OMG it has been a year!

Just came to realize my last update was nearly a year ago! So much things had changed and I don't even know where to begin with. Just checked my draft and apparently there are 2 drafts that was lying there and its about "foreclosure" and "Economy crisis" but never did get published. I guess I lacked the passion to complete the drafts as its all just data but not about how to summarize it up nicely from my perspective. On a personal basis, the crisis impacted factory industries in the sense that increment and promotion comes scarce. I guess those who are the slave for industries have to endure this cyclical move, on a self note, I need to get out of the next cycle as the industry is too unforgiving..

Just a bit of update (not in chronological order) on whats happened for the last 1 year:

Burglary on my apartment - Somewhere in November my house got broke into (ok, he literally climbed in from my open window) and stole away my laptop, digital camera, Nokia charger, portable hard disk and wallet. The major impact is the portable hard disk which contains alot of my personal pictures and also information which I could leverage based on my work but fortunately I can survive without it. Did some improvement to deter further break in right after that...

This is what my original living room looks like, no big deal here

Masonry measure and preparing the demolision of the wall

The day the wall fell

There are 2 days where I have no windows to cover my new opening

Stole this from LuNee's blog on how the end result looks like

What is different here beside the extension of the additional 40 sq. ft. were the small facelift on my kitchen thanks to Elaine. Now it looks more neat and tidy :) Also different right now is the new carpet I got from Lorenzo! Hahaha, yes, I changed my old IKEA carpet and now its bigger, furrier and nicer! Of course it cause a dent in my pocket but for a place I spent so often, I think its worth it.

Another major event was my car involved in an accident around last August. It happened when my car had completed a service and was prepared to be delivered the next day, but a trainee from Shidi's workshop mis-judged some distance and broke my front... the damage is severe: front bumper, headlamp, bonnet, fender...
Everything was replaced with the same old stuff which Shidi manage to sourced but it took away another 3 months of my time. It was also repainted on the front side and its now back to normal

Apparently my only solitude entertainment was my lousy hi-fi, gone were the days of PS2, PSP, modeling and also trading card games. Age is really catching up I guess, my next hype is PS3 but that requires HDTV... definately something worth pondering :)

100th post

After 3 years, this blog reached what seemingly a long run for the 100th post. I noticed that I have lost the passion to blog whatever that comes to my mind, one is probably I am lazy to tap into my cranial juice to dig up what I felt previously, another reason is probably I am contented with my life right now and see no effort needed to write down stuff that I might feel dear later in life.

For those of you who had not known, I have changed my work role from Product Quality to Customer Quality. This might sound contradicting to my previous motto in life where I look up upon technical information as a true source of wisdom and knowledge and of course a form of job satisfaction, but having joined this company, I was shown that despite all the knowledge or effort you put into helping your product reach a more mature quality level, it all boils down to how management views you from their perspective. A good quality engineer might successfully averted disaster from his factory but his work might not be understood or appreciated by others.

Customer quality stands at the same fine line but it has one thing that I believe will make my life more happy, and that is the work loads are more cyclical. In order to keep working in this company, I find that I need time to pick up, sustain and then go back to standby mode again. One can never keep operating at 95% efficiency (well at least me) and I find that this new department is a good way to build up the way I speak to others

So currently I am holding two roles (product quality and customer quality) and that is why I can't find the time to update my blog or give you an update of how am I doing (not that you care anyway I know :P) By next week the replacement should arrive and I would do my passdown and go on with my life with SAP system and CQE :)

And here is an update of how my car is doing, ever since getting out from the workshop, there had been a few hiccups here and there, so in chronological orders:
- Air cond not cold (compressor faulty)
- Clock not working (fuse 20A burnt)
- Air cond not cold again (dryer pipe leak)

So far its running good and most of the problems were fixed in the warranty period. Have also changed the tyre to Hankook Ventus HR2 and I must tell you, I miss my old Advan Neova.

Have been actively playing pet society and Restaurant city lately also :)
I vowed to get myself out from facebook games but looks like I'm into it again, don't know how long it will be before I stop playing it. There are many times I knew its not a right thing to do, but part of my hearts want to do it and when it failed to deliver what I want, the results could be disastrous. I hope I can learn as fast as I could or there won't be much chances for me to blow next time...

Till then

Transplant: Mixed feeling

Finally got the car 2 weeks ago and it has been on the road since, generally the car was good on the road, the air cond was not cold initially when it was out from garage but it has been fixed few days ago due to a faulty compressor.

Initial results shows good, no temperature increase when stucked in long traffic jam (except the failing aircond earlier), no leakages on the undercarriage, no knocking sound, reach 180kmh smoothly with no flat zone, minimum turbo lag even on front mount intercooler, moderate fuel consumption (RM60 for 350 km city driving) and no wiring faults.

One thing funny about the car is its fast on straight, but slow on corners. The way you decelerate and accelerate no longer apply when you drive a NA compared to a turbocharged car. This is one thing I guess I will not figure out until some months later on the road and its pretty frustrating to wait for the turbine to spool your way our from the exit corner... I used to think that with such a forced induction engine, everything is going to be fast, but this is virtually not the case. With boost on 0.9 bar max, the car is pretty fun when on the federal road but not so fun on, say Tanjung Bungah hill road...

I missed the feeling of driving the Deto at 5th gear and you still can overtake a car while youo yourself going at 60kmh. I missed the feeling of instant torque whenever you want it on my old Deto. I also missed the feeling of the LSD gear when taking corner with the Deto, knowing quite well that upon exiting the corner, you already on your power band and its linear acceleration. Now only I realize my driving skill sucks because I relied too much on the old engine's torque to drive regardless of the correct gear to use... but anyway I guess life was not meant to be that simple.

Well, for what's worth, going to Genting or Cameron or city driving would be much fun with this 4E engine, but certainly the scary feeling of driving this 4E will always be there, one will never know when the turbo is going to kick in when you are going through a corner, and if it kicks in right at the apex with a pool of water, that might not be a good way to die.

Until I can find a way to fix the way I drive during corner and change my driving style when handling gear, I don't think I will say this engine is good for me.

On a lighter note, I will be needing to change my botak tyres soon, the Yokohama Advan Neova had finally run to a near 10% tread and definately not road safe during rain. Another dilema is whatever tyre I choose, it will never be as good as the AD07 because I can't afford semi slicks anymore, and that's probably whats made it even more frustrating. Regardless, safety is still a priority..

Nice week ma...

Had been watching alot of movie lately... finally there are time to clear up those downloaded movie especially this week where my schedule and job load are loose (don't tell my boss)! Had been watching "What happened in Vegas" which is kinda like a chick flick, not bad of a show which cool down myself but with an expected ending. Worth watching if you want something light... and there are a few spur of the moment laughter... well, it would be seriously wrong if you don't laugh watching this movie anyway. Cameron is kinda chio in certain scene and potong stim in certain shots... but I'm sure this is what the director want the audience to feel...

Another film is "Sniper", and no... this is not the English movie which have a few sequel here and there, this is a chinese film starring innocenti Richie Ren, sex king Edison and another guy I don't know his name. The movie basically used all the famous sniper rifle that CS fans and airsoft fans would heard of... PSG-1, Artic warfare AWP, Dragunov, Beretta 50 cal. (yup that anti vehicle shit) are all there... the plot is a standard "best guy" left the academy coz of circumstancial issue and came back for revenge and take out some good guys before some good guy come back and square off with him. It talks about some of the sniping method and tactic but nothing deep like "double tap" or the like. Its worth noting that his movie is also behind in screening time because of the sex scandal Edison got involved earlier...

Having said that I have more time in my hand now, I foresee that this window of enjoyment will close soon once the next wave of work hits my factory... so much for "hardship first, enjoy later"... and I still have 7 days of leave to clear by June!!! I wonder if I am able to clear it in time... it would be silly to just burn off my earned leave because of heavy workload... this is just insane.

This week is also 3 days off.. because of labour day on Friday (1st May maaa)... didn't do much at home, was downloading torrent, watching movie, sleeping... the standard work. Hohoho

Till next time, TiBuN signing off...

Transplant: What happened to my old engine?

HD-EG sold! Gonna send to Brian O' Connor somewhere in L.A.

Didn't know they watch fast and furious :P

Transplant: Week 10 engine bay touch up

Tomorrow is the convoy trip to Pantai Merdeka, but because my car is not able to be complete... anyway its still pending:
1) Rear disc brake - Removed on loan for someone to get his car approved by JPJ
2) Change steering rack
3) Change dashboard light to ah bengz red LED
4) Change head gasket
5) Change to heavy duty clutch
Basically those are the things needed before can drive safely in our hectic road

And now the snapshot for this week...

The engine has been cleaned and touched up, all vacuum hose has been replaced with bengz silicon tubing, the whole engine back has been painted flat black, even the exhaust manifold are covered with high temperature silver paint... One of the relocation was the radiator reservoir where it made way for the intercooler piping on the left

The standard ah bengz intercooler had been installed and it seem small compared to most of the turbocharged car out there, but this is intentional as I want to drive with the best heat management setup that I can afford and I believe this type of front mount intercooler will be able to absorb most of the heat and leave my engine heat alone...

Wait till Shidi comes back from the convoy....

Nasi Kandar Shariff Gelugor

One of the best dinner that I tarpao is this Nasi Kandar Shariff just outside my taman... Its located at the same row as Gelugor post office, near Clinic Aman or directly opposite the Gelugor 7-11 to be exact. The reason its one of the best is because everytime I find it deliciously appetizing and I can always finish the dishes no matter how full or hungry I am.

Picture courtesy of Malaysiabest.net

Unfortunately everytime want to order, sure have to endure a minimum queue of 7 person and above... and if really even bad luck, those people in the queue will order like 10 take-aways and you have to wait patiently and hoping that the telur bawang won't finish...

After consuming 3 weeks straight of nasi kandar with frequency of at least twice a week, I noticed a consistent pattern from this famous nasi kandar operational standpoint that could be further improved to serve its faithful customer...

As can see from the picture on the left, we could see the setup of the nasi kandar store which consists of 3 workers:

- Worker A and B are dish picker and they manage the customer ordering and attend to the next on the line customer, they only need to gather the rice and know whether customer is dining in or take away. They are capable of doing automated repeat ordering and also some form of telepathic understanding with customers. They also provide costing for each customer

Cycle time: 30 seconds

- Worker C works on packing the order, receive payment of each customer, provide change of the customer, and complete shipping packing bag, he also responsible of providing the utensil if the customer is dining in. This worker C does not have complete control in costing and have to rely on worker A and B for confirmation

Cycle time: 45 seconds to 90 seconds depending on customer payment and amount of orders per customer

The customer also queue up via arrow 1, and then upon completion of order, he / she tracks via arrow 2 and engage worker C for finalization.

So anyone with a bit of common sense would know that having 2 workers working on a short cycle time task while assigning 1 person doing a heavy and highly variable work load is a spell for disaster. Ask anyone that knows Shariff and the first thing they remember is the ridiculously long queue....

If anyone wants to streamline this process, some or all the following shall take place to minimize 'wastage' of customer time:

1) Provide training to worker C so that he had the ability to compute and provide costing of order

2) Allow customer auto payment at counter (means customer put the money and take their change themselves)

3) Reroute the queue line so that worker A and B able to gauge the processing time and provide 'help' to worker C if it holds up (resource management)

4) Relocate either worker A or worker B to do something else other than the front line

One of the plus thing is that every order they manage to use FIFO (First In First Out) system and that is really impressive, the only problem here is storage location for the placed order that could be clumsy, but without fail this system won't go wrong because customer is always there confirming and prevent any wrong order packed.

Maybe despite all that, the secret ingredient is the long wait? They say stuff that you waited long enough would taste better, hehe

Sunday spree

This weekend a little more free than usual, one case mainly that my manufacturing line is up and running with no more pending issues, therefore I am right here at my apartment watching movie, cooking and blogging. Can't beat this kinda life huh? Yesterday had a wedding dinner at Lone Pine Farlim area, the place is kinda cool with nice environment for a wedding dinner, but the food can be better...

After that hang out with Horny and Jeebs at SOHO, nothing much, just seeing that Integra guy trying hard to beat some foreigners and make friends, then received a message from Sheeb and say they are at Soi 11, never heard of that place (yeah, I memang aw) so went there and hang out with them for a while... took a shot of Chivas I think before heading back to SOHO, dunk the remaining Carlsberg and headed back home, nearly killed myself on the last leg of the corner entering Halaman because some idiot parked a 4 wheeler right at the corner apex.

Nevertheless it was a good evening spent, I seldom play until so late already, guess its age calling out to me...

And now for the weekly update on my car...

The front mount intercooler is getting in, this is going to be sweet, I just hope the lag is not obvious, but by using a medium sized IC coupled with 2 inch piping, it shouldn't be that much lag on the CT9...

The car is now being 'wrapped' with a blue clothes because Shidi claims that too many people wanted to go in, start the engine and play with the throttle -.-"

Hope the IC will get fixed this week and roll out for test drive next week... still have alot of cleaning up to do on this scumbag... I miss you dear :P

Anyway today had watched a movie called "Cloverfield" which is one of the shittest movie I have ever watched, it talks about a creature terrorizing NYC and with the filming effect of the portable camera (ala Blair Witch, Quarantine...etc) it made me felt so damn dizzy after the show. Granted its interesting but I find it hard to visually track the footage while remaining focus of whats going on, thumbs down for the show... alot of impossible things happened like removing a victim from impaling WITHOUT having much problem on over bleeding, things like no corpses on the road after all the crap that had happened, things like the US military using non-guided rockets against an enemy in their own home soil... I doubt so

Then after that watched another movie called "The curious case of Benjamin Button" starring Brad Pitt... this show pulak totally change the experience, nearly cried watching this movie (read: I still didn't), it talks about a baby that was born very old, and he gradually become young again...

So basically the timeline for this movie is:
Mental age: 1 physical age: 80
Mental age: 10 physical age: 69
Mental age: 80 physical age: 1


So when he was newly born, his skin is old like fart, and when he is 80 years old, he is back to become a baby again, the main story is how he meet with a gal and how their relationship turns out to be... the last few years of the relationship is nice because he is living the best of everyday because he knows one day the gal will become old and he will be too young... So anyway, something worth watching with a little change of typical flavour in movie.