Month: June 2005

Sprite Remix berryclear (No Caffeine)

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sprite remix berryclear

Sprite Remix came out with a new release for their 2005 lineup – the Sprite Remix berryclear
with no caffeine. It’s dubbed (pardon the pun) BERRYCLEAR – The New
Remix and replaces Tropical as part of the Sprite Remix line.

sprite remix coca cola

The promotional liner goes “Sprite Remix is back with a new flavor
to satisfy your thirst. Berryclear Sprite Remix has taken what people
already love about Sprite, added in a mixed berry flavor and created a
new taste that is crisp, clean and refreshing.”

sprite remix summer

That’s the most appropriate adjective to describe the Sprite Remix
Berryclear – it’s crisp, that citrus tang that’s subtle, but
detectable, tantalizing the taste buds. I can’t identify the various
berries that went into this, but the drink certainly is thirst
quenching. There’s no hint of the classic Sprite taste (which I do not
like) and the packing feels very “summery” – the Sprite Remix looks and
tastes like a totally new product.

sprite remix berryclear color

The drink is partially clear, with a slight tint and it seems to
have bits of fruits in it. It’s not too effervesant and it’s not sugar
packed unlike the other products in the same line. It tastes like the
fruity bubbly mineral water that was all the rage a couple of years
back, remember those?

The interesting thing about the Sprite Remix line is the website
tie-in by Coca-Cola which allows users to listen to music, select
tracks and burn them into a CD. Here’s the official Sprite Remix site [sprite.com]. The interaction afforded by the site is novel, and this level of product launches is a laudable move.

PPS Bash 2005 @ Charlie’s Place photos and write-up

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pps charlies place

The PPS 2nd anniversary gathering, dubbed the PPS
Bash was held at Charlie’s Place. I just got back from the event and
this is the write-up of the largest blogger meet in Malaysia. The PPS Bash
[petalingstreet.org] was scheduled at 7:30 pm and I arrived at about
7:35 pm and immediately saw a couple of familiar bloggers – Lainie [tabulas.com] and Fip [pitas.com]. 🙂

pps aizuddin booth

This is the sign-up booth, which was manned by Aizuddin
[aizuddindanian.com], the organizer of the event. There is the official
PPS Ping! 2nd Anniversary T-shirt that everyone signed and also orange
stick-on tags to identify the masses of bloggers that attended the
event. It was packed, this is without question the largest gathering of
Malaysian bloggers to date.

pps ping sign

Here’s a closer look at the Ping! 2nd Anniversary T-shirt with all the signatures of the attendees. I got myself a PPS Ping! T-shirt too – it’s a great memento of the event.

pps charlies bar

This is Charlie’s Place Restaurant & Garden, the venue for the
PPS gathering. It has nice interior decor, and there’s a full licensed
bar as well as various seating arrangements, both indoors and outdoors.

pps indoors charlies

Here’s a look at the interior seating arrangements…

pps steak

…and this is the Charlie’s Place Chef Special Grilled Steak
that I preordered. I had the blue cheese sauce and the tenderloin steak
(RM 41) came out nicely done, despite the deluge of orders. I liked the
steak but I can’t say much about the vegetables coz I don’t really like
vegetables. Nessa ate my grilled tomato, so you should probably ask her
what it tastes like. 😉 The tenderloin steak was great though.

pps nessa lains fip me

Now, here’s the most important bit about the meet up – the bloggers!
These are the pictures from my digicam, in order. Here’s a shot of me
with (L-R) Vanessa, Lainie, Fip, and me.

pps nessa lains fip me alt

This is another variant of the shot – you just gotta love these people. 😉

pps nessa me

This is Nessa [tabulas.com] and me.

pps lains me

Here’s Lains and me.

pps fip me

This is Fip and…er, me. I’m using the first person adjective too much, my apologies. :p

pps lucia me

This is Lucia [blogspot.com], who came all the way from Penang.

pps joyce

Here’s a shot of Joyce (see, I remember ;))…

pps adam

…and Adam, who’s the host of an 8TV program.

pps aizuddin

This is the man of the day – Aizuddin, the host.

pps st

I present to you, the very tall Shaolin Tiger [shaolintiger.com].

pps chooki

This is Chooki
[minishorts.net], and true to her word, she’s wearing nothing. There
was a bit of a frenzy to take shots of her boobs, sorry, I mean
T-shirt. 😉

pps the star

The Star (the newspaper) also came to cover the event – here’s a
shot of me with the two journalists. I’ve always wanted to be one…but
alas. :p

pps suanie

This is Suanie [suanie.net]!

pps jolene

Here’s a shot of me with Jolene [blogdrive.com].

pps prema

I finally managed to meet with Prema [livejournal.com]…

pps kim

…and Kimberly [blogspot.com], the blogger with the sexiest legs. :p Her Aloe entry cracked me up too, surf over to read it. It’s a classic!

pps peter

Here’s Peter Tan [petertan.com], whom I finally managed to meet up with.

pps david

This is David Teoh [davidteoh.com], another blogger whom I’ve wanted to meet, but missed him when he came to Kuching.

pps bloggers 1

Here’s the photos I took with the other bloggers who attended the
event…forgive me, my benzo impaired memory makes short term to long
term memory storage difficult, so please give me your URL so I can link
the person to the blog.

pps bloggers 2

I really should have brought my Pocket PC to note down the blogs but it was still charging when I left…

pps bloggers 3

Please comment with your URL and email address if you want the full
sized photos, would love to share with all the bloggers who brought
along their digicams to cover the event! 🙂

pps bloggers 4

This is James
[blogspot.com] of loopymeals fame and his wife Mae. It’s a pleasure to
meet with all of you, but it’s really difficult to remember the blogs
of 80+ people. Seriously, it would take a very sober person with a
large memory capacity to perform that feat…and that person is not me.
😉

pps bloggers 5

Here’s more photos of the bloggers who attended the PPS Bash – the
one on the right is Callista, whom I’ve read when I was in Melbourne.
Old skool.

pps bloggers 6

There are actually 100+ photos of various bloggers that I took just now.

pps andre

This is Andre Phua, who was kind enough to introduce various bloggers to me.

pps awards mc

The PPS 2nd Anniversary was also the time when the awards for the three categories were presented. This is Mack [brandmalaysia.com] of brandmalaysia.com – the MC of the day. Great speech, and he has a nice sense of humor too.

The winner for Neophyte Blog of the Year did not want to have his picture published, so I’m respecting his wishes.

pps awards jeff

The next award is for the Ping of the Year – it went to the renowned Jeff Ooi [jeffooi.com]. Congrats!

pps awards kenny

The Blog of the Year was snagged by Kenny Sia
[kennysia.com], who did not show up with coconuts. :p This is the man I
voted for, coz his funny entries lights up my day. He’s from Kuching
too. The Neophyte Blog of the Year was a close one, with 4 votes
separating the finalists. I voted for Jaded, if you really want to
know. She wasn’t there though.

pps cake

Finally, the PPS birthday cake was brought out – it says “Happy 2nd Anniversary PPS!” and appropriately has two candles on it.

pps cake aiz

Here’s a shot of Aizuddin with the cake. Cheers for organizing the event!

pps group shot

We gathered for a photo shoot after that – this is (L-R) Kenny Sia, TV Smith, Jeff Ooi, me and Elaine.

pps kenny nuts

This is me checking out Kenny’s coconuts. 😉

pps elaine

Here’s a shot of me with Elaine.

pps tv smith

This is the legendary TV Smith [mycen.com.my], King of Satire!

pps tv smith friend

…and here’s one of his friend. Sorry, I didn’t get your name!

pps lains fip

This is Lainie (complete with her trademark pose) and Fip…

pps nessa me tag

…and here’s one of Nessa and me.

pps fip car

I managed to get back to Cititel by getting a ride home from Fip. I
went back with Fip, Lainie and Nessa. It’s a great privilege to meet
all of the bloggers in Malaysia and I’ll be looking forward to the
second PPS event.

It’s been a great night, and it’s been a pleasure to meet all of
you. Please leave your URL in the comments if you’re covering this
event on your blog, would love to hear from you! 🙂

Madoma Turkish Herbal Ice Cream

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madoma herbal ice cream

I noticed Madoma’s Turkish Herbal Ice Cream at the
LG Floor of Mid Valley Megamall. There was a woman holding a steel rod
vigorously stirring the long, deep ice cream containers. Intrigued by
the unique home made ice cream presentation, I decided to sample this
Turkish herbal ice cream.

madoma turkish herbal ice cream

The proprietor told me about how they made the ice cream (she called
it something else, but I promptly forgot what she said, except
something about orchids). She’s of Turkish descent and this is…well,
Turkish ice cream. The texture looks more like gelato than ice cream
though the difference is subtle…like, er…sorbet and ice
confectionary. :p

madoma turkish herbal ice cream cone

I got a cone for RM 3. There’s two flavors on the cone and the
customer has an option to choose two flavors out of…well, three, ice
cream steel pits. It tastes good…it’s like gelato, and I was told
it’s sorta like the Turkish version of gelato….but for the life of
me, I can’t taste the “herbal” bit in the Turkish Herbal Ice Cream.
It’s good though…

Absolut Vanilla

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absolut vanilla store

I saw this Absolut Vanilla (well, it says Absolut Vanilia, but
Vanilla is easier to write ;)) promotion when I was walking through the
mall just now. There’s a standard 750 ml of Absolut Vanilia and a
miniature 50 ml bottle of Absolut Vanilla for RM 107.99.

absolut vanilla text

I haven’t had this particular vanilla infused vodka from Absolut
before so I got a bottle of Absolut Vanilla. The bottle has writing
that says “Experience the purest natural vanilla blended with the
finest vodka distilled from grain grown in the rich fields of Southern
Sweden.”.

absolut vanilla

I drank the small 50 ml bottle and I was pleased by the scent of
vanilla that wafted out when the bottle was opened. The vodka is nicely
infused with vanilla flavoring too – there’s a very tangible taste of
vanilla in there.

Anyway, I’ll update again later…I’m very pissed off right now,
don’t ask me why. I have to head out now…arranged a last minute
business related appointment.

Shokudo – Little Treasures of Fusion

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shokudo

Shokudo is the Japanese-Thai Fusion eating
establishment located at Mid Valley Megamall. It is a franchise
operation – the other sister outlet is located at Suria KLCC and it’s
called Shoku-Thai (or something to that effect). Shokudo is essentially
a quick service eatery featuring Japanese style presentation and
Japanese-Thai Fusion food.

There is a large banner menu mounted on the wall of Shokudo and it
was interesting enough to attract my attention. There are various
photos and descriptions of Shokudo’s portfolio, with the flagship item
featured prominently in the middle – the Shokudo Fusion Bento.

shokudo fusion bento

The Shokudo Fusion Bento retails for RM 18.90 and
there are options to add on items, which reminded me of a fast food
establishment (which is what Shokudo essentially is). I went for Add On
A, which comes with miso soup, free flow drinks and dessert.

shokudo free refill

The other interesting parallel with fast food outlets is the Free
Refill feature that’s becoming more common in fast service franchises.
True to the roots of it’s Japanese fusion cuisine, there is green tea
(iced and hot) in addition to the various sodas available from the
dispenser and a self-service ice machine.

shokudo interior

This is what the seating arrangements at Shokudo looks like – there
are various configurations of different seating designs. There is also
a notice to warn patrons about the elevated floor, which I did not
digest until I nearly tripped on the outcrop. I nearly lost my balance,
but luckily I managed to realign the center of gravity and mustered
what little dignity I had left to nonchalantly take a seat. 😉

shokudo bento

This is the Shokudo Fusion Bento, the flagship of Shokudo.

shokudo bento box

Here’s a closer look at the Shokudo Fusion Bento Box – I’ll go through a run down of the items in the bento box.

shokudo bento rice

The main item of the Shokudo Fusion Bento is the fragrant rice sprinkled with black sesame seeds (?) for flavoring.

shokudo bento curry

There is a spicy Thai curry chicken dish beside the rice. Shokudo
serves Japanese-Thai Fusion food and true to the claim, the Thai curry
was very spicy. It’s good.

shokudo bento salad

The top left container of the Shokudo Fusion Bento contains
“Japanese salad mix” and it comes with a small container of Thousand
Island dressing (on the side, obviously).

shokudo bento main

The top right corner of the Shokudo Fusion Bento Box is filled with
the mains. It’s chock full of all sorts of goodies. There’s pandan
chicken (the ones wrapped in leaves), gyoza (deep fried dumplings) and
a whole fish head.

Shokodo seems like a promising fast service Japanese fusion
franchise. There are a lot of menu items that looks interesting but I
just managed to sample the flagship tonight. I’ll be heading back again
to try out the other dishes.

KL – PPS Bash

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kl unappetizing food

I took the early morning flight to KL, where I saw the most unappetizing airplane food to date…

klia bin laden

I arrived and made the startling discovery that bin Laden is working as a baggage handler in KLIA…

kl cititel checkin

I have just checked into Cititel in Mid Valley, my usual hotel. I’m
here on business, it’s business a business trip, but it miraculously
coincided with the PPS Bash, which I’ll be attending tomorrow. What a
coincidence, eh? *cough* 😉

Diphenoxylate (Dhamotil) experience report

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diphenoxylate dhamotil

Diphenoxylate is chemically an opioid and has a structure that
resembles meperidine (Demerol). It is available as an anti-diarrheal
and reportedly does not appreciably cross the blood-brain barrier,
although high doses exhibit codeine-like subjective effects, indicating
opiate activity and possible recreational value. Diphenoxylate is
primarily obtained from diphenoxylate and atropine preparations, which
is used to control diarrhea. This is probably due to the general action
of opiate antagonists in causing constipation and the reportedly low
potential for abuse in diphenoxylate profile. The diphenoxylate was
obtained in the form of Dhamotil, which contains 2.5 mg of
diphenoxylate hydrochloride per tablet and 0.025 mg of atropine
sulphate.

diphenoxylate atropine

I obtained Dhamotil (also known as Lomotil) from the pharmacy I
frequent in Sibu – it supposedly has opiate like subjective effects
from what the pharmacist told me. He noticed a trend between people who
obtained dihydrocodeine, codeine, and buprenorphine (drug seeking users
of the opiate variety) had also bought Dhamotil in large quantities,
presumably for recreational purposes (it sure ain’t for helping them
shit, that’s for sure ;)). I was rather dubious about it, so I didn’t
look up diphenoxylate hydrochloride until I ran out of interesting
pharmaceutical solutions to experiment with and found this in my Box of
Interesting Pharmacuticals.

diphenoxylate tablets

I was pleased with the initial results from looking up
diphenoxylate. It seems that atropine was added to diphenoxylate to
prevent the abuse of diphenoxylate, which can produce opiate like
effects in large doses. The atropine was added in sub-therapeutic doses
just to prevent the consumption of massive doses of diphenoxylate for
recreational purposes. It sounded interesting enough to experiment
with, so I consumed 20 x 2.5 mg tablets (2 blister packs) of
diphenoxylate for a total of 50 mg of diphenoxylate. This was consumed
on an empty stomach and several benzodiazepines (Dormicum and Rivotril)
were also taken on a recreational dose. Cannabis was also concurrently
used in this experiment.

diphenoxylate tablets eat

I did notice a slight to moderate warmth consistent with opiate
antagonists after about an hour and this effect was quite prolonged,
lasting approximately 10 hours. This is what I wrote:

little bit of opiat3e warmth perceived
slightly sleepy too due to atropine or prrevious 3xdorms
little nausea tho cannabis was supposed to counter it
its okay i guess, to add a little bit of opaiat3e warnth to your nighty benzo + weed combo.
makes it feel more sedating…with the coldish but still noticable opiat3e warmth

The sloppy English is mainly due to the cannabis compounded by the
close key proximity of the notebook, but subjectively, there is
something interesting about diphenoxylate. The dosage I took (50 mg)
was several times the daily recommended dose but the atropine did not
have an impact on it. I can see the potential for diphenoxylate for a
cheap and mild codeine substitute and I am interested to try it again
at a higher dose (100 mg – 200 mg range) to get a more substantial
appreciation for diphenoxylate.

Thyme’s Continental Cuisine review

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thymes continental cuisine

Thyme’s Continental Cuisine is one of the
relatively new eating establishments to hit the scene. Thyme’s
Continental Cuisine is located at Chonglin Park and the previous lot
was occupied by a dangdut pub before Thyme’s took over.

thymes initial d

There are several sections in Thyme’s Continental Cuisine – there’s
an al fresco seating area to the front, a shaded patio with a juice and
coffee bar and the air conditioned interior. I noticed an Initial D
promotional poster and asked about it – the proprietor told me that
they have a promotional tie in with Star Cineplex.

thymes interior

Anyway, back to Thyme’s, the interior is a nicely decorated area
with subdued lighting. I’ve seen this place at night and I’ve always
thought the lighting is nice, if anything. Thyme’s Continental Cuisine
serves continental fare – there’s pasta, salads, various cuts of
steaks, club sandwiches and pizzas.

thymes pepsi

Intrigued by the Initial D The Movie promotional tie in, I ordered the Initial D Set Menu 1
(RM 25). It consists of miso soup, 86-Burger, tiramisu and a Pepsi. I
wanted to order Thyme’s Tempura Prawn Burger too, but the waiter
discreetly informed me that the “86-Burger” (as in AE-86 of the hottest
current franchise) is the exact same thing as the Thyme’s Tempura Prawn
Burger.

thymes miso soup

This is the miso soup which came out first…it has that slight
cloudy-sediment formation that I associate with miso soup but seems to
have an alien ingredient (at first look) inside – bean sprouts!
Fortunately, it was just remnants from last night’s visual…er,
discrepancies (review coming up). It isn’t bean sprouts but wonderfully
soft small capped mushrooms. The miso soup also has shrimps inside, a
very nice touch, taste wise.

thymes initial d 86 burger

Next up, came the main course, which is the 86-Burger a.k.a. Thyme’s Tempura Prawn Burger.
😉 The menu insert for Thyme’s Tempura Prawn Burger describes it as a
Tempura Prawn Burger with cheese and tonkatsu sauce served with Freedom
fries (kidding, it says French fries) and coleslaw. I like the
attention to detail in the 86-Burger – there are two wooden skews
tipped with colored foil to “hold” the burger in place and the coleslaw
is sprinkled with sultanas, providing a sweet twist.

thymes tempura prawn burger

Here’s a peek under the skirts of the 86-Burger – there are generous
amounts of large battered tempura prawns but I think the machine is
leaking tonkatsu oil…it can be toned down a little.

thymes pizza

I also ordered a pizza – this is The Thyme’s Pizza
(RM 17) which was recommended to me as the flagship of their pizza
line. It contains turkey ham, crab meat, mushrooms, pineapple and
chicken pepperoni. It’s an authentic Italian style flat crust pizza.

thymes pizza crust

The flat pizza was baked perfectly too, it comes highly recommended from me, but be prepared to wait.

thymes sundae

Unfortunately, the tiramisu was finished so they offered me a sundae
as a replacement dessert. I moved to the patio outside for dessert and
ordered a Mocha. The sundae has slightly salty batter coated peanuts,
which I found to be an interesting choice to implement in a sundae.
It’s unusual but surprisingly came out well.

thymes mocha

I also managed to chat with the very hospitable Mr Chan, who is the
proprietor, over a mug of Mocha. I asked him about the Initial D
promotional tie in with The Star and he kindly gave me a ticket for the
Initial D movie when it opens in theaters and gave me a good discount
on my bill too.

thymes initial d movie tickets

This is the Initial D movie pass that is valid at Star Cineplex.
This is one movie I’m looking forward to watching. Thyme’s Continental
Cuisine has a nice range of continental cuisine that will not
disappoint you. The food is affordable and the ambience is nice. It
comes highly recommended from me.

Huygens Asia office tour

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huygens office

Huygens Asia is the surveillance solutions provider and systems
integrator that I work with. This is our soon-to-be ex-office (we’re
moving end of this month) at Jalan Padungan. The office is being
shifted to a place of our own in 2 1/2 Mile in Kuching as well as a
simultaneous move to setup a branch office in KL (will be going there
soon to oversee operations). This is a write-up of the office that I’ve
been working in for nearly two years.

huygens office back

The current office in Jalan Padungan is shared with AT&A Home
Ideas, an interior design firm (which is kinda like our sister
company). We’re on the first floor while they occupy the ground and
third floor (yes, there is a third floor, much to my initial surprise).
This is the back entrance that we usually use as the car park is
located there. Notice the surveillance cameras mounted at the front and
back of the office? There’s a lot more inside. 😉

huygens office back walk

Let me give you a tour of this office and its inhabitants before we
move…this is the back doors that we usually go into after parking our
cars at the car park located behind. There’s no parking in front, only
stop-over parking lots.

huygens office back walk in

The doors leads to the back room of AT&A…

huygens office back walk in ata

…and we go straight through until we’re near the front show room of AT&A.

huygens office back walk in right

This is where we make a right and walk up the stairs to the first
floor. Notice the mirror? It’s very useful for checking yourself out
before you walk into the office. Just don’t drown in the reflection. 😉

huygens office back walk in up

We make a left at the stairs that leads up to…the Huygens Asia signboard.

huygens office signboard

This is Huygens Asia Sdn. Bhd. The door leads to…

huygens office door

an array of video conferencing units (which we’re not selling anymore) and surveillance cameras (which we’re still selling).

huygens office door view

The view pans to more surveillance cameras, an IT rack, and moving right…

huygens office reception

…the reception.

huygens office penny

This is Penny, who usually seats there.

huygens office alex

This is Alex on the technical workbench.

huygens office technical

Here’s the technical support staff…and moving on, we head into…

huygens office inner

The inner office which is currently occupied by the CTO, Marketing Manager and System Engineer (that’s me).

huygens office inner me

This is the workplace which I occupy between the hours of 8 am to 6
pm (usually). I like this place for the sole reason that my back is
against the wall. This allows me the luxury of being able to see most
of the office but not vice versa. 😉

huygens office me

This is me wearing a smirk that you’ll love to punch out of my face
for having my monitor and notebook facing backwards, and thus allowing
me to do whatever I want (such as updating this blog) without anyone
noticing. 😉

huygens office angel

The current Huygens Asia office is rented from Angel of AT&A.
We’ll be moving out to our own office space in 2 1/2 Mile, Kuching
(near the 3rd Mile Bazaar) and opening up a branch office in KL at the
end of this month.

You can access the various (12 – count them!) real time IP surveillance systems that we’ve put up in the office at the official Huygens Asia website
[huygensasia.com]. Please feel free to surreptiously watch me at work
if you feel a burning need to do so. There are multiple demo
surveillance systems that allow you to do so. Oh, and purchase a GPRS/EDGE surveillance unit [huygensasia.com] while you’re at it – it’s my ticket to London. :p

DHL Jigsaw Puzzle

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dhl jigsaw puzzle

This is a DHL Jigsaw Puzzle that came in the mail today. It’s a
freebie from them, though I can’t imagine what purpose it would serve.

dhl puzzle finished

There are just four pieces of the bright yellow jigsaw puzzle, and
when assembled, it reads “Love hearing from you again, again and again”.

dhl puzzle mousepad

It also makes for a good mouse pad. That’s bullshit btw, it doesn’t
work well as a mouse pad at all – this is just a filler post. 😉

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