Cat and kitten at CentrePoint

technorati tags:Cats, CentrePoint

My birthday today

It's my birthday today but I'm not really celebrating it.

Sadly there is always a death in the family that clouds my birthday. My uncle from Teluk Intan just passed away last week of cancer and there's just too many relatives I have lost to the dreaded C monster.

I'm no longer working full time so that's a change from past years. Anyway, I'm working hard at my websites and blog so that I can get even more free time to spend with family. Maybe that will be my birthday wish for the year..

Early Christmas?

Holidays season is coming early with Coupon Chief. It's only September but I'm looking forward to Christmas already with couponchief.com because the deals are so good, it's the perfect place to go gift hunting.

With sites like Coupon Chief around, I can't imagine buying anything at full price without a discount. It's stupid to pay for something full price when it's possible to pay less for it.Anyway, my two favourite things to get online are books and computer peripherals.So naturally Amazon coupons are one of my favourites because I can coupons that entitles me Free Shipping for orders above $25 and discounts on certain products that Amazon sells.Best Buy coupons are also great for things like $50 off the Nikon D40x SLR camera. I could ask my sister to get this when she comes down from San Francisco in a few months time.

technorati tags:Online, Purchase, Coupons

Chess for all ages

Dato Tan Chin Nam -  Mid Valley's big boss and owner of other big businesses platiently playing chess in Cititel Mid Valley during the DATMO blitz competition last month.

Dato Tan is an avid chess player and pretty strong club player at that.

technorati tags:Chess

Random Picture from AmBank Challenge

Chess is so boring. That's what local chess player Cheah Cheok Fung seems to convey in the above picture in the AmBank Chess Challenge that ended recently in Cititel MidValley KL.

technorati tags:Chess

Cat in a drain

Holidays in Canada

Still tired and in bed, I dream of visiting faraway lands like Canada..

Flights to Canada is cheap on this website (Dialaflight) www.dialaflight.com.


Dialaflight is a UK travel company which not only offers cheap flights but also covers hotels & travel ideas around the world. I love the site because it is crammed with travel info. The search feature is great too as you can find flights, hotels and travel info such as car hire all in one page.

It's easy to book a travel package from Dialaflight by calling via phone. My dream vacation is Toronto and Niagara Falls. That's only £559pp. It's a great opportunity to just visit one of the natural wonders of the world. I've never been to Canada before. You get to visit the wine producing places en route to Niagara falls. That's just heaven for me.

Well if that doesn't interest you, there are many other destinations in Canada covered by Dialaflight. They include Banff, Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Jasper, Lake, Louise, Montreal, Niagara, Ottawa, Quebec and many more.

Besides Toronto/Niagara package, I love the Banff destination. That's 7 nights stay in the luxury of the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. The hotel is strategically situated with a spectacular mountain scenery of the Rockies. Although this is a sponsored post, my mind is made up on my next long vacation :)


* sponsored *

Me at Petaling Street

Jobless and Sick

I hate getting sick. I rarely get sick.
Anyway after taking the doctor's fever and cough medicines I'm just drifting in and out of sleep.
Though I am free of a fulltime job,I still have some pending work assignments to be done (freelance project).

Fitness Journal

This is exactly what I'm looking for. I am overweight at 200lbs and really want to get rid of the excess fat. I definitely don't want to go into a stupid radical diet that only makes things worse. I fully agree that recording and tracking is the first steps to losing weight. You need to know exactly what you are eating and how it affects your body. After all, every body is unique and different in the way it stores or burns excess fat and calories.

MyFitnessPal.com offers a free calorie counter to help you track what you eat.

Signing up is free so I've already done that and can't wait to use the calorie counter from MyFitnesspal.com.

Goth Dating

A lot of niche dating website has been popping up lately. Here is a hot new called GothScene.com for Gothic Singles to date and find their ideal mates . "Goth dating" is a niche as you can get in this case.The good thing about niche sites is that they suit very specific needs and in this case if you are into meeting gothic singles online, this is the ideal site for you.

Like all good dating sites, you can search based on sex, age, area (zip code) and other details. Of course you"d have to be a member which is free in order to get out anything useful from the site. Membership is free so you have nothing to lose. Go try GothScene.com out today!
* sponsored*

A day in the life of a jobless blogger

Got up early in the morning to collect my camera that I bought via pos laju.

Apparently they sent it to the house but no one was at home. They didn't even leave the custmorary reminder notice in my letter box to inform me. Luckily the seller gave me a tracking number and I logged in to Pos Laju website and entered the number to find out that it was returned back to headquarters.

I researched on the web and heard horror stories about how Pos Laju just lost stuff after it failed to reach its destination and returned back to Pos Laju headquarters.

So you can imagine how anxious I was when I got to Pos Laju.

The pictures below means that I was lucky that the camera was not lost.

It's a Panasonic Lumix 5 Megapixel with 6x optical zoom. A budget camera at RM 400.

Since it was already lunch time I made my way yo Petaling Street to have a nice hawker style lunch.

Had Lum Mee across Petaling Street at Hotel Lok Ann.

I then walked over to Klang Bus Stand (Pasar Seni) to get my trip back. Paid for the RM2 daily ticket so can reuse it again. That's a big savings. RM2 to and fro KL.

Self portrait of myself in the bus.

Lots of place to sit behind but there's guy who insisted of standing beside the bus driver.

When the bus is moving I find out why. He is one of those who needs to talk to the driver.

Man I hate those type of people. His voice is high pitched for a man and hurts my ears. Not to mention he is distracting the bus driver!! The picture is a 6x zoom. Not bad huh? The camera has anti-shake features so the "head-shot" is pretty clear.

The bus did not crash and I did not die. Reached home safely

My dog MiMi greets me at the gate.

I go in and begin typing this blog article...

Ah it's finished.

That's a typical boring day of a jobless blogger for you. :)

technorati tags:Jobless, Blogger, LifeLog

Interracial Romance

Being a Malaysian, I only know too well the importance of racial harmony in a community. Also, as a Malaysian, I"m used to seeing interacial romance between Malay, Chinese and Indians. Not surprising to see some of my relatives are Indian whereas I"m a Chinese.

Anyway, on the internet, dating has become accepted and popular. Take interracialromance.com for example. It"s free to join and once you do become a member, you can access a huge database of potential life partners from any race. It has the essential and useful features such as being able to send and receive private messages from anyone you choose in that website community. You can also broadcast messages via forums to get a point across.

Go ahead, if you have nothing against interracial dating, give interracialromance.com a try.

* sponsored*

I'm only worth this much?

My blog is worth $1,693.62.
How much is your blog worth?

Wow I rank no 1 for "Pikom Disaster"

In my Chess Patzer blog I talked about how the current PC Fair was no longer as attractive as it was to me and to many other techies. I title it Pikom PC Fair a disaster?

Google picked it up and now for the no.1 search for "Pikom disaster" that article will come up.
I guess a PR4 blog does carry some weight. Though the keyword "Pikom disaster" probably has no monetory value, I can see why companies with the idea of using blogs to do advertising like PPP is good business.

In case Pikom is reading this, I didn't really mean anything by that post. Just a discussion and personal opinion. Anyway my second post in that blog, I said it was NOT a disaster :)

Latina Dating

In this day and age, finding your partner using an online dating site is no longer as cheesy as it sounds. I know many people who have met online and after going out for dates, end up happily married.

Take this site called Latina Romance where latin singles looking for other hispanic/spanish partners can find a matching date. I like the way how the website protects a person identity even though you want to advertise as much as yourself as possible. For example, anonymous users an only see the first picture that members post. To see additional pictures of that same person, you'd have to be registered and logged in.

Registering as a member is easy and once you are in, you can find thousands of thousands of latin singles that one day may become your life partner. Features available to members are ability to upload your photos, send email to potential mates and initiatiate a chat session to get a feel of who the other person is before deciding to go on dates.

But hurry! Membership is only free for the first 5,000 people who register. Get into latina dating at LatinaRomance.com.

Andrew Ooi vs Andrew Ooi

Now that I have time on my hand with my recent resignation, I will concentrate on beating Professor Andrew Ooi (lecturer from University of Melbourne) in the Google SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Of course there will be no link to the Professor Andrew Ooi here :)

I guess one of the strategy is to give out something of value from my websites. I'm aiming to create several free web sevices for people to use and link it to my name. I've already made Chess Publisher which is a free chess diagram maker for bloggers. I've seen a serious rise in terms of Technorati ranking and Google ranking as people who use that tool link back to me.

I need to make more of such tools and give it out for free. Being a web programmer, that's something not difficult for me. I just have to think of some good ideas ....

Wow!! I'm back in Google

A few hours after posting that my blog has been delisted from Google, it's now back!!

Thanks Google :)

Ouch ! Andrew Ooi Wiped out of Google again

I tried to find this blog using all the usual keywords and it turned up blank on Google.

Incredible!!

What did I do wrong this time?

I even Googled "Andrew Ooi-Malaysia Blog" the title of this blog and still nothing. Of course there are other blogs that mention my URL but never a listing of my URL on Google itself. I know John Chow was penalised for trying to game Google but I'm innocent! I didn't to no wrong !! Why Google? Why?

Useful Travel Resource

I like websites like Hotel Reservations because they are a life saver when you go travelling. Of course one of the most important features for a website that specialises in hotels is whether the website offers useful information on motels, hotels, resorts and vacation rentals. HotelReservation.com is definitely not lacking in this department. It"s database is extensive and offers useful features like price comparisons, travel information, hotel facilities and in short all the essential information needed before making the decision to book the hotel.

Besides that, the website also features discounts for certain destinations and which is great for budget travellers like me. TI"d like to compare and find the best value for price and the website certainly makes this very easy. The search feature for the website is fantastic too, where you can drill down to your check in, check out times, date availability, room size etc. You"ll have no problem finding exactly hotel you want all from the comfort of your computer. You can either book online or call their toll free number +1-800-8934086 to make the reservations.

The vacation package is great too offering you the choice of combination of including flight, hotel or car. That takes the hassles of planning and budgeting the travel. If it"s a travel vacation, you definitely don"t want to worry about nitty gritty details like that.

I also like the "Activities" feature in the website. In it, you just choose what do you want to do when you reach your travel desitination. It will come up with a list of tours and sightseeing activites you can take part in. All this make planning for any vacation as easy and hassle free as possible. That"s how it should be!

Check out Hotel Reservations if you want to go for any kind of vacation. Going for holidays has never been easier or this convenient.

* sponsored *

A professor vs a jobless blogger

This is A/Professor Andrew Ooi from the University of Melbourne. I am very concerned that you feel a need to knock me off the Google No. 1 spot I rightly dominate. If you wish to discuss face-to-face (so to speak) please call me on +61 3 XXXX XXXX
(I edited out the phone no. for privacy)

Wow. Professor Andrew Ooi actually know of my intentions to erase him from the first page of Google for the search term "Andrew Ooi" (we share the same name!)

I guess for a Phd holder and lecturer, it's pretty natural for him to be cocky and say that the Google no. 1 spot is rightly dominated by him. Can't blame him too. What am I? I'm just a jobless blogger.

However, I thank him for his response because it really puts fire in my veins and escalates my own determination to wipe him out of existence online. At least on the first page of Google :)


Ok professor. I accept your challenge and may the best "Andrew Ooi" win.

Problem with LRT

Great my second last day of work and the LRT breaks down. Wonder if I can go home? Just walked back to office and complete my handover task. Hope it'll be fixed by the time I leave..

Online coupons deals

I love KeepCash.com coupon deals. They are updated daily and have some pretty sweet deals.

Here's one I like. It's the BlueAnt 093744 Compact Bluetooth Speakerphone which I read online that it has some pretty cool features and costs about USD 99. However, with the coupon from KeepCash.com it only costs RM66.93. That's a whopping USD 33 savings.

Besides that I regret not telling my sister who recently bought a Sony VAIO VGNSZ491N/X. If I told her about KeepCash.com, she would have saved USD 300 off her purchase from the SonyStyle offer coupon page.. What a waste.

Anyway, if you are in the market to purchase something online, don't forget to check out KeepCash.com first. You don't want to miss out any big savings coupon now do you?

*sponsored*

Learning CakePHP is hard

I've been trying to learn and practice developing web applications using frameworks.

It's a completely new paradigm for me as I've always programmed in the traditional way. Sure, I use classes, objects and reusable function. I don't program in spaghetti code! However the idea of Model, View and Controller is just too confusing for me.

I will definitely persevere and try to learn this. The promised benefits are just too great to ignore using frameworks. I hope to come up with a working web app using CakePHP in a few month's time.

Wish me luck!

Going to Singapore

4 more days before going jobless and I may be going to Singapore for a week to cover the World Chess U16 Olympiad. I hope I can get a digital camera by then as it would really suck if I went there cameraless.

Anyway, looking forward for the Malaysian Open right after that on the 20th August. That will be the biggest chess event in Malaysia for the year. Already planning to create lots of free tools to market and introduce to the "chess people" at the tournament. It's the best exposure I can get so I better not waste that chance.

Score Reading Tutors

reading tutors
Being in the teaching industry for over 10 years I am always interested in teaching methods to young minds. Took a look at Score Learning centres which looks to be quite innovative. I love the fact they emphasise on instilling young learners with the passion to learn ("When they love to learn, they'll learn.")



They have many programs including math and reading tutors. I am sold after lookng at their impressive teaching methods. I would send my kids there when they reach 4 years of age because that's the minimum age which they accept for their students. For other parents who have kids between 4 to 14 years of age, then you should check out Score. Also don't miss the video they have on showing how they work (click on the Watch us work link)

* sponsored post *

21 days before going jobless

I resigned and gave my official one month notice on the 29th of July. So in exactly 3 weeks I will be jobless.

It's a funny feeling actually looking forward to be free from the tyranny a full time job. Scary too because unlike people like LiewCF and HongKiat who earn more than their previous day job, I have not really made more than my salary yet. It would seem premature to resign but I strongly believe that I can make it in 3 months. Online income is only 60% of my current salary. I will report my results in AndrewOoi.com.

Wish me luck!

Remember the pre-dot bomb era?

Companies are trying to make their workplace more attractive by loosening up a little.

Take this company in Malaysia called MindValley.

Developers there are on 20" LCD monitors and have a notebook each as well as other perks such as free soft drinks etc. Cool eh?

In Malaysia I know it has now become the employee's marketplace as I've gotten job offers these past few weeks even though I'm not looking for a job :).  Good times ...

iPhone not available in Malaysia

June 29th was the launch of the iPhone in the US but there's no news yet whether the product will be here in Malaysia. Apple mentioned a worldwide release but I guess that's not a simultaneous worldwide release.

Bummer. :(

Uneasy Relationship:Malaysian Bloggers - Media

The Star was one of the first media sites in Malaysia to recognise the bloggers, but that doesn't mean that the relationship has always been smooth. Remember, two high profile bloggers here have been sued for defamation by The New Straits Times. The suit only seems to have united the local blogging community.

read the rest from Guardian Unlimited

Gerik, Perak prize money increase

This is an update for the Gerik Chess tournament

The organisers have pushed the first prize to RM 600.

JOHAN RM600.00

N.JOHAN RM400.00

KE-3 RM300.00

KE-4 RM250.00

KE-5 RM200.00

KE-6 RM150.00

KE-7 RM100.00

KE-8 RM50.00

KE-9 RM50.00

KE-10 RM50.00

FIDE congratulates Secretary General Ignatius Leong on his marriage

Congratulations to FIDE Secretary General Ignatius Leong
of Singapore on his wedding in Singapore last weekend to Celine Dao of
Vietnam. Over 300 guests, including a delegation of 29 from Veitnam and
representatives of ten federations from around Asia and Europe joined
in celebrating their nuptials.

~ read the full article from FIDE website

1st Club INTCHESS – National Schools Grand Prix...

1^st

Club INTCHESS – National Schools Grand Prix 2007  

1. The 1^st
   
   Club INTCHESS-National Schools Grand Prix Grand Prix is sponsored by
   
   the ASEAN Chess Academy and organized by Intchess (M) Sdn. Bhd. together
   
   with various participating state Schools Sports Councils.
   
   

2. Objectives of this
   
   event are to give young players opportunities to play regularly with
   
   their peers and to be rewarded for their results with training assistance
   
   to assist their talent development.
   
   

3. The Grand Prix will
   
   be held in three separate categories (U-12, U-16 and Challengers) and
   
   will comprise of 8 legs (4 in Kuala Lumpur) and a Final (Kuala Lumpur).
   
   

4. Each leg of the
   
   grand prix leg will be played over 6 rounds using the Swiss system while
   
   the finals will be played over 7 rounds. The time control is 60 minutes
   
   (30 minutes each) per round for each leg of the grand prix with a 90
   
   minute (45 minutes each) time control to be used at the grand prix finals
   
   where chess notation will be compulsory.
   
   

5. Entry fees:

Categories:	Entry Fees
	Grand Prix Leg	Grand Prix Finals
U-12 category (Primary only)	RM10	RM20
U-16 category (Secondary only)	RM15	RM30
Challengers (Under FIDE rating 2000 & unrated)	RM20	RM40

;

6)Dates & Venue:

Grand Prix 1st Leg	03.2.2007 (Sat)
Grand Prix 2nd Leg PSKC Cochrane	25.3.2007 (Sun)
Grand Prix 3rd Leg Kuala Lumpur Convention Center	15.4.2007 (Sun)
Grand Prix 4th Leg PKSC Cochrane	24.6.2007 (Sun)
Grand Prix Finals	?

7)Schedule:

Grand Prix

(All Legs)

Registration	08:30am – 09:30am
Round 1	10.00am – 11:00am
Round 2	11:10am – 12:10pm
Round 3	12:20pm – 01:20pm
Lunch Break	01:20pm – 02:20pm
Round 4	02:20pm – 03:20pm
Round 5	03:30pm – 04:30pm
Round 6	04:40pm – 05:40pm
Prize Presentation:	06:00pm

Grand Prix Finals

28.7.2007		 
Registration	08:30am – 09:30am	 
Round 1	10.00am – 12:00am	 
Lunch Break	12.00pm – 01.00 pm	 
Round 2	01.00pm – 03.00pm	 
Round 3	03.15pm – 05.15pm	 

29.07.2007
Round 4	09.00am – 11.00am
Round 5	11:10pm – 01:10pm
Lunch Break	01:10pm – 02:10pm
Round 6	02:10pm – 04:10pm
Round 7	04:20pm – 06:20pm
Prize Presentation	06:30pm

8. Prizes:

Grand

Prix Leg

Challenger/U-16/U12 Champion(s)	Gold Medal & Certificate
Challenger/U-16/U12 Runner – up (s)	Silver Medal & Certificate
Challenger/U-16/U12 3rd placing (s)	Bronze Medal & Certificate
Special Prizes	 
Best U–8	Trophy & Certificate
Best U–10	Trophy & Certificate

* Players with a 50%

score from each grand prix leg will also be given certificates of achievement.

* The top ten players with the highest cumulative scores totaled from all legs played will receive freeentry into the Grand Prix Finals. (Points collected will be based on actual score in each leg)

Grand Prix Overall (1^st to

8^th Leg Scores

Combined)

Challenger/U-16/U12 Champion(s)	*Full ACA Scholarship (3 courses)
Challenger/U-16/U12 Runner – up (s)	*1 Free ACA Course & 50% off all other ACA courses
Challenger/U-16/U12 3rd placing (s)	* 50% off all ACA courses for 1 year

* The ASEAN Chess Academy

courses awarded as prizes will only be valid for 1 year from the datebof issue and are non-transferable.

* The Grand Prix Final

prizes will be determined at a later stage. 

9. The following tie-breaks
   
   will be used (in order):
1. Buchholz
2. Sonneborn-Berger
3. Cumulative

10. For the U- 12
    
    category is mainly primary school while for the U – 16 category is
    
    for secondary students. For the Challenger, the participants have to
    
    be above 16 yrs old while still studying and FIDE rating less 2000.

11. For registration
    
    and/or enquiries, please contact :

Intchess

(M) Sdn. Bhd.: 03-2300 1680

MSSKL:

1) Cikgu Syam Irza: 019-345 5307

2) Cikgu Yusrinizam: 019-261 7571

3) Cikgu Khairil Helmi: 013-345 5849

4) Cikgu Rahman: 019-252 6121 

Or go to www.intchess.com to register online.

12)The organizer reserves

the right to make any necessary changes to the program or rules, before

or during the tournament to ensure the tournament runs smoothly.

Ignatius Leong gets married

Taken from: http://www.intchessasia.com/

On 12th May 2007 Mr Ignatius Leong got married. The
wedding ceremony took place in Vung Tàu (Vietnam). Mr Leong’s spouse is
Vietnamese and thus a Vietnamese traditional ceremony was in order. On
9th June 2007 a much bigger wedding celebration will take place in
Singapore. A number of leading chess people are on the invitation list,
including FIDE President Mr Kirsan Illyumzhinov and the Chairman of
Global Chess BV, Mr Bessel Kok. The Intchess team wishes a happy,
prosperous and long life to the Leong family!

Zarul is National Chess Champ

Newly-crowned National Master Zarul Shazwan Zullkafli

receiving his championship trophy from YB Dato’ Hajah Jahara bt Hamid,

DSPN, PJK, Penang EXCO and Chairman of Youth and Sports, Women, Family

and Community Development Committee. Photo © GilaChess

National Women Chess

The Wahidduddin sisters – Fadzilah, Khairunnusa and


Nurul Huda – scored identical eight points but were


separated only on count back for the final standing.

In the Under-20 division, Lee Kar Kheng finished ahead


of the competition while Najwa Abdul Jalal from


Terengganu was the winner in the Under-16 and Adeline


Gan took the title for the Under-14.

You can read more from GilaChess report on that event.

Funny Anime

Check out the new anime for Cartoon Network.



The hero is hero is this character that has 5 foot steel retractable nose hair. He
uses that as weapons to defend against the villain Czar Baldy Bald IV,
who has started a “Hair Hunt” to turn all citizens bald. You can find
trailers at the Official Website. The story line is wacky and funny.



This is not a paid post but I like to give them props all the same :)

Tan Eu Hong and Sumant in the lead

The Malaysian Chess National Closed 2007 is turning out to be an interesting affair. The favourites Tan Khai Boon and Ismail Ahmad have taken a fall and the leaders are now Tan Eu Hong and Sumant Subramaniam. Both are with 5.5 points out of 6. Eu Hong according to the polls conducted at my website is the least likely favoured to win the National Closed. Just shows how wrong public expectation can be compared to reality.



It's not over yet as there are 3 more rounds to go. Anything can happen. Check out the results at GilaChess.com

Powered by ScribeFire.

iPhone coming out in June 15

Here's another unverified rumour started by this letter below:-

To: All Company Owned Retail Employees



From: [Name removed]



Subject: iPhone Launch Period



Date: May 4, 2007



As previously announced, Apple and AT&T will soon debut the iPhone,

which combines a mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and

breakthrough internet communications into one small and lightweight

handheld device. The new AT&T has a multiyear, exclusive agreement to

provide U.S. service for the iPhone.



To ensure proper staffing during the product launch period, Sales personnel

planning to take approved time off are encouraged to schedule their

vacations before June 15 or after July 15 to participate in the iPhone

launch.



Previously approved vacation will be allowed where voluntary rescheduling

is not feasible



No additional vacation requests will be approved during the launch period

(6/15 – 7/15).



I want to thank you in advance for your understanding as this is likely to

be the biggest selling period we have seen in a few years.



Happy Selling,



[Name removed]



I really can't wait to see an actual iPhone after all the hype it generated.

National Closed in Penang

It's already 4 rounds and there is three leaders out of a total of 64 players in the Malaysian Chess Closed.



This year is very different as there are no titled players or players who are considered very strong. This has made the whole competition an open race and anyone can win. Arguably one of the weakest National Closed we have had but it'll be interesting who will become National Champ.



One of my picks is this fellow, Tan Khai Boon.





Here he is just defeating Sarawak champion (right) Lim Kian Hwa.

5xmom appears in The Star newspaper

Well it's her blog anyway. She says her blog appears on The Star today. I'll have to buy a copy on my way back from work afterwards.

Then again, my Make$ Money$ got mentioned is an honour already. Just to make it clearer, I have made RM1,400 since nuffnang was launched.

Chan Lilian or 5xmom actually makes big bucks from her 10 or more websites (mostly blogs) and she is quite a character. Very outspoken and quite popular judging from her 3000 unique visitors per day on one of her blogs. I can't even get 100 visitors :(



Anyway, folks, if you want a sifu or mentor on money making 5xmom is a very good choice.

Check her out on 5xmom.com and chanlilian.net (she should have booked chanlilian dot com :) )

Malaysia Economic Growth to pick up in 2nd half

MALAYSIA'S economy probably started the year on
a slower note during the first quarter, mostly due to weaker external
demand, economists say.

They said the robust services sector, mainly
tourism activities, will likely offset the weaker performance recorded
by the manufacturing sector during the year's first four months.

The
economists however believe that overall economic growth is likely to
pick up during the second half of 2007, largely on stronger
investments, better fiscal spending and an improved global electrical
and electronics industry.



Read more from Business Times



Good news indeed. I have a feeling that things are beginning to pick up.

Sitting in your car getting arrested for stealing WiFi

Sam Peterson was arrested under a Michigan law barring access to anyone else's network without authorization; he is being prosecuted for using a cafe's free WiFi from his car. The cafe's WiFi network was reserved for customers – Peterson never came into the Union Street Café – and instead used its free WiFi from the comfort of his car, every single day. A police officer grew suspicious of Peterson and eventually questioned him as to what he was up to. "I knew that the Union Street had WiFi. I just went down and checked my e-mail and didn't see a problem with that," Peterson told a reporter.



Under Michigan's "Fraudulent access to computers, computer systems, and computer networks" law, Peterson's actions could result in a five-year felony and a $10,000 fine. However, prosecutors do not plan to throw the book at him, as they don't believe that Peterson was aware he was even breaking the law. Instead, he will pay a $400 fine and do 40 hours of community service, and the arrest will not go on his record. Coincidentally, the cafe owner that Peterson was leeching WiFi off of didn't even realize that what Peterson was doing was a crime at the time. Neither did the police officer. "I had a feeling a law was being broken, but I didn't know exactly what," said Sparta police chief Andrew Milanowski.

News source: Ars Technica



My 2 cents:



That's just plain stupid. How can you fine a person USD 400 for using WiFi while in your car outside a coffee shop. I've done this many times. Sometimes I stop at a Mamak stall that has WiFi signal creeping in from a nearby Starbucks cafe. Should I be arrested too?



I can just imagine if there was a mugging or a robbery nearby and we see this cop arresting this innocent young man sitting in his car, checking his email!



That's just wrong.

Malaysia goes high tech vs Pirates

Hey if you are watching Pirates of the Caribbean 3 there may actually be real pirates in the cinema crowd! :)

Night vision used to catch film pirates. 28/05/2007. ABC News Online


Malaysian cinemas have found a powerful new weapon in their fight against movie pirates - military-style night vision goggles.

After showing people to their seats, trained ushers strap on the
goggles and scan darkened cinemas around the country to spot anyone
trying to make illegal copies of movies with hand-held video recorders
or mobile phones.

The Motion Picture Association, which is training Malaysian ushers
to catch the pirates, say cinemas have caught 17 people in the past two
months, during which Hollywood studios released blockbusters like
Spider-Man 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean.

Wow 17 people already caught! Has anybody seen the ushers wearing those goggles? And in which cinemas? TGV?

Converted PostNuke website to WordPress

My main website, GilaChess.com was running on PostNuke for 6 years already!!



However, after using WordPress for quite some time I find that WordPress can actually act as a better Content Management System (CMS).



So last Sunday night when I recovered from my fever, I just installed WordPress over GilaChess.com to see how it looked with my old GilaChess content. It looks great!! Also another bonus is that I get to keep my old content without overwriting the old CMS files. So I didn't have to go thru the headache of converting all the old content to WordPress. Instead I just link to the old content and will probably call the link "archive".





Another reason is WordPress is better at bringing in the search engines. I want Google to know GilaChess.com exists!



I'm confident with WordPress my site will rise in traffic rankings from Google, Alexa and Technorati in no time.

Bedridden for the weekend

I overworked myself on Friday night and didn't sleep till Saturday morning.



I was working on some office work and I really hate it when there are deadlines like this to meet.



What's worse was that when I woke up in the afternoon, my head was spinning with a low-grade fever. Didn't  see the doctor as I really hate doctors! On Sunday morning I was better but still tired and weak. Was supposed to work on some websites but just didn't have the mood or energy. So I tried to rest fully on Sunday as Monday will be another hectic work day. :(

I bought Susan Polgar a gift domain name

I bought Women Chess World Champ Susan Polgar a domain name for her 2nd year blog anniversary. At the beginning it was for her wedding to Paul Truong but when I sent the gift, she told me it was also her blog anniversary. The domain name I bought : SusanPolgarBlog.com



I bought the domain name from GoDaddy.

Google going after LinkFarms!

It's great news that Google is going after website owners who try to make money by filling up their websites with Google ads but little content.



What's surprising about this is that Google is like saying they don't mind making less money (websites actually pay them for the Adwords that they post on their sites) in favour of clearing up the web of junk.



I salute Google efforts to clean up the internet.

Dell Ubuntu more expensive than Dell Windows

Last week Dell began shipping computers with Ubuntu linux on them.



That's a revolutionary move from Dell but it's curious why the Linux pre-installed machines costs more (slightly) than the Windows-installed machines.



The reasons I think would be:

• Since Linux will invariably need more support, Dell is protecting themselves with a little 'padding' as they anticipate customers will start calling them on Linux problems.
• Those junky pre-installed 'free' software actually makes money for Dell. The Windows software makers actually pay Dell a dollar or two to have it pre-installed for customers. With Linux there's no crapware for Dell to install.

What do you think?

Google buys Feedburner for USD 100 million

By now everybody knows this.



I guess Google will really know more about me than me myself. Not only do they know my search habits but they also know what I read online! That's really evil if you ask me :)

Wish I was in Penang

This is world police champion, Ismail Ahmad, who is one of the favourites to win Malaysian National Closed 2007. I usually go and watch the National Closed tournament even though I have never played. This time I cannot attend since it's in Penang and I can't get leave from my employees in KL. :(



This year will be interesting as no titled or really strong players are taking part except for a handful like Ismail Ahmad. So although the quality of competition may have dropped, it will be interesting to see if any 'dark horses' can steal the show and become the new Malaysian Chess National Champion for 2007.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Health Concerns

Malaysia's prime minister felt weak and appeared to totter during a public function and had to be held up by officials, raising health concerns about the 67-year-old leader.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi later dismissed rumors that he had fainted while attending the outdoor function in the northern state of Perak, and attributed the incident to heat and lack of sleep.

~ full article on The Star.

I have my own dot com!

Finally bought my own webhosting with my own domain name.


What else ? It's www.AndrewOoi.com

It runs on the latest WordPress 2.1.3.

Seize the moment: a FIAT ad with chess players.

A very funny FIAT ad, with Chess as a main subject. The ad slogan "Seize the moment" is applied by a chess player about to be checkmated, in a very surprising and funny way. Anuncio de FIAT con el ajedrez de tema. El eslogan publicitario "Agarra la oportunidad" es aplicado por nu jugador de ajedrez que está apuntito de recibir jaque mate. Muy gracioso y sorprendente.

A short video for my ADCS Students

I've been giving Java tuition for a long time.

Here's one of the common past year paper on Link List that I usually explain to my students:-

Click here to listen

cheng beng

cheng beng
Originally uploaded by andrewooi.

Reached puduraya 8.30pm in time to catch the teluk intan bus back to hometown.

GilaChess Migrated to WordPress

My chess blog was migrated from Blogger to WordPress platform. WordPress is a blogging software which has much richer features than Blogger. I liked Google BlogSpot but I needed to use my own webspace instead of relying on Google free blogging space.

It was a very easy process as WordPress already had the necessary tools for the migration. It took only 10 minutes to setup WordPress and migrate my old post from Blogger to my website.

The new URL is http://chess.maribelajar.com.

I've also changed the title from GilaChess to Chess Improvement.

My old Chess Blog:



My new Chess Blog:


http://chess.maribelajar.com.

Malaysia vs Singapore Friendly Chess MAtch 2005

Malaysia vs Singapore Friendly Chess MAtch 2005
Originally uploaded by andrewooi.

17th Singapore vs Malaysia

First Round detail results

Category	Age	MAS	SIN

B	8	0	4

B	10	2	2

B	12	1.5	2.5

B	14	0.5	3.5

B	16	2	3

B	18	1	2

B	20	2	2

G	8	0	4

G	10	2	2

G	12	2.5	1.5

G	14	1	3

G	16	2	2

G	18	1	3

G	20	0	4

M	-	2.5	3.5

V	-	2.5	1.5

W	-	2.5	1.5



Malaysia  : 25

Singapore : 45



Second  Round

Malaysia  : 25.5

Singapore : 44.5



Overall



Malaysia: 50.5

Singapore: 89.5

Pictures and other details to be posted later.

Curretly posting this from a train!!

First day in Indonesia

Indonesia Day 1

3.10pm leave for Sentral station

3.30pm bought tickets for the express

3.45pm took the KLIA express from Sentral station reached KLIA in 28minutes.

Air Asia arrived without incident at Hatta airport at 7.10pm.

Got 'hassled' by taxi runners who wanted us to take their taxi. Wanted to take the Blue Bird because it uses the meter so it would not cost a bomb.

The last time I was here at Hatta Airport, Blue Bird cost 100,000 Rp plus 16,000 surcharge. We finally found the counter outside the Airport near the Mc Donalds. Seeing this the runners reduced their taxi charge from 100,000 to 200,000 Rp without surcharge. So we took the runner Taxi which was a Volvo cab. Well it was a big mistake as when we reached the Hotel he changed the fare to 150,000 Rp. So it was a good lesson for me. Take the Blue Bird cab from the proper Blue Bird rep counter. Avoid the 'independant' people who walk around looking for suckers like me.

The counter is just outside of Mc D. (note to self so that I won't forget this next time if I ever come to Indonesia again)

---

9.05 checked in.

9.15 got into our deluxe room (upgraded)

9.30 tried to walk to nearest food court at Sarina from Hotel.

10.00 Too far so we settled for Mamak style food. Had Soto Ayam with Taufu. Drinks 'teh botol'. Total cost: 27,000Rp.

10.30 back in Hotel room.

watched TV while preparing this blog

1am sleep.

Off to Indonesia Again

Last minute work emergency requires me to go to Indonesia for the 2nd time this year.

This time I'll go prepared.I still remember how Digi does not support SMS roaming. I couldn't even receive an SMS from home.

I bought a cheap 017 Maxis starter pack for RM8.80. I only have RM4 for this month but that's all I need to receive SMS.

Pretty complicated as sending SMS FROM Indonesia is RM2. So in order to save I'll get an Indonesian prepaid card from Telkomsel. It's about RM 20 there. So sending out an SMS from there to Malaysia is cheaper. This would mean lots of SIM card switching as I only have one handphone :(.

Also bringing over my bluetooth enabled PDA there so all the pictures I take from my handphone can be transferred to PDA and uploaded to this blog easily.

Anyway, looking forward for the trip as well as feeling a bit nervous as the workload is pretty high. I only have 4 working days to complete my work there.

Benefits of Lecithin

Benefits of Lecithin:

* Breaks up fats and cholesterol, Excellent for a healthy heart
* Highest Phosphatide concentration available (98% or more!)
* Rich source of GLA (Gamma Linoleic Acid)
* Helps the body utilize Vitamins A,D,E and K
* Excellent for memory, concentration and recall
* Cleanses liver and kidneys
* Helps the body absorb nutrients

Why am I posting this here. Well just as a reminder to myself.

I've been taking Lecithin in capsule form consistently for months and have noticed profound improvements in my mental stamina.
Particularly in gruelling one day chess tournament where I'm usuall mentally exhausted near the end of the tournament.

However lately from my own chess results, I've seen a marked improvement.

I've finished 11th place 3 times !!! Previously I'd be usually hovering around 30th position.

Imagine or not, I'm a firm believer of letcithin. Anyway, not to turn this into a commercial sounding blog, I won't even mention the brand I'm taking :)
It'll remain a secret in case my would be chess competitors are out there reading this...

Chess in Singapore Schools

Chess is being offered as part of a curriculum early to Singaporean kids.

Neighbourhood schools these days are producing not just academically capable students but talented ones too.

One activity some schools are offering to nurture talents is chess.

For instance, chess is part of the curriculum for all Primary One students at Gongshang Primary.

The principal of Gongshang Primary School, Daisie Yip, said: "It's really to train them through a game, through a fun way, to be analytical. The best take-away would be when I plan the next move, I'm actually thinking 2-3 moves ahead.

read rest of article here (Channel News Asia)

Joined Malaysian Blog Directory

I added my blog into the Malaysian Blog Directory.
Great!! As the title of my blog starts with 'A' I'm right at the top can be seen without scrolling the page :)

Sunday Chess at Wilayah

Can't wait to enter the href=http://gilachess.blogspot.com tournament at Wilayah Persekutuan this coming Sunday. It's been 3 months since I've played any serious (or friendly) chess games.

Pictured above is two of my chess friends Vicky and Francis at the same venue some time back.

Going to PC Fair 2005

PC Fair 2005 will be in an hour's time.

I'll be going this time to get
Screen protector for my PDA
CD-Rs
Mic and Headphones for podcasting
Optical Mouse

I just hope it will not be too cramped like the previous PC Fairs.
Will be going just after it opens to avoid the crowd (hopefully)