Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Tsunami again?

I had wanted to blog about my friend Raj's 21st birthday last Saturday night and all the nonsense we did.

As I was watching "Fear Factor" a couple of hours back, I thought I felt a tremor, but I wasn't sure. Maybe I was just dizzy? Maybe the dog was doing some nonsense on the glass panel which touches the couch? Then I realized it might be an earthquake. So I go get a glass of water to do the "Jurassic Park" test, but by the time I got back it was over. Later, I turn to CNN, nothing. BBC, nothing. I add the words "btw dude did u feel a tremor just now" to an sms I was sending. The reply was that my friend's aunt had felt it. Then CNN and BBC started getting the news in.

Confirmation. Another tsunami possibility. I hope when I wake up tomorrow there will not be any bad news. As I type this, the news is that there sre no casualties or any tsunamis detected yet. Tonight I will be praying that it stays that way. There has been more than enough suffering already.

Let's all pray. No more innocent lives to be taken. No more devastation. No more suffering. No more pain.

Let's all pray.

Friday, March 25, 2005

The King!

Let me introduce you, my friends, to the royalty that resides in the food court of Enterprise 4, Technology Park Malaysia. Oi!! No manners ah!! You are about to come face to face with royalty. Get your lazy ass off that chair and please be upstanding.

Introducing......the King Burger.


All hail the King.... Posted by Hello

Ahhh....they say the best pleasures in life are free. So it is true for the King. Well not exactly free, but bloody cheap this King is! In this case the King being cheap bodes well for the residents of TPMville. This King isn't just any mere burger. It is a double special (meaning 2 slices of burger patty, your choice of chicken, beef, or mixed) burger that comes with the full specs. Egg, cheese (mozarella, no less), tambah this, kurang that, bla bla bla. Customizable as hell, as are the specialty of the Malaysian Ramly burgers. This King is an eexception tho. Just the burger at a typical Ramly stall would cost you about 4 bucks. In this case 4 bucks gets you fries and a choice black pepper or onion sauce (go for the black pepper, it rulezzz). I still can't believe how cheap this is.

As for the taste - ah, the taste - what can I say. It is the pleasures of heaven and earth condensed onto a plastic plate. Even more so if you have been starvin for two hours, which is usually the case by the time lunch hour comes around. Thus we followers of the almighty King head into our cars and take the short drive to the Enterprise 4 food court for our (almost) daily ritual with the him. Be warned though, this is one burger which you cannot eat with your hands. The King is one big, fat motherf**king badass.

I can say without a doubt that this is the only good thing from our time in TPM. I will miss the King when we finish our studies and have to leave college. Long live the King!!!

You may now sit down again.

Pissed

It's 9.18 am and I'm sittingin the lab before the f**king presentation feeling pissed as hell. Why? First of all coming to and from college is costing me 11 bucks today. Bloody 'ell. Then somebody made me run around like a monkey looking for him in college where I finally find him sitting comfortably in the lab, NOT where he is supposed to be. All the while carrying a bag that weighs more than 5 kg mind you. Wasting credit calling him too. And then there's the bloody presentation. No mood for it right now. Let's not forget having to wake up at 6.30 am to enjoy all of this. The lecturer can go f**k himself la.

The world is a stage and I'm one pissed actor. Peace.

*Update* - 1.05 pm
We went to see him an hour later than supposed to and had to drag him out of his lab session with some junior class. He didn't seem to mind though. Collected our stuff, checked if the soft copy has been uploaded and told us (again) that marks will be minused, to which we answered "Cheers mate! Now f**k off!".

No actually we just said "Thank you Sir" like good lil' angels and went off.

The pissed actor is now a bit calmer. And hungry as hell. See above.

Thursday, March 24, 2005

Last day

Today is technically the last day of the semester. There's nothing going on during the buffer week next week. So that's basically it. Man that was fast.

Yesterday I got some great news. My group got an A for our Advanced Object Oriented Methodologies project. Today was different though. Hanifa, our favourite lecturer, gave us this weird and difficult assignment about SQLJ or Pro*c, which are languages for writing programs to run with databases, for example inputting SQL commands and displaying the result etc. This morning was the submission/presentation.

Me, Arief n Chee Fai: Sir, we don't have our project yet. Group member still working on it.
Lecturer: So no marks for you.
Us: How about we bring it in a while, it's almost done. Our group member is finishing it right now.
Lecturer: Cannot. Submission now.
Us: How about we pass up using the Digital Drop Box.
Lecturer: Cannot. Submission now.
Us: So how Sir, it's a difficult assignment. We each tried. Oracle itself caused so many problems. Cannot download. Then download also got problems. I only got a copy a few days ago. Then SQLJ and Pro*C are also new to us. Even the smart students had so many problems doing it. But now we almost have it.
Lecturer: Cannot. Submission now.
Us: $#^%^(*%^&#$@#%$%^&#*&^%

Another group member walks over to our lecturer.

New friend: Sir, we also cannot do. Digital Drop Box can? Bring it later can?

Lecturer goes blank for a few seconds.....

Lecturer:Ok. Tomorrow morning 9.30 you two groups bring it. But minus marks for late.
Us: Cheers!

Like that la. Already this dude gave us FOUR assignments this sem. FOUR!!!!! WTF!!! The other three we completed without problems. Thank God for that. At least we have marks from those assignments to make up in case anything goes wrong. Those 3 were PERFECT, mind you. PERFECT. All A's. Also this module runs over two sems. So there's more marks coming up next sem to work for. THIS IS BUT A SMALL BLIP ON MY PATH TO WORLD DOMINATION!!!!!!!!!! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And oh yea....screw the lecturer for this module.

(Names have been changed/removed to protect identities)

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

You make me feel brand new

Today I couldn't get the song "You make me feel brand new" out of my head. God knows why. However it is a fantastic song. I prefer the original Stylistics version as I think their voices sound better and the sitar sound (or mandolin, whatever) of the main melody is really mengancam!

My love, I'll never find the words, my love
To tell you how I feel, my love
Mere words, could not explain

Precious love, you held my life within your hands
Created everything I am
Taught me how to live again

Only you came when I needed a friend
Believed in me through thick and thin
This song is for you
Filled with graditude and love

God bless you
You make me feel brand new
For God bless me with you
You make me feel brand new
I sing this song 'cause you
Make me feel brand new

My love, when ever I was insecure
You built me up and made me sure
You gave, my pride, back to me

Precious friend, with you I'll always have a friend
You're someone who I can depend
To walk a path that sometimes bends

Without you, life has no meaning or rhyme
Like notes to a song out of time
How can I repay
You for havin' faith in me

God bless you
You made me feel brand new
For God bless me with you
You made me feel brand new
I sing this song for you

Oh yea....what a great vibe this song has. Do you feel it people? C'mon now....God bleesss yoooooooo...you make me feeelll braaannd neeewww......cekap!

Aside from singing this song the whole day, what else has been happening? Oh yeah, was supposed to go back to Penang on Thursday but that plan has been scuppered due to my ride cancelling. So it looks like I will be goin for Raj's 21st after all. Should be a good event.

Man, I gotta get started on my final year project. My 2nd supervisor meeting is next Tuesday and I have nothing to show her. Well, we have been busy with individual subject projects and all until last week. I better at least get the Gantt chart and some research started. As you can see from my previous post, getting the robotics set is proving to be quite a task.

Man I miss Penang. It always feels good whenever I get my feet back on the island state. It's so much more laidback. Less stress, better and cheaper food, practically no jams and clear skies and good, clean air. Unlike KL where there seems to be a perpetual haze these days. Man the air was so bad today. As soon as you step out of the house the air just reeks of smoke. Not to s that KL is all bad. There are the positives. But overall, I'd rather live in Penang and would want to return there eventually. I do want to work in KL for a while first though. But I guess it depends, if I get a job in Penang I'd be happy to become an island boy once again.

Toys 'R' Us

For my final year project, I need to get myself a Lego Mindstorm robotics kit. The bloody thing's price got raised by 300 ringgit for the fantastic reason that YEAR CHANGED!!!! Yes, 2004 became 2005. "Hey guys, let's celebrate by making our robotics set 300 bucks more expensive!!". Idiot distributors. It's not like the price wasn't significant enough before the raise. Even before it was a bloody expensive piece of crap.

So anyways, I happened to be at Mid Valley last Thursday, so I thought I'd go take a loot at the soon-to-be-mine Mindstorm set. But f**kin hell, it was gone. There were no more Mindsotrm sets there. I was on the verge on panicking at this point thinking my project is doomed.

Me: *looking for staff* Boss, Lego Mindstorm tu pergi mana?
Staff: Oh itu ke? Yang robotik punya? Dah hantar pergi Bangsar Village ngan Subang le....

*wtf!!!! idiots!!!...timing so nice!!! but at the same time thanking God that it wasn't sold out*

Me: Uh, kenapa hantar pergi sana?
Staff: Dah lama kat sini takde orang beli, so kita hantar pergi sana la.
Me: Ye ke. Ok ok....

That was Thursday. Today is Monday. At this point I don't wanna take any risks waiting for PTPTN only to find the set sold out. Thus I dug into my "reserves" first. So just now I happily head off to Bangsar Village lookin forward to getting myself that mighty peice of technological innovation.

*walking around Toys R Us Bangsar Village like an idiot looking for that set*
Me: Boss, Lego Mindstorm kat mana ye? Yang kotak besar harga mahal gila tu.
Staff: Huh? Pabender tu?
Me: Lego punya robotil set la. Kotak biru.
Staff: Dah check section Lego?
Me: Dah le, ni yang mahal punya tak ada kat sana.
Staff: Tak tau la...sekejap saya tanya boss...
Boss: Yes?
Me: Saya cari Lego Mindstorm. Mid Valley kata last Thursday diorang dah hantar kat sini. So i datang sini takde pulak.
Boss: Betul ke? Tapi kita takde terima apa-apa macam tu pun? *checks PC* Ya lah takde. Staff mana mang nih? Tau nama tak?
Me: Mana I nak tau nama? Dia budak melayu pakai spek mata.
Boss: Kalau you bagi stok number I boleh check la. Tapi saya tau kita takde terima apa-apa macam tu.
Me: Ok. Kalau saya nak order boleh tak. Benda ni penting untuk project.
Boss: Ok you bagi nama, phone number dan nama benda tu. Saya check dan call you ok?
Me: Ok le.

Idiots. Make me run around on a wild goose chase. Cant even get their facts straight. At this point I was pissed and worried that I might not be able to get a set, which will put my project inserious jeopardy, which will put my degree in serious jeopardy, which will put my life as I know it in serious jeopardy.

I decide to go straight to the Mid Valley Toys R Us and see if something can be done there. Hopefully the set might even have been sent back there or something. So off I went to Mid Valley.

*walks to the glass casing hopefully but finds nothing*
Me: Boss, Lego Mindstorm ade tak.
Staff: Itu dah hantar le...
Me: Minggu lepas you orang bagi tau saya dah hantar kat Bangsar Village. Tapi saya pergi sana diorang kata takde apa-apa. Buat saya pergi sana sini macam orang gila je.
Staff: Uh, you pergi Information Counter. Mungkin diorang boleh tolong.

So I walk over there and wait for 10 mins as two couples each check an inflatable Harry Potter thingy and a remote controlled car each.

Me: Excuse me....
Staff: Yes?
Me: Minggu lepas saya datang nak beli Mindstorm Lego tuh...
Staff: Oh, yang robotics punya?
Me: Yessss. You punya staff bagitau I dah hantar pergi Bangsar Village. TAdi I pergi sana takde apa-apa. Ada tak stok? Saya nak beli untuk projek ni...penting.
Staff: Oh, yang itu kita hantar pergi 1U.
Me: Sekarang ada tak stok lagi?
Staff: Sekejap saya telefon diorang ye?
*waits around nervously. I get worried as the guy on the other side is taking a while to call back*
Staff: *kring kring* Hello? sdfuwebrfdgdfgdf...........................(inaudible)......Ok. Ada kat sana.
Me: *amazing relief* Ok. Stok ada kat Malaysia ya? Itu yang paling penting.
Staff: Ya ada...
Me: You orang boleh hantar sini tak? Saya nak beli.
Staff:Boleh. You nak bayar sekarang ke atau nak bayar bila ambil?

Bloody ell. They make me run around so much and they want money up. What a bunch of clowns.

Me: Nanti la...bila ambil saya bayar.
Staff: Ok.
Me: Berapa lama nak sampai sini?
Staff: Beberapa hari la.
Me: Ok. Khamis saya kena balk Penang so Wednesday or Monday saja saya boleh ambil.
Staff: Ok. No problem. You tulis nama dengan phone number.....
Me: *writes details down* Berapa unit benda ni you orang ada?
Staff: Kita ada 3 unit
Me: Semua pun hantar pergi tempat lain
Staff: Ya la. Dah lama kat sini takde orang beli. Tapi sekarang banyak orang nak beli tiba-tiba.
Me: Ya ke? Diorang pun tulis nama?
Staff: Ya...ada orang tua sorang student sorang.
Me: Tapi saya no.1 priority ye!
Staff: You confirm nak beli?
Me: Yes! Very important.
Staff: Ok.
Me: Bila dah sampai call ye? Terima kasih....

So much trouble just go get 1 damn thing. Why couldn't they get their facts right in the first place? At least the girl in Mid Valley was quite helpful. However I am very relieved that they still have it. I would be in some serious shit if they didn't. This all goes back to PTPTN taking so long to give me my loan cash, but then again, there are a million idiots out there who aren't paying back the money they loaned. IDIOTS!!. How can people be so selfish. Thanks to them I have so much trouble getting my robotics kit and I am still waiting for my new PC. Yes, all my friends have heard about my non-existent new PC. 2 months and counting. I hope I can get it before I finish my degree!!!!

Location: Kitchen
Listening to: Simply Red - Never Never Love

Sunday, March 20, 2005

24

Well, the 20th of March is here. 24 hours to this day of days on which I turn 24. Had a nice dinner with my relatives here in KL just now, which was good and fun. Lots of meat during the dinner, which is also good and fun. So the family part is over. Well maybe there's a cake cutting and all that, who knows.

Wow, I can't believe it man. 24! That's like almost mid 20s man. This is the year I finally finish studies and hopefully get a job and a life. And a car. And a new handphone. And a proper DJ set. And a gf. Yes, a gf. Sometimes I can't believe that I'm usually 24 and still single. People seem to have a hrad time believing that I've never had a gf. Is that so unbelievable? Perhaps I'm too choosy. Or maybe I'm *still* waiting for that right person who never seems to appear. Is my luck in life that bad, as I think it is. Or is it the choosiness again? I could go on and on but that's a story for a different day.

Well, there's nothing interesting to report now as the day has just started, but rest assured my dear blog will be updated if and when anything happens.

So what's been happening since my last blog? Nothing really except our hockey team got thrashed 5-0 by some army team in a friendly on Friday. Didn't really think much of this army team until I arrive at the pitch and see these bunch of huge guys climbing off an army trunk. Screw the team, the army truck scared the shit out of us! They were all set as well, a full squad of 20 all dressed in army pants and the team t-shirt. Now let's look at us. 10 players showed up, not even enough for a full team. This includes me and a couple of other beginners who are still getting the hang of the game. Needless to say we were throrn down in defence. To be honest, we didn't do too badly but hey, 5-0 is 5-0 innit?

I'd better go to bed. I won't be able to get up at my usual time of 12 pm tomorrow as I can expect a barrage of calls, so I'd better get the sleep while I can (like as if 2 am is very early to go to bed!!). The rain pouring down is tempting as hell as well. Before I go, I just want to say that "You make me feel brand new" is a f**king great classic. Was listening to the Simply Red version on Channel [V] just now (the original is by the Stylistics). Cheers for now. Nitez.

Thursday, March 17, 2005

Swimming trunks...

I got a call yesterday, while I was looking through Xbox games in MidValley yesterday afternoon. It was from an aunt of mine working in advertising.

Aunt: Are you free on Friday? We need a model for a shoot.
Me: *Perasan face* Sure, I should be free on Friday. I don't have class on that day.
Aunt: Great. You need to wear swimming trunks and pose in the sea
Me: *silence*..................*more silence*.............uh, well, um.....Friday is it? What time ah?
Aunt: Morning. Transport provided. Leave at 5 am and you'll be back early afternoon. You also get 50 bucks.
Me: *weighs 50 bucks against my pride for a few seconds*.....Eh, Friday morning I have to submit an *imaginary* assignment la (simultaneously thanks God for my quick thinking abilities).
Aunt: I thought you said you have no class!
Me; Yah! There's no class but Friday's a due date for my project so I have to go to college still.
Aunt: Oh ok. You sure? How about your friends?
Me: I'll ask around and see if anyone's interested
Aunt: OK. I'll call back tonight and check.
*Click*

Me(to friends): My aunt just asked me to model in trunks.
Friends: ROTFLTAO

Oh my God. Could you imagine, me in swimming trunks? They must be really desperate for people. N wonder they can't get anyone. To be honest, I've always kinda hoped she would ask me to be in some ad then I can get my 15 seconds of fame. But this? No way!!

Then this morning I get another call as I was soundly sleeping.

Me: Hhheellrroouu
Aunt: Hello there. Are you sick?
Me: *clears throat* What? No la! I'm ok I'm ok.....
Aunt: Alright. I've spoken to the shoot people and they say they can do it on Saturday as well.

*Why la God is this happening to me? Can't they take no for an answer!?"

Me: Oh yes ah....Saturday izzit. I have another assignment due date on Monday and a presentation as well (this is true, but actually it's nothing that would stop me going for the shoot). So I think it's gonna be difficult la. These are the last 2 weeks of the semester (it's true!) so it's gonna be quite difficult la. lots of submissions and work to complete.
Aunt: But you'll be back by...wait ah....*shouts something to someone in the background*.....you'll be back by 2. Normally you wake up at 11 right?
Me: Yes
Aunt: So not much difference what! You come back and do your work la.
Me: But if I wake up at 5 am then I have to come back and sleep for 3 hours first!
Aunt: Hahaha, Yes ah? Oookay.
Me: I'll confirm with you if I can.
Aunt: OK. Try and find someone else also la. Ask around and see.
Me: Yup. I am. I'll get back to you if I get anything.
Aunt: OK. But be fast ya. Bye!
*Click*

At this point I thiiiiink and pray that she's getting the hint. Given the circumstances I suddenly had to get my "priorities" straight. I don't think I have time to do it, studies come first, you see. I pray to God that this is the last I hear of this.

Monday, March 14, 2005

What's My Line?

Went to watch a play yesterday which goes by the above title. Honestly I had no idea what to expect as I didn't hear or read about this particular play. I had a feeling though that it may be similiar to that Drew Carey show "Who's Line Is It Anyway?" and I was right. It was an improvisational comedy. I don't think it deserves the label "play" tho. It was more like watching a sitcom. It was funny enough, but nothing exceptional. Just like watching an episode of "Who's Line". 3 mat salleh guys trying to be as funny as possible with no script. The place was crawling with celebrities tho!! In the row in front of me were seated Jit Murad, Harith Iskandar, Faridah Merican (I think!), Hans Isaac, Marion Caunter (cute), and Yasmin Yusuff. SEated elsewhere were other notable faces such as Jo Kukathas, Patrick Teoh, Ida Nerina (still looking good!) and various other famous lookng faces. I felt like I was at the Malaysian Oscars or something! The highlight of the evening would be Harith Iskandar getting on his knees to retrieve my cousin's watch from under his chair. Priceless!!

It is now the 2nd last week of classes for this semester, which has absolutely flown by. Another sem and that's it, my life in APIIT is over. I've been waiting for this moment forever but as it nears, I've been starting to think about all the things I'm gonna miss, most notably the great people I have gotten to known. All this while I have been looking forward to graduation as the time when I finally become my own man and gain my independence, which is something I dearly look forward to (thus the blog title "Transition"). However all the people I have gotten to known since I first joined as a fresh student in the first year, some of which are still with me and will be graduating together. The three old guys in DF0231 - me, Thomas and "Sifu" Jit Sin aka DJ Ace. Class rep and assistant we were. I tell you the shit that went on...fights, cheating, lecturers losing their tempers at us...makes me laugh now tho. The three dudes born in in 1981. We were always together that first year, even for projects. That was a great time. Thomas is still around tho Sifu stopped after hte first year. There was also Pravin (the first guy I said hi to), Manin (I honestly though he was a middle eastern dude the first time I saw him!), Arief, who's still around as well - the coding genius...and Sundar. There's also some other great people like Jasmine, Ka Kit(youngest in the class at 17, I was 21 but we got along great), Shi Ping (probably back in China now) and Melvin. Damn, there's so many I'm sure there's names I left out.

Then we went on to the 2nd year and another group of new and fantastic people. Andrew, Kheire, Chee Fai, Ajiem, Wan and Wandy the psycho Bruneians, Subaash and of course the friendly terrorist who salsas - Ali. Damn I miss that dude. Ali come back here!!!!!! 2nd year was great, we had a great futsal team of many colours. Malay(Ajiem), Wandy(Brunei), Ali(Iran), Kheire(Somalia), Liang Ming(chinese), Ashvin(indian) and me(punjaban). 2nd year was hectic as hell man. 5 full days a week for 3 semesters in a row. Final day submissions scrambling in Ali's apartment. Man it was fun! That was also the year we all conquered the student'c council, grabbing most of the available positions. We're still around, well most of us at least. We gotta go off with 2 big events: Sports Day and the Annual Dinner.

Damn. Am I getting old? Reminiscing about old times when I still have 5 months to go. Or am I just preparing myself for the inevitable day when bonds must be broken? Whatever it is, there's surely a lot that's going to be missed about the college days. I keep telling myself that I must make full use of the time I have left in college. I am looking forward to working, getting my own salary, my own wheels, freedom to do things etc. But will I be one of these people who says "Enjoy studying while you can, working life sucks"? HELL NO!!! Studying in APIIT is no different than working man. You get shitloads of work. The campus is as sterile as a morgue. There's a friggin' dress code that never allowed me to get corn rows. Everyone sits around with their laptops looking busy and having meetings. It's not your typical college where people dress up in funky threads looking cool, having a blast and basically enjoying their youth. There's absolutely nothing to miss about APIIT. But the friends that have made that journey with me, yes. I will most definitely miss them. Already I'm missing Ali like crazy!

Sunday, March 13, 2005

Friggin Astro...

Been a while since I blogged, that's thanks to the mundane routine in life APIIT or now proudly known as the University College of Technology and Innovation (UCTI). I figure APUCTI sounds like a weird swear word. Nothing blog-worthy in the last couple of weeks. Zoukfest didn't happen. Somehow I managed to pull some strings and get a room although they were all sold out but some people are just party poopers. What's the big deal with getting a room?

So we move to own to the main title. Astro's service has really been getting screwed up. First, at about 12 pm on Friday, it suddenly goes off with the message "This channel is not in your subscription". So I'm thinking wtf right, then I surf to Astro's website and there's a message there saying you may experience solar outages and to call Customer Service if it lasts more than 5 mins. So we try and try and try to call. 24 hours later, that is today in the afternoon, I finally get through. After some discussion I'm told that the account's been suspended due to a decline of the credit card from which the bill is auto-debited. The freaking card number they gave is actually different from the actual one, so I'm guessing someone over there made a mistake and accidentally changed the number. So the bill hasn't been paid since November, they never bother to tell us that the card is declined and although they said they'll reconnect, it's now 1 am and here I am blogging out my frustrations as Man U are kicking off against Southampton. F**kin 'ell man.

There's been a lot of complaints recently about Astro and their bad service. Some of the channels have been repeating shows since almost 2 years ago such as Discovery Travel and TechTV. Many people have been complaining about it and it has even been brought up on the esteemed Jeff Ooi's blog. I mean c'mon la...TechTV's been repeating shows forever...and now they've added the G4 programs coz TechTV and G4 merged. But the shows they have are from 2002! Like on the shows for games they're excitedly talking about games that have absolutely no relevance to today's audience. C'mon la guys, can't afford to get new episodes izzit? Discovery Travel also seems to have traveled the world twice over and they have nothiong new to show. Have you ever had that experience where out of all the channels, there's just nothing to watch? I wish they would add MTV India or some hindi channels where I can watch hindi pop music videos all day. I swear Indian girls are getting hotter by the day.

On a brighter note, had some fantastic home-made curry mee for dinner just now. I can still taste it....wow. Also got to check out a Apple Ibook. The OS takes some getting used to, but not that difficult I think. They say that when you go Mac, you never go back. I can see the rationale in that. It looks cool, the interface is cute and there's the whole artsy fartsy thing about the Mac. I think for technically intensive use however, you still gotta go for Windows. I've never seen anyone in APIIT using an Ibook. There are only 2 ancient IMac's outside the lab that no one touches. It's always those "creative" types, usually in industries such as advertising, designing etc that carry Apple stuff around. IPod not withstanding!!!!!!! It freakin rocks man. I just recently got to checkout the IPod Mini first hand and its great. The interface is so easy and straight. And the touchpad! Makes it so cool to use. No wonder its such a craze. Now I want one!! My birthday's comin up.....who knows? Actually the best present would be for PTPTN to give me my loan asap! Then I can build my new rig (rig=self assembled pc) and get my robotics hardware for my final year project.

P.S. Half time 2-0 to United. Thank god for Soccernet!