A Sign?

I wonder if its bad omen.

Was closing up after work when my key accidentally dropped and bounced back into the office. With no way of taking it out myself, I had to get someone to bring me the spare key.

Later when I reach home, I accidentally knocked on a glass jar and shattered it. Luckily I was wearing long pants so I was not injured or anything.

Makes me wonder whats next.

Cataract Surgery

I am in the midst of preparing a powerpower point presentation for "The Right To Sight" community project. One of the issues that I would be talking about is the prevalence of cataracts being one of the major contributor towards blindness among poor communities. It only takes a simple 10 minute surgical procedure in order to restore their sight.

Many people have asked me about cataract surgery so I have included a clip in my presentation.

I am also including it here as I am sure many people are curious what cataract surgery looks like and truly how simple the whole procedure is.

Warning: If you squirm looking at a bit of blood and faint at the sight of surgical procedures, do not proceed any further. You have been warned.

Britney Spears Pregnant Again?

The Daily Mail reported on a picture showing Britney Spears cradling her swollen looking belly on a shopping trip and thus suggesting that she may be pregnant again for the 3rd time.

with a tummy that big who on earth would not speculate right?

In the not so distant past, Britney have been involved with a nasty custody battle with her ex-husband Kevin Federline, hospitalised at a psychiatric ward, charged with a hit and run and shaved her head bald.

So one would wonder if the pregnancy is real, then the life of our Miss Britney may turn for the better?

Wishful thinking....

Massive Earthquake Rocks Central China

I heard of this unfortunate news this morning as I was driving to work from the radio.

The quake that struck at 2.28pm is said to be the largest the region has seen for over a generation. The last major earthquake in the region occurred in the northwestern margin of the Sichuan basin when a 7.5 magnitude quake killed more than 9,300 people on August 1933.

The quake which was again centered in the Sichuan province is said to have killed 12,000 people so far. It was estimated that nearly 30 seismic aftershock jolts hit the province in the first 24 hours following Monday's quake and this has slowed down the progress of 1,300 strong rescued teams dispatched into the area. All of this quakes were magnitude between 4.0 and 6.0.

In the coming days, I am sure this number will swell as authorities have only began to reach the worse hit areas. Thousands remained trapped under the rubble, including hundreds of children at half-dozen schools.

Let us all pray and hope that rescue efforts will go smoothly.

The 11th Hour

The 11th Hour is a feature film documentary on the state of our current environment. Narrated and produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, the documentary depicts the grave problems faced by mother nature in current times. This documentary pulls in prominent speakers such as physicist Stephen Hawking, former Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev among others and talks about threats to the environment such as global warming, deforestation, extinction of species and ultimately the extinction of mankind.

Watching the movie, I can't help thinking that humans are not destroying the environment but destroying themselves. Even if humans are destroyed by global warming and its aftermath and 99.99% of life die, nature will eventually heal itself and return to its former glory. Nature has all the time in the world but humankind don't.

Another scary fact from the film - Humans contribute to 55,000 extinctions every year

But besides the grim picture portrayed, the film also touched on potential solutions to the current problem.

To those that have watched "An Unconventional Truth" narrated by Al Gore, 11th Hour although not as good as the former is a good watch and serves as a clear reminder that we are the generation that could change the perception of this world that is facing extinction. If the people of our generation do not tackle the problem of global warming now, the next generation may not have a chance to do so.

I am not just an Optometrist

I am also the cleaning lady.

This are like really old frames that I still have around. Notice the smiley face? That's how thick the dust have accumulated over the years.

All of them packed nicely into a box and into the storeroom

I am also the repairman

This lady wanted her glasses adjusted. Notice the really dirty nose pads? Yuck! And she refused to have them changed.....

I am also the technician

My Grover showing his tantrums. Took me more then an hour to have the belt fixed

And apparently, I am also Aedes mosquito

The Department of Health being inconsiderate yet again by fogging the whole area without informing us before hand. They want to kill us as well as those mozzies!

This more or less summarize my week at work among other things that I have done :P

My First Cheque From Nuffnang

After waiting for a bit over a month, my advertisement withdrawal from nuffnang finally arrived. Not a lot of money but not bad for a blog that started off just November last year as a medium to let loose some steam.

Shopping money... yay!

Maxis Message Plus

Maxis recently launched a very unique sms service called Message Plus. With just RM1 per month, maxis users can control, personalize and automate their short message service.

This service consist of 3 key features namely Sms Blacklist, SMS Auto-Reply and SMS Copy.

The SMS Blacklist in my opinion is a god sent. Maxis claim that this anti-spam or blacklist feature is the first to be offered by a mobile operator in the world.

With this new feature we can now block all those annoying spams as well as block desperate ex-boyfriends/girlfriends, annoying friends, stalkers and other pests from sms'ing us rubbish and pollute our phone with unwanted reading material. Nevertheless, you better pray hard that these pest uses Maxis operator since you can only block people using maxis line (i.e 012, 0142 and 017). To the pest out there, go change to Digi if you want to stalk your prey. If you are like totally famous or infamous with 100's of pest down your throat, then you may be out of luck as well since you are only allowed to block 100 numbers.

Its also worth to note that, blacklisted numbers will not know that they are blacklisted.

To activate this feature, follow the steps as shown from the diagram below.


Next is the SMS Auto-Reply.

Just say you are abroad or in a meeting and can't reply your sms'es, this nifty feature allows you to set a standard or personalized auto-reply message to attend to all your incoming messages. So useful if your in the toilet and having constipation, this feature can totally help you out while you concentrate your full attention to expunged unwanted waste from your body.

To activate this feature, follow the steps as shown from the diagram below.

Finally we got the SMS Copy.

If you are using a crappy phone with no color screen then this may be a feature for you. Why? crappy phone without color screen surely won't have sms forwarding feature right? Then again I might be wrong so shoot me.

Anyways, this feature allow you to automatically copy everyone the message that you wish to share. You can customize who and to whom the message will be forwarded to. In short, forward messaging service lah.

To activate this feature, follow the steps as shown from the diagram below.

All this for a whopping RM1. Nice feature to have get right?

So get your lazy fingers moving and subscribe to the service by typing "MENU" and send to 21000, then reply with "1".

That's all folks.

P.S Maxis didn't pay me to do advert for them but this service is something pretty useful. I am playing around with the blacklist now. Haha

Bird Watching At Kuala Sepetang (Port Weld)

I was at Port Weld last weekend for some seafood and bird watching.

Once the busiest port in the region, its facilities were mainly for exporting of processed tin ore. Opened in 1877 as the gateway for cargo ships, Port Weld is now called Kuala Sepetang. No longer a main port, it is now mainly used by fishing boats.

In the past, Port Weld was an important port for import export activities between Taiping and Penang. Apart from Teluk Intan. Port Weld is also used as an exit point to the Kinta District and Upper Perak District. At that time, the items traded were opium, preserved vegetables, tobacco and tin ore.Port Weld's activities with Taiping increased when a railroad was built. Works on the railroad started in the end of 1884 and its construction was managed by the Ceylon Pioneer Corps. On February, the railroad was officially opened and plying the Taiping and Port Weld route transported passengers and goods.

(info from virtualmalaysia.com)

After doing some research on the net, I manage to identify this bird as Brahminy Kite (Haliastur indus). The bird is medium-sized raptors (birds of prey), with a white head and breast. The rest of its body is a striking chestnut brown. The very tip of its tail is white. The wings are broad, with dark 'fingered' wing tips and the tail is short. The legs are short and not feathered, the eye is dark and the lemon yellow coloured bill is strongly hooked. It sails on level wings along shorelines and mudflats.

The Brahminy Kite feeds on carrion (dead animals), insects and fish. It swoops low over water, the ground or tree tops and snatches live prey or carrion from the surface. It also steals from fish-hunting birds, snatching prey in flight.

The nest of the Brahminy Kite is built in living trees near water, often mangrove trees. The nest is large, made from sticks, seaweed or driftwood and lined with a variety of materials such as lichens, bones, seaweed and even paper. Both parents incubate the eggs and the young are fed bill to bill with small pieces of food .

a closeup picture sourced from www.birdsinbackyards.com

BUSY BUSY BUSY

April have certainly been a real busy month for me. Business is doing suprisingly well this month. Of course this I am not complaining *kaching!* If I can maintain the same figures for May then I may seriously think of getting what I plan for 2009 done this year instead.

On the community work (Rotary) front, this year would be a very exciting year indeed. After a few weeks of brainstorming, I have finally got the go ahead from my IPP to take charge of my proposed project. For the past few years, I have seen many elderly patients with cataracts but due to the cost of the surgery, many from the poor are unable to proceed with the surgery and in the process loose their sight. Even if they are to do the surgery at government hospitals, they still need to bear the cost of the Intra Ocular Lens that may cost from RM600 to RM900.

My project tentatively named "Fight for Sight" would involve the identification of this group of people, provide consultation, expertise, and then source them with the necessary funds to undertake cataract extraction. The next 2 month will see me scouring for funds and expertise to get the project underway. Fingers crossed this would be another successful project. Expectations are high since the last Rotary Health Camp 2008 saw unprecedented success. Nevertheless, i am confident as this subject matter is something close to my heart.