Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Kuala Lumpur Night View

Took these pics at the Look Out Point, somewhere in the middle of the nowhere in Ulu Ampang. Strange that mountain roads like this still exist at somewhere so near KL...

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I won't tell you how to get there, that's because it is a hassle and a long winded explanation really... if you stay somewhere in Pandan Indah, near Taman Saga, probably you've already knew the existence of this place... nope... it is not Taman Saga, nor Cheras little Genting... it is called the Lookout Point...

This is one of the better pics I managed to get with my 12x zoom. Perhaps I should bring a more steady tripod (heavier one) since it is quite windy up here.

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Thanks Chor Wan for recommending such a wonderful hide out for such cool evening weather.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

A day at work - Monash University Installation

A lot of people asked about what I sell in reality, since I always mentioned that I am merely a sales girl. But the moment when I say I sell scientific research stuffs, most people misunderstood by thinking I sell microscopes, erm... worse is drugs, pharmaceuticals...

So... today I will bring you to take a glimpse on a typical day of work I have.

Hmmm... in reality it is a bit more special today, as the fact that we are delivering some goods to Monash Sunway today. I have been very happy since we first received the order for the goods from Monash School of Medicine and Health Science since two months ago. Their decision in buying the stuffs propose by my colleague and I, marked a milestone that I can indeed sell something instead of being perceived that I day dream half the time in this company of mine... or at least I think of myself that way. Keke...

Lew, Ham and I have been busy unwrapping all the goods from the boxes, trying to assemble them, clean them till late.

First we had the pH meter done... in case you dunno, Sir Arnold Beckman invented the first pH meter in the world... and therefore people now can tell me I need to buy different type of soap with different types of pH so my skin can look the same 20 years from now!

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Then got to calibrate with the buffer of different pH... took this pic partly because their color combination look great!

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And and its done!

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Then started meddling with the centrifuge.

According to wikipedia:

A centrifuge is a piece of equipment, generally driven by a motor, that puts an object in rotation around a fixed axis, applying force perpendicular to the axis. The centrifuge works using the sedimentation principle, where the centripetal acceleration is used to separate substances of greater and lesser density. There are many different kinds of centrifuges, including those for very specialised purposes.


We started with the small one first -- microcentrifuges, that spin only the eppendorf tubes

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The unrefrigerated Microfuge

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The refrigerated Microcentrifuge

This is the rotor, where you put your sample tubes to spin. The cover is used to prevent tube breakage, in case that the tubes are too small for the hole. Who knows what kind of dangerous specimen people might be having inside it.

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And, there's the bigger one -- Bench Top Centrifuge as well...

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Assembling the rotor hand to be fitted into the centrifuge

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This rotor is a bit different, the place to fit the sample is a bucket swinging a little when spinning.

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And finally, we came to the biggest item for the day. The ultracentrifuge that is.

All wrapped up!

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And unwrapped!

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Wikipedia on Ultracentrifuge:

The ultracentrifuge is a centrifuge optimized for spinning a rotor at very high speeds, capable of generating acceleration as high as 1,000,000 g (9,800 km/s²). There are two kinds of ultracentrifuges, the preparative and the analytical ultracentrifuge. Both classes of instruments find important uses in molecular biology, biochemistry and polymer science. Theodor Svedberg invented the analytical ultracentrifuge in 1923, and won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1926 for his research on colloids and proteins using the ultracentrifuge.

Therefore you can see that for such high speed instrument, it is the hardest thing to install and to commission. Ham has got to make sure the machine itself is balanced, so as to prevebt accident from happening when running.

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He has also got to check to make sure the leg are securely leveled.

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Phew, by the time we were done, it was almost 5.30pm. Just in time for us to go home. Will have to come back again sometime next week to teach our customer how to use it properly.

Anyways, these stuffs are just one part of the thing I have to "sell". Perhaps I will take more pictures the next round when we have more installation going on. Heh...

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

是無,也是有(何權峰)


把不要的东西清空,那些美好的事物才能进来。

你拿着一个杯子,里面装满着水,然后你把水倒掉,你会怎么描述它?你会说它是空的杯子?还是说它是满的杯子? 

你进入一个房间,里面摆满着家具和杂物,然后有人把这些东西都搬走。当你再度进入这房间的时候,你有会怎样描述它呢?你会说里面没有东西?还是说它是满的?
你会说些什么都没有,对吧?因为当水被倒掉,当东西被搬走,里面空空的,所以你会认为里面什么都没有。 

但是,没有是什么呢?杯子里没有水,却装满着空气是什么都没有吗?当家具被拿掉之后,整个房间都变大,你拥有更多空间,是什么都没有了吗?不,当你没有,你其实拥有更多。


你觉得[没有],那是因为你只看到那些存在的实物,却没有看到存在的空间;你只看得见的,却没有看到看不见的. 

墙壁是看得见的,但是房子之所以有用,并不在于周边的墙壁,而在其中的空间。你只能使用墙壁与墙壁之间的房间,生活在那些空无的部分,你无法住在墙壁里,不是吗?
你从哪里进入房子?从哪里呼吸新鲜的空气?从门、从窗、从空无、从[看不见]墙壁的地方,对吗? 

当你用罐子来装东西,你用的是哪里?你用的是罐子的[墙壁]还是其中的空间?当你用杯子装水来喝,你用的是哪里?你用的是杯子中空的部分,对吗?所以,真正重要的是空间。
人们实在太过于执著于东西,只知不断地抓,不断地要,不断地想拥有,想占有,却没有意识到当你抓得越多,空间就越小;要得越多,空间就越窄。 

这世界已日益拥挤,日益压迫,原因就出在人们不懂得舍。你必须先舍弃,把不要的东西清空,那些美好的事物才能进来。 

空,是无,也是有。[没有]往往比[占有]拥有更多。

Taken from : 四捨五入 - 何權峰

Sunday, September 09, 2007

Meet my new love

The Suzuki Swift CKD version...

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Was suppose to blog about this earlier, but till not could not be sure if I really could afford something so nice like this. The first time I met it at the dealers place, its blue color already stole my heart.

Decided to take it on a long drive with Mark to Kota Bharu, and still awed at how comfortable to be inside it, as compare to my previous car.

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It's a little dirty at this angle where the picture was taken. Can't blame it as it was like a 8 hour journey on the road from KL to Kota Bharu via Grik.

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I really love this car. With me ditching my old green Iswara, it marked the end of manual transmission era in our household. Long live auto transmission!

Dinner at Inner Mongolia Restaurant, Pudu KL

As we were about to wonder what's the signature dish at this Inner Mongolia Restaurant, situated opposite of the old Pudu Jail, we were abruptly introduced with their promotion of the month : China style steamboat, all you can eat for RM22.40 ++

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It is not really our first time having northern style steamboat. There were already few other northern Chinese 北方 restaurants around Pudu area serving similar stuffs. Mostly the spicy soup 麻辣汤 is made of numbing yet peppery red hot soup, and instead of seafood, meat dishes consist large amount of thinly sliced beef, lamb, pork, etc.

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Basically, apart from that you cannot order more than 2 plate per person on the thinly sliced meat dishes, you can pretty much eat however much of the stuffs on the steamboat menu. Stuffs ranging from shitake mushrooms, straw mushrooms, thing mushrooms, vegetables, toufu, deep fried toufu skin, noodles, meat balls, intestinal part...

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It is really a lot to eat for three person, and I love the fact that we could order fresh vegetables however much we want. And I love the non-spicy soup base, which I thought was very flavorful.

Do go try it before the promotion ends Sept 30th 2007. After that you pretty much have to order the steamboat by per item and that can be quite expensive. (e.g. thinly sliced beef for RM18 per plate, you get the idea)


Inner Mongolia Restaurant
290 Ground Floor
Jalan Pudu
Kuala Lumpur
Telephone: 03. 2144 9688
Business hours: Daily, lunch (noon-3pm); dinner (6pm-11pm)

read about what KY thinks of his meal at Inner Mongolia too at:
http://kyspeaks.com/2007/01/03/ky-eats-mongolian-steamboat-at-inner-mongolia-restaurant/

Saturday, September 01, 2007

Kota Bharu Town Map



I have scanned Kota Bharu's Town Map Year 2007 for anyone that might be interested to explore where abouts places in the town. It has been quite accurate for our use on our last trip there.

Here's the file. Enjoy!