Day +582 : Wish you a very healthy, happy and prosperous Chinese New Year!

I am fine today.

I wish you a very healthy, happy and prosperous Chinese New Year!


Wait until the word 'Play' appears and then click on it two times to play :-)


See you next post :-)

Day +581 : Chinese New Year Eve

I am fine today.

I went with my wife to do Chinese New Year shopping early in the morning. We managed to reach home at 12:30pm only. After a simple lunch and a short rest, we started to cook for the New Year Eve dinner. As we were having combined dinner with my fourth sister’s family who stayed just a few lanes away, we didn’t need to cook too many dishes.

Now let me introduces to you what dishes we have tonight :-)

(1)Deep-fried special seafood bean curd (招牌豆腐) - cooked by me :-) (2) Fried Meehon Singapore Style (星洲米粉) - cooked by me :-)
(3)Ku Low Yok (咕嚕肉) - cooked by me :-) Heng Wei said it tastes better than those in restaurant
(4) Sweet and sour fish maw soup (酸甜鱼鳔汤) - cooked by my wife, very delicious :-)
A zoom in view of the delicious soup
(5)Salak - prepared by my mother-in-law
The following dishes were prepared by my sister.

(6)Emperor chicken (帝皇鸡)
(7)Steam fish
(8) Mixed vegetable
(9)Mushroom chicken soup
(10)Roasted chicken
(11) Mee Sua

(1)DessertThat was all we have for the dinner - 12 dishes :-)

Aaron

Adriel and Aaron
Since we had 20 person having dinner together, we had it "buffet" style for simplicity
My wife and me

You might wonder why I din't post photo of Joseph and Daniel. They rush upstairs to play computer games before I even had a chance to take a photo of them :-)

Remembering that I was still doing chemotherapy in the hospital during the Chinese New Year Eve two years ago, I am very grateful to be able to prepare and to have the New Year Eve dinner with my family this year. It is indeed a tremendous blessing for me to be alive to celebrate another Chinese New Year. I give praise to God for his abundant blessing upon me during the past and I am very sure this blessing will continue in time to come :-)

Aiya! Hungry again looking at those dishes :-(

See you next post :-)

Day +580 : Guests who will be celebrating Chinese New Year with us

I am fine today.

We are very glad to have five guests celebrating Chinese New Year with us this year. They will also stay in my house for a few days before returning to their respective universities or working places. So my house has a population of 13 people now. In fact, it can accomodate more than this :-)

So if for whatever reason you are unable to celebrate Chinese New Year with your family next year, just come and celebrate Chinese New Year with us :-)

The guests

Back row from left:
Ting Heng Chiek : my eldest brother's son, working as an electrical engineer in Kajang
Ting Heng Wei : my second brother's son, working as a software engineer in Singapore
Toh Nga Ming : my second sister's daughter, studying in UTeM, Melaka
Ting Siew Ling : my second brother's daughter, studying in UUM in Sintok, Kedah
The one in front is Siew Ling's friend. She is studying in USM, Penang and come from Sarawak too.

See you next post :-)

Day +579 : A delicious Bakuh Teh (肉骨茶) Dinner

I am fine today.

My brother Richard treated us a Bakuh Teh dinner at a nearby restaurant today. This was the second time I had Bakuh Teh at a restaurant since bone marrow transplant. I had it first time in December 2006 after attending a classical guitar concert.

My eldest son Daniel managed to finish three bowls of rice, but he was not the only champion; Heng Chiek and I shared the same glory with him as we finished the same amount of rice :-)

Bean curd
Bakuh Teh
"You Tiao" （油条）
Dry Bakuh Teh?
卤肉（Stew meat）
Vegetable
See you next post :-)

Day +578 : Talk to the right person and be “fierce” :-) (2)

I am fine today.

Few weeks ago they offered me another option; pickup any modem from them and pay just RM100. I went to the shop last Saturday, thinking of picking up a wireless ADSL modem. Since the Prolink Hurricane 9000P was not a wireless modem, I was willing to pay RM100 for the wireless feature.

But when I went there to pick up the modem, they said I could have a non-wireless modem only and still had to pay RM100. This irritated me and made me “fierce”. I asked the staff to put me through to his boss immediately, and “fired” the boss like a machine gun continuously for 2 minutes; threatening to bring the case to Consumer Tribunal and to publish it in newspaper. Their boss became speechless for many seconds even after I stopped my “fire”.

In the end, he allowed me to take away a non-wireless ADSL modem without paying anything :-)

The lesson learned is “talk to the right person, the one that has the right to make decision; else we are just wasting our time.” Of course, to be a little bit “fierce” might help too :-)

Anyway, I did apologize to the staff that was "hit by strayed bullets." I knew he was innocent :-(

The replacement modem
See you next post :-)

Day +577 : Talk to the right person and be “fierce” :-) (1)

I am fine today.

The TP-Link ADSL router modem that was purchased less than two months ago broke down last Thursday after a heavy downpour with lightning, even though I put it on the Belkin Surge Protector as I blogged on Day +498 : A new modem and surge protector.

I tried to install a spare ZyXEL wireless ADSL router modem that was returned to me last month after a warranty claim. The modem was damaged by lightning as well. It was very disappointing to find out that the ZyXEL modem was not working as well; showed no power at all :-( So on Friday, I sent two ADSL modems for warranty claim.

Apart from this, I had another ADSL modem, Prolink Hurricane 9000P, under warranty claim. I purchased this product from TechShop in IOI mall just before I went for bone marrow transplant in year 2006.

The modem broke down just before the warranty was expired. I sent the modem for warranty claim on 5 May 2007, but not long later they informed me that they had problem claiming the warranty for me because their boss quarreled with the modem supplier. They proposed me to purchase another modem from them with some discount. I declined this offer for two reasons. Firstly, there is no reason that I should spend extra to get a modem with the same functionalities. Secondly, the TechShop products were priced ridiculously high; it fetched a higher price than any other shop even after discount.

I told them, “I don’t care what dispute you have with the modem supplier. I just want my modem back.”

I called them on and off and visited them a number of times without getting the issue resolved.

To be continued and see you next post :-)

Day +576 : My camera

I am fine today.

My friend and old time class mate who is now staying in US commented that my camera takes very nice pictures. As her camera went kaput recently, she find her a good reason to get a new one that would capture images as good as mine.

I told her in fact I am using a old Canon PowerShot A400 which was purchased 3 years with a promotional price of RM699. It does capture nice pictures, but definitely not as clear or as vivid as the one that I post on this blog.

There is a simple way to make the picture looks nicer - using a image editing software to correct it. I use Microsoft Office Picture Manager's "Auto Correct" function to improve the quality of the picture. Very easy. Just choose the picture and press the "Auto Correct" button and there you get clear and vivid picture.

The following figure show where the "Auto Correct" button is.
Before correction (Click the picture to have a larger view) After correction (Click the picture to have a larger view)
See you next post :-)

Day +575 : Fish head curry from Johore again!

I am fine today.

“Got curry fish head for dinner. Will reach KL 5pm.”

I received the message from my brother Richard who was coming back from Johore Bahru after meeting clients.

He brought back the same curry exactly 6 months ago. I blogged about this on my blog Day +360 : Fish head curry from Johore Bahru.

Again, I dared not touch the dish even though it looked so delicious because after bone marrow transplant, I can’t “tahan (stand)” hot and spicy food anymore :-( I could enjoy very hot food before the transplant.

But don’t worry; there are plenty of other delicious foods which are not hot and spicy :-)

A photo of the dish for you to enjoy :-)
See you next post :-)

Day + 574 : It sounds as good as a new one!

I am fine today.

We just got our Kawai upright piano overhauled this Monday.

“Now the piano is as good as a new one!” claimed the tuner who overhauled the piano.

We purchased this second hand Kawai piano in Miri, Sarawak just before we moved here. We moved it together in a container that transported my 1.3 Proton here. We paid RM9000 for this piano.

The tuner who serviced our piano had been tuning and repairing piano for a more than 20 years. He used to travel to Sarawak long time ago to provide piano tuning and repairing services. He told us a trip there would normally last for 6 months!

“It is better to buy a second piano than a new one,” he said.

It is because the quality of the piano would only be known a few years after the purchase. The quality of the sound can remain, getting better or getting worse. The one by which the sound is getting better should be the right choice. But how do we know it is getting better? “Call me, I will check for you,” he said.

We paid RM1500 for the overhaul and now the upright Piano sounds like semi-grand Piano :-)

The next overhauled was scheduled 10 years later :-)

Kawai logo inside the piano
Part that was taken away for servicing
Another parts taken away for servicing
Wear and tear of a 20 year old piano
The strings
The strings - zoom in view
See you next post :-)

Day +573 : Company Chinese New Year dinner

I am fine today.

I attended our company Chinese New Year dinner today at Cheong Hua Restaurant in Pusat Bandar Puchong. We ordered two tables for 17 staffs with each table cost RM586.

I thank God to be able to attend this dinner and to enjoy the delicious food :-)

Lao Sheng (捞生) - table 1 Lao Sheng (捞生) - table 2
Now I would like to share with you the nine-course meal that we had. They also gave one bottle of red wine per table.

Yu Sheng (鱼生) Four seasons
Shark fin soup
Steam fish
Prawn
Chicken
Vegetable
Glutinous rice
Dessert
And finally, "Yam Sheng" together.

See you next post :-)

Day +572 : Attending an open house, no, "open palace"

I am fine today.

I went to attend a church member’s “open palace” yesterday evening. We called it “open palace” instead of open house, because the semi-detached house is renovated like a palace.

The house itself costs RM800,000 and the renovation alone costs another RM500,000. So the total costs of the “palace” is RM1.3 million :-) The renovation took one year to complete.

Christ is the head of this house The garden
Swimming pool
A corner of the garden
Garden view from top
Family photo at the garden
Thanksgiving meeting before the dinner
I was leading songs

Though the house is as luxurious as palace, I still find my house at the kampong more interesting :-)

See you next post :-)