DP | @ekhoophotography

Come on Canon, where the heck is the 5D replacement. I've been eyeing the used 5Ds everywhere... I need a camera to turn my 16-35 back to what it once was!!!

A little something about myself... got this from Mark's & Louis' blogs...

1. Four jobs/career aspirations I have had:

- Technical Consultant (DEC/Compaq/HP)
- Web-developer & Sell my site to Yahoo/Google/Microsoft for millions (ok, not the sale part but WA's doing quite nicely)
- Owning a B&B somewhere on a nice NZ beach front
- Full-time photographer (yeah, right... but getting there )

2. Four things I wish I had done earlier:

- Saved more instead of spending a lot of my earlier cash
- Take the plunge and take up the job opportunities when they came
- Done more weddings (photography I mean)
- Gone to Israel when my class-mate invited me

3. Four places I have been (in some way, my favorite places):

- Middle-earth New Zealand
- Spain
- New York, New York!
- Beijing/China

4. Four countries I would like to visit :

- Israel
- African Safari (after a cousin's honeymoon photos, I'm hooked)
- Machu Picchu
- Antarctica

5. Four of my favorite dishes/snacks:

- Wu-Tau-Kau-Yoke
- Any Pasta
- Satay
- Assam Laksa

6. Four of my favorite desserts :

- Oh, chocolate, light, dark, milk, creamy, any chocolate...
- Culver's Frozen Custard (Menu)
- Haagen-Daz or Bulla ice-cream
- Tong Sui

7. Four sites I visit daily:

- Mine, friends and relative's blogs
- The Star online
- DPReview.com
- Engadget.com

8. Four software applications I cannot live without:

- Firefox!
- Adobe Photoshop CS3
- HTML-Kit (web development)
- iTunes

9. Four favourite drinks

- Hazelnut latte, extra hot, lightly frothed with low-fat milk (Starbucks)
- Cafe Affogato (Dome)
- White Coffee, iced (my fav is the one at Yut Kee's or Bentong Town hall)
- Kahlua with milk, shaken, not stirred

10. Four things you may not know about me:

- I'm a dessertarian... I just love dessert.
- I can sweat straight out after a shower or in an air-conditioned room!
- I can cook pretty well (Asian, fusion, western�)
- My biggest challenge is I don't believe I'm good enough most of the time.

Putting my feet up at Bagan, Burma

My Visa card of course, not the 1 Utama ONECard. Anyways, just reflecting the ever reducing consumer purchasing power in this country. Can you believe that's over RM150 in that shopping cart? If you told someone in the US to spend $150 in groceries, they'll end up filling the cart till it overflows. I know I do not buy some of the cheaper stuff but then, a lot of our supposedly "cheaper" groceries are made up of rather poor ingredients like artificial coloring, flavors and all sorts of stuff. I also do not like ice-cream made with palm oil. It makes washing-up difficult but I associate the word "cream" with diary products... and so happens that where I did my undergraduate degree turned out to be the US Diary State! Abundant land of milk and cheese, and oh, ice-cream too!

With all the recent price increases, I'm actually concerned. Really concerned. I'm so blessed that generally, everything is still normal. I can still drive around wherever I want, go for a movie (yeah, yeah, I know I watched ONE movie in ONE year), go find some nice makan place or still buy the stuff I want (this does not include the Lust-list items... Mark you know what this is!) so things are still alright. With my staff however, I feel that they're really feeling it. Imagine having lunch and having to pick only two vegetable dishes at an economy rice stall here in KL Sentral and NOT getting a drink because it'll blow your lunch budget! My goodness! I just couldn't tolerate that for someone in my team so I picked up her drink and lunch tab. Looks like time to get back to arguing with HR for more pay increases due to the recent price hikes.

Thanks Adrian for bringing my iPhone back all the way from the Big Apple -- the huge metropolis on Manhattan, not the other company in Cupertino although it's designed there and made in China!

My first time at the pump after the price hike... Yup, that's how long my full tank lasts after a fill-up (~500km) which I managed to do hours before the hike.

Well, this weekend has been much more restful than the last but still packed with little chores and things to do. Was up early on a Saturday to send my wife's car in for servicing and then it's off to the market for groceries. The hardware shop came next to replace my leaky faucet. That took quite a large amount of effort and back-breaking labor -- I wonder who screwed the original faucet in, but heck, it was so tight I had to use a wrench and hammer at the same time!

Then while we had to cook dinner for a pot-luck birthday dinner we were to attend later, I figured I might as well do some gardening. On the 12th floor that is and it was really a strange feeling. I mean here I am potting plants and getting my hands dirty with soil but it's 12 floors up and I've tiles for the floor. I can't wait to get my feet back onto the ground!

The past month or so, I've been treating myself to more expensive black liquid... no, no, not the petroleum variety but the caffeine packed stuff. Since I usually have time to make and enjoy my coffee on weekends, I figured no point getting some el cheapo coffee. Anyways, late April I got the Colombia Nari�o El Tambo Black Apron exclusive but just last week, I was recommended by my regular Barista to try the Rwanda Blue Bourbon. So of course I did. Anyways, the Colombian, well, tastes like most latin American coffee I've tasted, kinda chocolately with a hint of citrus. Somehow I did not taste any floral notes that were claimed. The Rwanda Blue Bourbon on the other hand was quite good. I like my coffee bold but the Rwanda has complexity and body that I savor in a coffee. I also make them extra thick...

Both are quite good but somehow the Rwanda Blue Bourbon suits my taste better. Goes well with many simple breakfasts or heavier Malaysian fare too which is another advantage!

It doesn't usually hurt this much. And I'm sick and tired of politicians, several "knowledge-able" people and one elderly British couple saying that you know, our fuel prices are still cheap. Those Singaporeans, do you know how much it costs per liter over there? Oh, by the way, the Brits are paying RM8 per liter. And those Americans in their huge SUVs pay more than RM3 per liter. Yeah, yeah. I wouldn't mind those prices if my salary was in Singapore Dollars, British Pound Sterling or US Dollars. Get real. I earn in Ringgit so compared to someone in Singapore, US or UK, those numbers don't wash. Plus, do you know how much import duties are imposed on cars here? How can a RM120,000 Prius incur a RM117,000 import duty? Drop the import duty and I'll gladly drop the fuel subsidies. Get rid of our road tax too, an annual fee for the basic license plate plus registration (no more than RM100) should suffice.