Bytes and Bites - Tech, Internet, How Tos, Reviews, Food and Life

Happy Anniversary Baby!!

Written by christine on 2:59 PM

hope this one works! thks for the many sweet memories baby, love you heaps!!

End Of A Long Week!

Written by Christopher Kia on 5:47 PM

This week has passed by so quickly for me! It probably felt so because I was so busy in hospital...saving kids....and their eyes (heh). Today is officially the last day of my 3-weeks attachment with the Ophthalmology (Eyes) Department in the Women's and Children's Hospital. It was really interesting to see so many different-from-normal cases and eye problems! I even saw a kid with glasses who looked like the kid in Stuart Little!

Since the world can be so random nowadays, here are some of my random thoughts right now:

1. Thank God for being me through such a fruitful week!

2. I realize that the less sleep I have per day, the more alert I will be in lectures.

3. Should I get the new Nokia 6500 Classic Slide from 3?

4. My next attachment will be in the Pediatric Emergency Department. Daily scrubs attire here i come! I have a feeling I am going to enjoy it so much :)

5. I love my brand new room!

6. I had a lecture about child abuse today. I really cannot imagine how some parents can look into the eyes of their kids and still abuse them. I thank God that He's a Great Healer, and that He is the only One who is able to set people free from an abusive past.

7. I think I'm quite sure I am going to do surgery. I just cannot imagine how much I love to hang out in the surgical theatre :D

8. I feel so near home now that I can have webcam sessions with my family back home. I can still see my cute little niece Sarah grow up!

9. Quote from my lecturer, "Children are irritable because they are irritable"

10. Yet another quote, "The range of human stools (poo) is infinite" (hahahahahahahaha!)

Have a great weekend everyone!

BitComet Is Toppled!

Written by Christopher Kia on 11:51 PM

Yeap, that's right! Just when BitComet made it to my Top 10 Must-Downloads for 2007, another torrent downloader has successfully toppled it. I've formatted my laptop recently and have decided to give FlashGet a go as my torrent downloader. I've used FlashGet before in the past but previous versions worked only as a download manager and not a torrent downloader. Credits to Sze Liang for introducing yet another great torrent downloader to me! After installing it and trying it for a month now, I've decided that I'm not going to use BitComet ever again :)

FlashGet
Pros:
1. It's 100% FREE!
2. No advertisement banners unlike many other free programs. (The newest version of BitComet has advertisement banners)
3. Faster download speed
4. Works as a download manager as well. That's one thing I really like about this program. It doubles up as a download manager unlike BitComet which doesn't deal with anything but torrents.
5. Very user-friendly and simple interface.

Cons:
None!

Highly recommended program! Download link here

How To Eat Chicken Wings WIthout Using Your Hands - A Step By Step Guide

Written by Christopher Kia on 7:59 PM

Step 1. Look and drool at your wonderful dish of chicken wings..knowing that you will NOT dirty your hands enjoying them :)

Step 2. With a fork, hold your chicken wing in this manner.



Step 3. Bite according to the yellow dotted lines. You will notice that it corresponds to an area where the tiny bones join only by a bit and that it can be bitten off easily.



Step 4. Again, bite according to the yellow dotted lines; some say this is the best part of the chicken wing! Take some time to enjoy this part :)



Step 5. This step is probably the hardest step as it requires biting through the "corner" or the joint of the chicken wing. This area has the most cartilage. Patiently, bite according to the yellow dotted lines.



Step 6. Your chicken wing should now look like this.


To me, this is the best part of the chicken wing eating experience as you can bite through the meatiest part of the chicken wing, easily leaving two long bones behind.

Step 7. This step is pretty much straight forward from now on. Clean up the final two pieces of bone :).





Step 8. Look Ma, no hands!!!



Now you can enjoy your favourite chicken wings without looking too messy and without dirtying your hands. :)

Credits to my beloved Grandma for preparing the chicken wings in the pics and Christine dear for putting up with me during the preparation of this guide :)

New Year. New Beginning, New Computer

Written by Christopher Kia on 7:43 PM

New Year
Happy New Year 2008 everyone! Here's wishing you the very best for the year ahead! As for myself, I am really looking forward to what God has in store for me this year. I always believe that with every new year, we should dare to dream bigger, reach further and bounce back stronger from our failures and disappointments the year before.

New Beginning
My little niece (my first one!) Sarah (1 year old on 29th December 2007) walked for the first time on New Year's Eve! What a day to make your first walk! I'm so glad that I took out my phone and started recording the precious moments that night! Check out her videos below:
*Warning: Very Very Cute Baby Video Ahead*

New Computer
After weeks of thought, my father and I have decided to get a new computer, and we got it on New Year's Day! Our ol' ye' faithful Pentium III family computer (bought back in 2000) has been serving us faithfully since. However, it has really shown its age lately and there were two instances where it failed to boot from the hard disk, potentiating loss of vital data. My dad, being an avid and enterprising options trader ;), decided to give his trading sessions a boost in performance and productivity, apart from preserving valuable data. Two weeks before, we've got a good deal for two Dell wide LCD monitors (one 19" and one 22") online during the PC Fair period. Here's the specification for my new family desktop:

Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 2.2Ghz
ASUS P5GC-MX Motherboard
2 x Kingston 1GB DDRII 667Mhz
Western Digital 250GB SATA II Hard Disk Drive
Panasonic DVD-RAM 20x Multi-Drive
Power Logic Azzura 2000 450W Casing

I got the PC, two Dell wide LCD Monitors and even a Logitech QuickCam IM webcam (video conferencing with my dear parents now possible..woohoo!) for just under RM3000. That was a really good deal!! I had a fruitful Christmas and New Year tech shopping after all ;)

Top 10 Must-Downloads of 2007

Written by Christopher Kia on 5:19 AM

If you have always wondered which applications or softwares are a must to download for your PC, well, here are my picks! For more information on the following softwares, simply google it in the search box provided in this blog ;)

1. Mozilla Firefox
- The best Internet browser I've ever used. I must say I am an Internet browser junkie, having tested the likes of Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari for Windows and even the good ol' Netscape Navigator, but Mozilla Firefox is the only browser that has brought my Internet browsing to another level :). It's much faster, safer, more customizable and its tab browsing is really very convenient. It's FREE too! So if you are still using good ol' Internet Explorer, try Mozilla Firefox today and see its wonders for yourself! Download link on the right sidebar of this blog

2. avast! Antivirus
- A very good antivirus software. It has never failed to detect a virus in my computer and it doesn't eat up your computer's resources like Norton or McAfee Antivirus. Another great FREE software.

3. Windows Live Messenger
- Need I say more? ;) Currently the most widely used instant messenger. I remember how it killed off the ICQ "uh-oh" days.

4. WinRAR
- Nowadays many files are not only archived and compressed in the .zip format, but also in the .rar format. WinRAR is better than WinZip as it handles both .zip and .rar files.

5. Nero Burning Rom
- How could you not let Nero burn your CDs? It has never disappointed me. Oh btw did you know that it got its name literally from the phrase 'Nero (a Greek character) Burning Rome'?

6. Adobe Reader 8 (a.k.a. Adobe Acrobat Reader)
- .pdf files are very commonly used and their reader only gets better and better. I use it a lot to view my university lecture notes and documents.

7. Windows Media Player 10 with DivX support
- Though I hate Internet Explorer, its brother Windows Media Player is my favourite media player especially for videos. Great for watching Heroes ;) DivX is a popular video format, more popular than the .wma format.

8. Ad-Aware 2007 Free
- This is ESSENTIAL for you to detect and remove adware and spyware from your computer from time to time. Your computer and internet will be less secure if you allow adware and spyware to accumulate.

9. LimeWire
- My favourite program to look for my favourite music :)

10. BitComet
- To cap it off, this torrent client is my favourite as it is very user-friendly and speedy! Sze Liang introduced this program to me and I've not changed torrent clients since.

There you go! My Top 10 must-downloads for this year. What are your favourite programs or downloads?

Happy New Year 2008 everyone!!!

The Art of Bargaining

Written by christine on 2:34 AM

let me start by enticing you with the products first! :) so u know i'm not buying cip-lak, ugly, cheapskate stuffs.

a very reliable method, learned from first-hand experience under a respectable si-fu -> my mom! hehe..

you will not be cheated anymore. moneyback guaranteed!

3 rules to follow:
1. never stay too long in one stall/shop. unless you want to kena marah.
2. only ask 2 questions if you're interested in the item. how much? what is your best price? after that, leave! [ask with the intention to expect a 50% slash (at least)]
3. don't bother asking for size/new stock if you just want to "see", and not buy.

ok, let me give you an actual scenario...

say, for instance, my bag. the moment i set my eyes on it, i knew it was what i've been looking for all along! nevermind the fact it has no brand :P

i walk past a shop..

me: eh uncle, how much is the bag?
seller: 280! very cheap! real leather you know? whips out a cigarette lighter and demonstrates that it is "fire-proof"..
me: ahh, best price please?
seller: ok la, for you. 200!
me: ok thks! i'll go look arnd first.

walk away, don't even look back. this is where the magic starts...

seller: ok 180..
me:*walks 5 steps*
seller: ok ok!!! 150! last price!! very cheap already!!
me:*goes on walking feeling triumphant and makes a mental note to come bck later because i'm actually quite happy with the price already*
seller: tell me how much you want la. i give! ok, my last offer, 120!
me:*punches fist into the air, makes a little u-turn, and buy the bag!* mission accomplished!

this is after i kena marah from don't know how many stalls because i'm afraid to "offend" them, and i shopped as if i was in a shopping complex, trying everything i want and see.. but i realize that's not the way street market works. the hard way.. my mom taught me the better way, but after she let me try out on my own. so.. don't learn it the hard way! now that you know how to.

happy bargaining.. comes with practice though :)

you can try out your skills at places like petaling street, low yat, bugis street etc. please don't do it in cK or DKNY or something like that. it doesn't work :P