May 31, 2009

I killed bats, man!

This morning I was woken up by something that felt like a bug crawling on my arm.

I shook my arm to shake it off and went back to sleep. Not long after that I felt it again, this time I got up. I heard squeaking creaking noises. Looking down between the bed frames I saw what looked like a frog hoping along.

It was a bat.

I got out of bed and looked around. I saw a dark spot near the wall. I thought that the bat had already flown out and landed there so I went back to the bed and heard the noise again.

There were two!

So I'm standing there in the dark, shirtless, thinking about how to catch these bats. From what I understand bats normally won't go near people unless they're sick with something like rabies. I can't leave the room, my wife is still sleeping unaware of what is with us, and I do not want to wake her up.

So I find a box, catch the bat by the wall. Then I search for another box to capture the one between the beds and try to think of how to do it.

I find a box and go to search for the bat. It has helped me though, it came up to where I could get it. I used the box to cover the bat for a bit, then yanked back sharply, which managed to pull the bat onto the floor and wake my wife.

The box I had was not one that I could close with the top against the floor covering the bat. I had already taken out a knife that has an led light on it. Siew turned the light on, I cut the top of the box off and slid that under the box to trap the bat.

Then I took the boxes downstairs and taped them shut.

Here's where I was not sure what to do. One bat was smaller than the other so I'm sure it was a parent and child. We have had problems with bats living in one of the holes in the brick work above our room. I am sure these bats are from said holes. If I destroy the bats, then I remove at least some of these pests that are causing a mess, and potential hazard to our health.

So I decided to kill them.

I have never killed another mammal on my own. Seriously. I've been hunting, but I didn't fire any shots. I was a beater (someone who tries to scare prey up so that the hunter can take a shot, a common job for a kid). Kind of strange to think about now.

There was only one way I could think of. Crush the boxes with their contents. So I took them outside and determined where in the boxes they were and stomped on them. I didn't want to make it painful for them, so I stomped hard and fast.

Pests now removed I returned upstairs. Took my shirt off and turned back to go to bed. There on the floor was part of one of the bats' wing!

I cleaned that up and then crawled back into bed. I found that I am now too awake to sleep. Siew's still sleepy so she's trying to sleep now.

I hope that is enough to finish that particular roost. I don't like bats in homes at all. It is really an annoyance and can be dangerous to your health. Bats in the wild, however, are wonderfully important.

May 30, 2009

Car Pictures

Here are some pictures of our car. Can you spot the sexy car model?

Fifth Door, open
Fifth Door, closed
Left Side
Backseat Interior

Front Dash, a bit dark
Front Dash
Front Seats
Front View
Right Side

New Work

Well, my interview at one school was successful. They want me to teach English. I applied for IT Lecturer. :-P

They want me to work full-time and made a firm offer. The offer is lower than what others have offered. Part-time they would be paying me more per hour than ELS.

If I work full-time I have less time to try getting students gathered to earn more money that way. Also the teaching hours in a week maximum would be 24 hours. Since the work hours are 9-6 with an hour lunch. . . that means I would have a minimum of 2 hours of time I have to remain at the school with not as much to do. It gets worse if I have less than 24 teachings hours for a week. I could easily end up with a lot of wasted time sitting at the school with nothing to do.

I opted for part-time. I won't get as much money overall, but I can opt to transition to full-time later if I want. That will give me more time to get things going to teaching younger students and make more money.

Long-term it makes more sense for me to teach privately. I can earn more potentially.

Part-time, for my rationalization, gives me the needed flexibility to get my own things going as well as giving me a slower immersion into this particular school's environment instead of a sudden dousing that may be overwhelming for me.

Siew, I feel, is not happy with my choice. I think she wants me to work full-time. I would really prefer to transition into it, or better transition out of it and into full-time private. Her mood towards me today has suddenly cooled a lot. My attempts to breach this have failed. I do not want her to feel this way.

Sorry honey, I love you.

May 27, 2009

Real Age

I was playing around and took an online quiz:

Real-Age

Here are my results:



So, if I get a bit more cardio/aerobic exercise I can live longer and feel younger. For me, I do not think this test is too far off.

If you read this and take the test yourself, post your results as a comment! :-)

May 23, 2009

Feeling

I feel like posting something.

The problem with that is that I really do not have much to say.

Friday I have another job interview.

Maybe this one will lead to a job. So far the others were offering too little, too far away, or haven't contacted me again.

I think what will happen is that I'll receive more than one offer all at once.

Bah.

May 19, 2009

Computer User Efficiency

If you do a search on google for USING a computer more efficiently or faster, you will find tons of things on speeding up your computer.

I think that most computer users do not need to speed up their computers. True, they need to reduce the CRAP on their computers, in particular in the boot-up of their computers, but that is something you can google and learn how to do already.

What I am speaking of is improving the way that the user interfaces the computer.

Most people like their fancy mice. They love to move their arm all around to move the pointer on the screen through its mickeys (not the mouse, in this case mickey is a single pixel movement of the mouse, basically).

I personally, when required, use a trackball mouse.

It is much more efficient, however, to use keyboard shortcuts.

Programmers include these in the software they write. Shortcuts are a much faster way to achieve a given command. Linux users typically know more shortcuts than Windows users.

If everyone working for a company using a computer used shortcuts instead of mousing, the company would save a very large amount of man hours every year just from that one change.

I recently had an interview that required I make a presentation so I decided to make my presentation on the basic shortcuts that can be used in Firefox (and Internet Explorer).

When I see people wasting energy using a mouse, moving their arm alllllll around to click something, then they double click when a single click is all they needed. . . well I just want to shout at them.

Because of things like that, people think that I'm really fast on a computer. I'm faster than most, but I have met a few people who are much faster than me. I'll admit this.

However, I think that with a little work, anyone could improve and seem like a "whiz" that they may or may not be. I have seen some people who know a lot about computers who still STILL insist on making the mouse their primary interface, and wasting a lot of energy and TIME in the process.

Maybe I should write a book on Computer USER Efficiency. I can call it C.U.E. or something like that.

Seriously.

May 18, 2009

The marry month of May

Last night we attended Yau's wedding dinner. Previously Siew was pregnant so we could not go to the other parts of Yau's wedding.

What? Siew was pregnant? I have not told about that.

Siew was pregnant. A home pregnancy test confirmed so we went to the doctor to have her checked.

His prognosis was not very auspicious. He did not say anything to inspire hope in us for this child. After 2 weeks time we went back and he still could not find a heartbeat. Additionally, in those 2 weeks the fetus grew from 3.2mm to 3.67mm. I am not a doctor, but I know that in 2 weeks time a fetus of this age should grow a lot more than this.

So, Siew had to have surgery to remove the not-living not-growing fetus.

I spent a rough 12 hours in the hospital. I am a worry-wort, especially when anything concerning Siew's well-being is involved.

She came out of the operation just fine and seems to be healthy mentally and physically.

So, back to Yau's wedding dinner.

Yau's husband looked very happy that night. I had never seen him so animated. I was very happy for him. I never got to talk with Yau herself.

I know that Yau had wanted a garden ceremony. However mother nature was not inclined to allow this. She sent clouds and rain to chase everyone inside. This created some chaos as all of the guests and buffet dinner were ushered inside by the staff.

Yau and her husband had vows, I think that is what they had, but the layout inside did not lend anything towards hearing what they said, as well as me not understanding enough Chinese.

This wedding dinner did not make me depressed as others have, but I have had so much on my mind that I do not think much could faze me much. . . that is until my mother dropped a bomb of an e-mail.

That is another post however.

May 16, 2009

Interviewing

I have had a lot of interviews recently.

I have 2 offers in Kuala Lumpur. However the pay they are offering does not offset my out-of-pocket cost to move to KL so I have declined these jobs.

I have another interview on Monday. This time for an IT lecturer. I have to prep some things today/tomorrow in order to go into the interview. I have honestly never created a powerpoint presentation. I hate presentations.

I also need to make up some sort of handout that I can use to sell myself. Private, native English tutoring. I think that long-term this is my best bet for stability. Time will tell though.

Siew and I have to attend a wedding dinner for her friend Yau tonight, so I am off.

May 13, 2009

Interesting Photo Blog

I have been viewing the blog images at this site.

There are some really really entertaining pictures here.

I love this one:

May 7, 2009

Updates

Ok. . . some of this I have covered already, some I have not.
Rather than looking back at what I have posted I am writing some simplified versions of updates here.

First:

I have a Long Term Social Visa pass for Malaysia. This allows me to work anywhere and live in Malaysia. I must renew it one time per year for 90RM.

Second:

I have been wanting to get out of town or stay in a hotel that has amenities like a hot tub, sauna, etc.

Siew and I went to Copthorne Orchid Hotel Penang. On their site they advertise a sauna, jacuzzi tub, swimming pool and a private beach.

They do have these things. However! Here's a list of stuff wrong:

No complimentary breakfast
No information provided about check-in or out times
No information provided about amenities
No direction given to get to amenities
Private beach access is kind of hidden so you really have to hunt for it
The sauna and jacuzzi tubs are hidden inside of a spa, with no obvious signs that say you can use it for free
The hotel hallways smell like a wet basement, as did the car parking
Car parking area is dark and no signs really show the way to go up
The room was run-down
The tub dripped constantly
No water provided
Water boiling kettle was not as clean as I would like
Hotel staff came to our room and demanded to be let in to spray for bugs, then walked away when they didn't really understand me
Hotel spraying for mosquitoes a little TOO vigorously and without warning, it looked almost as though the whole place was on fire!

I ca not think of anything else now. That is a lot I know, however, I worked in 2 different hotels for a couple of years total.

Third:

When I went to the monthly meeting for ELS I was told, after the meeting that they have less students this month and that I could only work as a sub for a teacher who needed certain days off.

I was not happy about this and started applying for other jobs.

I landed an interview for a place in KL. I had previously contacted someone else, also in KL, about a potential job.

So, we made a rush trip to KL. Siew's wonderful friend Pei Tze allowed us (Siew, her mother and I (and later Siew's sister)) to stay with her for the weekend so I could attend my interviews.

The first place is a brand new place trying to compete with companies like ELS. Their initial offer sounded good. 1000-1300usd + accommodation allowance. However! During the interview the owners offered me 3200 without accommodation. When I said that is not enough they went up to 4000 without accommodation.

Apparently because I am from the USA, but living in Malaysia already and do not need a visa, I do not need extra to live in a higher living cost city like KL. Nevermind the costs involved from moving to KL at my own cost.

Seriously, if I were from the states they would have given me, perhaps, 4500-5500. But because I am in Malaysia already, they offered me less and would not help me with moving expenses? For a start-up company?

Later they said they would go as high as 4500 but they could not offer more than that.

Honestly, 4500 would be ok if I was already in KL, or alone. However, I am not alone and I am not in KL. That is not enough.

The second place is a tuition center catering to international school students. They said they would pay 4000-5000 for a full-time teacher and that I could make more if I wanted by offering private tuition and that they would help give me contacts for this. This sounds good.

Finally they said that they, for now, want a part-time teacher only. Again, if I was in KL I think I would take this as I could have more private tutoring and make more.

I am not in KL.

I turned them both down.

Fourth:

One of my data harddrives died.

My step-father, he runs his own pc store, sold me a Western Digital harddrive for 65$ about a year ago. When I bought the drive, 65$ for a 500GB drive was cheap. I was looking for more data storage room so I thought it would be ok if I only used it for data back up and then removed it from the computer.

Western Digital drives are NOT known to last long. They do not bond the magnetic data material to the platter the same way that Seagate does so the data tends to flake away, literally.

When I went to WD's website I found out that the drive was no longer under warranty. I could get it under warranty only if I could show a receipt with a date of purchase that affected the warranty.

I thought that would be no problem for my parents to manage and scan and send to me. Boy was I wrong.

I contacted WD about the drive and they kept feeding me support information that had NOTHING TO DO WITH THE PROBLEMS I WAS HAVING!

Mom and her husband sent me this response to me asking for a receipt for the drive:

"Marty says a customer sold him that drive, he didn't really want it but it was like $20. He says you were there and he asked you if you wanted it and you said sure. I had wondered about it since we don't buy Western digital HD's because they are too flakey. Glad you got it to work. Get yourself a Seagate, they have the best warranties in the business.

Love,

Mom"

This shocked me. I was NOT there when this happened. Marty contacted me later and offered the drive to me for 65$. When I asked where it came from he would not tell me!

Luckily I used Google and found that CHKDSK /r would resolve the problem. It did resolve it, but I need to buy another harddrive to dump this data onto. I don't want to do that until I have a full-time job again. For now it is sitting safely in storage.

Fifh:

While I was in KL ELS called me. Ei Leen, the bitch, called me and asked me if I was coming in to get my books. I asked her what for?

Her response was that she put me on the schedule for 3 hours (each day).

I was livid at this point. She specifically told me that she would NOT have me work this month except to sub. Then she changes her mind, without informing me ahead of time, and puts me on the schedule.

Then she rudely asks if I am coming to get the books or not. I said no, I am not.

I had quit.

I feel bad that I quit, I do not want to be jobless, but I do not need to tolerate that kind of shit anymore. They, obviously, need me more than I need them.

Sixth:

I managed to get ahold of three games I have been wanting to play.

Fallout 3

Dead Space

Left 4 Dead


Ok. I am not going to describe these games. If you want to know, go to the links and read.

I love the other Fallout games, so I have been looking forward to the newest one. I have to say I am really really impressed with it so far.

Dead Space is amazing. It has beautiful graphics, a very unique interface, amazing ambiance, and a rather interesting plot. It is really good! I really really like this game. This is one of the best games I have ever played. Seriously.

Left 4 Dead is fun, however it is not the game that these other games are. This is a twitch game that can make you jump when you are attacked by 15-25 (something like that, it's a large group and they come too fast to count!) infected all en masse. It is great fun!

Seventh:

I had another job interview here in Penang today. It sounds like something I might like, and I saw three of my former students there.

If they pay is right, I think I would like that job.

I have another job interview next week with a college. They want me to do a 15 minutes presentation on anything I choose. I guess they want to see how well I speak and in front of others. I am not totally comfortable with this to be honest. It makes me feel out of my league. We will see how it goes.

Otherwise I need to, and maybe I should on top of a job, look into private tuition. I can go back to IT work now if I can get a job doing it, but the pay will not be as high so I do not think I want to do that. I want Siew and I to have comfortable lives, and part of that involves a comfortable savings account to make things more secure for us.

Wish me luck!

May 6, 2009

I should post

I have a lot to tell, but I am not ready to tell everything yet.

At this rate I will probably forget some things before I post, I apologize.

I will write more later.