It was Saturday night. I was weary from work. Dragging my feet home with the feeling like I didn’t want to even shower I lay on my bed. This is going to be a long night. A very long night. Before I knew it, I dozed off. Suddenly…..I just was jerked by the thought that I’m late! And Yes I AM LATE!

Tomorrow is going to be a very exciting day and I am not prepared at all. I am moving to a new place! With a swimming pool, gym and tennis courts. Two beautiful parks reside at both ends of the condo and I just am truly sooooo excited. But I have not packed anything up yet!!!!!

At last though after much stuffing and stepping, I fit everything in except the load of clothes that I just hanged up to dry. By the time I got to lay my head on the pillow here for the last time it was 4 am. But not long later I was jerked up by the sound of my alarm clock. I quickly got dressed then rushed to church carrying two boxes of stuff that made me take a taxi in the end though it burnt a hole in my pocket sob sob.

In the back of my head I just kept thinking about moving but I had so many things and responsibilities too. I had a meeting in the afternoon to attend. At last it has come the time to move but it is already 9pm. My pastor was kind enough to drive the church van for me and the church helper also came. I was so touched that they were so willing to help.

By the time we were headed to my new nest, I was drenched in sweat and my heart was beating a whole lot faster. But soon very soon I will be home!! My home for the next few years! But the main attraction for me is the swimming pool.

This is a pic of the swimming pool from far. I haven’t even gone near it….sob sob

At last when we were done unloading everything into the room,  it was already 11pm. No chance to dip in the pool. Sigh. Until today I have yet to find the time to dip in the pool! Sob Sob.

My only consolation is that I am going back to my real home in Malaysia today! At last. At long last I will be able to go home. Excitement fills the air for this whole week. Oooo it is just a nice feeling ain’t it?

I wonder how many people are as excited to see me though….hmmm

Update: Sad news the Spam beats Comments terribly now 990-788

Dear readers,

I’m pleased to announce to you that this blog has reached it’s half a year mark! Wooohoo. I can’t believe it has been that long. Over this period of time I’m glad to say that I’m so happy that you all have been there to read, support and encourage me to write more and more. Though the opposite seems to be happening hahaha

So here I am ready to give you some statistics about this blog:

Firstly, over this 6 months, I have had 25,761 visits to this blog (as of the time I wrote this blog)! Wooohoo isn’t that great. Averagely there are 222 visits a day. Pretty amazing. Now this doesn’t mean you should visit this blog less ok?…..visit it more hehehe

As of this month I have 15.7 percent of my readers from my homeland Malaysia!!! 13.41percent from the Netherlands. 7.94 percent from US commercial, 7.63 from Singapore and the rest from many other countries.

I have written 105 posts. With contributions as well.  Wow I can’t believe I wrote so much. I have also received a total of 774 comments. Thank you all again!

This has been above and beyond what I imagined blogging to be like. I did this to begin with just wanting to stay in touch with the people I care about. And here I am at this point. I also know that these statistics are nothing compared to other websites but I am so glad and encouraged that people would find something they can relate to in my blog.

There is just a little request though. I just saw my spam statistics and currently there are a total of 764 spam comments. I was like….whoa how can the spam be so close to the real comments. It has recently rapidly rose in quantity and the comments on my blog has rapidly declined also hahaha. So can you readers give feedback on what I can do to help you comment more? Also can you all just comment more. I would love to always be able to say that my blog has more comments that spam. Haha.

I just thought I’d share these statistics to you guys to really thank the people who visit this blog regularly. when I read them I was really encouraged. I hope to do better and better so please give me your input. Still I can only do what’s within my power and energy and time to encourage you too.

I am curious though….why do you all read this blog? Can share please?

p.s - I have been reading many of your blogs too. Enjoy them very much. Just didn’t have the time to comment. Soon, very soon I will be able to do that again. Cheers!

Update: The spam box has just beaten the comments box. 777-776. Very sad. very sad

For those of you who have been concerned for me and praying for me, thank you. I think I am better now….but I’m not sure. It is too long a story to elaborate. I also am really backdated on my posts here. I promised some posts but really can’t find the time to deliver them ahhh!!

Still there is more to fear. I mean I am a full fledge Malaysian. Ever since I stepped here I always told of the fact that I love my country and I am proud to be Malaysian. Yet…..hearing things like……you’re Malaysian? You sound Singaporean…..and things like…..you don’t look Malaysian….has got me worried too. Am I transforming in just two months? Noooooo…

Recently the signs are showing…..I started out as a person in the MRT looking around and observing people with much interest. But now….it seems I have assimilated in. Let me tell you why. My bro brought his IPOD down the other time and made a joke, taking it off he said, I’m Malaysian now….putting it on, I’m Singaporean now. Yes, I tell you everywhere you walk you see people with wires dangling down their necks and walking at lightning speed.

I resisted from morphing into that being but is seems impossible to withstand anymore. I mean, I tried reading but because I had to stand most of the time and the train is moving, that leaves me with a massive headache in the end. So for a few weeks I just stood there. Then at last…….two days ago….I was walking with earphones on….

I noticed when some Malaysian friends came that I was walking faster then them. Oh no…..I’m not turning in to a Singaporean am I? Oh boy……

It has been some time since I blogged, and don’t worry I have not neglected this blog and no it is far away from dying an unnatural death. My target is to beat Adino’s 400th post and go far and beyond. Congrats ‘Si Fu’! Just that blogging is part of my life now. Only thing the adjustment to the new life has certainly got me all unable to catch up with even reading the comments some times.

Does the title of this post catch your attention? It got me thinking today. I had been here, just making it through some of the roughest moments of my life. Still yet the perception people get about me is that I’m happy, friendly, nice, and just so well to do! All assume that all is well with me. I also assumed all is well. I feel great I mean I have had more dreams come true in these few months than in almost all the many years of my life put together.

Then something happened that startled me. The sight of blood coming from my own body, First thought, was that from me? I mean am I bleeding? How could I be bleeding? I’m fine. I checked and realised, the blood was mine indeed. Now this means I really have to go to the doctor as this is not a very good symptom. Why am I bleeding……! I mean there is no pain….

In a state of utter shock, I sat on my chair and emotions flood my body like a massive waterfall. I was losing control. I was shaking. I had mastered pain so much that I was living on it. Pain is what drives me each day. It probably lets me know I’m alive but to a greater extent became the very essence of my everyday life. So much so I was hurting all over and I didn’t know it consciously. I mean I was sitting there, and I realised there was pain where it bled from. I never realised all this time.

When I started to realise that pain, thats when my emotions flood me with all the pain I was hiding inside me. People often talk about a low threshold but here I was constantly raising the threshold bar and I didn’t realise it. I am hurting. Real badly emotionally and physically my body was washed out by my abuse of it. I can only pray the bleeding is not the beginning of a disaster to come but a reminder by the One on high to realise that I am killing myself.

I remember Pastor preaching about pain being a gift. A sign and gift from God to help us realise something is wrong. Something is really wrong. The good news is that I realise now partially that there is a problem. The bad news is I cannot fathom the extent of the damage already done.

The good news is I have a good God who can easily remove all these hindrances. The bad news is I am not sure if I had numbed so much pain that I cannot hear Him too. I should have realised in those quiet moments why I was tearing so much. There was so much pain inside. At least I have a promise that I can release all my burdens because God cares for me. Certainly this is what I’m going to try. Yet, I am afraid, shaken.

Watching the Olympics I see every athlete trying to break the pain barrier. Looking at those ladies lifting up 154kg was painful! I remember reading an interview with a top gymnast and she was asked what was key to her being able to be a gymnast. Her answer was, how much pain she could bear. Looking at them it surely hurts but they have become used to it. Is that really good? The world certainly teaches us its good if you want to be successful to do so. But should we really be ignorant of that fact that we’re in pain. How many of us can actually know our limits? Seeing the weight-lifter’s elbow snap certainly told me that it is a very risky business. In life one casualty is called acceptable losses but in the kingdom of God, there is no such thing as acceptable losses. You either make it or you break it!

I now know that success does not lie in how much pain I can bear or even how long I can bear it. It is about realising that the pain we bear can be carried by someone who did so on the cross over two thousand years ago. He is willing and asks us to even cast it all upon Him for He cares for us. There is no glory here in winning any medal for being the most successful in your own right. There is only a prize awaiting all those who wait upon the Lord for they shall renew their strength, they shall mount up on wings like eagles. They shall run and not grow weary, They shall walk and not faint.

Are you carrying, burying, hiding, numbing, ignoring, covering, concealing, distorting or maybe even owning your pain? It is not yours to carry. God will carry it for you. When we stop trying to master our pain and start realising who is the master of our pain then life will indeed reach its fullest potential and glory for our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Who is the Master of Pain? You…..???

On a more serious note, pray for me. If the bleeding doesn’t stop, it means something VERY BAD is happening to me. Even if it stops, reading up on it has made me also see that it could be a prelude to something even worse.

If any of you wonder whether you are young or old….I have come up with a formula that works! The type of music that drives you will tell. Hehe. This album can be a good judge of that! So those of you who dare takes the risk get this album.

When I put it into my player and turned up the volume the first thought was this sounds so alike to Parachute Band’s - Roadmap and Revelations album. Rock based music that is more of the popular music side than hardcore rock. I like it a lot. Tracks like ‘All because of Jesus’, ‘Faithful’ and ‘You are the Light’ are my favorites and I hope to see them being used in my church someday for worship. Young people will love the energy!!

Oh I forgot to mention that this supposed to be a worship song album. My personal opinion is that not all songs here can work in a church unless they are all young people. Even so I may not agree as a Pastor to some of them being sung in our congregation. That being said, I like the songs as they drive so much power into the theme of the song making it somewhat like powerful anthems.VERY NICE!

Musically, this album was well produced but I kinda felt like it was an anti climax at the end. Still I was not wowed at anything in particular except the energy. I also wished that they included the sheet music like other worship albums.

But this album is getting rather popular…so maybe I am wrong. Still I was not caught like I was with Parachute’s Album. I must say though that there aren’t many rock worship song albums that are good out there and indeed this is one of the better ones. So if you like rock and are tired with the worship style albums that don’t suit you. Get this one.

Album Rating: 6.8/10

I’ve been laughed at, mocked, ridiculed, stoned and even persecuted for many years because of this. I mean give me a break it is not my interest nor my art. Yet this is something I cannot escape. For our need to partake of this thing call food has driven man to creatively and instinctively go the distance. But as for me, I am a simple man. I eat to live, not live to eat. If I could, I would want to be able to sustain my life without the constant need to become hungry and eat.

Still God has made me this way but unlike my father and brother who have this distinct joy in the area of food. I really don’t share the same enthusiasm. Worse still, I mean cooking!! Why is it so hard, can’t we just eat it raw? Well I have to admit even though I dislike eating even raw food can be rather distasteful. So well I left the cooking to my family members all these years since they find pleasure in it.

Since I have been here, I have only had the pleasure of eating home-cooked food once. The rest of the time I’m out eating or stuffing myself with my favorite cornflakes. Once in a blue moon I cook a little instant noodles to whet my appetite but I really miss the food back home. Singapore food is just not as good. Sigh.

So I embarked on a mission today since I finally get to be home early. I decided to cook! Muahaha. Yes I can feel the eyes staring at me and all that ‘what!’ faces. That’s why I wrote my first sentence! My culinary skills is nothing to shout about but I really thought I’d try to save some money and cook. I got out my ingredients and with no idea or plan. I cooked. If cooks were to see me cook, they’d faint. I won’t tell you what I did lest I be laughed at again.

In the end, I cooked myself a meal! Yes I did, and the kitchen didn’t burn down. In fact I cooked myself a sumptuous meal. Too much! Haha. I cooked a meal that at least 3 people could consume. Worse still I was planning to in the end cook instant noodles to eat with the dishes but I realised it wouldn’t taste nice with noodles. So I cooked rice instead haha. Here is what the dishes looked like.

My recipe of Potato Stew, Broccoli, Egg omelet with carrots and sausages. What do you think? Its not as beautiful as the picture above but well I’m extremely satisfied and happy. I have achieved something I have never achieved in my life. I am so proud of myself. I think though this is not going to happen again for a long long time. Hahahaha.

Least to say, I didn’t manage to finish even half of everything. So I have remainders for at least two more days. Hehehe. Do I deserve some praise?

Henderson Waves….

A view on the bridge

At the end of the bridge

We walked on which for me seemed like eternity to Hilltop park which was just slightly different from Mount Faber and a bit smaller. I really liked this staircase though somehow….liked looking at it but dreaded walking on it…. we were about 3km through our journey….both of us filled with sweat…so much so I think all the tourists ran away as there were none hahaha.

Stairway to???

At the end of this park was Floral walk which was a long long stretch of an aluminum bridge connecting us to Hortpark which was a horticulture park at Alexandria Road. After all this walking, it made me reminisce on climbing Mount Kinabalu which was a million times more beautiful….maybe next year I should go. Anyone wants to join me? This place will be a good place to train though I was thinking…

no

Floral Walk’s brigde

I was still on the mission to see wildlife but we were nearing the end of trip and yet I saw none….except ants of course. At last lo and behold at the end of floral walk I saw a yellow coloured bird. I was estatic and my friend laughed at me. Hahahha. We reached Hortpark where we just sat down rested our weary legs and enjoyed the beauty of nature and well….buildings hahaha.

Pretty Flower

Some other wildlife

View From Hortpark

Me trying to model…hahha

The view from where I sat

Another beautiful tree

At last we were exhausted but we still had a long way to go. We were going to take a bus then walk to the night spots. Sadly, Elroi forgot to bring his tripod so the pictures weren’t as nice as they could be. But still here are some of those we took as we walked from City Hall to St. Andrews cross the Padang to Esplanade then towards Clark Quay. We thank God that the whole day it looked like it would rain and forecast predicted thunderstorms. Yet only when we have finished seeing all these places did it rain.

I was satisfied to the brim doing something not the same as my usual day to day. I hope Elroi enjoyed himself too haha. We talked a lot about life on the way….and I can only say thank God he came. I missed home so much and it was good to have someone to talk to and not feel like you only know them for a month.

At the end of it though, I want a camera now!!! A good one….I want to learn how to take photographs too. A good camera makes so much difference to the result of a picture. Still no time la to invest hahaha. I’m a happy man! Hehe.

Entrance to St. Andrews Church

Another View

The outside of St. Andrews where the Formula 1 Night Race will be held

How nice it is to be in love

Esplanade….I want to attend a concert there one day…

View from the bridge near esplanade…..

So as we were eating breakfast, I asked him about his plans for the day and he said he had none. Then I offered to take him around. Very clever of me since I have no idea where to go or how to go around haha. Oh well, I was all ready to have an adventure around and so was he, so lets go!

After settling some things, we proceeded to our first destination. Chinatown. Here we walked around while he took loads of pictures. He loves photography and therefore brought a nice camera along in which the pictures in this post all belongs to him.

First stop Chinatown

Man that was painting and doing chinese caligraphy

View of Chinatown

View from Chinatown overhead bridge

Soon Elroi and me would have to part ways with his parents as they had a separate appointment and we were heading to the Southern Ledges. I heard of it from a friend and thanks to technology, I managed to find how to get there with my tablet PC. Our mode of transport will definately be the MRT since it was cheap and easy.

We were headed to Harbourfront MRT station and from there we were going to find our way to Mount Faber which is a hill for your information as Singapore has no mountains hahaha. We were all ready to go but I realised I was not geared for it. I had my notebook and backpack and wearing casual shoes. I didn’t care because travelling back would be a silly waste of time.

We arrived at Habourfront and so I looked at the map…..Mount Faber looks quite far….but as soon as we set foot on the ground floor we saw a sign pointing towards Mount Faber. Looking at the map near the sign we were certain we were on the right track.

This was called Marang Trail

Yes as you can see their trail is all made of tar….so unreal hahaha. We started of fast but soon realised we were panting for breathe and the trail is not as short as it seemed. As we struggled on I was on a mission! A mission to find wildlife in Singapore. Honestly the most common living things I see besides humans are cockcroaches here. Really sad. So I wanted to see maybe monkeys, or squirrels….but they were nowhere to be found. Strange….well we finally reached the top panting and sweating and all I could think of was finding a shop to buy a drink.

View from the Top

We could also see the port but it was very hazy

We could also see the cable car running over to Sentosa Island

This is Singapore City, some call it the concrete Jungle

We walked on around the park and just enjoyed things around even though as you can see from the pictures, the view was rather hazy. Around the park though there were many trees and plants that were well upkept. So Elroi was enjoying taking pictures while this old man sat down to catch his breath. Actually both of us were the same age but well I was carrying the bag you see….excuses hehehe. I found a place selling drinks and man did they cut our throats. SGD 3.80 a bottle of Gatorade. Tourists sites always are crazy in terms of pricing. Like it or not I am a tourist in a certain sense. I was so thirsty so I didn’t care. But Elroi paid….so nice….ahhhhh feels better now

Catching my Breath

Flowers…obviously

Beautiful Fir Tree

Now this park is connected to another and then to another of a total distance of 6km…..and we were determined to walk through the whole long connection which is named the Southern Ridges……pretty daring of a super unfit guy like me hahaha.

To be continued……….

A screen shot of my lovely desktop

For those of you out there who don’t like tech stuff, I know these things seem like a bore to read but please read this plus the the Omnia post ok? You will need to know these things if you want to function effectively in the post-modern world. It also saved people like me the heartache of fixing your computers for hours which I have done so for many over these years. It’s rather painstaking hahaha. Serious wan. You can start with these things I’ve been posting. They are just basic knowledge I tell you. I also only know so little. But I try to learn. You can always ask me anytime and I will try to help if I can. See I’m so nice. hahahah.

Behold my new notebook!!!

My first thought was, its so beautiful! I’m wondering how they ever designed such works of art!! I mean seriously they really do good jobs in making you feel all weak when you see their products nowadays don’t they. I was on the verge of getting an HP 2133 and do a review on it which again is one of the latest products out there and would again probably be as popular as the Samsung Omnia post, but in the end I got the HP tx2080au which is part of HP’s tx2000 series.

Why you may ask? It was offered as an upgrade from the HP 2133 at an irresistible price!

But isn’t this an older model? Yeah it came out in January but again, I’m all about functionality and then design rather than design then functionality. In the past I was riding a motorcycle and subnotebooks were honestly the way to go as they were light. They lack the processing power that is needed for my audio work and therefore wouldn’t be fit for such purposes and so I had my huge Dell 6400.

I didn’t need two notebooks anymore so I was thinking I needed something that will help me in my job and lifestlye here. So when this offer was made I couldn’t resist. Here is what I got:

• AMD Turion 64 X2 Dual Core processor TL-60 2.0GHz
• Up to 4GB DDR2 RAM (my unit has 2GB soon to be 4GB hehehe)
• Nvidia GeForce Go 6150 graphics with shared RAM of up to 128MB
• 160GB 5400 RPM HDD
• 12.1″ WXGA touchscreen display with built in digitizer (1280×800 resolution)
• 1.3 megapixel webcam and built in stereo microphone.
• LightScribe Super Multi or Super Multi 8X DVD+/-R/RW
• Windows Vista Home Premium
• Integrated 10/100/1000 Ethernet
• 802.11a/b/g with Bluetooth
• ExpressCard 34 Slot
• 3 x USB ports
• 2 x headphone out and one microphone-in
• VGA-15 pin
• TV-Out S-video
• RJ-11 and RJ-45
• Notebook Expansion port 3
• 2 x Consumer Infared
• Battery: 4-cell and 8-cell Lithium-Ion
• Weight: 4.3 pounds with weight saver and 4-cell battery
• Dimensions: 8.82″(L) x 12.05″(W) x 1.23″(H)
• 3 years on site warranty

Design and Looks

Firstly I was very very excited to hold it in my hands and I was like….whoa this is much heavier than I had expected and so much more heavier than my EEEPC. Yet it was way way lighter than my Dell so that is great. Carrying my Dell around has been painful. I have walked with this notebook in my backpack for more than 10 kilometers and well I must say it didn’t feel like a burden. But I think for girls it may be less of a pleasure.

The moment I set my eyes on it in my hands, I fell in love with its design. There are intricate things I didn’t notice about its design until I had it with me. Its not just black and silver as you see from afar. There are designs that are embedded on the cover and even on the inside. I like that a lot!

Can you see the designs?

Tablet Function and Screen

I think most of you should know what a normal functional notebook is like. Therefore I will not go into that detail. What I would love to do is to tell you about a Tablet PC. If you don’t know there are many divisions to the notebook category. Tablet PCs are touch screen PCs that can convert into a tablet form as seen below and also be used like a conventional PC. Some do not however have this dual function but that is rare for now.

Touch Screen PC? You may ask. Cool. Yes this technology has been out for some time now. But it hasn’t been very well done if I may say until Vista promised that it would change the Tablet PCs into something people would want. And guess what? It did for me!

Here it is in tablet mode

I tried some in the past and they were far from impressive, but I must say that the Tablet PC is much better now than I expected. Firstly because of HP’s active digitizer. What’s that? Like a pocket PC, there is the stylus right? There….the pen like thing….Ahhhh you get it now. In the past it was like that. Just a piece of plastic for you to touch the screen. Now, you can use it like a mouse. It has a clicking mechanism and even better when you move it around the screen, the pointer follows you so you can see where you are going to tap!

This is how the stylus goes into the notebook!

I mean for me that is wonderful! I can do notation for my music and I won’t miss the line. It is so hard to try to hit a fine line on the screen by just one tap and that is just a wonderful function that did not exist in the past. Even better, the pen when turn the other way around functions as an eraser for what you wrote. So cool!

The writing recognition has improved! It detects my ugly writing perfectly. You just write like usual. There is no need for special method or anything. That makes things sooooo easy…..for me at least hahaha.

The screen honestly is beautiful. Other than the fact it is hard to see under sun light……seems to be a problem with all touchscreen windows stuff even my Omnia….The resolution is wonderful as it is a 12.1 inch screen but has the same resolution as my Dell 15.4 inch last time. So images are sharp and clear. Colors on the screen are nice but cannot be compared to a real monitor. I noticed this only when I put it beside my Dell monitor. Otherwise on its own it actually looks impressive.

The web cam is just of normal quality and so therefore nothing to shout about.

Speed and Multimedia

This is how the screen can turn along with the speakers to change into the tablet form

I don’t know why there are so many anti AMD processors people out there but I actually prefer AMD to Intel. Performance wise I find AMD better but the downside is that it does consume more battery juice. So I was rather worried about that until I realised they offered two batteries! Yes I heard it was normal in their packages. The 4 cell lasts about 2 and a half hours on full blast usage. the 8 cell lasts slightly over 4 hours. Good enough for me

Using it was fun as there were no issues with speed with all my applications. Multi tasking is no problem too as I often run many things as well because I hook this up to my Dell 22 inch monitor to work. Still startup of the computer is slow as in all Vista systems. Very disappointing thing done by Microsoft.

Still this Tablet is not meant for gaming but plays multimedia wonderfully with its sharp screen so videos and pictures look GREAT and I must say they packed in some impressive speakers. Other tablets I come across don’t have speakers that sound so sweet. What i mean by that is that it is loud enough and not distorted or harsh sounding. They are Altec Lansing speakers that are mounted to the screen so that you can hear them even as you change into a tablet or normal notebook style.

The notebook comes with TWO line outs. I was like that is something I need so much!!! Cool!!! And one of them can function as a SPDIF out that gives you digital quality sound if you have the proper equipment to connect it to. I can even control the volume of each output individually. There is also a mic in if you are not satisfied with the in built mic . All these are located in the front of the notebook for easy access and that is really nice.

Sound quality of the sound card is good but as expected will never outperform a dedicated audio interface.

OS and Software

This Tablet comes with Vista which is so much better with its tablet functions compared to XP. I’m not sure about XP service pack 3 if it is as good as this, but I’m sure XP can’t do what it does as good. Vista’s outlook and interface is very beautiful too.

I’m not a fan of Vista because it really eats a lot of resources and is really slow in starting up. I love XP because its been more stable when it comes to audio recording. I hope this improves in time. I would not advice anyone to use Vista unless they have a minimum of 2 GB RAM and even so I would suggest getting 4GB that is the maximum for a 32bit system and makes Vista slightly more of a pleasure to use.

The notebook comes bundled with Cyberlink’s DVD suite instead of the usual Roxio or Nero somehow. It works fine just without all the other fancy stuff that the others have. Good enough for me. They also come with the lightscribe feature which is so nice to use to burn images onto the top of the cd. You must however have the right cd media that supports lightscribe.

Keyboard, Mouse and Fingerprint Reader

A picture of the pen and Tablet from another website

The keyboard was sooooo nice to type on. I don’t even know why. Its just the design and the touch. I like it sooooo much. I mean I am a pianist so touch is something I’m sensitive to and really fussy about. This is the nicest keyboard I’ve used in my life. The size and design is just nice to work with.

The trackpad is sooo nice to use too. My brother has a HP too and the trackpad looked similar and I didn’t like his. I was like I’m so not going to use that pad, but when I used it now….wow….it felt good. Because of the texture on the pad, I can actually feel when I want to move the mouse and when I wanted to scroll up or down just at the right hand side without looking. The buttons are nice to click too. I was expecting that this would be the feature I would hate the most on this notebook only to be proven sooooo wrong!

I never had a notebook with a fingerprint reader, so I was like coming with zero expectations. Then when I realised how it functions and how easy it was to setup, I was so happy. I mean logging on to windows was such a hassle in that past but now all I do is swipe my finger on the reader and ‘TA DA’ I’m in. Still I can choose to type in the password the conventional way but who wants to anymore hahaha.

A view of the keyboard and trackpad

Wireless

The notebook comes with the standard wifi capabilities though I wished they added wireless N on mine. There are different models that have that. Wireless N is the latest specification for wifi which transmits further and faster. But that is not necessary in most scenarios. A need not a want.

It also comes installed with bluetooth which again helps connect many things to the computer such as the handphone, pocket pc, other PCS and so much more. There are so many possibilities with the bluetooth functions nowadays. One of which I love is by connecting it to my bluetooth headphones. The range and reception is good on this notebook. Nothing outstanding about it.

It also helps me connect to my Motorola V6 handphone to access internet over HSPDA (3.5G) when I travel on the train or practically anywhere. So I’m so satisfied with this function. So far there is no drop of signal, no compatibility issues…..wonderful.

Other things

I think I should mention about whether the notebook is noisy or not as that counts nowadays. I loved my EEEPC because its practically almost noiseless. So nice! This however not close to that. Even my Dell performs quieter. The hard disk ‘whirlish’ sound is loud, the fan noise it audible but tolerable.

The notebook also gets rather warm at the fan outlet alone. I must stress this. I am surprised that the rest of the notebook is not as hot as I expected. I left it on for 24 hours without the air cond and still the keyboard was not hot. the back was only warm. It is farrrrr cooler than my EEEPC. Very well done by HP I must say because you don’t want a hot tablet in your hand as you give presentations. I mean if its too hot it will defeat the purpose of getting something you want to be able to conveniently hold in your hand right?

Also last thing I would love to add is that the buttons all over the notebook and the remote control that comes along with the notebook makes it so nice as a multimedia player. This remote control slots right into the express card slot at the side which makes it convenient to carry around. When I prefer, I just can control the multimedia functions like play, pause, volume and more while I’m lying comfortably on my bed. Nice.

The only downside to this notebook in the end for me is that they did not provide a screen protector. I mean with all my heavy usage, I scratch my pocket pc like mad! This notebook I do not want to scatch. So I managed to find NUshield screen protectors online and I’m waiting for them to arrive. They only cost USD15. Well worth it considering repairing the original screen will cost you more. It is very easy to leave fingerprint marks on the cover as well.

I also sourced for the price of the digitizer pen/stylus because that is the thing people lose the most and its only SGD25 from HP, phew. I’m told that the price of this tablet is also very reasonable. USD 1299. I think that is well worth it for this notebook. Thank God for providing me such a wonderful tool!!

Conclusion

Multiview of the Tablet

I hope this little review will help you choose a notebook or maybe a tablet PC too next time. There are so many choices out there but let me give some advice. Always get one that suits your needs. There is always a notebook out there that will seem tailored for your needs!!! and sometimes wants hahaha. In the end, it’s always worth to pay more for something that works for you. I mean really suits your need. Yes the price will drop eventually and you’ll always lose money. But for me it’s worth the investment if you really fully utilise its functions. You buy something that doesn’t function the way you want, you’ll regret and end up spending more because you’ll have to get a replacement in time. Also a lot of people end up spending more than necessary when all they need is to type and surf. So please use your money wisely.

Don’t say I don’t need this la, save la, and end up buying something lousy and don’t say aiyo I need this la but end up not using it. I mean if you use that function once a month only, you don’t need it! Ok? So I’m glad I got this. I hope it lasts me hahahha. Cheers!!

Back in my younger days, that which some would say was a long long time ago, I was a huge fan of a pretty latino gal by the name of Jaci Velasquez. My heart would melt each time I hear her voice. ALso she is very pretty hahaha. Songs from her album especially ‘Crystal Clear’ were songs I would always hear to lift me up until this very day.

So when I got to the stores here I was! Yes! They have the album! I mean it’s just so hard to get Christian Albums in Malaysia, here it is slightly better, only for the popular artists.

So here I am so very excited to hear this album after a very disappointing last album by her during the period of her divorce. I was rather upset by that because that was wrong. Still who am I to judge her. She made mistakes like all of us do. She admitted her wrongs and now I just thought it was time for her to move on as an artist.

This album came out after her apparent remarriage to another artist from the band Salvador. She is expecting a baby too if I am not wrong at this stage of doing this album. So I put all things aside and just focused on hearing the music.

The first song got me feeling like the world was so beautiful. I was literrally dancing to the music ‘Leon style’. As the album progressed I was glad to hear her back to her pop style with a little latin twist to it. Sounds like her early days but so much more alive!

The album though if I may comment lacks the depth I got from my favorite album by her. Nothing really moved me besides the first song. There was a spanish duet with probably her new husband who plays wonderful guitar and played for her album that was rather nice still it just didn’t move me. This was rather disappointing.

Put aside all my expectations and biasness to her previous album, I would say that this album is indeed one of her better albums. If you are a fan this indeed is the Jaci we fell in love with. I’m glad to hear great music by her again at last. Hope things get better from now onwards. I would certainly say this is a good album to get if you like pop music that sound like a little mixture of Celine Dion, a little Gloria Estefan, Natalie Imbruglia and Vanessa Carlton. Hahaha yes she has a sound of her own that is hard to define so hear it for yourself ok?

Album Rating: 6.5/10

Ratings are explained here