge! After an hour the results were out. Generally, there was improvement. So good news. By the time we finish, it was well after lunch and we quickly rush downstairs for a meal...
I had this so called chicken salad... no salad sauce until I asked.
Ah Jon had this...
... and beef steak for me which I let Ah Jon took half.
After lunch, we went to Kuching Specialist Center and I had my scan. Their finding was consistent with Miri.
In the evening, David bought Japanese pizza. It was nice! Topping was cuttlefish flake!

Once upon a time - my little dream!

In 1974, when I first came out from school, I thought of becoming a nurse! Well, a male nurse. At that time, my first thought was to leave home and go far away to learn and return. I had always wanted to go overseas to study but my parents didn’t have much money to allow me to realize my dream. I was looking through newspaper very often to look for opportunities. I first applied to Singapore military to become a pilot. I was too skinny then. Later, I applied to become a nurse in UK. I was called for interview but I had no money to buy a bus ticket or not brave enough to go as it was in Ipoh.
Until today, whenever I saw a male nurse, memories of yesteryear flooded my mind. I thought, I could be in one of those smart looking uniform worn by nurses. Talking about uniform worn by nurses, I did a research for the last two days and realized that nurses’ uniforms have gone thorough changes ever since Miss Nightingale’s school of nursing first came out with a design which probably resembled the habit of nun. Today, there are many varieties of uniforms and they seems to vary from country to country.
Also, nurses' uniforms can actually be bought on line and looking through the web pages, I found that Nursing Uniforms is actually selling a whole lot of nurses' goodies, from the normal scrub to some very fashionable wears (scrub tops). Besides, they also have lab coat! In addition, they also carry five popular brands, eg, Medcouture. It is like a superstore of nursing wear! It is an eye opener for me. So, if you are looking for uniforms for the medical profession, I believe you should visit their online store!

Disgusting and disgusting

Human can be so inhumane that I was totally shocked and almost frozen for a minute for what I saw this morning.

I was following behind this particular van and was approaching a traffic light. There was quite a distance between the van and the previous car. As the van approached the traffic light, it just turned red. And at the same time, a black dog was (walking) crossing the road at the traffic light, expecting the van to stop as the light was red! However, here is the disgusting part: the van driver honked at the dog and proceed to jump the traffic light and run over the dog! The left front and back wheels of the van run over the poor dog and he died instantly! I saw the expression of the dog and the sight was too disgusting to describe.

The van wasn’t speeding and the dog didn’t rush out of nowhere. Why can’t the van stop. What would you do?

Sunset at Bakam Beach

Miri is blessed with beaches... all the way from Lutong to Berkenu. I know that the beach just beyond Bakam Primary School (Opposite Gua Longhouse Chalet) must be the cleanest and most beautiful. However, I didn't go that far...
This was taken outside the seafood restaurant at Bakam. I didn't know that the creepers actually bear flowers! So, it lined the beach there with small pink flowers.
Another view at the same place. The only unfortunate thing is that the place is littered with some rubbish.

RWO-SHR Health Method

I have been very busy over the weekend attending a course on RWO-SHR Health Method. It is an intensive course on foot reflexology. At the end of it, I think this is something very effective.
Correct way of holding the Josef Bar. The handling is different for every "spot".
The formation of the "fingers" to apply pressure.

Testimonies of Rwo-Shr Method are plentiful. If you have any chronic problem, do pay Rwo-Shr center in Miri a visit! Do you have paralysis after an accident or stroke or whatever? Are you dependent on drug for some health issues? Whatever health problem you may have, even if it is severe, eg, cancer, give them a call. The result may surprise you!

After I have organised all the photos, I will post some of the more common health problems here and treatment by Rwo-Shr method.

RWO-SHR Health Talk 7:00PM Today @ Pustaka Miri

Rwo-Shr Health Method is giving a health talk at Pustaka, Wednesday, 14-July-2010, 7:00PM. Do go and find out more about this particular method to personal wellness. It will be in Mandarin translated to English. The talk is personally given by Dr. Thonet Chen, President and Founder of Rwo-Shr Health Method. To find out more click here. Entrance is free! Don't miss the opportunity!

Please note that this talk has nothing to do with direct sales and there is NO presentation about products. RWO-SHR is doing a lot of charity work and this is part of their program.
Dr Thonet Chen showing off his latest book, summarizing his 47 years of works and research.

若石健康法的命名

像石頭般 古樸、自然、至真 的健康方法

若石健康法的理論基礎

蒐集各國反射學並結合三大學理:

1.以現代的醫學理論為基礎

2.以中國傳統醫學理論為架構

3.以“易學” 哲理來詮釋與運用

再以科學儀器的驗証及臨床實驗的證明,才整合出這套完整的『若石健康法』

Denomination of RWO-SHR Health Method

“RWO-SHR” means 'like a stone' ingenuous, natural and solid.

Theoretical Foundation of RWO-SHR Health Method

RWO-SHR health method is a combination three main theories involved:

1.Use modern medical theory as foundation.

2.Use Chinese traditional medical as structure.

3.Definition and application by “Yi” principle.(Chinese philosophy) With scientific proof as well as clinical experiments, the complete whole set Rwo-Shr Health Method was integrated.

Learn to be thankful ...

Many times, I took random photos for other people whom I don't even know and I made it a point to return the photos. However, hardly anyone has ever reply my e-mail with a word of thank or appreciation.

Where has mannerism and a heart of thankfulness gone to? I read Luke 17:12-16 and this reminded me that during Jesus's time, this problem was already there!

Luke 17:12-16

As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!" When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

Kitchen Tips

Tip 1: You use a ceramic water filter which can be painfully slow. To overcome this, I used a container to collect the water before hand.

Tip 2: Kitchen wall can be oily and difficult to clean. How do you clean it in the quickest way? First, wet a sponge with washing liquid. Run over the surface of the wall to be cleaned. Then use a stainless steel wool to scrape off the oily deposit. Wipe it clean with a soapy sponge again.

Tip 3: You bought an expensive circular can opener. However, after a few months, the knob and moving parts become rusty and difficult to turn. You can't spray WD40 on it. Easy, use cooking oil instead and grease the moving part. ieR suggested that the can opener should be greased first before use. Actually, you should grease it often.

Tip 4: You like jack fruit but you hate the sticky latex sticking to the knife you use. Easy, just apply some cooking oil on the knife and the latex dissolve.

Tip 5: You like yam but cutting the skin off can cause terrible itch on your hands. There are two solutions here: Make sure that the yam stay dry when you scrape the skin. Or, apply "skin seal" or invisible glove before working on it. However, if the skin itch, dry it with cloth and put your hand over an open flame. Somehow, the itch goes away quickly with the heat from the open flame, eg, gas fire.

ieR is concerned that you may burn off all the hair on your hands. This may indeed happen if you don't exercise common sense!

It is the sticky liquid from the yam that is causing all the itch. So, never wet the yam before peeling the skin or you will experience the worse itch in your life!

Additional tips:

To peel yam, use a fast peeler!

To remove dirt off the collar of your shirt easily, apply Lux soap on the dirty part. So, don't use Lux soap too much on your skin!

Which Internet browser are you using?

Once upon a time, I was stuck to IE. Then I realise that Firefox is great as it is fast and allows multiple tab. However, IE and Firefox crash more often now and out of desperation, I search for alternative. I tried Chrome a few months back and it was bad at that time. Now, I have been using Chrome without any problem. The best part is that it allows me to upload 200 photos to Facebook in one go without a problem. Firefox has been most unreliable in uploading photos to FB. In the office, IE seems to be hopelessly unreliable.

Now, I am stuck to Chrome. FB upload is good and Hotmail works properly. What are you using? The chart above shows that Chrome is still catching up. But IE still account for almost half of all browsers, for obvious reason.

I am hoping that Chrome can be made "portable" like Firefox, ie, run from pendrive.

p/s: After posting this blog, I found that there is a portable version which can be downloaded from http://portableapps.com/. They have other software as well which are "portable", ie, installable on pendrive.

Home made organic noodle recipe

Home made organic noodle is delicious and wholesome. However, for a starter, all the ingredients can be quite expensive ...
To prepare the sauce base: Fish extract, natural vegetable sauce, sesame vege mix, thick soy sauce (click the picture above for a larger photo) ...
... spring onion... chopped
A tablespoon or two of each of the sauce above... or use as according to taste. You may use other sauce as long as you like it!
Mix well!
1kg of organic flour
3 eggs + some water (I think about half cup or 100 cc) or 5 egg as you choose. If you use 5 eggs, no additional water is needed.
Mix the flour and egg. If you have a mixer, use the hook instead of K beater. Hook is slower but will ensure longer life for your machine.
Knead the flour mix ...
... into cake like this....
... and run the cake pass through this machine. First set it to the thickest (#1). Each time you run it through, remember to fold it. Run until the cake becomes a rather smooth (about 3 runs for each cake) ...
... and slowly reduce thickness (we use 1-3-7) until it reaches the desire thickness of your choice (we choose #7). Note that you only need to run through once for each setting of 3 and 7.
... finally pass it through the "cutter" side. Notice that the thin cake is laid flat over the machine and let it run as you turn. Don't squeeze the noodle as they will stick together if you do squeeze.
... place the noodle into a big pot of boiling water (stirring with a pair of long chopstick) and bring it to boil again or wait for the noodle to float to the top...
... transfer it quickly to a pot of cool water ... dip, drain and transfer it back ...
... to the boiling water. Boil and drain dry ...
... and transfer it into the sauce base. Mix well...
... and serve!

If you go out to buy the noodle making machine, make sure that you buy the one from Italy (available from Sibu) and not those made in China which doesn't last.

Let me know how it goes if you do attempt to make the (organic) noodle.

Note that you need to use high fire or the noodle may become too soft!

The above was from Eric organic kitchen.

p/s: If you want to make noodle soup, refer to my earlier post.

When You Thought I Wasn't Looking

This is an article everyone, especially adult, should read.

When You Thought I Wasn't Looking

Written by a former child

Author Unknown

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you hang my first painting on the refrigerator and I immediately wanted to paint another one.

When you thought I wasn't looking I saw you feed a stray cat, and I learned that it was good to be kind to animals.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you make my favorite cake for me and I learned that the little things can be the special things in life.

When you thought I wasn't looking I heard you say a prayer, and I knew there is a God I could always talk to and I learned to trust in God.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you make a meal and take it to a friend who was sick, and I learned that we all have to help take care of each other.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you give of your time and money to help people who had nothing and I learned that those who have something should give to those who don't.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you take care of our house and everyone in it and I learned we have to take care of what we are given.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw how you handled your responsibilities, even when you didn't feel good and I learned that I would have to be responsible when I grow up.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw tears come from your eyes and I learned that sometimes things hurt, but it's alright to cry.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw that you cared and I wanted to be everything that I could be.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I learned most of life's lessons that I need to know to be a good and productive person when I grow up.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I looked at you and wanted to say, 'Thanks for all the things I saw when you thought I wasn't looking.'

Each of us (parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, teacher or friend) influences the life of a child. How will you touch the life of someone today?

Stephen Pang moving on ...

After almost 30 years in Shell, Stephen finally decided to move on to greener pasture.
Moving on to greener pasture is something that is unthinkable for many people especially after staying on in a company for such a long time. But he took the courage and move on. I wish him all the best and may the greener pasture gives him more satisfaction and happiness for many more years to come.
He appreciates the hard work put in by the secretaries... Bibi Gawan and others
Secretaries and Belinda (Stephen's wife second left). Bibi, Matzini, Esther
Ivy and Veronica (daughter)
Colleagues

Elizabeth Jala and Stephen.

How long can your money stretch?

I was chatting to a businessman this morning and asked him about his business. He said “Not very good. People seems to have less money to spend…”. 30 years ago, businesses drop off after the 20th of every month. A few years ago, people get “poor” after the 10th of every month. Now, their pockets seem to dry up after just one week. Why? If I look at the middle and lower income group of people, their pay packages did not progress with inflation. I just look around and ask people about their pay. Fresh graduate may get less than RM1000 per month. 30 years ago, I was paid that amount.
Actually everything is now so expensive. Essentials like fish, meat, egg, rice, etc, have increased the prices by almost 5 times over the last 30 years. Eg, egg cost RM2 against RM10, bread was RM0.40 against RM2.50. What do you think? Are you feeling the pinch of the ever rising cost?

Riam Road Secondary School Concert

Last weekend, we saw the marvelous performance by the students of RRSS... I post some of the photos here. The unedited photos can be found on my facebook...
Kungfu demo ...
... Chinese classic. the costume was so nice ...
... the acting was not bad at all ...
... I think Michelle did a great job here ...
... I like these two characters. Although the rest were also great.
... another classic ...
... another one ...
... the dance from the Titanic.

Overall, they did a great job. Long live RRSS!

Sunrise in Permy Jaya

After I shot the scene of Miri town last Sunday, I realised that the sky was beautiful. So, I drove to Permy Jaya to snap the following two photos...

Brunei is in the far end of the photo. I welcome your comment.

扮皇帝 (靜婷+江宏) (The Kingdom and the Beauty)

I watched this movie when I was very young. However, the main actress (Lin Dai 林黛) died at the end of the story due to heart brokenness. In actual life, she committed suicide.

The Kingdom and The Beauty （1959）starring Lin Dai and Zhao Lei from the era of Movie Kings and Movie Queens when Sir Run Run Shaw reigned supreme in the Entertainment Industry. The singing voices for the characters are provided by the top singers at that time. Incidentally, Lin Dai was a 4-time winner of the Best Actress award and she took her own life tragically at the age of 29.
Wikipedia says: Lin Dai (Chinese: 林黛 26 December 1934 17 July 1964) was a Chinese actress of Hong Kong films made in Mandarin during 1950s60s.

Miri Town at 6AM

I was in the Miri city center before 6:00AM last Sunday. I was surprised that the city was very much alive at that time....
... outside the main market.
The pork seller told me that he was here at 2:00AM!

Insane Japanese Pranks

Ok, today, I would like you to laugh...

International Dance for Humanity (2)

More photos for your enjoyment ...
cha cha ... dancing away!