Day +1395 : Catching rats – the catch

I am fine today.

Daniel and I checked the trap eagerly in the morning and we were quite disappointed to find out that the trap glued one rat only. The rats come in group, so we expected to catch many at once. However, we had underestimated their intelligence.

I didn’t know the difference between a mouse and a rat until I read an article called “How to Tell the Difference Between a Mouse and a Rat” from ehow.com.

The article listed down the following differences:

1. The size difference is a major factor. A full grown mouse may weigh a few ounces where a full grown rat may weigh as much as a pound.A young rat, while still hairless, is already the size of a full grown mouse, where a baby or young mouse is very tiny.
2. A rat will dig a deep or long burrow to nest, 3 feet or longer, whereas a mouse will generally not go any deeper than 6 inches to a foot if they dig at all, they would prefer to live between a wall, behind or under an appliance.
3. A rat is much more aggressive than a mouse. If you corner a rat, it may jump up and attack to get away. A mouse will generally freeze and back off in absolute fear.
4. The size of their droppings is another difference. Mouse dropping will range from 1/8 to 1/4 inch at best in length, whereas rats droppings will be double that size, in the area of 1/2 inch.
5. Common breeds of rats in the US would be The Norway and Roof Rat. Common breeds of mice in the US would be the Field and House mouse.
6. There are slight differences regarding shapes, tail length, snouts and ears, but again, are all related.
7. A rat will venture much further away from their nest to find a food or water source, whereas a mouse will usually not venture more than 15 feet from home.
8. A rat is generally smarter than a mouse. For instance, if there is a new food source in their area of transit, they may force an older weaker rat to eat it and then watch to see if he dies or not in case the food is no good or contains poison. If that rat dies, they will urinate on it and avoid it. You have probably heard that you may only catch rats once on a snap trap and then you have to try something else. With mice this is not the case, they will come back to the same trap over and again.
9. Both rats and mice will generally use the same route of travel on a regular basis, both being creatures of habit. Rats will leave more evident proof of their route leaving oily stains rubbing off from the sides of their bodies that will appear over a period of time, along a wall, entry to an opening or corner they travel, often called run marks.
10. As far as similarities, they both must gnaw on a regular basis. If not their teeth will grow too long and into their heads and could kill them. They are both responsible for the contamination of major quantities of food in the world by chewing through packaging or urinating on raw materials or the finished product which is then destroyed. Also, rats especially, are the cause of many electrical fires due to their gnawing into live wiring. Not to mention the diseases they may carry and transfer. Consider the bubonic plague for instance.
11. They both live in nests with others and have similar breeding habits, however a rat is much more cruel, I hope is the best word here. For instance, if a rat colony is already over crowded and food source is low, they will actually kill and eat new borns immediately so they won't effect their food source. I have never heard of this to be true within a mouse nest.

I didn't know whether the one I caught was a rat or a mouse until I read the above article.

The one that bit Daniel was aggressive (3) and it came from somewhere outside the house (7) through the back door. With this, it should be a rat.

And further more, a rat is smarter (8) and this might explain why we managed to catch one only. We set up the trap again the following day using the remaining glue but caught one cockroach only. This shows that the rats are smart enough to avoid the trap.

We have to think of other ways such as a rat cage trap to catch them if they dare to come again.

The unlucky one
See you next post :-)

Day +1394 : Catching rats – setting up the trap

I am fine today.

An adhesive bandage on Daniel’s wrist raised my concern yesterday morning. He told me that a rat had bitten him the night earlier while we were away. He saw a rat moving upstairs and he tried to hit it using a broom but it was too difficult to get his target right. He then resorted to his fist under the pressing situation but unfortunately, the rat turned back and bit him before dying a few feet away.

Many rats visited my house at night recently, exploring the house especially the dustbin for food, and in the process, generating all sorts of noise.

I purchased a can of rat glue but left it there for quite some time until Daniel was bitten by the rat. Daniel and I set up the trap using the super glue tonight. We hope that we will catch some rats tomorrow morning.

Setting up the trap

Waiting for the rats to be glued
To be continued and see you next post :-)

Day +1393 : More on airport taxi booking

I am fine today.

A reader commented yesterday that the Airport Limo only accepts booking 5 hours before departure. This is true. I believe the rationale behind is to give 2 hours allowance for the taxi driver to pick up the passenger. However, it is best to book a day earlier.

On the issue of picking up a passenger at least 3 hours before departure, Richard provided me with more detail as written below.

I further verify with call center regarding the pickup time issue and got the following information.

For Airport Limo, they ask for departure time and they fix for you when the taxi should pick you up.

For international flight, the pickup time is 3 hours before departure and for domestic flight, it is 2.30 hours before. One thing puzzling me is that they didn't consider where is the location they need to pick you up. For example, Kepong and Putra Jaya are of great difference in terms of distance to the airport and thus the traveling time. However, the rule is that the driver will pick you up 3 hours in advance for international flight whether you are in Kepong or Putrajaya.

When I asked about the rational of fixing the 3 hours departure time without considering the location and whether you have the boarding pass or not, they asked me to call the complaint department with the telephone number 03-87874502.

I called and talked to Puan Natihah but she couldn’t explain why they need to impose the pick-up time restriction for passengers. Passengers should be responsible for their travel and they should know how to estimate the pick-up time accurately. I estimated my pick-up time over 100 times over the past and there was no problem at all. She said she will ask her manager to call me back regarding this issue.

Basically we can easily calculate how long we need to wait in the airport before departure. I give you an example below.

Let say you have a trip to Singapore using MAS at KLIA with departure time of 8:00am, and you have already holding the the boarding pass through web check-in. The airport Limo will then pick you up at 5:00am (of course you have to pay the midnight rate) and you will reach the airport at 5:40am, and wait for 2:20 hours at KLIA before departure.

In fact you can arrange the pick up immediately after 6:00am which allow you to reach the airport at 6:40am. With this you waited for 1:20 hours to board the plane and do not need to pay midnight taxi fare. However, if you don’t follow my tip as mentioned in yesterday post, you have no way to have pickup time after 6:00am.

Most occasion traveler would normally don’t mind of long waiting time and paying more, but for a seasoned traveler, this is most likely is not the case.

See you next post :-)

Day +1392 : Taxi Fare to KLCC or KLIA (update)

I am fine today.

I posted a list of taxi drivers and the fee that they charged about 7 months ago on my blog entry - Day +1183 : Taxi fare to KLCC or KLIA.

It is time for me to update the list now. Introducing to you in this update is a new taxi driver called Ah Loong who is the son of a church member. He charges the cheapest among the drivers if you need to travel midnight; RM70 per trip for traveling between 12:00am and 5:59am.

Highlighted is the cheapest fare

Driver	Contact/ Booking no.	Day fare (6:00am-11:59pm)	Midnight fare (12:00am- 5.59am)	Note
Mr. Yin (Chinese)	016-3678622	RM 65.00	RM 75.00	Drive very slow, almost 60 minutes to reach LCCT
Mr. Ah Loong (Chinese)	017-6389108	RM 60.00	RM 70.00	No info yet.
Mr. Mathaven (Indian)	016-2525326	RM 60.00	RM 80.00	Very punctual, speed average, 50 minutes to reach LCCT
Mr. Yan (Malay)	019-2041918	RM 60.00	RM 80.00	Can drive very fast 35 minutes to reach LCCT. Usually also take 50 minutes to reach LCCT.
Airport Limo (No fix driver)	03-9223 8080 (8.00 am–12.59 pm) 03-8787 3030 (12.00 am-8.00 am)	RM 56.60	RM 83.60	Booking Condition: Need to board the taxi 3 hours before departure. The operator will ask for your departure time, and if you don’t want to reach airport too early, just tell them a fake departure time.

Many drivers dropped their day fare to RM60, perhaps due to the competition from Airport Limo which charge RM56.60 only.

Mr. Yin used to be the cheapest for midnight travel as he didn’t impose any surcharge but this is not the case anymore as he is now charging RM65 and RM75 for day time and midnight travel respectively.

In addition to the fee, there are other reasons that Mr. Yin is not advised; old taxi and sleepiness. I had the following experience with him when we went for holiday at Lake Kenyir March last year. Quoting from Day +985 : Holiday at Tasik Kenyir (1):

Coming late was not a big issue due to the safety allowance but the problem was that the taxi driver was very sleepy on the way to airport. He even failed to response when I talked to him and this worried me. In order to keep him alert, I kept talking to him to prevent him falling asleep :-(

Please also take note, if you are traveling with Airport Limo, the booking condition requires you to board the taxi 3 hours before departure. Richard offers you a tip (stated in the table above) how to bypass this condition; by telling lies of course :-)

See you next post :-)

Day +1391 : Foochow Fried Noodles

I am fine today.

To have fried noodles was a luxury when I was young, and I remember we could have it only during some festive seasons like Chinese New Year and Mid-Autumn Festival.

There is no restaurant or stall serving Foochow fried noodles here. We can have it only when we are having holiday in Sarawak; either at the kampong or restaurant in the town.

In order to enjoy the noodles here, we have to DIY (Do It Yourself) it and that was what I did last Saturday, frying about 2kg of noodles.

The noodles taste very nice. Everyone in the family especially the children likes it very much :-)

Almost ready to serve

See you next post :-)

Day +1390 : Leadership Training

I am fine today.

Our church organized a leadership training session this afternoon. We are blessed to have the director of training of Hong Kong Alliance Mission, Dr. Jessie Ng, to be here to conduct the training with a topic called “Leading and Spiritual Life” (领导与生命).

There were about 40 leaders and church members attended the 2 hours training session that started from 2:00pm.

Many of us benefited from the session this afternoon.

Having lunch with Dr. Jessie Ng - the second one from the right
The dishes that we enjoyed :-) Where we had lunch? You guess.

The best chicken in the town :-) A must try!



Dr. Jessie Ng
Participants
Playing game


Cake and fake eggs (cholesterol free - the good and the bad) prepared by Rev. Lau :-)
See you next post :-)

Day +1389 : Swimming at La Vista Condominium

I am fine today.

Adriel was very excited to discover that she was able to float in the water when we had our holiday at Bayu Beach Resort, Port Dickson February this year. She didn’t have another chance to swim since then and she begged me to bring her for a swim a few days ago.

I brought her and the rest of the children to swim at La Vista Condominium this evening. My brother, Richard, is staying here, so we have the privilege to swim here.

Daniel and Joseph could swim very well, and Adriel is beginning to swim but it is still a big challenge for Aaron to even submerge himself in water.

The children enjoyed the swimming session very well :-) I enjoyed it too. It has been many years I didn’t swim here and it is the first time I swim here post bone marrow transplant.

The swimming pool - a very nice one

Aaron

Adriel

Adriel and Aaron
Daniel, Joseph, Dennis and another friend
See you next post :-)

Day +1388 Enjoying Kajang Satay in Puchong

I am fine today.

I brought my wife and children for a Kajang Satay feast at DG Food Court, Wawasan, Puchong this evening.

The one and only one satay stall there is selling Kajang Satay. It has been many years I didn't eat Kajang Satay until I "discovered" the stall here. We used to go to Kajang for Satay last time and I like this type of Satay very much - bigger and fatter; something definitely worth to eat :-)

With this stall, we don't need to go to Kajang for satay anymore.

DG Food Court is more economical than other food court in Puchong. It is selling many drinks 20 or 30 cents cheaper than other food court; RM0.30 a cup of "sky juice" and RM1.20 a cup of coffee for instance. The satay stall is selling chicken and beef satay at RM0.60 each and lamb satay RM1.00 each.

We ordered 25 chicken and beef satays this evening and on top of this we also ordered grilled fish. All of us enjoyed the dinner very much.

The food court
The price of satay and the contact
DG Food Court
The satay stall


The food court is quite big
Enjoying satay
The satay


Ketupat
Satay sauce
See you next post :-)

Day +1387 My wife is "tax free" :-)

I am fine today.

I helped my wife to file her income tax online this morning.

Her income level doesn't require her to have scheduled monthly deduction. This means that should there be any payable amount in the end, she have to pay it.

Her total income tax is RM399.61 but with the personal rebate of RM400, she needs to pay -RM0.39, which means that she doesn't need to pay anything, and thus "tax free" :-)

Many of us including me like to be "tax free" but in fact we do not need to be too happy, because the total amount that we earn is too little to be taxed.

On the other hand, many peoples are moaning for being taxed heavily. These peoples should be happy instead because their income has to be very high to "enjoy" being taxed heavily :-)

A happy one will see thing positively such that if he is taxed heavily, he would be happy because he earns a lot, and if he is not taxed at all, he is still happy because he doesn't need to pay tax :-)

If you want to be unhappy, you can see think in reverse.

So happy or not, your choice :-)

See you next post :-)

Day +1386 : Good to have H1N1?

I am fine today.

One confirmed H1N1 case was reported in Adriel and Aaron’s kindergarten yesterday.

A primary school student who came to the kindergarten for tuition in the morning experienced a fever of 40 °C. It took Columbia Asia Medical Centre in Bandar Puteri, Puchong a whole day to confirm that the case was in fact H1N1 yesterday.

The kindergarten will not be closed but I will not send Adriel and Aaron to kindergarten tomorrow. Both of them were very happy knowing this.

“How many day do we have H1N1?” Adriel asked.

“What do you think? You want many days or just one day?” I asked.

“Many days,” she answered.

H1N1 is bad to many but Adriel and Aaron like it because it brings unexpected holiday :-)

See you next post :-)

Day +1385 : Happy birthday, Aaron!

I am fine today.

We just celebrated my mother-in-law birthday last Friday and this evening, we celebrated Aaron’s 4-year-old birthday.

I feel blessed tremendously to be able to celebrate his birthday. Remembering again that he was in my wife’s womb while I was diagnosed with Leukaemia, and was born while I was doing my last round of chemotherapy before the transplant, I am so grateful to God to remain alive to witness his fourth birthday :-)

Life is good and celebrating birthday is good as it remembers the life that God bestowed upon us. It is by grace of God that we lived every day.

Aaron chose to celebrate his birthday at home rather than in the kindergarten. He also chose to have a cake and pizzas. We prepared eggs and some junk foods for the party too :-)

May God bless Aaron!

Japanese Cheese Cake
Eggs

I just renewed the Domino Express Card today that allowed me to have buy-one-free-one priviledge.

Aloha Chicken
Tuna temptation
Family photo
Aaron and Adriel - my wife make some birthday decoration for Aaron
Fixing candles
Singing happy birthday song
Blowing candles
Cut the cake
Joseph presented a birthday gift to Aaron
See you next post :-)