Compare these...

Ah Jon is now enjoying his six weeks holiday in England and Paris sponsored 100% by his sister. I was just thinking that this will never happen if the sister were working part time in Malaysia. But the fact is that Janice worked part time for 2.5 years only during the initial 5-year course. She managed to save enough money to come back twice herself, then sponsoring Ah Jon to go over because she has some spare money. She also pay for all her own expenses during her 5 years there. Of course we cover her fees.
This is possible because she is in a developed country. The pay is much higher, eg, RM40-50 per hour compared to RM2.50 per hour here!
Now compare the hot dog they have...

This is German hot dog... bigger and longer than the bread!

This is our hot dog.... you make your own conclusion.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Time flies. When we first came to Miri, it was almost 30 years ago. Before we realise it, we are coming to a close of 2010!

So, we wish all my readers and friends a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
From: William, Teresa, Esther, Stephanie, Janice, Jonathan, Timothy and Joshua

Old thing new use

At one time, many people had aquarium  at home. If they are like myself, this hobby didn't last for too long as it was very frustrating and not as easy as it seem. However, if one is successful in keeping those fish, it can be very rewarding. I think the major failure is the "know how". The people selling pet fish concentrate on selling but not on education. So soon, the hobby dies and so is their business.

Anyway, I found a good use to the old aquarium. I fill it up with some soil, add water, got some lily and "planted" them in there. After a few days, I bought some of the cheapest fish I could find and put them in. Then my son went to the monsoon drain and brought back more tiny fries. Add the two together and today, this little aquarium is full of fishes.
Little maintenance is required, no pump, no filtration, hardly any food is given as I think I have created a natural eco system for them to survive. I found that my dogs also drink from the tank and I topped it up all the time with rain water.

Methodist Youth Convention

Photos for the Methodist Youth Convention have now been uploaded. You may click on the link below to see all the photos:

Albums from Brother William Law, click here

Albums from Brother Peter Yong, click here

Albums from myself, click here
Day 1 
Day 2 Part 1
Day 2 part 2
Day 3 Part 1
Day 3 Part 2
Day 3 supplementary photos
Day 4

Enjoy!

2010 Methodist Youth Convention

Today, 18-Dec-2010, is the first day of the annual Methodist Youth Convention 2010 held at Curtin University of Technology in Miri. This year, Grace Methodist Church is hosting the event, which will end on Monday.

The attendees will be staying at the university hostel and everyone is guaranteed a bed, warm water to shower and I think air-con room for everyone.

The university is at Senadin. The setting is nice... lots of green, ...

... man-made lakes and beautiful sunrise and sunset!

Over the next few days, they will be well fed...

... with enough food...

... which I think they all enjoyed very much.

In the afternoon, they had ice-breakers. No problem, they all get to know each other through this type of games.

... worship.

Before the food was fully digested, they were fed again at tea break.

... and more ice-breaking. This time, another group from Kuching finally arrived.

At dinner, they were well fed again.

We had Pastor Herbert Tan delivering a message for the evening session.

The crowd was much bigger. Altogether, there were just over 200 participants from all over Sarawak.

Eric and Olivia

On 10-12-2010, Eric and Olivia, son of Yew Tiong Hoo and Hui Choo, got married in our church. I took a few photos of the grand occasion... enjoy! More photos were on my facebook.

Christmas Parade 2010

(Pictures had been uploaded to my facebook. Click here to see)
Tonight, Miri City Fan was crowed with people. I have never seen such a big crowd at this place before.

Some scenery of City Fan

Another angle at City Fan

The huge crowd after the parade round the town. Click on this image for a bigger picture. Make sure that the display  is maximized.

Speech... not sure who he is. YB Datuk Lee seems very bored!

Some youngsters amused themselves

CM Taib gave his speech. I think he gave a good speech tonight.

Brass Band leading the parade.

After CM declared the parade "open", this fountain lighted up!

The view of the fountain from the stage.

Huge crowd from Methodist.

Very nice decoration at the City Fan. If you have not gone there, make sure you make the trip there quickly. Someone paid a substantial sum of money for this decoration.

Another view of the fountain and the huge Christmas tree.

Online Scam is getting more professional

Today, there must be quite a lot of people who received official prize notification from Coca Cola Company. I just noticed that the prize announcement is getting more professional in term of presentation. I just hope that no one is silly enough to fall for this scam.

By the way, it is pointing to South Africa again by a Frank James. So, trash this type of mail as soon as possible.

Ah Jon and Snow

This year the snow came early in Europe. So Ah Jon is lucky to see and feel snow so early.

He said that it was soft like ice on cendol. Actually, snow is far softer and cleaner. In fact snow is form from pure water.

My Experience with Gall Stone

(Some gross looking photos at the end.)
Many people asked me how I came to know about my gall bladder stone. Well, it was found during a medical checkup and the doctor did an ultrasound scan on my abdomen. He told me that I had big stones in my gall bladder.
The news shocked me because I felt no pain or any abnormality. Not satisfied, I went to another doctor for a confirmation and he said the same. So what were my options to get the stones out? I read about flushing the stone out naturally. I consulted the doctors and they all said that the natural method will not work and surgery is the only way. They also explained that when they scanned the patient who claimed that the stones were excreted, they found the stones were still there. The doctor explained to me why the natural method would not work because the bile duct is too small and whatever taken orally does not pass through the bile duct. When I went to KL, I asked the doctor there again. He told me that one guy tried for a year and it didn't work. (To be fair to those who wanted to try the natural method, please do go ahead. However, after trying, do go back to the doctor to have it scanned to ensure that the stones are no more there.)
Ok, my fate was sealed...operation was needed.
I had to go through a battery of tests before I could be operated on... blood test, ECG, chest x-ray, ultrasound of the lower abdomen. I was also asked a standard set of questions. I need to be hospitalised the night before the operation.
At about 8:00AM, 1st Dec 2010, I was asked to put on one of those clothing with opening along the back. A drip was attached to me. Then I needed to lie on the “trolley” to be pushed to the operation theater. I was given an injection at the door to the operation theater and was told that I would feel “blur”. When I was pushed in, I saw the lights above me. I couldn’t remember anything after that until I woke up at 1:00PM. The nurses came very often to offer me pain killer and took my pulse and blood pressure. The lowest pulse rate was 50 upon awakening and this increased gradually. Blood pressure was also very low at the beginning. At one point, the nurse couldn’t even find my pulse!
I was later told by doctor in Miri that I was given an injection to relax my muscles. No wonder I was told that a tube would be put through my mouth to help me breathe during the procedure. The whole operation took only 35 minutes.
The large stones need to be crushed before it could be removed through the small incision on my belly button.
Thanks God that everything went through smoothly. It happened so fast that I didn’t even had time to inform anyone about the timing of the operation. Four keyholes, two about 5mm and one each about 10mm and 15mm were made on me for this procedure. I was told that due to the size of the stones, a major incison would have been made to remove the stone at other hospitals.

The gall bladder which was filled with stones.

Gall bladder duct was clipped and then snipped. I now have 4 tiny clips in my body.

Process of removing the gall bladder which was attached to the liver by membrane and fat. A burning tool was used to remove the tissues (circle) and you can even see the "white sparking flame" at the hook.

From the video, I now know one thing... I have too much visceral fat which can cause the blocking of my artery leading to heart attack. I need to do exercise from now on.

Footnote: I have no idea why I have gall stone. However, I knew of a few cases, coincidence or not, all of us took calcium suppliment when we were young. Gall stone can be formed from calcium or cholesterol deposit.

They Pampered Him!

Stephanie, my second daughter, bought another huge fresh salmon to make all these...

... to welcome Ah Jon's visit to Leeds during the weekend. They invited 11 lucky friends over to feast on the sushi meal.

See the amount of sushi she made!
Ah Jon seems to enjoy this pampering and attention.

My Rabbit - the eating machine!

I was instructed not to give too much food to my rabbit to eat. Then one day, I found that my friend's rabbit was so heavy and full of "flesh" under the fur. So, I figured that my rabbit is under nourished.

So, we thought that rabbit should be smart enough to know when to stop eating. Therefore, we gave him a big bunch of kang kong stalk and root. To our surprise, he finished munching the whole lot of kang kong!
We also realised that he is getting smarter. If the door to the cage is not fully latched, he knows how to open the door.

So, one day, when we returned from work, we found the stalk of orchid on the dinning table was reduced to this! Who did it? Of course it was the rabbit! He ate...

the whole stalk of this orchid!
So, he is eating anything... rice, orchid, etc.

Ah Jon Finally Arrives in Leeds

After some 15 hours of flying, he cleared through immigration in UK and travelled to Victoria station. He put on all his clothing  and still find it cold.

He complained of freezing fingers. But after another 4 hours of bus, he finally arrived in Leeds a few minutes ago. Thanks to modern technology, Janice took a picture of him using her 3G phone and instantly the picture landed in her facebook. So this is how he looks like.... hungry, thirsty but still smiling after seeing his sisters waiting at the station for him. Thanks God for his safe arrival 25 hours after he took off from LCCT last night.

Ah Jon Maiden Trip to Overseas

Ah Jon finally flew off to UK tonight. He had very long hair and he decided to trim it in KL. He doesn't know how to speak Cantonese and the barber only speak Cantonese. So, he doesn't know how to tell him... and he decided to say....

... "student style" and this is what he got! He looks good but will his ears be frozen in the blizzard condition in UK now? I hope he covers his ears with his wind breaker hood. By the way, he just got his bone marrow aspiration done the day before.

He was waiting at the airport and doesn't he look cool!

My lap cholecystectomy

I went for lap cholecystectomy yesterday at Sime Darby (Subang) Medical Center in Subang. The operation took less than one hour. This procedure remove my gall bladder as it was full of stones.

Some of the stones. Some were so huge that the surgeon had to crush them. That explain why the stones in the above pictures look like being crushed.

Key holes operation were done. I was under general anesthetic (GA). The technology is now so advanced that this operation can really be a "one day affair". Only four holes were made for this operation. 

I was given a CD of the whole procedure. I captured one image for your viewing. Click on the above picture if you think you can stand the gross image.