Fastest 4G mobile internet?

Just subscribed to Yes 4G mobile internet recently. Was getting really fed-up with the spotty service I got from Celcom Broadband.

Granted, I was using tethering via my mobile phone, but still it was really bad. I can barely get connected, even in the wee hours e.g. 2 or 3 AM. And even then, it's not stable. It has a mind of it's own and disconnect as it wish. Not to mention, the speed most of the time was more or less at par or even slower than my archaic free, Time.net dial-up I was using from about a decade ago! So much of a broadband...

Saw the advert on TV for Yes 4G. Then one day stumbled a shop that sells it. After quick check of the price, quickly agreed. It was more or less a compulsive purchase, but what the heck. And I was pleasantly surprised! In USJ 19 area, I managed to get more than 5Mbps download speed! Back at home however, it was much lower, around 1Mbps only, due to low signal strength. I guess my house location and built is not really suitable for wireless broadband. My sister was suffering the same with Maxis broadband last time. But at least it's stable. And today at my workshop in Glenmarie, I was seeing 11Mbps download speed. Woohoo!

So I can now surf much faster. Even the occasional youtube watching is possible now. And at time, without even the need to buffer the video download.

So I am happy! If you are looking for a new ISP, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Yes 4G. Yes 4g FTW!

Visit their web: www.yes.com.my

Powerman Malaysia 2010

This is a bit late. The race was on Sunday, 14 November 2010. So that was 2 weeks ago.

This year, I did the sprint race. I know, I know, I have done the full distance race for the past few years. But this year, I have a totally different target. Previously I did the race all for myself. I don't have any motivation other than proviing to myself that I can do it. It was always about myself and what I can do.

But this year, I was doing it for my dear Anis. I've trained her for a few months now. She has also agreed to buy a road bike to do the race. I was so proud of her determination and effort in completing the race. She was not really into sports all this while, so even the sprint distance race would've been quite hard for her. But as people say, there will always be the first time ;)

The day did not start quite well for us. It was drizzling when we left the hotel. Not really ideal condition, but at least hopefully it would help to cool things down a bit later in the afternoon. We had prepared our bikes the night before. Everything cleaned up, adjusted and tyres all pumped up. But while loading the bike into the car, Anis noticed her front tyre was flat! So a scramble ensued to change the tube. Lucky it was her tyre, if it was mine with the crappy Panaracer, it would take a lot more time and effort to fix it. But the tube was changed in about 5 minutes or so.
Then at the race venue, parked the car and start to unload our bikes. All ready, then another problem. Had an urgent need to use the toilet for big business! So a quick dash to the nearby Petronas station was needed. It was already very late. Transition closes at 7.15AM and it was already 7.10AM. But we managed to check in our bike into transition, just.

7:30AM was the race start for the full distance racers. Ajo and Aidil were doing the full distance race, but didn’t see them at the start line. Lost among the hundreds of participants. 10 minutes later the delay runners were released. We only started at 7:20AM, but not before the leaders in the full distance category to reach the stadium again to complete their first lap. Already? Damn.

At exactly 7:20AM, off we went! We took it easy and slow jog all the way to complete the first run of 5.5km. Aidil caught up with us at around 2 km mark, then somewhere near the stadium Ajo also managed to overtake us. He was determined to complete the first run under 66 minutes as I advised him.

After 45 minutes, we were into transition area. Quickly grabbed our bikes and most surprisingly, Anis did not forget anything in transition. She managed to remember all the things that I told her to bring for the bike leg. Off we went. Not really at a fast pace because our target was completing the race. A lot of other riders zoomed pass us, but we just did the cycling at our own pace. 1st U-turn Anis was getting tired a bit, but still going strongly. In fact on the way back we did had riders drafting behind us. So we were doing good.

After 90+ minutes on the bike we reached transition for the final run. Again, Anis remembered all the things she was supposed to do in transition. Something that even I myself sometimes forget. In fact, again, I brought the mini pump along in the rear pocket. Oh well... The course was getting a bit hot. And Anis was having some mild cramps in the calf. So we took it easy. We still had a lot of time to complete the race. So we just walked briskly along the course stopping by occasionally to enjoy the relief at the water station. BTW, why they had Revive isotonic drink at the station but only give out plain water?

After 3 hours race time, the finish line was getting closer. And as usual, Anis still had some energy left in her for a short charge to the finish line! So we finished the race alright! To my surprise we both were given nice finisher medals for our effort. I didn’t expected that. Thanks to the organizer.

So after that race Anis managed to fullfil her promise to do the duathlon race. We didn’t set good time for the race, but what's important, we finished the race comfortably. That was more than enough for the amount of training that we have put in.

Now it’s time for me to fulfil my promise to her, to obtain open water diving license hehehe

P/S: sorry no pics for this post. Obviously I was busy running & cycling

Welcome back!

It's been AGES since I last updated this. My apology for the few people who may been following and reading this blog of mine (if there's any in the first place). But just gotten myself a brand spanking new notebook, which means I can now do my computing almost anywhere, in relative comfort, so I should make an effort to update my blog as frequent as possible.

Quite a number of things had happened since the last update, so I'll just make a post to summarize all happenings.

1. I got promoted!

Finally I got the promotion to become Manager! Alhamdulillah, after my 3rd interview to become one. But better late than never. But my work is still more or less the same as the last few years, just that now I actually have staff to manage and do things for me. Along with that, moved to a bigger space at office.

From this:

To this:

2. Malakoff University Duathlon Series 2

The second in the series, in subsequent weekend. Was supposed to do this as well, but I woke up late! So only Anis did it. This time she did it witrh Aishah, another friend of her who also did the first run. The route was quite challenging and the run was actually off road, through a jungle. I changed role to become a photographer instead, which was quite interesting actually. Seeing the race from a different perspective

Anis at the finish line

Anis & Aishah

3. Malakoff University Duathlon Series 3

This time Anis did the whole race by herself! I was with her all the way. After the event she is now considered a certified duathlete! I was so happy & and proud of her. As usual, we did it slow and easy, but we did finish it

4. Camera upgrade

I sold off my Nikon D3000 and bought a pristine, used Nikon D300 (notice one less 0) and loving it to bits. It really gives me more flexibility and very, very quick. It also feels like a proper SLR camera!

From this:

To this:

5. Trip to Bangkok

It was not a holiday trip, but I was chosen to represent Bank Negara Malaysia in squash for the Inter Central Bank Games! Actually I was asked to replaced a few others who was not able to make it to the event. But I was more than happy to provide my service! The squash team won the games rather easily against the other teams from Monetary Authority Singapore, Bank of Thailand and Bank Indonesia. From then, I was also asked to play again for the recent Inter Bank Squash tournament. I guess I achieved my target to be one of the top 6 squash player in BNM then!

Before the matches

We won!

6. Genting Trailblazer

This was quite recent, just last weekend. But I was not participating, Anis did. It was a team event, consisting of two per team. She did it with Sarah, who later I found out is Dino’s a.k.a. Heidilee fiancée. So this time, again I was there as a photographer. Well it was a good opportunity for me to test the speed of the D300 anyway. Some photos from the event below

Anis, Farra & her partner, Dan

Anis, after the race and dirtier

7. Newton run

Did this with Anis and Amal. It was a 12km run. Did close to 2 hours, but I got a medal for it! Anis & Amal however did not, for some reason

8. Trip to Jerangkang Waterfall

What a nice place. Needed an hour 4WD ride to go in, but it was worth it. Also tried canyoning i.e. abseiling in the waterfall, for the first time

Malakoff Universitiy Duathlon Series 1

Done. Last Saturday. Anis was participating for the first time, albeit in the team relay, but still not bad for someone's very new to running & cycling. She teamed up with Amal, who did the first run.

It was a rather short event, 3.9km run - 13km bike - 3.9km run. Done this race two years ago, so mroe or less knew what to expect. So it went rather uneventful. Just took it easy all the way. Was not really in a great form at the moment anyway.

We were lucky that the sun was rather kind to us. During bike and 2nd run, just ride and run along side Anis to give her support to go all the way. We finished the event in about 1 hour 45 minutes. And we were not last! There were two other participants behind us hehehe

Big thanks to the organisers, it was an excellently organised event and kudos to the spectators from UPNM. I know you guys were asked to spectate, but all of you were a great sport! Sorry for letting you guys stand in the sun for so long.

Some photos from the event

Amal & Anis, before the start, explains the cheerful face

Anis & Me, also before the start

Amal, Anis & Ajo, after the race ended. All smiles!

Amal & Anis, so happy to finish the race!

Parting shot before we left UPNM. One down, two to go!

PC DOS

I'm sure not many people even know DOS. It has been long forgotten already. But recently, when I was doing spring cleaning at my office, found this. An unopened, box of original IBM PC DOS! Have no idea how old this is. Amazing that I still have this tucked somewhere even though there's no way I am gonna use this anymore!!

IBM PC DOS 6.1

The back of the package

A 'whopping' 0.5MB of memory & equally 'huge' 3MB of disk required. Hahaha

Cling wrap still unopened, practically brand new!

Activities... phewwww

My previous few and next coming weekends activities:

27 June: KL International Marathon - done. Timing not so great, but enjoyed it

3 & 4 July: office's team building @ Berjaya Hills a.k.a. Bukit Tinggi - Last weekend. Really enjoyeable outing. Especially when it's on the company's expense

11 July: Sepang open track day

18 July: Siemens run

24 July: Malakoff University Duathlon Series 1 @ UPNM

31 July: Malakoff University Duathlon Series 2 @ UM

7 August: Malakoff University Duathlon Series 3 @ UPM

Phewww...

Random shots

Some random shots from my camera. Really need to take a whole lot more photos to train my eyes & brush up my skill!

KLCC, Center Course

Stalls in line, KLCC

Twin Tower, a different perspective

Yummy!

Screaming statue, Nike exhibition MidValley

My car, miniaturized!

World Cup fever!

Oh my, this blog has been neglected for so long. My last post was in May and that was the only one for the whole of May! So I have to post something.

I guess now everybody has caught the same fever, the World Cup fever. Almost everywhere you go, people will be talking about World Cup, be it girls or boys. The boys discuss about the games, the girls discuss about how the games ruined their dates with their boyfriend hehehe

I am not really a big football fan, although I occasionally watch club level football. But when it comes to WC, I will make an effort to watch! I am a German supporter, since I first watch WC back in year 1992.

It's something about the Germans that I love. Their systematic but effective style of play, really amazes me. Back then Klinsmann was the hero, supported by the likes of Lothar Mattheus, Thomas Hassler, Matthias Sammer and Jurgen Kohler.

And early this morning, again I was mesmerized by the same display of systematic & efffectiveness when they totally obliterated the Australian team. I hope they'll win this year!

Go German, go!

Miscellanous photos

Some miscellanous shots captured recently

Chocolate cupcake, yummy!

Ready to rumble! (Testing off-camera TTL flash cord)

'Pickup lines'

KL skyline by night

Istana Budaya

Plain to see where this is...

I pity them, the police...

It's a hot story now, the case of a 15 year old boy shot to death at Shah Alam. Condolences to the boy's family.

Now, almost every quarter is blaming the police for use of 'excessive force'. My uncle is a high ranking police officer. But he went through the ranks before he end up at his position now. He always tell us, if such case happens, people will look at the police's fault. Everybody was concern of the 'victim's' welfare.

But how about the policeman himself? Who's looking into his welfare? This boy tried to drive into the group of police. What do you expect? Just stand there, with the right hand straight up and yell 'STOP!'? Hoping the car will stop just an inch before hitting the policemen? Maybe in movies, but not in real life. Try to put yourself into their shoes.

If the boy did not ran away from police roadblock & drove past few red lights, would the officer just suddenly draw his gun and shoot? But did anybody said ANYTHING about the boy's behaviour? None. Of course, after the incident people say, the boy was shot dead just because he drove without license. The thing is, that is not the case. He was shot dead because he refused police order and then tried to cause harm to them! If the boy just stopped & failed to produce license, would he been shot? If the answer is yes, then something is very wrong. Then people can make noises.

When police use force on criminals, people say police is using excessive force. But then, when someone is killed or raped or robbed, then people say, police is not doing their work. Police will have to use force, up to some degree. It's not that criminals are all well-behaved people. If they are they won't be criminal in the first place.

So don't just simply complaint and take sides. Evaluate the situation. There must be a reason for everything. Don't just simply point fingers because that seems to be the easiest thing to do.

In conclusion, I laud the IGP's stance on this issue: No police?

Bravo!

One man's junk, is another man's treasure

Like my 5 years old Fuji S602 Zoom camera... I've been using it for like 5 years now, so it's kinda old and with 'just' 3.2MP resolution, it's kinda very outdated today. But nevertheless, it's still working perfectly fine.

But since I've bought a new D-SLR, don't plan to keep it anymore. So put up an advert to sell the old camera on mudah.my, with an offer price of RM150 only. Originally planned to sell for RM200, but since nowadays you can buy a good, brand new camera for just RM400, reduced my selling price.

To my surprise, in just one day, I've received like 40 emails asking to buy it. Really unexpected! There's one even offered RM250 for it. Many asked if my price is right.

Now I'm not sure to who should I sell it to.

Run for a cause: KL International Marathon

Dear friends,

I guess some of you heard of the annual Standard Chartered KL International Marathon. Running a 10 km event is not something new for me, but this time around I'm not doing it for myself. I'm doing it for charity. For this event I've signed up under "Run for A Cause" category.

Here's my profile page: Hanafi Mohd. Nasir <---- Click here

I don't gain anything from this effort. I have even donated my race fee to the charity organization to start the ball rolling. Making your donation is easy. You may donate securely online via M2U, CIMB Click or credit card from the website. And if need to, a tax exemption letter will also be issued to you.

If you're interested to participate in the event, but have no idea how to get prepared for it, I am more than happy to share some training tips.

Thank you for your kindness.

Of our hot weather and protecting the stupid...

1. Wake up!

Reported in The Star today: KL - a walkable city?

Read the article. The project is modelled after a similar system in the United States. Hello, don't you guys realize how much different the weather is between our country and theirs? People here tend not to walk due to the sweltering heat of our weather rather than anything else. Late last year, I was fortunate enough to spend 4 days in Sydney, right at the peak of their summer season. Even though on certain days temperatures were reported to be up to 35 degree Celcius, but it felt much, much more comfortable due to the cold winds and low humidity. Heck, I even ran almost the entire city since the weather made me feel so comfortable.

But try to do that in central KL. I'm not surprised to find someone collapsing by the roadside after just 10 minutes. Our weather is just so different. In Sydney people walk all over the place. I never even thought of taking the tram even the station is just in front of me and choose to walk instead. Cars do not need air conditioning, just enough to roll down the windows. Again, try that in KL... Even standing out under the sun doing nothing and not moving will make you sweat like mad. Especially with the exceptionally hot weather nowadays.

These people should not be looking at such facilities in a country with vastly different weather. It's just not the same. I challenge the people who suggested this to use the walkway to work on daily basis when it's ready. See if it's really that practical.

This is almost the same idea as when someone tried to make Putrajaya a cycling city. Asking people to cycle to work instead of driving. I like to cycle in Putrajaya, for my training, but definitely not for work tough as I don't want to arrive at the meeting with my shirt all drenched out and sweat dripping off from my forehead.


2. Protecting the stupid

Also in the The Star: New Lexus fishtailing

An excerpt:

"In this case, Consumer Reports said the Lexus problem occurred during tests on its track. In a standard test, the driver approached a turn unusually fast, then released the accelerator pedal to simulate the response of an alarmed driver. This caused the rear of the vehicle to slide outward.

Under normal circumstances, the electronic stability control should quickly correct the loss of control and keep the SUV on its intended path. But with the GX 460, the stability control took too long to adjust, which could cause a rollover accident if one of the sliding wheels were to strike the curb or another obstacle, said Gabriel Shenhar, Consumer Reports' senior auto test engineer, one of four testers who experienced the problem."

You drive too fast approaching a corner, then lift off, the car will fishtail. See the ACTUAL mistake here? Not the car fishtailing or the electronics reacting too slow, it's the driver approaching the corner too fast! What's next? If you drive fast straight-on into a tree, the car should be intelligent enough to save you from that?

This is what I call, trying to protect the stupid from their own stupidity. Only in the US.

Got myself a new toy!

A Nikon D3000 digital SLR. After Kinabalu trip, I was yearning for a better camera to capture all the moments. And to relive my interest in photography. After some research decided on this particular model.

First outing with the camera, trip to Gunung Irau, Cameron Highlands. Some selected photos from the trip. Full report to follow.

Finally

After months reading and learning on stock market investment and observing the market, finally today I made the plunge. Just bought 4,000 shares of Fajarbaru Builders Group Bhd's stocks.

Was not in my watch list, but still proceeded with the purchase. Seems like a good prospect. In fact Kenanga research also has a buy status for this counter. They are bidding for the new LCCT project and if they win the contract, I'm pretty sure it's price will soar.

But as of now, the counter has dropped by 4 cents from my purchase price. A bit unnerving, but I'll try my best not to panic, get tough and put more confidence into it.

Energizer Nite Run - 27 Mar 2010

We did it! We finished it in 1 hour 23 minutes, well below the qualifying time of 1 hour 30 minutes. Even though my GPS reported less than 10km, but still it was an achievement, especially for Anis who did a 10km run for the first time. The farthest she had run during training was 7.5 km. So that was a good achievement.

As for me, it gave me a different perspective of such race. I noticed so many people did the run just for the fun of it. Taking their own sweet time & taking opportunity to socialise and meet new friends. Things that I never noticed before, since I would be so focused on my target time and gasping for breath.

For our effort, we got this


Next, KL International Marathon!

Trip to KK, Day 4: The reward

The last activity of our KK trip. Original plan was to go rafting at Sg. Padas, but almost every single local we met told us that water level was low and not so good for rafting. So Anis arranged with our travel guide for island hopping instead.

The day started a bit late for all of us. We all needed extra rest after the previous days strenous activity. Only around 10:30AM that we all left from KK in a boat to our first destination. The boat ride took only about 10 minutes or so, and we were in Pulau Sapi. A very nice place indeed and a big difference from the view we had for the past 2 days. We didn't spent much time here, only some photo shoots and we were off to Pulau Manukan.

Just arrived at Pulau Sapi

Pulau Sapi entrance

Another 5 minutes boat ride and we reached Pulau Manukan already, so easy & convenient. By then, we were already very hungry. We grabbed lunch from one of the food stalls on the island. Lunch by the sea, with the sound of the waves pounding on the beach, the wind blowing into our face, it was just so nice and calming.

Welcome to Pulau Manukan!

Always ready for an emergency

After lunch, the compulsory island activity, snorkelling! This is one activity that I really enjoy. Swimming around the beautiful colourful fishes, just had to be aware of jellyfish. There were signboards reminding visitors that it was jellyfish season. But was lucky didn't enountered any. Other also enjoyed other activities, para-sailing & jet-skiing.

Beautiful scenery

More beautiful scenery

A guide to the fishes around the area

It was close to 4:00PM when we made our move to our last destination, Pulau Mamutik. Since we were all exhausted after Pulau Manukan, we only spent some time taking photos on the beach. After almost a day enjoying ourselves on the beaches, we left for KK around 5:00PM. Already quite late by then.

An interesting piece of history of Pulau Mamutik

The compulsory entrance photo

Later that night, we all went out for dinner at the famous KK pasar malam by the sea. Forgot what's the name of the place. We all had a rather OK seafood dinner. Not as fresh as we would like, but we still enjoyed it though.

Fahizam eyeing the big prawns

What a nice & relaxed day for all of us. A fitting reward for the hardship we went through the 2 days before.