Wings Musicafe

Nite out at KL's newest music cafe

I was at the opening party of my friend's new cafe, namely Wings Musicafe at Times Walk KL (behind Berjaya Times Square). The outlet occupies two floors and features live unplugged performance -- playing mainly Chinese repertoire.

Anti-RSI keyboard rocks!

A keyboard is a keyboard is a keyboard. Well, not so. I got myself a sleek black A4 Tech keyboard (Model KBS-720). It's reasonably priced too. The maker of the keyboard claims that the "A-shape" key layout prevents Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) from the wrists and arms. Center "A-type" keys matches the way the fingers naturally move and provides maximum comfort while typing.

The bugs are "gone"

Was monitoring blog headlines and found this: ASP.NET daddy, Scott Guthrie has announced in a blog post that ASP.NET 2.0 and Visual Web Developer has hit ZBB (Zero Bug Bounce i.e. in Microsoft land, no bugs older than 48 hours in a given milestone). Next would be the big security push and then, the final Beta 2 push. Okay, let's see how long that takes. ;-)

On a related note, there are product design changes between Beta 1 and Beta 2. Guess I will not be toying with ASP.NET 2.0 seriously till Beta 2 is out.

ADSL modem blues

After a frustrating week without Streamyx broadband access, two Telekom technicians came by to troubleshoot the problem. After 20 minutes fiddling with my ailing modem, they replaced it with a brand new one. Voila! Back to civilization!

The following is what I've learnt over the years when dealing with Streamyx access issues:

Before calling the TMNet support line (1-300-88-9515), make sure you have done the following:

• Bypass the router when testing the connection
• Reset (off-pause-and-on) the modem a few times
• Replace the network cable connecting the computer and the ADSL modem
• Delete the old dialer and reinstall the dialer

If all the above fail, call support. Let support know of the general nature of the issue, error message/code, OS type, modem model, indicator status on modem and get a report number from the service rep. Remember, no report number, no action. After 3 working days and no resolution, call them up again to press them to escalate the issue. If you are subscribed to the "with modem" package, make sure the technicians are aware of that when they first contact you. This is so that they'll get a replacement modem ready when they come visit you.

Applying for MyKad

After much procastination, I finally applied for MyKad (the new Malaysian national registration identification card) at the JPN office at Maju Junction Mall. I thought the whole affair was going to be painful but surprisingly it was over in 2 hours -- mostly waiting time. Applying was simple in that only the current IC is required. There was no forms to fill though there was the change-address form which wasn't applicable to me anyway.

The food-court at Maju Junction Mall is equipped with screens displaying queue numbers and therefore there was no need to wait in front of the JPN counters. So, that was nice. The officer told me that the card will be ready for collection in one month's time. The application status can be checked at JPN's web site.