My Brief Moment With A Fellow Blogger

There are quite a number of blogs that I silently read regularly. Silently in a sense that I never give any comments in the blog. Its just blogs that you casually read and don't see a need to comment since life is busy enough as it is for you to make an effort to comment on every blog you read. This bl0ggers are people that you may know more then most of your real life friends although you never see them in real life.

Nevertheless last weekend was an exception. I was in the lift on my way down towards the car park and the moment the lift door opened, I stumbled upon a familiar face. It took me a few second to recognise this fellow blogger. Our eyes locked for a few seconds, I looked at the loved one standing next to this blogger and i instantly remembered the entry in which they were planning to get married. As I step out of the lift, I could not help myself from looking back just to catch another glimpse before the lift door closed a few steps in front of me. For a minute, I smiled to myself. I am not sure why but probably it was a sense of contentment that after 5 month of blogging, I did meet someone from bloggersphere for the first time (even though the blogger had no idea whatsoever about it!).

Now I wonder if this sort of thing could have happened to me.

Optician and Optometrist are not the same

A lot need to be done to tell the public the difference between an optician and an optometrist. But when even the well informed media are not aware of it, then it does show a bad light for the profession as a whole. That alone sometimes justify the reason why most overseas graduated Optometrist resist the idea of coming back home to practice their trade.

Here's an article from the Star regarding pertaining to the subject matter.


Monday April 28, 2008

Opticians and optometrists are not the same

PETALING JAYA: Not many are aware about the difference between optician and optometrist, said the Association of Malaysian Optometrists.

Its president Dr Chung Kah Meng said the term “optometry” was widely used, and this has caused many people to be confused between the job scope of opticians and optometrists.

As such, he proposed that the term “optometry” should be protected under the Optical Act 1991, just like the term “optometrist”.

He said that to become an optometrist one needed to obtain a four-year degree while an optician only goes through a two-year course to get a diploma.

Dr Chung said an optometrist was qualified to examine eyes for defects or faults of refraction, and conduct tests such as measurement of visual acuity and refraction, visual field screening, and measuring intra-ocular pressure.

“We are automatically qualified to prescribe and dispense contact lenses too, while opticians have to sit for an exam conducted by the Malaysian Optical Council (MOC) before they can become contact lens practitioners,” he said.

He said a media report that said optometrists had failed the MOC exam was not accurate as only opticians had to sit for the exam.

Dr Chung said that in Britain opticians were not allowed to conduct eye tests and their role was to dispense spectacles as prescribed by the optometrists.

“But in Malaysia, there are not enough optometrists when the Optical Act 1991 was formulated, so opticians were allowed to conduct eye tests,” he said.

Update : Had a chat with a fellow optometrist and was told that all the Optician that took the MOC (Malaysian Optic Council) Contact Lens examination failed their practicals this year (and this is the first time they ever conducted such exams).

Tanner's Wine Bar & Bistro

Had an early dinner at Tanner's which is located at Kenny Hills (Bukit Tungku) last Sunday. The Chairman of Tatler (Malaysia) recommended this place to a friend of mine and gave a pretty high rating for it.

The place is situated away from the hustle and bustle of the city, surrounded by an old English countryside setting. If not for the introduction to this place, one would not be able to find this pretty secluded eatery easily.

Outside, the bistro is decorated with beer barrel tabletop

Entering the bistro, one can feel the warmth and cosiness of the place.

Tanner's predominantly serves English food and an extensive selection of wine and bottled beer sourced from various countries.

They serve set meals on most days. The one we ordered came with mushroom soup, chicken salad, Yorkshires pudding/roast lamb and sticky chocolate as desert.

Starter - mushroom soup

Chicken Salad

Yorkshire Pudding, this was a bit of a disappointment as I was expecting the batter to be in the form of a bowl. That was how i had them during my days living in Yorkshire and in some ways I was hoping to see the same presentation.

For those that is not familiar with Yorkshire pudding, its a dish made from batter. Its mostly served with roast beef (the one I ordered), chicken or on its own.

Roast Lamb (this was actually much better then the beef)

Sticky Chocolate (chocolate pudding with a scoop of chocolate ice cream)

All in all, Tanners is a nice cozy place for some decent English cuisine but i think its too highly rated. The food is good but not fantastic as what it was proclaimed to be. Nevertheless its a nice secluded place for a quiet romantic dinner or a private party (its a small place that can only fit roughly 50-100 people). Its also pretty reasonable with set meals costing about RM50 excluding tax.

If you are really into English cuisine then you may one to give this place a try. If not I guess there may be other better place around.


Tanner's Wine Bar & Bistro
H2 Taman Tungku, Off Langgak Tungku, Bukit Tunku, 50480 Kuala Lumpur
Tel : 03-6201 4222

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*snickers*

Kedai Makanan & Minuman Sauk

Went to Sauk again to sample the river delicacies there. This time I did not go to Sun Kong Restaurant but to a place called "Kedai Makanan & Minuman Sauk" (directly translated its called "Eating and Drinking Shop of Sauk"). Supposedly the food there is better then Sun Kong.

More info regarding Sauk can be read here from my previous entree.

The first thing when you get to a restaurant which involve fish or anything that is charged according to weight, is to check the price out. If not you will be eating at your own peril :P

This is one of their speciality dish. Looks like spring chicken right? In Cantonese its called "tin kai". Its basically frog legs which is a local delicacy in this village. I was certainly not disappointed.

Steamed Tengalan

"Tengalan" fish or scientifically called pontius bulu is another local Perak delicacy. Its a very popular local river fish here. This fish is best steamed. Do be careful while eating them since they are notorious with their forked bones.

This is another specialty from the restaurant, "sai tou" fish belly.

Sai Tou Fish Balls

No Chinese meal would be complete without green vegetables

Total bill for the day was RM145.90. Not bad for a meal for 8.

Overall the food is at par with Sun Kong but cost is much more reasonable. Nevertheless, you won't be getting of the really "big" fish that you can get at Sun Kong here. I'll definitely be visiting this place again.

Star Fruit Kills

Read this off the paper today.

If you know anyone that has kidney problems, do ask them to refrain from taking star fruit. Apparently they contain a certain neurotoxin that could worsen their condition and maybe life threatening.

Here's the news as reported by TheStar


Star fruit can be poisonous for kidney patients

By AMANDA LEE


KUALA LUMPUR: All it takes is one fruit or 100ml of its juice and the ordinarily harmless star fruit becomes poison in a matter of hours for kidney patients.

University Malaya Medical Centre consultant nephrologist Prof Dr Tan Si-Yen said this was what had happened to Tang Gon Seang in China.

The 66-year-old, who has been suffering from a kidney ailment, was in Shenzhen visiting his son when fell into a coma on March 29 after eating star fruits.

“Star fruits contain a neurotoxin which is not present in other fruits. It affects the brain and nerves. In healthy persons, the kidneys filter it out.

“In kidney patients, it cannot be removed and worsens their condition,” he said.

More than 10 other patients in the hospital suffered the same condition after consuming star fruits. Two of them died.

After discovering the star fruit connection, Tang has been undergoing dialysis.

His brother-in-law Teoh Thian Lye, 55, confirmed that Tang had been on medication for kidney problems for three years.

The family sought the help of MCA Public Complaints and Services Department head Datuk Michael Chong to transfer Tang back to Malaysia as the family could not afford the hospital bill of RM1,000-RM2,000 a day in intensive care.

According to Dr Tan, there was little awareness of this relatively new discovery and no local cases yet.

“The public must be alert to reactions to star fruit. Look out for initial symptoms including hiccups, numbness and weakness, and neurological symptoms including confusion, agitation and epileptic fits,” he said.

“The risk of death is high,” he added.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 Review

Do you ever act as if your a tourist in your own country? Well, ever since I bought the Lumix DMC-FZ18, I've been doing just that.

The DMC-FZ18 is my first DSLR experience. Previously, I've been using the Olympus u850 which is a simple dummy camera with waterproof features.

The FZ18 is Panasonic's latest "super zoom" camera that comes pack with x18 optical zoom and 8.1 megapixel resolution. One thing i liked about this camera is the Leica lens comes together with this model. Leica is a well knows German camera manufacturer that is famous for its quality lenses.

At the moment, there is only 2 other camera that matches the specification of the FZ18. The two are Olympus 560UZ and Fuji's Finepix s8000fd. However most reviews that I read pointed FZ18 to be more superior then the other 2.

The FZ18 also comes with a generous 2.5" LCD and for the first time introduced their Intelligent Auto Mode which integrates face and scene recognition, image stabilization, intelligent ISO control and continuous AF in an easy to use auto mode.

Battery, battery charger (that plugs directly into the wall), USB cable, AV cable, CD-ROM, shoulder strap, lens cap, lens cap string, lens hood, and lens hood adapter are bundled together with the camera.

The highlight of the FZ18 would definitely be the x18 optical zoom with a 35mm equivalent focal length of 28-504mm. The FZ18 is fitted with optical image stabilization, which, at an 18x zoom, is an absolute necessity. The result can be seen from the below 2 picture's I took.

1x zoom

x18 (telephoto) of the dome

This camera is ideal if you do not want to spend a lot of money and still want to play around with a DSLR camera (Cost me RM1500). Its ideal for beginners too since you can still point and shoot with the camera and then review what kind of aperture size, shutter speed and ISO exposure used by the camera. With time you can then experiment with your own settings and see what you get.

Ubudiah Mosque, Kuala Kangsar

Using the camera for the last week or two have been a pleasure. Its a great outdoor camera and you can happily shoot away and get pretty decent pictures even while using its Intelligent Auto mode. The casual photographers will definitely enjoy this. Nevertheless, if you are taking non-stationary images, I would suggest the P mode since the continuous AF is not fast enough.

Istana Kenangan, Kuala Kangsar

The only downside of this camera would be night and indoor shots. If you are taking pictures in a dimly lit area and the camera needs ISO 400 and above, the shots looses a lot of detail (significant digital noise) and its simply frustrates me sometimes. So I won't really bother using this camera for a party at night.

In conclusion, if you are looking for a "super zoom" camera that is not that expensive, comes with full feature set (manual exposure mode etc) and like to take outdoor pictures then its worth putting the FZ18 in your short list.

MIA

Been away over the weekend to attend an optical trade exhibition at KL Convention Centre. Came home about 10+ pm today.

Dead tired......

PC Fair 2008 : Veni Vidi Vici!

I CAME

PC Fair At Stadium Indra Mulia, Ipoh


I SAW

I CONQUER

:P

My Day At The Toyota Service Centre

I booked my car in for servicing last week at the Toyota Service Centre in Ipoh. The appointment was for 8.30 and I arrived there on the dot. The service centre here is notorious for its long queues and waiting time so I would always book at the earliest possible time since I normally wait for the car to be done up.

Toyota always emphasizes on genuine parts as showed here

That's my Vios 1.5G being tuned.

This time around it took way longer then normal to get my car done up. But I was not alone. While waiting, I took some rather sleepy pictures.

Disclaimer : If your at the office now and feeling extremely tired, this may not be the right time to see the pictures.

This is what normally happens in a very busy Toyota service centre. Zzz

While waiting for our cars to be ready, we were suddenly disturbed by a high level SNORE. Then we all saw this.........

*Snore...zzzzzz*

I tell ya. He was snoring so loud that some could not help but giggle loudly (me one of them!). Being a bit cheeky, I then moved in closer pretending to take a look at the poster on the wall with my hp cam on hand.

Chick! Chak!

Sleeping Beauty?

Thats what I do nowadays when I get bored. Taking pictures of interesting happenings around me.... haha.

P.S : I am posting this blog with a hint of guilt. I really hope the 2 people featured here don't stumble on my blog.....lol

Possible technical glitch on Innit?

I am not too sure if this is a technical glitch or not, but while i was browsing through innit just now, my itchy fingers went in to click on my own profile.

I was then re-routed to my nuffnanger profile. Nothing strange here.

I later clicked on other bloggers profile on innit (tangan gatal lah) but instead of seeing their profile page, I was then re-routed to the nuffnang log in page. After inputting my username and password, I got the wrong username or password message.

Strange, how come i can't log in? Then I realised something..........

This is nuffnang.sg login page. Of course my Malaysian account don't work here!

So is this a glitch or nuffnangers from Malaysia and Singapore cannot see each others profile page?

Even if its not a glitch, it don't make sense right?

Spring Cleaning

Today I decided to do some spring cleaning on my really messy desk. It must have been a few months since I did anything to it. Some area were totally covered with dust!

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An hour and a half later............

I brought back the extra fax machine and a multi purpose printer from the office. So I can now bring work back home. Not really sure if its a wise thing to do as yet.

MP Restaurant, Ipoh

Had the urge for steamboat last Friday so we decided to go to MP Restaurant at Ipoh. This is actually the 3rd time coming here but I have never had the chance to blog about it.

The price here are pretty reasonable and charges are based on your height. I like their policy of a special discount for the senior citizen. Not many restaurants i see gives a special rate for the "Golden Aged" citizens.

The ambiance here is pretty nice. Its also worth to note that this is a Halal restaurant and they serve beef here. So do take that in mind when you come.

This is our spot that was booked before hand. If your coming on a Saturday night, its wise to book before hand as many people would have done so as well. Saves the hassle of coming in and realize there is no table available.

Here's some random pictures of the buffet area.

Veggie and noodle area

Prawns, muscles, shells, clams

This is he main square

Dessert and salad bar

There is also an area for cooked food but i didn't take any picture of that. They serve things like lamb chops, beef steaks, fried chicken, noodles among others.

You can chose a variety of soup from the normal tomyam, herbal, curry to porridge as well

So if you are in Ipoh and wish to have something filling to eat then I would definitely suggest you coming to MP Restaurant. For RM24.80 (weekdays) and RM26.80 (weekends) its pretty much value for money having your meal here.

Address : 12A, Jalan Chin Choon Sam, Greentown, Ipoh
Tel : 05-2412218 & 05-2413218
Website : www.movenpeak.com.my