The hunt never ends

As one hunt ends, another begins. And another, and another, and another ad infinitum.

But the good news is, I've completed my job hunt! For now. I've accepted an offer from Booz & Co. as a consultant based in Kuala Lumpur. I'll be the 2nd, well officially the 3rd employee here but the 2nd one is a contractor, so I'm not sure she counts. I start in February and my first day will be in Sydney for training! :) But the best part is, my first day there is also a public holiday here, so that means I get another day's leave :D

Now that I've finished my job hunt, I'm doing another kind of hunting - for artifacts! There's a Tomb Raider challenge going on. Actually I think tomorrow's the last day, but for the last three weeks or so, they've been giving out a Sony PS3 everyday to the first person who can find the artifact in Google Maps based on the clue of the day. It's insanely competitive, though - the first person usually gets it in under a minute. If you think you're up to par, go to www.tombraiderchallenge.com at 9am Malaysian time everyday. 

Robbers beware

There is a new top of the line, state of the art anti-break in system in Malaysia. Well, more correctly, it's the anti-break out system. It's like that Eagle's song Hotel California - you can checkout any time you like but you can never leave. 

Burglar who picked the 'wrong' house

KEMANAN: A burglar entered a house-turned-grocery shop, thinking he was in for a killing. He nearly got himself killed instead.

The owner, who was away to celebrate Hari Raya Haji returned home yesterday morning to find the burglar trapped in the house for 72 hours without food and water.

The intruder was fatigued and dehydrated when the owner and his wife returned to the shop in Kampung Binjai from their hometown in Kota Baru.

The couple, in their early 50s, found the burglar lying in a room, clasping his hands in an apologetic gesture for his wrongdoing.

The owner, instead of calling the police, decided to call an ambulance to rush the burglar to the nearest hospital.

When interrogated later, the 36-year-old burglar told investigating officers that he had sneaked into the house after realising the owner was out.

The burglar, who entered via the back door, claimed that he was blinded once he was inside and felt like he was in a cave.

“Each time I wanted to flee, I felt a ‘supernatural figure’ shoving me to the ground,’’ he told police.

He claimed this was his first time experiencing such trauma during a break-in.

The burglar had no choice but to stay put in the room for three days as his shouts for help were in vain.

Kemaman Deputy police chief Deputy Supt Abdul Marlik Hakim Johar said the couple lodged a police report on the same day.

He said the burglar was warded at the Kemaman Hospital and his condition is stable.

Call 1-800-GHOSTS now for your personalized, 100% guaranteed anti-robbery spook. 

Summer in Australia

It's my first time in this beautiful country in the summer. All three of my previous visits were during the winter. This time around, the most beautiful, and oftentimes weird-looking flowers that I have no names for were joyfully in bloom.


The streets are lined with gorgeous purple jacarandas in bloom.

It's so hot that the dog has to get a buzzcut. Poor Indy went from this

to this.

But he's adorable all the same. Sigh I feel like a traitor to my own dog.

It's at times like these that one must go to the beach. Especially if you're in Sydney.

Even the birds agree.

Pegs, you should recognize this beach :)

It's not, however, one of the best times to go on the Coogee to Bondi walk. It's way too hot for such a long walk, which I know from first hand experience. However, the walk is the best way to see

the graveyard with the best view in the world

and the carpark with the best view in the world. Sydneysiders are so lucky.

It wasn't hot all the time, though. We got some pretty cool days, during which I was very grateful for a cup of hot chocolate or a steaming hot pot.

Especially if it's Guylian hot chocolate.

Or a Szechuan hot pot, full of extra-hot chilli peppers. The soup usually comes in four grades - extra mild, mild, spicy and extra spicy. If you go with the extra spicy option, your mouth will be on fire and you will have a giant mound of chillis in front of your bowl. Go on, I dare you.

Wanted: Sony T77

I recently returned from a trip to Australia. Updates about that later. The country is in full Christmas mode with beautifully decorated shop windows, plazas and malls. Best of all, their Christmas sales have started already. Usually the big sales start on Boxing Day or the day after Christmas but due to the poor economy, sales have started early. And the biggest sales are on electronics right now. Apparently the prices were set before their big currency depreciation so right now electronics are heavily discounted compared to the rest of the world.

I'm in search of a camera right now. A simple point and shoot will do, nothing too fancy. I had my eye on the Sony T77 which is sold at RM1,299 here in Malaysia but it's going for AUD380 or just under RM1,000 in Australia. Sigh me being me, I thought I'd wait till I got home to compare prices and that ask my brother to get the camera for me in Australia before he came back. But who knew that he decided to come back even earlier than I did. Sigh. So I'm now looking for another buyer :)


Anyway, I was browsing through Sony Malaysia's website to check out their products and I came across this really cool contest. It's called the Snap and Catch and it's run in conjunction with their Year End Festive Promotion. Check it out here. Basically, you have to photograph as many of the wanted Sony product within a set time frame as you can. The highest score right now is in the 12k range. Mine is in the paltry 4k range. Sigh. Never mind. I have until the end of January to hone my mad skillz. Who's up for the challenge?

Special gift

This Christmas season, I received a special gift from the folks at Brighter Planet - one day of carbon neutrality. According to their calculations, the average American emits 136 pound of CO2 equivalents each day - 5,000 balloons worth. Better still, they've given me 25 One Day gifts for me to distribute among my friends. Click here to claim yours, available on a first come, first serve basis.