MY STORY: New parents and the stroller

Yes, it's not a typo. I meant to say "stroller" as in baby stroller. You know, the thing with wheels that you use to take your baby out with you on a walk and such.

When we were younger, before our firstborn, we went shopping for a stroller. Not knowing what type of stroller that we should buy... we went searching high and low for the sturdiest stroller that we can find.

We finally settled on a Chicco stroller that comes with a car seat/carry system for newborn. It sets us back RM1.5K. It has all the bell and whistles available. It's big, sturdy, with good wheels... and some sort of suspension on the wheels. Man, it feels good pushing it around, like a tank of all strollers.

After a few months using it, reality sets in. It's a great stroller, it does everything it's supposed to be. But, it's huge, it's heavy. My wife, as most Asian women are, a tad on the small frame. The weight of the stroller is her main concern especially when loading/unloading the stroller from the vehicle. It's no easy task for her.

My main concern is on the space it occupies. In the boot, it takes most of the space, leaving little for anything else. And, it'll only fit in the boot of the SUV or the wagon. Luckily, we drive big vehicles... otherwise, i wonder how can we ferry it around.

Now, onto the second child... we're seriously considering buying the Maclaren Quest. At 5.5kg, it's very light, and still be able to recline the seat. Though it's not for newborn as it can't fully recline to accommodate newborn sleeping position, we were hoping that our 3 year old will be able use it, and the Chicco will be used for the newborn. Of course they will have to swap stroller later...

Word of advice for new parents, the weight and bulk of the stroller matters.

MOVIE REVIEW: The Reader

This movie was highly rated by most people. I doubt it will be a success among the local movie-goer though. It's too heavy... if you're looking for some movie to distract and entertain you for few hours, this might just not be the best choice. It's definitely for adults, or people who are trying to understand life... people who enjoys a heavy story.

It's different, not many people make movies like this anymore. The storyline is solid, you have to do some thinking yourself to understand the writing between the lines. Overall, it's OK.

But, I'm just looking for something to keep me entertained. It didn't manage to touch my feelings, didn't entertain me. I don't really know why I wasted my time watching this.

My benchmark would be The Dark Knight. To me, it has everything I need. The score is Excellent! The storyline exceptional! Heath Ledger played Joker at a whole new level! Action... etc...

If The Dark Knight gets 9.5/10 from me, The Reader gets 5.5/10.

REVIEW: AMD 6000+ & ASUS M3A78-EM

This is what my ubuntu desktop looks like. The background/wallpaper is from fedora. I love how the wallpaper looks like although I don't use fedora.

My desktop has been upgraded mid last year. I reuse the same old ATX housing, but, inside houses some new items:

• CPU: AMD Athlon X2 6000+
• Motherboard: ASUS M3A78-EM
• RAM: 2pcs Kingston 2GB DDR2 800
• HDD: 1TB WD Green SATA2
• PSU: Enermax Tomahawk 405W
  

I retained the 19" Samsung SyncMaster 943nwx LCD. It served me well, and I see no reason for it to be upgraded, yet. However, I might just get a 24" when the time/cost is right.

The best part of the system is probably the motherboard. I was actually looking for something else form Gigabyte. But, the shop that I frequent at Low Yat do not carry the specific model. They however offered me the ASUS mainboard instead. It was slightly over my initial budget. But, the shop never disappointed me yet, and I'd like to think that we have a good relationship. So I chose to go with their suggestion. With all the specs in it, and at the price, it seems very reasonable.

Until now, I have yet to find fault with it, except perhaps a very minor detail. It has no option in BIOS to boot from USB. Apart from that, for the price and performance, I rate it at 9.5/10. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

There's nothing much to say about the processor though. It's still the best bang for bucks IMHO. Since I'm not playing games, and most of the time I merely surf the net or watch movies, it's more than sufficient. Though I noticed that it gets hot fast when i run multiple apps and play movies, that will sometimes cause it to reach 63Celcius, which is supposed to be the limit. I'm not sure whether it's normal or... but, from my experience running on Intel C2D, they're about the same.

REVIEW: Ubuntu vs Microsoft Windows XP vs Microsoft Vista OS

I rarely use Microsoft windows anymore, except at work and when my peers need to present their work using Microsoft Office.

I started using Ubuntu early last year in an effort to reuse my old desktop running on an old processor AMD Athlon XP 1.8Ghz, 512md ddr ram.

It was previously running XP on 40GB HDD. Then the XP got corrupted. So, I used my Windows Vista laptop as my main computer. But, I still wanted to salvage some important files and all the beautiful memories (pictures and videos). To do so, I bought a 320GB HDD and installed Ubuntu on it. It's either Ubuntu or another XP, but, i'm not taking the risk of being corrupted again, plus i wanted something new, good looking, stable and FREE... something that looks nice & new like vista, minus all the "eating up the system resources". Voila! With Ubuntu, I managed to salvage all those files, and I was pleasantly surprised that Ubuntu was easy to use, and working fine on my old PC. It did not require the system resources that Vista would have demanded.

Mind you, all I've ever heard of people saying about how Linux is difficult to use. I bet those who said Linux is difficult, never tried Ubuntu. It's easy if you have the right mindset. Basically, if you are so used to windows and expect Ubuntu to operate in the exact same way, and be better... you are in for a disappointment.

Don't get me wrong, Ubuntu IS BETTER, but, don't expect it to operate in the same manner. New users should be willing to learn and adapt to how linux ubuntu works. Don't expect to install applications by downloading .exe files. Ubuntu does it better... just go to the "add/remove applications" click what you want and click "apply". It will download and install the applications.

Trust me, I was not that good with Windows XP and Vista myself... but, now I use Ubuntu as my main OS. Give it a try.

What's GOOD:

• It's FREE

• NO antivirus needed

• comes with Firefox browser

• comes with OPEN OFFICE SUITE

• plenty of support & great community

What it should improve on:

• open office still needs some improvement

• 3rd party software support/driver
  

For me, I'll rate Ubuntu slightly better than old Windows XP. But,they're both way better than Vista. Hopefully, Ubuntu will improve on its weak points and maintain competitive when Windows 7 rolls out.

my first time

This would be my first time starting a blog. I noticed there's a lack of reviews on things... locally. There are reviews from other international sites, but, sometimes what's available there might not be relevant here, in Malaysia. therefore, i'm going to try to fill in that void.
so, to start things, who am i? i'm just a normal joe. working as an engineer in a small firm. and like some of the people i know, when i want to buy stuffs... anything and everything, i'll read the labels, make a comparison... and then purchase the best value for money.
yes, i do take a lot of time when i do my shopping, regardless of just some grocery at Tesco or new gadgets at Low Yat. I'll take a lot of time to make an informed purchase. Sometimes, I am more informed than the sales person.
I am not saying that I don't make mistakes, or ill informed purchases. but, if you are like me, likes to know what you're going to buy, more reviews might help you decide better.
I'll start posting more stories and reviews, very soon.