The Quest

No, it is not a quest for the Lost Ark or some otherwise lost and invaluable treasure.

[Once upon a time...] My mother complained on Sunday that the house kettle leaks. It was an old kettle belonging to my late grandmother. It is quite funny to think that over all these years my mother, or us in general, have never bought a new kettle for use in the house. On the other hand, it is quite something that that old kettle lasts so long. My mother wondered if it is possible to patch the old kettle up, but I thought that it is time that we buy a new one. Hence the quest... for a kettle.

["What misfortune to have befallen upon us!" cried the Queen, for the magic kettle, which had long since time immemorial provided the kingdom with blessed sweet, clear water, was lost]

For a while we also had a small electric kettle we used to boil water. However, even that one was not bought specifically for use in the house. I bought it when I was in university, and brought it home when I graduated. So again, nobody has ever bought a kettle for the house proper. I just think that it is funny; not funny funny, but, you know, a weird slightly interesting trivia kind of funny. Anyway, the cheap plastic electric kettle expired a few years ago and we never bought a new one; going back to the trusty stove-top old-school iron kettle instead.

["Trouble not" said a wise wizard, "for another magic kettle exists." So forth she sent her most valiant knights, upon the swiftest steeds, in search for the new kettle-treasure]

And now we finally had to buy a new kettle. And it was in the middle of CNY holiday, so none of the shops selling electrical appliances was open. This basically underlines the fact that no non-Chinese individual operates an electrical appliances outlet in the area, which is again, funny. Does this mean that fifty years after Independence, we still have racial polarization along economic activities? Funny. I am not at all implying whether it is good or bad – not going to discuss politics here – but it definitely underlines our racial interdependence.

[The knights searched across the lands east, west, north, south; near and far, for the magic kettle-treasure, but it was nowhere to be found]

So no new kettle on Sunday, and my mother used the rice cooker pot to boil water, and it tasted like rice, or was it barley? One may order barley drinks at restaurants but the bottom line is the water boiled in the rice cooker pot didn't taste like ‘proper’ boiled water. YUCK!

My brother and I went around town again on Monday on our quest for a new kettle. Still, no shops were open. We joked that none of the Chinese shopkeepers were (relatively) poor enough to bother opening shop on the second day of CNY; electrical appliances must be good business, or the economy is really doing very well. Anyway, the funny-tasting boiled water from Sunday was definitely an additional source of motivation, so we went to the last place we wanted to go – a supermarket.

[The magic kettle-treasure was hidden in a deep, dark cavern guarded by trolls and demons, counselled the wise wizard]

We did not want to go to the supermarket because it is a lousy supermarket with terrible store layout, terrible choice and terrible service. But beggars can't be choosers, so says the old proverb, so we went in and bought ourselves a kettle (and some red bean ais krim potong befitting the season).

[Against terrible odds, the knights slew the trolls, vanquished the demons, and made away with the magic kettle-treasure]

Thus ended the legendary Quest for the 4.2-Litre Stainless Steel Automatic Electric Kettle [...and the Kingdom lived happily ever after].

__________
DISCLAIMER: Bored holiday entry.

What'd Saturday Go?

I
My sister asked me to help her setup a new PC she bought for her fiancé late Friday night, and it took me the whole night and almost all of Saturday to download and install updates for the OS and other applications. It just reminded me why everybody hates the evil empire, and why we Malaysians love our very own TM.

The new flatscreen LCD monitor makes me jealous. Our home desktop and my notebook computers are already more than two years old – ancient – but I don't want to buy a Vista PC just yet. Macs are expensive, and I can't be bothered to try out Linux. So what else to do but wait...

In the zone – image capture from Macross Zero

II
I used to find listening to music while driving distracting, especially with the earphones. But then, as I was stuck in traffic, first when they were doing that infamous RM70 million repairs to the elevated section of MRR2, and then with the never-ending road upgrade works between Sungai Buloh and Sri Damansara, I began to listen to the radio. The thing about Malaysian radio is after a while they all sound annoyingly repetitive; playing the same songs over and over again that you want to throw up.

One day, I decided to bring along my trusty iRiver T10, and put it on during the drive home from work. It was really awkward at first, as I was so used to having all my senses ‘present’ when driving. But I adjusted pretty soon, and now prefer to drive with my ears plugged either to the MP3 player or my Walkman phone. There are more songs in the MP3 player, but I love the sound-isolating ear buds of the hand-sfree kit.

I personally feel that my driving is now more focused and relaxed. Studies have linked listening to fast and loud music to fast and dangerous driving. While I cannot say whether I’d consider the songs in Bon Jovi’s Have a Nice Day album – which I’ve been listening and singing to over and over through the past month and a half – fast-paced or not, I do admit to driving just a little bit faster than usual.

So, where I’m going with all this? The new year has got me itching for a new phone. I bought the W800i last year just before Chinese New Year. It’s Chinese New Year now, and the white/orange phone is starting to look boring.

Hopefully this will be released soon.

__________
PS: **Happy New Year**, again.

Random Chatter

I
I take the day off, for no real reason. I filed in the leave form on Tuesday when all I was thinking was finding a place, an excuse, to sleep.

II
A package from Amazon arrived yesterday – a book and a CD. They were the last part of an order I placed last month; two DVDs were delivered earlier. Since these last two items were not yet released when I placed the order, they split the shipment into two parts with no additional charges. The package was shipped on January 29, and delivery estimate was given as between February 23 and March 7. It arrived on February 8 – two weeks early!

III
We have a stalker at the department, if not the kulliyyah. I’ve been overhearing stories about it for quite some time; colleagues and administrative staff members being harassed and even threatened, but I’ve never met the stalker. Or so I thought. I saw a familiar face in the hallway on Wednesday so stopped to say hi. I asked what he is/was doing, and he said that he came to return some books to some lecturers, and asked if I have any books to lend him. I meant to ask about his current job, so I asked him again, “Apa engkau buat sekarang?” What are you doing know? He was quite upset with the question and went back to the books. Seeing something was amiss I asked him again, and this time he said that he didn’t complete his studies and now comes around from time to time looking for books to borrow to occupy himself. By then, I figure that something was not right so I excused myself.

The ladies at the department office freaked out when I told them about the encounter. “You know him!” It turns out that I know the department stalker all along. Well, I don’t really; I don’t even know his name. They told me that he is mentally ill, literally, which might have contributed to him being dismissed from the university. Campus security has been informed about him, but there really is no way of stopping him from entering the campus. There were occasions when staff members had to resort to calling security, but they never arrived in time to catch him.

Crap, I just hope that he wouldn’t come and find me in my office! So much for saying hi to people, huh?

IV
I was never into dark color themes for my browser, desktop etc. before, but I use PitchDark at the moment on my Firefox. It's a nice contrast to the white background of this blog.

V
With all the work at the moment I haven't had time to sit down and read. [SIGH]

Random chatter.

Sick Test

Four piles of unmarked assignments sat on my desk for two weeks, untouched. I moved them onto the shelves this morning to clear my desk.

Sir, when are we getting back our Assignment #2?
I haven't looked at them yet.
???
You can find the solution on my website.

Today was Quiz #2:

Sir, what is the meaning of this word [lumber]?
Timber.
???
Balak.

I might as well teach English in school. A student, in my office last week:

English saya OK, sir (unlike others).
...
What does “continue on indefinitely” mean?

I received Assignment #3 today. There are now twelve piles of papers on my shelves(2 x 4 piles of assignments + 4 piles from the quiz). The mid-semester test is tomorrow, which will add four more piles. I so wish I have a TA.

No thanks to a second round of cold, I’ve been sniffling and sneezing like crazy all day in the office. If only I could cancel the test and take the week off and sleep. Strangely, and thankfully, I didn’t sneeze even once during class. Otherwise I might just infect the whole class, and perhaps even the whole university!

Now, that doesn't sound like such a bad thing somehow. Maybe so many people would get infected and they would close the university. Imagine the headline: “IIUM shut down for cold pandemic”. With the avian-flu scare all over the world, it doesn't seem so far-fetched.

Subsidized

Now that the price of petroleum in the world market has fallen to about $50 per barrel, from almost $80 per barrel during the middle of 2006, Malaysians are asking about the possibility of the government lowering the retail price of fuel. I hope that it won’t.

Fuel is highly subsidized in this country. The government sets the retail prices of petrol, diesel, and cooking gas, and pays the difference (from the actual market prices) to the oil companies. For example, if the government sets the retail price of petrol at RM1.90 per liter, it would have to pay oil companies 10 sen per liter of petrol sold if the market price is RM2.00; or 60 sen if the market price is RM2.50. This way, not only do the Malaysian people enjoy cheaper fuel, but they are also insulated from the day-to-day fluctuations in the price of petroleum in the world market.

Oil by POLangevin at deviantART

Subsidies distort the market, because they make a good appears cheaper than it actually is. In a market economy, price plays an all-important role as an indicator of the relative values of all goods and services. The fuel subsidies make Malaysians under-appreciate the value of oil compared to other goods and services. While the people enjoy ‘cheap’ petrol the government picks up the tab. Benefits of the fuel subsidies are also regressively distributed, as the rich are more likely to drive big, fuel-thirsty cars, and hence consume more of the subsidies, than the poor. Since we cannot prevent foreigners from filling up at our service stations, we are subsidizing them as well using our taxpayers’ money; not to mention the rampant smuggling activities along the borders.

As the world price of petroleum increased, the government had to increase the retail prices of fuel in order to put a cap on the ballooning compensation it would have to pay the oil companies. By now the economy, and much of the population, has fully adjusted to the (current) higher fuel prices, so the government need not lower the retail prices of fuel simply because world price of petroleum has decreased.

Even with the lower world petroleum price, the government is still paying a significant amount in fuel subsidies, as the retail prices set are still lower than the market prices. Lower market prices of fuel mean substantial savings for the government, which means more money available for other purposes like spending on schools and hospitals. More important though, is to have Malaysians paying closer to the actual market prices of petrol, diesel, and cooking gas. We need to get Malaysians to recognize the actual value of such non-renewable fossil fuels and the issues that surround them.

While we may not be prepared to do away with fuel subsidies totally, the government may consider replacing the current price-setting mechanism with a fixed subsidy of, for example 50 sen per liter of petrol, and let the retail price fluctuate. This should create better awareness about the economy, economics, and energy-related issues, as well as saving the government from flak every time it needs to adjust the retail prices of fuel.

Projek Mega

The house is being renovated – my parents’ latest mega project – and there is dust everywhere; marble dust, cement dust, plaster dust. Thank God none of us has allergies. For a twenty-year old house, the structure is still in really good condition.

The contractor is the same person who built the house. It was then his very first project. Our house was his experiment, so to speak.

Work began last Saturday. He brings just one worker, so I can't imagine how long it will take. That much also depends on whether my parents have new ideas.

Twenty years ago