August

August is a very meaningful month to me, why?

1. My wife's birthday
2. My 2nd daughter's birthday
3. and of course, Independence Day - Malaysia is celebrating 51 years as a nation!

So apart from feeling patriotic and such, my poket also kopak la this month! Hahha... I bought my wife a Nikon D60 with 18-55 VR lens. Her Olympus Mju700 went south during last years' Raya... My wife likes to take pictures and she really cherished her Mju700, so takpe aaa...janji dia suka, and nothing makes me happy than seeing my wife happy (now if only i can persuade her to let me buy a Lancer GT! -- Miahahhah!!!)

For Najah, i bought her a box of Fisher Price shape box. Seems like a bit to late for a box of shape sorting but i really don't know what to give her. It seems that children nowadays are far more advanced in terms of understanding, environment and expectations... so takpe la, she seems to be brave and don't mind a little dirt on her face. Maybe i'll buy her a Lego next time!

We had a little gathering before puasa for the family and also celebrate Najah's birthday while we're at it! Kak Duna and her family was there, Gandma and Yai Wak, Yai Soud and Tatabu, Kak Nina and kids... we had lots of fun. Loads of pics were taken with the aforementioned camera... ~tu dia, teruih test! Tgk at my wife's blog for that! I'm too lazy to upload...

Anyway, Selamat Menyambut Merdeka and to my wife and kids... i love you guys very much!

Gastronomy - Fig & Olive, Sunway Pyramid

Ladies and gentlemen, today we'll discuss a very interesting topic which is dear to all of us. Food!
My family and i and my friends of course, we are a "happy go makan" group, so to speak. We would try different kind of food from different kind of restaurant almost every day of the week.

This week alone is like a plethora of nasi kandar.

Monday - nasi goreng belacan Carrefour Subang
Tuesday - nasi kandar Kudu Bin Abdul, Jalan TAR <- Woo!
Wednesday - rehat... skip lunch
Thursday - nasi kandar kayu Taipan <-- Whoo!
Friday - ...? nasi kandar zainul, PJ? we'll see... <-- Woo!

So for now, i would like to talk about some of the food i've encountered during my makan journey.

Fig n Olive <-- http://www.figolive.com/















Fig & Olive is an upscale, cafe and bistro serving food items representing a blend of European and Mediterranean origins. And i must say the foods are nice. Menus are abundant from appetizers, salads, gourmet, sandwich... you will be spoilt for choice. The food reminds you of the Godfather movies... with the table setting and all... Portions are huge, plenty of choice when it comes to drink, shakes, icecream, coffees, tea, cakes... Foods served there are halal.

Some of the foods are:













































Overall the food is nice, the setting is nice, step outside and you get to see the whole of Sunway Lagoon.

The food is spectacular, especialy the rice. My daughters just love them. they actually have an online order form but i have yet to try. Maybe any of you guys can try and give me a holler.

How to get there?

LG2-122A, Lower Ground 2,
Marrakesh Sunway Pyramid,
46150 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor.
Tel: 03-74920955

A toast!

As much as i would like to indulge in the happy time topic (~visualize clubs/bars where friends drinking and toasting to each other saying happy this and happy that~) but sadly it's not about that kind of toast. Not even roti bakar!

What i have in mind is actually the Toastmasters International, where a group of people meet and basically talk their hearts out. Most Toastmasters meetings are comprised of approximately 20 people who meet weekly for an hour or two. Participants practice and learn skills by filling a meeting role, ranging from giving a prepared speech or an impromptu one to serving as timer, evaluator or grammarian. It is actually a good vehicle to improve your communication skills and your grammar, etc.

Now, i know about Toastmasters for quite some time and have never been bother to actually join them because i consider myself quite a speaker. (And i had the nerve to ask my english teacher what do they do? Drink beer and toast?)

Until today that is. A friend of mine by the name of Zack has been inviting me to join the office chapter. Reluctantly i agree to come as a favor because he said they weren't having enough speakers for today. There i was sitting and not knowing what to expect (Beer toasting kept popping up!). I was the 5th speaker for the table topic session which is a 2 minute session where you are given a topic and basically talk anything related to the topic. I chose "Transmute Gold". I wanted to do teleportation but an earlier speaker chose that and talk about Star Trek. Next was flight but Satish had to pick that and basically put pictures in our head of him in red undies... wahahhaha... so i chose Transmute Gold instead. After my 2 minutes session was done i sat and enjoyed the rest of the meeting.

When it came to the evaluation session, they were recording/keeping count of my Umm and Ahhs. and got 5 of them combined. I didn't realize that and i thought "Wow, i really need to weed these Umms and Ahhs out!". As a token of my silly table topic, i was voted "Best Table Topic" speaker for my version of the midas touch.

Zack cangratulated me for the funny speech i made and said, "if you want to join, just let me know".

I am seriously thinking about it...

plus the food was great!

Lesbiana Penguinica is engaged!

Wahhh... the ceremony is just like a wedding ceremony, with tents, nasi minyak, relatives... hahha...

Congratulations la brother! Now you have to save money for the hantaran and wedding expenses!

Some of the pics are here!

It's been a while... Movie Updates!

OK, as the title suggested i'm extremely busy at the moment, but it has not stop my movie watching activities.

Here's an update:

Journey to the center of the earth
good to watch with the family
3/5

th dark knight
excellent, the best summer movie. period!
5/5

kung fu panda
good and fun for the whole family, jack Black was hilarious as Po the Panda
4/5

The Incredible Hulk
one of the best for this summer blockbuster, basically repaired the mellow version Ang Lee made (it is good as well).
4/5

Get Smart
Funny most of the times, Carrell is really good, Hathaway was hot! Johnson is underplayed, should give him more lines... feels a bit draggy at moments but funny none the less.
4/5

Hancock
Adult superhero movie with some serious dilemma and issues, not for kids below 12. kids go see Wall.E
4/5

That's all ...
Enjoy your movie with family and friends!

Proton Technology Week

I'm really excited to go to Proton Technology Week.

Bring along your family and friends!

Admission is FREE!

Discover the art and technology behind everything we build. Revisit the
journeys you’ve helped inspire over the past 23 years. From humble beginnings,
to the achievements of today - and the shape of things to come.

PROTON will be opening its doors just for you! The PROTON Technology
Week, on the 2nd and 3rd of August 2008, is an open day to let you discover the
R&D works behind the car-making industry. There will also be lots of fun and
games for you and your family.
Our main objective is to display and make
accessible to the public our various innovation initiatives and Research and
Development facilities. Don’t miss the chance to experience for yourself the
different stages of car production, from scratch to the road.

That’s not all! There will also be a carnival with lots of exciting
activities such as car stunts, driving demonstrations, drifting, sales of
performances parts, kids activities, and lots, lots more.

For more info click HERE