It is a brand new (that is new from the store) Acer Aspire 4315. People would be amaze by the spec but whatever, it’s new! The best thing is I got it for free. My father signed up for some long-term savings account at Ambank under my name. Free laptop was part of their promotion so here it is. I don’t care about the savings account though. The laptop runs on Intel Celeron 2.0 GHz and 512MB DDR2 (this sickens me) with features like intergrated webcam, wireless and DVD-RAM.

I actually quite fond with the design. The PVC (I think) surface looks great with the Acer’s logo made from aluminium. As you can see, the keyboard is white and the whole interior except the LCD. The exterior is in black

It came with Linpus Linux. Got rid of it and installed Windows XP. I wanted to install Vista but I hate it. And the other new addition is Ubuntu I’m using Ubuntu 8.04 “Hardy Heron” to be exact.

This is my desktop. I customized it a bit with new theme and wallpaper. Ubuntu is Linux-based operating system. Ubuntu is just another distribution. Linux is pretty damn complicated and it showed when I first run it. I can’t get my wireless running until 2 days later.

This is desktops when they are ‘exposed’. I love the virtual desktop feature. The graphics are amazing. They are more advanced that Vista I guess. I could run those basic Vista’s GUI features like Flip3D and even more! I got my Ubuntu from www.ubuntu.com, downloaded the .iso file (disc image) and burned them into a blank disc. My Ubuntu was installed via Wubi, to make life easier. I also ordered the free Ubuntu LiveCD just to make sure I got the hard copy.

So that’s all for this time. Hope that I could right more after this.

p/s: Just right click at the image and View Image under Firefox to view them large.

I was at the Eye on Malaysia. Rode the wheel and had a nice time there.

The view from the gondola. KL doesn’t really have a nice skyline to show off, seriously.

My friends and I in the gondola, we were shaking up the gondola. I managed to beat my fear of height I guess.

2008 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix on the second day!

The crowds were very tight at SIC’s paddock area.

Inside the circuit. You can see how pact people were at the race. This is one of the hillstands available. I just can’t explain the noises of the car in words!

The closest shot I can get. I took this at the bottom of the hill. The noise were loud and amazing. You can’t go down here WITHOUT a pair of earplug.

‘Politik kedai kopi’ is a term which people would say when going to a coffee shops in the morning, meet with their peers and talk about their MPs and local politics. These coffee shops were usually located in many kampungs and towns where people can meet and chat. Topic evolve in ‘politik kedai kopi’ is of course Malaysian politic scenes. People get the ideas and information from the TV and radio, which were the only source I guess back in 70s, 80s and early 90s. These mainstream medias were and still now control by the government so everything that you heard is already filtered by the government.

Comparing with ‘politik Starbucks’ which is now what is happening, people get their ideas and information from unfiltered source which are the Internet and through SMSes that are being flying in the air. The Internet has no boundaries so this is THE PLACE where freedom of speech is really happening. Unlike ‘politik kedai kopi’, the ideas and information on local politics are discuss in a very open environment. People talk based on facts and these facts are raw facts compared to ‘politik kedai kopi’ which the facts are filtered by the government. Although these raw facts can sometimes be (most of the time actually) rumors through the blogsphere, I think people will get the main idea on what’s going on and people will also tend to think. As a result, there goes the politic analysts on the TV talking about these raw facts from the Internet. Starbucks now has Wi-Fi Internet and the citizens are getting the information through the Internet while sipping the coffees.

So there you go, ‘politik Starbucks’ based on what I observed.

Kedah is currently booming with high economic growth through tourism, industry and agriculture sectors. Let’s face it. NCER has given Kedah a lot of economic opportunities especially when a high number of foreign investors wanting to invest in Kedah. Major locations for incoming investors include Kulim and Sungai Petani, which are now under the Opposition. Langkawi is also a major economic source for Kedah, through tourism sector. Under the NCER, Langkawi is proposed to be NCER’s major health tourism hub, along with Penang.

Think about the the consequences of PAS ruling the state. The economic is currently booming. We all know that Kelantan is, well, experiencing a much slower economic growth. I’m pretty sure that Kedah will experience the same but when it comes to PAS’ point of view, they view Kedah the most developed state UNDER their ruling. It’s true, right?

I AM NOT EXPERIENCING A NEGATIVE GROWTH!

So flags are everywhere. I’m gonna called this the second most celebrated event in Malaysia after Hari Raya. Once every 4 years so I’m sure everyone is thrilled to ‘celebrate’ the general election. Political leaders and politic people have been listening quite hard and observing the politic environment just for them to have something to say in this 2-week campaign before the election. The last general election was more on Islam Hadhari. This is time is more on the citizens welfare like the oil-rising issue, rising price of household supplies etc.

I’m not gonna say more about politics because as a student, I guess this is not something to talk about. Atlhough, I believe that Malaysia has a very peaceful political environment which is very good for the economic growth. I love the fact that people tend to get very creative in this kind of national event. There’s the moon and the rocket. Crescent moons and the weight balance.

I love this life-life bomb launcher. They put these things in front of a nearby school which is currently the place for voting. There are also other things the made, found in somewhere like cars, planes even people. Cool things guys!

Anyway, the ceremony started with uniforms, sport houses and games’ flag marching in, gave the salute to the Sultan. Then bla bla bla and here comes the greatest part of all; when all the skydivers performing some, pretty much a normal thing they would in their career. This is the first time ever so we got a lot of “Oohh”s and “Ahh”s. I was pretty excited actually. Then, the rest is history…

One thing I like band’s new uniform. I actually talked to one of their members and he said that it was about time the seniors (who usually handle them including designing the uniform) follow the trend. The hat is probably the most expensive item and yes, it looks great.

And there’s this mascot issue which is very ridiculous because we got fairies, falcon, and this weird looking animal which doesn’t represent any of the creatures in animal kingdom. Can’t believe that they had to take the smartest guy in school to wear the costume for my sport house mascot which was an eagle.

The weather wasn’t very beautiful at all. It was somewhat clear but at the same time ready to pour down the rain. The finale for this day was the rope-pulling event, between my sport house Kedah, and Gurney which is the green house. We won, big deal. My sport house is actually leading the scoreboard but I’m not sure whether I contributed any of the scores. Overall, it was very an enjoyable day.

It is probably the best sport day in the history of my years in this school. The skydivers and everything was great. I’m sure the school had spend a lot of money on this. I hear there is going to be a celebration in July/August for out 100th year. I might add some more photos for this entry, since I’m getting more from my friends.

This is the the new one in Sungai Petani. Bleh, I hate this city….

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Now these sushis from the French supermarket, Carrefour!

My mom got these while she and my sister in Penang. My first sushis this year. I was too excited that I only took two photos of the sushis. My mom bought the salmon roe, crab meat rolls, smoked salmon and assorted roes with some wasabe. I always loved sushi!

We (grandma, sister and me) went to Giant first for some groceries. People were packed there, not sure why but it seems that all the Chinese have nothing to do at home during the Chinese New Year. Instead they went out to shop at hypermarket, how business-wise is that to Giant. Then we went to eat at the city’s renowned Nasi Lemak Haji Ali, located at Seberang Perak, along the Persiaran Sultan Abdul Hamid. To be honest and shame on me, this was my first time with them. I think this is way much better than Nasi Royale (they’re located throughout the city!).

I just love the atmosphere of Alor Star at night. I think it’s very energetic and vibrant. Not as vibrant as Penang or KL, but good enough to feel the change since the last few years. I honestly saw a new club opened near Alor Star Tower.

So far I’ve been to a few restaurants and food outlets in Alor Star including Damiral’s Grill, Uno Cafe, City One and Nasi Lemak Haji Ali is new to the list. I must say that Nasi Lemak Haji Ali is the best. The food was okay (typical mamak Nasi Kandar) but the environment is quite nice. You eat your food by the busy Persiaran Sultan Abdul Hamid, entertain yourself by getting together with your friends, talk about everything till late night and just enjoy the company! Seriously, it’s a nice place to hang out…

Anyway, here are the photos I edited. You would probably think that none of these have to do with Solo, Yogjakarta and even Indonesia.

My favorite from the bunch, cause it has the Airbus A320′s winglet.

Sunset over Mount Merapi, onboard the AirAsia’s A320.

Very artistic I guess and that’s why I like this one.

The Borobodur monument, taken with the sister’s Z550i phone. The quality was bad. Period.

A nice photo typical Solonian (am i correct?) house.