Too many ants? Get rid of them today!

Ants could probably the most organized non-human creatures on the planet. They are also the hardest working, excellent team workers and super strong creatures that can lift at least 20 times of their body weight. Yet, they are also one of the most annoying when they actively roam and march all over the place. I consider it alarming if they start crawling over your body while you're having sweet dreams.

What are the reasons for having too many ants in your house? From my observation, it has always been about food. Human dwelling place, which is normally food rich, is also habitable to those tiny creatures. Once it becomes its happy hunting ground, that's it! You are going to have a very hard time to phase them out.

I'm not an ant expert. I will never be. But living in a tropical country like Malaysia, in which ants are consistently coexistence, have given me a better understanding on their behaviour, how they work and the conditions that draw them to our dwelling places. Therefore, let me share some of my experience, i.e. how to get rid of them.

As a Muslim, what I learn, never kill insects with fire. Except, if they are harmful, they may be killed with insecticides (please refer to your religious scholars for better explanation).

Secondly, I don't believe feeding with sugar or any kind of food outside your courtyard, is a solution for ants removal. Instead, it will make them grow healthier and may end up in larger colony. Besides, what will happen when you stop feeding them?

Family ant bait (available in TESCO and popular store)

If you really want to get rid of them, try to use ant bait. It's clean and huffing free. I used Family Ant Bait (brand name). It works well for tropical ants, regardless the colour whether they are red or black, seriously by God will it works! But of course it is not a minute reaction. It takes days for you to see the result (at least five days).

Simple step: Uncap and place at least two ant baits near your food waste. For my case, I parked them near the rubbish bin. Add more ant baits as required.

Let them enjoy the baits. Black ants crowding the ant baits within two minutes of uncapping. Fast, eh?

Now at my home, ants are almost unnoticed. No more annoyance by ants. Try it!

Poco-Poco no more

Poco-Poco (pronounced as pocho-pocho) is a folk dance originated from the region of Sulawesi-Moluccas-Papua in Indonesia. Unlike aerobic exercise that the movement is normally choreographed to the music, Poco-Poco on the other hands according to their fans is more to a simple body exercise that consists of six simple steps but still fun and entertaining.

I was introduced to this dance when I attended a compulsory training course in 2008. At that time I wasn't aware that Poco-Poco has been quite popular amongst the wives of diplomats of the two countries, Indonesia-Malaysia. Now it is no longer exclusive to the VIPs, in fact it has become a routine exercise in many government's programs in Indonesia and Malaysia.

The question is do I like this dance? Well to be honest, I respect Poco-Poco for being a cultural dance but it is just not my preference of exercise. Not just because I'm not comfortable to dance in public, the most important because I'm a Muslim. Besides there are so many ways to exercise without singling out to Poco-Poco. It is such a shame to see Muslim women with hijab dancing Poco-Poco without realizing how clownish they look, sorry ladies.

I may have joined Poco-Poco for the second time last year. I may have seen all those clownish acts and moves. I will make sure that that will be the last. No more Poco-Poco for me, inshaAllah.

By the way, I found a video showing Mr Bean dances Poco-Poco. Although it is a fake video but it's enough to convince me not to dance Poco-Poco again.

This is what happens when Mr Bean tries to dance Poco-Poco

I almost lost my breath watching this video. Thanks Joey JY for uploading. It's really funny

HP customer participation program: Customize your installation

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When I googled for 'HP Customer Participation program (CPP)', I found many users want it to be removed. The main reasons were simply because it consumes a lot of HD space and slow down their computers. Depending on the printer model and version of CPP, some claimed to suffer 110 to 293 MB HD space utilization. Well to me it's definitely too much for the so-called 'Customer Participation Program'.

Some intended to remove/uninstall the program but afraid to do so due to the warning dialog "Removal of these programmes is NOT recommended if you are going to continue to use any of the following devices with this computer - HP Photosmart All-in-one".

Well users, no need to be panic. You still can remove the CPP totally without getting the warning dialog appears on your screen or without worrying that your HP Deskjet All-In-One will not work correctly. What you need to do is to customize your installation.

First thing first, uninstall all your HP Deskjet All-In-One software. Redo installation process. Choose Advanced Install. Just allow HP to check for updates, no harm. Then select Custom (for advanced users)*.

Under custom installation untick HP CPP (a must do action). For a guy of my standard I will only install HP Update, HP Solution Center and HP Imaging Device Functions. You can select whatever you like according to your preference. Press next to continue installation.

Then don't forget to restart your computer. In case of missing file(s), let your computer search the missing file(s) from your CD installer. I'm sure your HP Deskjet All-In-One will function as per intended use, inshaAllah. I hope this helps, good luck.

BWF Malaysia Open 2010 Final

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Wow, he done it again! To defend his Malaysia Open title is not an easy task, to win a back to back titles is much more an uphill task (he won Korea Open last week). What else can I say?

Congratulations Lee Chong Wei for winning his 6th Malaysia Open title yesterday. Also I would like to congratulate Koo Kean Keat and Tan Boon Heong for winning the men's double, after given a scare by Chen Xu and Guo Zhendong of China in a hard fought final.

Misbun's coaching style works well for Lee Chong Wei

Koo Kean Keat/Tan Boon Heong vs Chen Xu/Guo Zhendong

The crowd support is just amazing
Notice the Pakcik in Malaysian Flag dress..

This guy (in circle) really pisses me off. He's not a Malaysian. I've never seen anybody like him, he goes absolute nuts that day

It was a wonderful final. Sudirman and I almost lost our energy applauding the Malaysian and other non-Chinese players throughout the tournament. The most important is to break the Great China Wall and stop them from dominating the world badminton. Finally Malaysia bagged two titles and China three.

We're happy to bring home good memories of Malaysia Open. Sudirman and I bought Proton Malaysia Open 2010 t-shirt and cute Yonex bag. I also bought BWF China Open 2009 t-shirt (having Yonex Denmark label at the back).

Our exhaustion and hunger were finally offset by delicious Sate Kajang (Kajang Satay). The most important we arrived back home in Kulim at 12.30 midnight safe and sound, alhamdulellah.

BWF Malaysia Open 2010 Semifinal

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I may not be a badminton fanatic but have been in love with badminton since I was a kid. Badminton, no doubt is a popular sport for most Malaysians. For the first time in my life I went to watch live action from some of the top badminton players of the world at Stadium Putra Bukit Jalil in Kuala Lumpur. I went there with Sudirman, my office-mate cum badminton playmate.

Being one of the spectators at a live Badminton Super Series tournament, was it not exciting? Hey, it was more than exciting! Thanks to my housemate Khairuldin who came out with the idea two weeks before the tournament. Simply because he is undergoing training in Taiwan, otherwise he would have joined us with the rest of the spectators.

Proton, the main BWF Malaysia Open sponsor exhibits the Lotus Elise SC
Sudirman could not stop staring the eyes of Lotus... hehe

I'm always a big fan of Peter Gade and Lee Chong Wei

Look how Peter Gade launces a powerful attack on Boonsak Ponsana
(I uploaded this video on youtube)

Beaten at last. Peter Gade lost to Boonsak in rubber set

Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Rytter Juhl celebrate after beating the Thais in a hard fought match

We really enjoyed the semifinal. Although we came from a far distance (Kulim to KL), it was worth it. I'm happy to see two Malaysian representatives in the final. I hope both Lee Chong Wei and double pair of Koo Kean Keat and Tan Boon Heong can win the titles.

Center-mounted speedometer: Man it's stugly!

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If you ask me which car manufacturer started the idea of having center-mounted speedometer, I will promptly say I don't know. Who cares anyway? As far as I'm concern, Mini carries it's signature since it's first Morris Mini Minor in 1959. Being small, cute and compact, to have the speedometer at the middle of the dashboard does not downgrade its interior look at all, although some might consider it clownish. To me it just works for Mini but not for other cars, seriously!

1966 Morris Mini Cooper interior

Take, for example, the latest Perodua Kancil, its center-mounted speedometer looks so awkward, in fact it makes it one of the stugliest car interiors I've ever seen in this decade! Besides, what on earth did they make it twisted since they had twisted the focus of the driver at the very beginning...(?)

Last Kancil model
Center console is fine but with speedometer on top of it makes it look like two eyes-robot with twisted cap

For that reason, I hate Nissan Otti (Mitsubishi Kei-Car), Naza Sutera (Hafei Lobo), Saturn Ion, new Perodua Alza (2010), Toyota Vios/Belta (2007), Toyota Yaris/Vitz (2007). Besides, Vios really looks like a dugong to me.. as much as my Perodua Myvi looks so froggy to them.. huahuahua..

I never wonder why people still buy them. You manufacturers don't give buyers much options. If it is about buyers' preference, majority of us still prefer the conventional steering wheel-position speedometer rather than the center one. Speedometer is for the driver not passenger. I'm very sure if similar new cars are produced with two options, center-mounted and steering-wheel position speedometers, definitely the later outclassed the former in a huge margin. Think about it!

No x-bar symbol in Microsoft Word 2007: Create your own

It's almost new year and I need to submit my exp report to my superior as soon as possible. When statistical calculation involves, symbol such as overbar (¯) on an alphabet is hardly avoided. As an advanced Microsoft Word user, I agree that MW2007 works way better than MW2003. However, failing to find x-bar symbol in MW2007 was way too frustrating. How could such an important symbol like x-bar isn't included in MW2007 symbols?

I believe I'm not the only one in this world facing this problem.

For that reason I googled for solution. It takes less than one minute to realize that this problem has been addressed in the internet for quite sometimes. A general guideline to create an overbar has been quite well described by Suzanne S. Barnhill in CREATING OVERBAR.

The best solution has been posted by Christie Lewis in Youtube. I like her blog too. Her blog has been all about Microsoft Office.
http://officehowto.blogspot.com/

Short Video: Inserting an X-bar Symbol in Word

I learned my lesson well, alhamdulellah. Now I can create not just x-bar but I can personalize many other symbols which are not included in MW2007. It's easy, you can do it too.