January 31, 2004
Royale Bintang
Here we are, after Westport... all 3 of us, at Royale Bintang hotel... at 3 bloody am in the morning *yawn*
Honestly, its been a (bloody) really long day. All of us are shot, blurry-eyed and pretty incoherent.
I finally reached home at about 4+ am.. slept at 5am... and am awake again at 7:15am
I'm sending my wife to the KTM station, she has a luxury express bus to catch at 9:00am to goto Singapore.
Sleep... sleep... has anyone invented 'sleep-in-a-pill' yet?
I'd buy shares in that company!
January 30, 2004
Westport
Today, me and my guys were at Westport. We're basically re-aligning an antenna, pulling some cables and mounting an enclosure for a Cisco Bridge.
At around 2:30pm, I rushed down to Royale Bintang to continue with the HomePNA system. My guys are still struggling with a "DFA" in Westport.
"DFA" is an in-house joke... Ask me or my guys about it in person, and we'll enlighten you :)
I'll post some pix on Westport next week when I can get the camera.
January 29, 2004
Seaport Outdoor Wireless Project Pix
Here are some pix from a local seaport (Northport Container Terminal 2, Port Klang) where we are implementing a 13 Crane Outdoor Wireless Infrastructure.
The 13 Cranes communicate with a Central Base Station which has 2 Outdoor Wireless Access Points operating in Redundant Mode atop a 100 feet Lighting Tower.
Click on the following link for Pics from the Seaport Outdoor Wireless Project
January 27, 2004
Got my prize!
Woohoo... DHL delivered my prize today. (If you dunno what I'm talking about you can reference my previous blog posting on 21/01/2004
Well, waddya know... its a smartBridges airBridge Outdoor. For those of you who don't know what that is...
Its an Outdoor Wireless Ethernet Client with an external connector for an antenna.
You can find out more about its specs here
Here's a pic of it. 
Today I also had a sumptuous dinner at a Chinese Restaurant in Sunway.
Its my good friend, Rycque's (Hubba to you IRCers) daughter's full moon. My, time really does fly.
Somehow, it just feels like last week that Natasha was born. Hrmm.. in fact it only feels like last month my baby girl was born too.
Its been four and a half months, and she's a lively baby girl now :)
January 26, 2004
New Eyewear...
Got meself a new pair of prescription eyewear today.
Oakley's no less *grin* The model I got was the 'Box Spring', looks kinda wicked :D
Lemme tell you, the place to buy this is definitely Melaka. There's this one shop which gave me a whooping 30% discount of the glasses.
Now, the max you'll ever get in KL is 10% (price controlled) I ain't gonna divulge which shop this one is, but if any of you are interested, and I know you pretty well.. gimme a holler if
you're ever in the market for Oakley's ;)
January 24, 2004
Lion Dance (World Champions)
On the 3rd day of CNY in Melaka, I visited one of my father-in-law's friend's CNY Open House.
To our good fortune, whilst we were there, the host had employed a Lion Dance group to perform.
This was no ordinary Lion Dance group, they are the current reigning World Champions (hailing from Segamat)
From what I gathered, this performance cost the host a cool RM 18,000.00 ... Must be nice to be ultra-rich *sigh*
I took some pix of the performance, you can view it via this link
January 23, 2004
Cute Chow Dog...
When I was back in Melaka during the CNY (my wife's hometown), one of her uncle has a Chow Dog..
This dog looks damn cute, one could mistake it for a bear :)
The photos don't do it justice. FYI the dog is named 'Koda' *grin* after the bear from Disney's Brother Bear.
and 
January 22, 2004
Happy Chinese New Year
A Happy & Prosperous Chinese New Year to Everyone! :)
Gong Xi Fa Cai/Kiong Hee Huat Chai/Kong Hei Fatt Choy to all!
Hope the Year of the Monkey brings on better times ....
May your 'Low Sang' go from this ...
to this ... 
Weng Wai ... Eat Yer Heart Out! ;)
January 21, 2004
Trivia Contest Win!
Yippee! I won a prize in the smartBridges Trivia contest.
Errr.. I have no idea what I won yet, but winning something is pretty cool :)
I've archived the newsletter announcing the winners on my site @ smartBridges newsletter Issue No 9
January 20, 2004
Hotel HomePNA Project Pix
Here are some pix from the PABX room of a local hotel (Royale Bintang Hotel, located along Jalan Bukit Bintang, formerly known as Novotel Century Hotel)
The project has 2 components: Wired (72 rooms via HomePNA) & Wireless (802.11b in the Ballroom, Function Rooms and Public Areas)
The pix in the gallery are for the Wired component. I'll post the Wireless part later.
Click on the following link for Pics from the Hotel HomePNA Project
January 19, 2004
Backdated...
Okay... I'm going to cheat a bit :) Its actually the 2nd of February 2004 (Monday) today. What I'm gonna do is back-date some entries.
I've been really extremely busy lately (what with Chinese New Year, 3 concurrent projects running and some other family activities)
I have some pix to post, so the backdated entries do seem justifiable *grin*
January 16, 2004
Nothing much...
Nothing much to report today, thats only because I spent my entire day cooped up in a cramped PABX room in the basement of a hotel punching wires like a madman.
Weng would be able to sympathize with me here.. Eh.. Weng? :) that AirForce Base was nothing, that was only like 6-8 pairs (child's play)
Here... we have like 72 pairs to punch, cascaded to another 72 pairs... making a total of 144 pairs of phone cables to punch!
I'll post some pictures over the next few days, need to upload to the gallery.
Anyways, I'm quite tired... Chalk this up as an un-interesting but tedious day.
January 15, 2004
All riled up over Banking Inefficiencies...
Why are some banks still so backward, whereas the more tech-savvy ones are leaping forward?
Today I went to pay my credit card bill at an Alliance Bank branch along Jalan Imbi (the one next to Club De'Vegas)
All I wanted to do was pay my credit card in cash. Simple, no? Easy, no? Should be... BUT unfor-*&^!%$?#@-tunately there wasn't a cash machine!
No CASH machine! *choke... gasp... cough* *mutterings of expletives*
So, there I was waiting in line (well, not exactly in line, I did have a queue ticket, but you get the idea) for damn near 50mins! to do what? a 3min transaction... That's Malaysia for you.
Don't get me wrong, I love this country. You might call me somewhat patriotic (is it due to all these years of listening to patriotic songs on RTM1 & RTM2? *shrug*), but these damn
inefficiences (don't even get me started about the government) drives me mad....
MAD MAD MAD! (and tired too, but I digress) ... I think at times like this, I could be part of the cult of Alfred P. Neumann.
*Sigh* ... cool down... in the immortal words of Martin Lawrence in Bad Boys II... "Wooo Saaaa"
January 14, 2004
Tiger in the year of the Monkey...
I've got this Fengshui leaflet that details what the fortunes of people born under the various Zodiac signs will be in the coming Year of the Monkey.
Well, I'm not particularly religious nor superstitious, but heck... one's fortune in any coming year IS important.
Lemme read to you what the leaflet says about Tigers in the coming year.
[Quoted Verbatim]
This year the Grand Duke Jupiter is riding on the Tiger. Thus, making it a trying year, causing gossips, troublemakers and legal issues. Take care and be careful of accidents involving water
and metal. Be humble and patient, and wait for it to weather out. To overcome these misfortunes position an Eastern Alliance at the east of the living room or office.
Optional Lucky Charm :
Accident - Place a pair of Qilin facing South West
Grand Duke Jupiter - Carry a Pig Ornament
Unlucky Star - Carry a Bagua Horoscope Coin
Three Killing - Place a 6 Emperor Coins Hulu at the South
Wealth - Place a Dragon Carp at the Horth East
[/End Quote]
Well, I guess I'm gonna be NON-Halal in the coming year, especially if I want to counter this Grand Duke Jupiter with a Pig Ornament. Can we say "khinzir" ? :)
I mean just WHO is this Grand Duke fella? What have I done to piss him off? to the extent that he wants to ride on me! (for that matter, all tigers)
Gee... can't the Grand Old Duke go marching with his 10,000 men?
Oh well, I guess I just have to carry babe around with me then... Heh, babe in the city? :P kinda corny.
January 13, 2004
Getting out of the house...
Lately, I've been having problems trying to get out of my house by 10:00am everyday.
I'm normally up by about 8:00am, problem is, once I sit down in front of my computer to "check my email" I get stuck.
There are 101 emails, mailing lists, forum postings and general catch-up to do, and somehow that takes up a segment of the time before 10:00am.
Yes, yes I know. I probably could wait until I'm in the office to sort all this out.
I'll try to do it... "tomorrow" ;)
Aaargh! maybe I'm a great procrastinater (maybe? not maybe... I AM)
Is there such a thing as Procrastinaters Anonymous? I guess meetings would go something like this.
Me: Hi everyone. My nick is Szern. I'm a Procrastinater. I haven't stopped procrastinating, but I'm trying really hard. I'll stop procrastinating tomorrow!
Everyone: Hi Szern. Welcome Szern *clap clap clap clap*
Vicious cycle ain't it? *GriN*
January 12, 2004
No updates...
Okay, Guilty as charged, your honour.
I'm Guilty. Guilty, guilty, guilty.
Guilty of neglecting to update this blog for nearly a week!
I've just been so swamped with work and doing R&D for a new project.
Anyone know of any good 'wireless' solutions for use in Malaysia which is license-exempt and functions in a NON Line-Of-Sight (NLOS) environment?
Didn't think so... Well, heck I do know a few... Are they proven? Most of the vendors say "subject to on-site testing".
Yeah right, and their equipment costs like RM 90,000.00 a pop! Geez, who's gonna foot the bill if it don't work?
Sorry, I'm ranting and getting carried away :)
But heck, isn't this what blogs are about? your personal rantings? people taking a peek into your often complicated, very much convulated personal life?
Aren't we all bugs under the proverbial microscope sometimes? :P
Anyway, I'll be uploading some pics of some of my wireless deployments soon to my gallery in the next week or so, so stay tuned.
January 06, 2004
Gallery Updated
Whew! uploaded 200+ pix of Shayna from birth to current.
Hrmmm.. maybe next, I'll upload some wireless deployment pictures.
But next, gotta get some work done first.
Working on a PHP-powered User Management & Billing System talking to a MySQL/PostgreSQL DB tied to FreeRADIUS.
This is for a wired/wireless 'hotspot' type deployment for a customer.
Can we say: "Linux, Apache, PHP, Perl, MySQL/PostgreSQL, SSL, SNMP & FreeRADIUS" in one breath? :)
Oh yeah, better go up to the roof and drill some holes for the Omni-Directional Antenna first.
Long overdue: Klang Valley Wireless User Group (KVWUG ?) KJ Node (KJ - Kelana Jaya) needs to get up soon.
January 05, 2004
Pix Gallery Up!
Okay! Finally got the Pix Gallery up and running.
The only pictures in there now are that of the apple of my eye, ;) my baby daughter, Shayna.
You can access it from my 'quick links' located on the right-hand side of this page or you can also use the direct URL: http://www.mamak.edu/~szern/gallery
I'm using 4images Gallery, its pretty cool.
Oh yeah, you would need to REGISTER (on the gallery itself, not the blog) to access certain pictures and functionalities.
In the future, I may add more pictures that would require a login.
Cheerio!
Stats and Counters
Decided to add some statistics/counters to my blog to monitor traffic.
Damn! they (Stats/Counters) somehow screw up my W3C compliance.. Hrmm.. have to find a way to fix that.
January 04, 2004
RADIUS
Just completed reading a book on RADIUS (Remote Access Dial In User Service), some say its the best book on the subject...
But then again, its the ONLY book on that subject :D
190 pages 'thin' including index, I expected it to be more technical with real-world examples befitting that of an O'Reilly book.
IMHO, the book is 'okay', good for beginners and getting your feet wet, but you should be able to find more technical info on the Net'.
Oh well, at the very least it does gives me some grounding on RADIUS and the AAA (Authentication, Authorization & Accounting) model.
What next? Ahhhhh... "Building Wireless Community Networks" also by O'Reilly. This time I have an electronic version of the book. Should make for some light interesting reading.
BlogChalk
Been playing around with my blog and decided to add a 'blogchalk', you can find more about it @ http://www.blogchalking.com/
This is my new blogchalk:
Malaysia, Selangor, Petaling Jaya, English, Chinese, Szern, Male, 26-30, Internet & IRC, Linux & Wireless. :)
January 03, 2004
Burnt AC Adapter
Had a rather uneventful day today. Spent my morning at Ikea (Mutiara Damansara) shopping for a curtain rod to replace an old rod in the bedroom that broke.
Lemme tell you, curtain drapes sure are heavy. Oh well, the trip wasn't a waste as I indulged myself in a plate of Yummy Swedish Meatballs :D
Later on, joined my wife and baby in Mid-Valley Megamall. Did a lot of browsing and window-shopping but didn't get anything at all.
Only thing I came home with was tired legs...
As I was doing some research on the Net' late at night, I suddenly saw smoke, smelt something burning and then saw sparks.:!:
Geez, my IBM Thinkpad's AC Adapter's cable was burning! I hurriedly yanked out the power. Whew! lucky thing, nothing bad happened.
Tho' I do have a dead AC Adapter :cry: Hrmm.. I think its still within the warranty period, I guess I'll take it back to IBM and see what they say.
Here are 2 pics of the dead AC Adapter.
and 
Lucky thing I have a "Kensington Universal AC/Car/Air Adapter", courtesy of my neighbour :)
This thing sure comes in handy, if not.. well.. basically I'm out of juice for my notebook until Monday at the earliest. It sure is a lifesaver!
January 02, 2004
2nd Day of the New Year
Well, we're now into the 2nd day of Year 2004.
Still haven't really thought about what New Year's Resolution I'm gonna make...
I guess, more or less along these lines:
Just installed blogBuddy to facilitate posting to this blog 8) Heh.. getting a wee bit blog-savvy.
Well another work day will begin in 8 hours... I should be getting some shut-eye soon *yawn*
January 01, 2004
New Year's Day
Didn't have much up today, so decided to take my wife and baby shopping at Sunway Pyramid.
When I got there, there weren't that many people around (about 11am), BUT by the time I left (about 3pm) it was extremely crowded.
Guess, most ppl got up after 12pm, after a late-night of New Year's Eve partying.
Did a spot of archery at the Indoor Archery Range in Sunway Pyramid (for the first time in my life) while waiting for my wife to finish her shopping.
Got over-ambitious and paid for 3 dozen arrows...
Must think I'm Robin Hood or something, 36 bloody arrows. Pulled the bowstring until my arm wanna 'putus', man.
Only 1 ... 1 bulls-eye out of 36 arrows... wahliao, my aiming very 'char' *hangs head in shame* :oops:
Ne'mind, I'll go back there one day and do better. Started to get the hang of it upon reaching the last of my arrows.
*Grits Teeth* I'll Be Back (in the immortal words of Arnie)
I also visited a friend of mine, Rycque (Hubba to you IRCers) whose wife just gave birth to a baby girl (Natasha Neoh) a coupla days back. Gee, Shayna looks like a Giant next to lil'
Natasha :P
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year everyone!
Well, another year has passed. 2003 we shall miss thee... 2004, hope you bring surprises and exciting times.
Have a good one, everyone.