Basically, it’s not that I can’t understand what it’s all about. It’s basically an event where people with like minded geeks gather around and share or maybe show off something to the rest of the people. Now that makes me wondering, what am I going to share? I’m not a programmer nor am I a software developer. I just happen to be very good in putting things together and make it work.

Last week, I decided to drop by The Garden Midvalley and take a peek and spy what the volunteers are doing. My intention wasn’t to join the volunteer group but just to give myself a reason to visit the brand new The Garden shopping mall. Here is where the BarCamp Malaysia volunteer meeting was held:

BarCamp KL Volunteer Hang Out Place @ Starbucks The Garden Midvalley

The event will be held next on July 26 – 27 at xTrain in KL. Khai Lee explanation of BarCamp is the best I’ve read. If you are interested to meet me, I’ll be there on the 26th since I have a weekly commitment every Sunday morning. Make sure you register first.

See you there!

Anyway, I drive off from Equine Park where my office is located at around 6am in the morning. The journey took 2 and a half hour with a maximum speed of 120km/h with my red Proton Iswara. I arrived at Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) Kampus Bandar at 8.40am just 20 minutes before my training session starts. I have never conducted any training session before, the closest I have done was organizing a training session so this would be a great experience.

There were 10 participants in my training class. The best thing about the class is how well the computer training lab at UTHM is equipped. The PC they have are all brand new Intel Core 2 processor with vPro technology. I wonder how much does it cost for just one desktop computer alone. Before the training started, we had an in-house “nasi lemak” breakfast and then to set up the network and computer for a localhost connection with Joomla.

The Computer Lab at UTHM

At first my partner suggested to install every PC that is going to be use with XAMPP. I insisted that we save up the time to install on every PC to only setup and install XAMPP on one host computer and the rest of the connection is pointed to that PC’s IP address. That would be easier to control and make it almost as the same as a live website. Unlike Wordpress, the best thing about Joomla is the only setting that is needed to make the image, link and database connection is configurable at configuration.php file. After all that is done, I started the class with a brief introduction of why Joomla is suitable to handle a portal instead of a static HTML and the difference and similarities between a blog and Content Management System (CMS) website.

After lunch, sensing that the class was a bit bored over the technical jargon Joomla administration has, I organized an activity exercise which was a competition between the guys and the girls. The objective was to produce the most content entered and the best-looking website into a brand new empty Joomla system one. My partner facilitated the girl’s group while I handled the guy’s group. Obviously I helped the guy’s website look much more impressive than the girls since I know a lot of short-cuts and trade off of Joomla administration.

My objective before the class is to get the participant to grasp at least 50% of what I’ve taught them. From my observation, they have achieved it and I am quite happy about it. Overall, it was a good class and I’ve gained a lot of valuable experience which I couldn’t have got if I only keep the skills to myself.

Disembarkation/Embarkation Form for Visitors to Singapore

After everything clears up, we were on the highway of Singapore. Before arriving at the area where National University of Singapore is located, I was greeted by a chain of SMSes which I soon realized that my Maxis prepaid has an automatic international roaming capability. That’s good and also bad. The good is I’m still connected even if I’m not in Malaysia. The bad is for every call or SMS made and also received, the charge is 10 times greater. Luckily I only got one important phone call.

My prepaid phone roaming in Singapore

The most significant thing about Singapore that I notice straight away after arriving there is how clean the highways and streets are. I am so used to potholes and dirt on side road of Malaysian roads, I can really see the differences from where I am from. The traffic obeys the speed limit thanks to the strict law enforcement over there and significantly, the cars over there look a whole lot better unlike my almost 10 year old Proton Iswara.

Parking Lots in front of Estate Office Drive

After my boss parked the car inside NUS, we went to lunch somewhere in Clementi by taking a cab. The cab accepts credit card, now that’s something new to me. The price of the food is not much different if no currency conversion is involved.

“Makan” place in Singapore

We took another cab and went back to NUS to prepare for our scheduled meeting. The meeting was held at The Office of Estate and Development and it was a good one. We’ve learned a few valuable lessons and it’s a good start to a healthy relationship.

The Office of Estate and Development

After the meeting, we went over to Singapore Polytechnic which was about 5 minutes drive from NUS.

Singapore Polytechnic

Another meeting was held but it got short because the Singapore Polytechnic team had to rush for another meeting.

I’ve put up photos I’ve taken during the entire trip. You can check it out on the slideshow below:

Unlike last year Citrawarna 2007 where I have no idea where to go, this year I was given instruction by both LV and Colours of Malaysia website on where to park, where to head and where to go. This saves a lot of my time and energy of searching and figuring out where and what to do. Since LV is one of the 1,500 dancers that night, being alone without any of my close friends is not something I enjoy.

My only mistake this year was I should have borrowed my father’s brand new HD video camera instead of relying on my pathetic Kodak DX6490 camera where the pictures and videos taken are more likely useless in dim lighted scenarios. My Sony Ericsson W810i cameraphone is much better than the Kodak camera but of course the 3gp videos taken are not that visible. Anyway enough writing, let’s see what videos and photos I have for you:

Check out my Citrawarna 2008 Gallery

Now let’s see some videos I’ve taken:

Forgive me if the videos are low quality and unedited. I’m not the kind of person who spend so much time making thing looks good. As long as things work, I’m already happy.

I guess that’s all for now. I’ll definitely come again next year for Colours of Malaysia 2009 (Citrawarna 2009).

Unlike my previous two visits to the same branch before, there was only one guy attending me for my car’s service job. Then I saw this:

Taking a closer look at the screen:

Ashrufzz Reality Adventure Snapshot at Fasfik Kepong Branch

It’s my picture featured on the main computer inside the workshop. I was overjoyed, at least my blog name is visible. One of the Fasfik owners commented on one of my Fasfik review recently. I guess I must have made a good impression to them..hehe..

My Car Third Service Pit Stop @ Fasfik Kepong

I had a chat with the one and only mechanic at that time, he revealed some surprising and appalling information. All the other Fasfik crew of Kepong branch had left. He himself was from another neighbor Fasfik branch being assigned there to bring the service shop branch back to life. From a management point of view, I can understand why they only give basic salary to the crew. I can also understand how a life of mechanic is since I was a car mechanic trainee during my years of studying automotive engineering. I guess you need to love your job in order to stay long in your career. Even I myself has job hopped so many times before landing to something I really love doing.

During my last visit, the branch ran out of Fasfik engine oil so I had to resort to the expensive Shell Helix engine oil. This time, I guess there was an oversupply of Fasfik engine oil. Basically, it’s just a basic engine oil being labeled.

Fasfik Engine Oil Product

I don’t know why, but I just love packaged product. It makes me feel as I’m buying a bargain deal rather than the expensive customized service.

Fasfik Line of Packaged Products

This visit cost me RM50 for an engine oil change job along with a free engine oil filter and regular check of my car.

I know how much LV love dancing. Even I myself went for 2 dance classes (although not for long) last year, I am always amazed and excited at how people who can really dance. Making it even more interesting the second season of So You Think You Can Dance Malaysia at 8TV. Check out the videos below taken using my Sony Ericcson W810i cameraphone:

I really like the final group’s performance. Tren Production is a new dance studio production with it’s main dance studio class located in Kepong. That’s just like 10 minutes drive from my house. I don’t have the detail information of Tren Production. I must have lost the phamplet along the way somewhere. If anyone wants to add information, please feel free to add the information on my comment box down below.

Its just so cool to be able to dance. I guess the movie Shall We Dance? has really gotten me into this dancing interest.

Compaq Presario V3751AU on Brochure

At RM2199, it’s quite an affordable price to pay for a decent laptop with the technical spec listed. However, I needed more financial leverage since I wanted a monthly installment over the full amount which I needed to pay. I don’t want to pay in full cash because it will affect my monthly budget and savings.

So I started making some analysis on ways I could do to finance my new laptop. At first I wanted to apply for the RM125 per month under AEON Easy Payment scheme. However, after getting the information and did a rough calculation, the total amount I would have to pay under the Easy Payment plan would be (RM125 X 24 months) is RM3,000! WHAT? That’s RM801 more than the selling price! I’m not going to pay the credit company (in this case AEON Easy Payment scheme) that amount. On top of that, there is another 0.84% of interest per month equivalent to 10.08% a year.

My second option is to reduce the throat-choking Easy Payment scheme interest to a personal loan. The idea was to apply for a RM3,000 personal loan and pay back on a monthly payment. There was 2 option (CIMB Cash Express Micro Finance and AEON-Cash Personal Financing) since a lot of personal loans are not meant for small amount. I had to eliminate CIMB Cash Express because it’s a financial killer. At 24% interest yearly, it is one of the highest interest personal loans ever based on my findings. As for AEON-Cash Personal Financing, I had to apply for an AEON Credit Card in order for my loan to be approved. If I went for this, I would have to wait for another week or so to get my credit card approved and so on so fourth. Not what I had in mind.

My third option is to use my Petronas CIMB Bank credit card I just received a month ago. Utilizing the 0% monthly installment, I can just buy a laptop by just dividing the price of RM2199 with 12 months. That would make RM183.25 per month and best of all, interest free. The only issue is there aren’t many shops that provided this facility. Most of the shop I found have Maybank and Citibank 0% interest free payment plan. I’m not going to get another credit card for my financial sake. From my reading in forums and some blogs, I find that in order for me to get an interest free plan with CIMB Bank, I need to find a shop that uses a CIMB merchant processing machine. So, my quest for searching for the right shop begins.

After searching high and low at Low Yatt Plaza, one shop that I’ve found charge 4.5% on top of the laptop price before dividing it with 12 months. I didn’t go for that one. I finally found a shop that provides me with the monthly installment facility using my credit card. The shop wasn’t as busy as any other shop; in fact I was the only customer inside the shop. After dealing with the sales guy for 15 minutes, my transaction went through and I was on my way back with my brand new Compaq Presario V3751AU.

At home, I joyously unpacked my new laptop:

My New Compaq V3751AU package

Unfortunately the package I bought only got me an original Targus HP laptop bag and a RM35 optical mouse. By the way, the laptop I bought only comes with FreeDos so there was no Windows or any other operating system. I had to add more money if I wanted an operating system installed. This is where the hassle begins.

My Brand New Compaq V3751AU Unpacked loaded with FreeDOS

It took me one night for me to install a fresh copy of Microsoft Windows XP and then another 2 days for me to search for all the drivers since the package doesn’t include a driver CD. Even worse, the system is configured for Windows Vista when I tried searching for the drivers on HP Compaq official website. After searching around, I’ve gathered all the necessary download and bundled all the driver’s link into this single URL link:

I downloaded most of the drivers but only a few of them really work. Here’s a list of it which I did managed to note down that really works on my Compaq Presario V3751AU:

• SP34842A - BlueTooth Driver
• SP35333 - Wireless Assistant
• SP37950 - Network Controller Driver
• SP35414 - Webcam Driver

After all the driver was done installed, it was then time to make the transition to transfer all my working files from my previous laptop to my new laptop. I’m not the kind of person who uses back-up software because I know there will be a point where complication will arise. So I did it manually using a portable hard drive and thumb drives:

The Manual Side by Side Laptop File Transfer Process

It took me my whole Sunday weekend to complete the transition. Performance wise, since the processor is a dual core processor, there is a huge improvement when I’m running heavy multiple applications. The temperature is cooler and the CPU utilization is less likely to reach 100%. My only problem is I can’t play my Simcity 4 most probably because of my display card issue.

My Compaq 3751AU on Windows XP is ready for action

Why I didn’t choose Intel Core 2 Duo over AMD Turion 64 X2? Based on my finding from benchmarking charts, using Intel Core 2 Duo is slightly ahead of AMD Turion 64 X2. Then again, I’m looking for a bargain and not performance so I think I made a good choice.

Anyway, my boss owned an iPhone so he checked out The Mac store at the ground floor in Low Yatt Plaza. Inside the Mac store, I saw this:

MacBook Air Display at Mac Studio Sdn Bhd Low Yatt

Taking a closer look at the MacBook Air:

The MacBook Air

Testing the Mac was like the last time I tried using Ubuntu. Although it seems exciting and more fun to use Mac compared to Windows, I don’t think I’ll ever fit in being a Mac user. Here’s a list of why I will never use a Mac:

1. Change requires time to get used to, to learn new features, to utilize it to the max thus is can waste your productive time and lowers your output productivity
2. A lot of application I’m using is not built for Mac.
3. A Mac is just too flashy for me.
4. The current price for a MacBook Air is RM6229. I can get three lower end Core 2 Duo blank laptop for RM2,000 a piece.
5. I will never convert to a Mac

Now you have it, my 5 top reason why MacBook is not for me.

So last Sunday Afternoon, I decided to accompany LV for a treat at a Wi-Fi enabled shop and found out The Big Apple Donuts provide free Wi-Fi. So, after trying out a box of donuts worth RM9.50 per box, I think it’s worth the price I’m paying for:

Having a Treat at Big Apple Donuts The Curve Mutiara Damansara

The yummy donuts from Big Apple Donuts & Coffee

I guess I’ll be dropping there some other time soon.

Last week, I sent my car to the workshop. I have this thing whenever I’ve chosen a workshop, I’ll stick to it. Since Fasfik doesn’t cover air-cond and accessories repair, I went to my regular workshop located at Batu 4, Jalan Ipoh, KL. It has been over a month my car’s air conditioner couldn’t provide cool air especially when driving through the city traffic of KL. Car air-conditioning has been a regular issue I’ve been facing since I got my first car 8 years ago. My current Proton Iswara just got it air-conditioning back working after more than a year being without air-conditioning. Upon arriving at the workshop and popping the hood, the mechanic immediately pin-pointed the main problem my car is having. The cooling fan doesn’t work.

This had happened to me on my previous Daihatsu Charade car where I bypass the electrical wiring to save money on repairs. I don’t encourage you to do so because it will affect your car’s morning start. Anyway, back to my story, the mechanic then remove the fan and replace the motor with a new one. Apart from that, I’ve also replaced my broken odometer ever since it got changed after my car’s seat theft 2 years ago. Enjoy the picture below:

My Air-Conditioning and Accessories Repair Shop

My broken Air-Conditioning Fan Cooler

The repair workfloor

My dashboard being removed

My Broken Odometer

My total bill came in at RM305 altogether. RM185 for the new odometer, while RM110 for the motor fan repair. Hopefully this time, my car’s air-conditioner will last long.