Travel notes to the land Down Under…

After waiting for an eternity (actually its plus minus half an hour) at Sydney, we decided to report the delayed baggage as we do need to catch a connecting flight to Canberra. Tried my best to describe the bag, and after being assured it will be looked into,  were given a reference number.

We then make our way by bus to the domestic terminal, (its quite a distance away) but little do we know that actually there are two different domestic terminal which caters to different numbered flight. Went to T2, but were told that our flight is at T3. WTF!! Our flight is slightly more than an  hour away. Luckily its just within a walking distance. Phew!!

Nick hazard a guess that most probably we will be flying a 737 to Canberra, but I told him that we might be flying in a turboprop ( I checked early on) and rightly so, we are on a turboprop. A DHC-8. At least a turboprop will fly much, much lower than a jet plane, so it could mean more photo opportunity :)

Canberra is not unlike Putrajaya to us, as its the administrative capital of Australia. Surprisingly, it has no international airport. Nick commented that the airport at his hometown, Nelson (pop:50K) is about the same size. To put it into perspective, one of our domestic airport are bigger than Canberra (International) airport. Really.

The crew (minus one bag of course) checks in at our accommodation which is equipped with a kitchenette. So, what else, the three of us raid the supermarket afterwards, which is conveniently located at the back of our apartment. Sweet. It is made sweeter by free wi-fi available so me and my mate (hehe) could be online all day long.

Did a web check on my delayed/missing luggage (yup, you could do that). but it is yet to be located. Hmm…

It has to happen sometimes…

As I was writing this, I am at the Sydney Terminal 3, waiting for my flight to Canberra. It has been a hectic travel day for me as I have been travelling since 11am yesterday, driving more than 400km and to catch my 2210hrs flight to Sydney.

Make good time and reach KLIA well in time for boarding. Have dinner and board the plane as scheduled. The flight is surprisingly full but we make good time as the strong tailwind works to our favor and we are scheduled to reach Sydney 50 minutes early.

We are early, so we taxied to another part of the terminal and ferried by bus.  The immigration was a breeze, but as I next prepare to declare the existence of some food items in my checked baggage to AQIS, lo and behold, it happen…

My bag was nowhere to be found.

To be continued…

A different kind of Eid

This year would be a different Aidilfitri altogether.

I would be in Australia for basically a Computer Science in Sport Symposium during the Aidilfitri holidays.  Will be flying off to Sydney and then onto Canberra on the first day of Aidilfitri itself so it leave me with a limited time to actually celebrate Eid.

On one hand, it would be different (read: difficult) to be away during the celebration but on the other hand, I relish the opportunity to pick on the brains of experts in computer/sports/mathematics/medical field.

So, I am taking this opportunity to wish all my dear family and friends, SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDIL FITRI, MAAF ZAHIR BATIN :)

How do Computer Science in Sports works? That would be another story altogether, huhuhu…

Our fragile life…

I received the news late yesterday evening. Pak Tam passed away at office yesterday. He suddenly lost consciousness at work, and rushed to the hospital, where he is pronounced dead.

I visited Tok Haji last night, and he looks devastated, even if he tries to hide it. Nothing prepares the parents for the unenviable task to bade their children goodbye. As I was talking to him, Tok Haji quipped, ‘We thought that we are going away first, not the other way round…’

Relatives and friends came in droves. The ‘jemaah’ came over to say prayers. Pak Tam was only a few years older than me. He does not seems like having any medical conditions but, I might never know. He left a young family and a good career. Such is our fragile life.

Rest in peace, Pak Tam.

Wheel not turning…

I have not been on the bike for the past two month. Missed a lot of  rides , the weekly rides with Man CiOCC clan, even the Century Ride in Ipoh. Not even easy rides around the house. Ceh! Kata cyclist bagai… ride pon tidak :(

Scotty has been gathering dust in the store room in the mean time.

Selfish, selfless

We are selfish creatures. We think about ourselves most of the time. Its all about what is in it for ME, ME and ME. We laments the fact that no one seems to understand us. How come they do not see things the way I do?

I was having a discussion with a close friend about our differences in looking at some things. We debate on how we see things differently on the same matter. One common thing could be interpreted and looked at from two different point of view. How we agree to disagree.

Working together is an art, looking past our differences while recognizing each of our personal strength. Some of us have grown up and have made a name for themselves, so we are no less a person than the next person. But then again, it is never easy to step into other people’s shoe, so how do we know our shoe is bigger than their shoe?

Communication. Miscommunication. We tend to believe what we wanted even if it is a bit off the truth. Not trying to see the other point of view. Being a man, and stepping up to the plate is more honorable than grovel and pointing fingers at others, easily saying everyone missed the whole point.

I am willing to make concessions and look over the past. Are you? Or are you still stuck to the memories of yesterday?

To Win or to Mac?

My first experience with IT is with an Apple, when I got my hands on an Apple IIe at school where, me and my schoolmates learned about graphics and programming on the IIe. So, once the IBM-PC revolution hit the world, I jumped on the bandwagon running.

After graduating, I worked in a bank, the then ‘IT place’. We work around mainframes and IT server rooms which takes up a whole floor. Got my chance to help develop an accounts reconciliation system at the bank and hone my skills both in hardware and software aspect.

I started with DOS, graduated to Win 3.1, then Win 95 all the way to XP, I can say I have the ability to troubleshoot should things broke down or refuse to work in those systems. With Vista? Not too familiar with the system but still learning. It should be easy to do, but I still prefer XP to Vista any day.

Even if I have been dabbling in Windows domain all this while, the Mac  universe has always had a special place in my heart but for the higher price of Apple laptops, I still yet to have my own first Mac. Anyway, todate I have a ‘Hackintosh’  running Leopard 10.5.3 :) Its just so easy to use.

One thing about Macs is that I do not have to deal too much about viruses as compared to on Windows platform. I switched from my Hackintosh to a newly acquired netbook a few weeks ago, and I had been attacked numerous times by either virus/hackware/malware etc. Luckily I have a good AV installed. It helps lessen the risk. Phew.

I love my Mini and I consider it my main work lappie now, but for ease of use and less headache, can’t beat my Hackintosh. Hmm, maybe I should get myself an Intel Mac too… or convert my Mini to a Hackintosh? Now that’s a thought…

To Win or to Mac?