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gosh pithsoh, this post is like 3 months late! if my Fujifilm camera wasn’t stolen, i would have upload these photos immediately on the day of purchase! i remember losing interest in my work the entire day the moment i receive the device.

anyway, the content of the limegreen box is the HD2 (duh!~), a charger which also works as a usb data cable when detached, a handsfree/earpiece, a free 8GB SD card, warranty card and some manuals.

specs of the phone are:
1GHz Snapdragon™ processor
4.3″ WVGA capacitive touch screen (480×800 resolution)
512MB ROM, 448MB RAM
5.0MP camera with auto focus & dual-LED flashlight
Windows Mobile® 6.5 Professional
blah blah blah…

below is a screenshot of my phone’s home tab. HTC did a good job wrapping up the ugly Windows Mobile 6.5 interface, making the HD2 the world’s first Windows Mobile phone to feature capacitive touch screen and HTC Sense™.

as you can see, i’ve made alot of tweaking to the interface as opposed to the original screen below:

i’ve added a notification bar above the clock, removed weather animation in Home tab (this screen) background, tweaked the quicklink menu to show 3 pages of 4×4 shortcut icons instead of the default 1page of 3×3 icons, changed my ISP from “MY MAXIS” to “TAI LEONG”, all this thanks to Co0kies’ Home Tab + CHTEditor.

i’ve also changed the taskbar battery icon to display in percentage, instead of the original 4-bars, thanks to XDA user smaberg. the screenshot below is the Messages tab (listing 25 latest SMS/MMS).

next is the Mail tab, which in my case, lists down mails from 3 separate email accounts. see 4 icons on the right? the first one is to write a new mail, while the remaining 3 are the 3 separate accounts tab.

the next tab after the Mail tab is the Internet. this displays bookmarked thumbnails of 10 of your favourite sites, and pressing the “Launch Browser” button loads up the default Opera Mobile 9.7 browser with multi-touch support.  nothing fancy here except the huge screen equals more web info displayed, so… moving on.

the Calendar tab helps me keep track of my meetings and appointments. HTC in a way provides an option (under Settings tab) to automatically set my phone to vibrate mode during pre-set appointments time. you know those times where you forget to silent your phone and a call comes in during important meeting/movie etc?

the Photos & Videos tab comes with the ability to let you browse your photos and videos in a river-flow manner. just slide your finger up or down gently and let the effects take your breath away.

this tab with HTC Sense also supports automatic landscape mode, thanks to the phone’s G-Sensor.

the Music tab gives you access to HTC Media Player, which i’m not sure if it’s running with Windows Media Player Mobile in the background. this player lets you have album arts flying across the screen, which is pretty cool too.

not to mention that it supports automatic landscape mode as well.

nothing to comment on HTC’s Weather tab, just the animated weather looks awesome.

last but not least, the Settings page which HTC gives you easier access to customize your phone.

the 5.0MP camera in my opinion is good, but not great. it’s LED flash is bright enough to be used as a flashlight during blackouts, or to annoy people. the speaker sound quality is awesome, but the speakerphone (loud speaker during calls) can be a tad bit too loud although volume has been set to the lowest.

although the built-in Media Player does not support DivX/XviD playback, having 3rd party softwares like CorePlayer Mobile solves the issue (unfortunately, it doesn’t support subtitle files like SRT, SUB, SSA etc.)

throwing in Garmin Mobile XT application into this device makes it a superb GPS navigator, also thanks to up-to-date Malaysia/Singapore maps by Malfreemaps community.

before i end this post, i just want to say, who needs so many apps when all you need is just a couple of quality ones.

now we can ride to Pangkor island in less than 15 minutes!

(if you ask me, the new jetty looks like a factory from far)

no, not this island. that photo was taken when we overlooked back towards Teluk Batik direction.

Marina Island Pangkor, if i’m not mistaken, is a man-made reclaimed land located very near to Teluk Batik beach.

now, how about some outdoor leisure photos? trust me when i say the sun is super glaring at the time we got there.

if only this is my house compound and that’s my private yatch…

pictures might not be detailed as they’re taken by my phone’s 5MP camera, which i think under-performs =) let’s move on to some sunset photos, shall we?

well, i would say that’s an evening well spent

easier to pronounce as UiTM Selayang, a dedicated campus for their faculty of medicine, i was honoured to be part of the design & build team, although just a small part.

my part was just to check the design that my senior did, and indeed it was tough! the moment i got involved, i was forced to learn the CSC Orion reinforced concrete analysis and design software from scratch, and then rectify my senior’s Orion model.

when i took over, all the structural components of the major buildings were already accomplished. after many months, the 152 million contract value project was finally completed.

with that, i take this opportunity to share with my dear readers the “scanned” copy of part of the coffee table book, which is now available at JKR headquarters. enjoy

from Journal of the Malaysian Institute of Architects | Volume 22 Issue 2, by Architecture Malaysia (am) magazine:

architect’s statement
In early 2006, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) announced their plan to create a new typology of Medical Faculty Campus to achieve its primary aim of producing highly motivated and accomplished medical professionals practicing holistic medicine. The Medical Faculty swiftly embarked on a development programme to relocate the current Medical Faculty in Shah Alam to a newly government-acquired 11 acres of land next to the Hospital Selayang, Selangor. The number of students enrolled into Medicine in UiTM grows significantly every year and the existing facilities in Shah Alam were unable to cater to the needs of the school programme beyond 2009.
The university’s Development Department had appointed Public Works Department Malaysia (PWD) for project management and commisioned LKMD Architecture Sdn Bhd through Design and Build Contractor to design a new Medical Faculty Campus for more than 500 students. The 540,000 square foot Medical Campus was to house a mix of medical students and scientists, with studies and research ranging from treatment of asthma to the effect of gravity on the human body under the Angkasawan programme.
The Campus was generally broken into 3 major components, the Academic Block, the Specialist Clinic Block and the Residential Block, on a rectangular site bordering a sub-arterial road. It needed to include 36 fully equipped Consultation Suites, Clinical Trials Ward, Research Labs, Library and Medical Museum and other academic facilities – a fairly complex ‘party’. It also had to accommodate the latest Clinical and Communication Skills Lab, used by students and teaching staff in achieving its primary goal of excellence in Clinical studies.
Space planning that fostered collaboration was essential with future flexibility in mind. The campus was intended to be a new genre of medical school in Malaysia, which is traditionally formal in its setting and ‘reserved’. Informal teaching and learning were highly encouraged for the new campus to create a conducive and interactive environment to the students.
The design attempted to ‘redefine’ and ‘reinterpret’ campus planning and architecture through new planning solutions and space articulation. The architect realised the importance of knowledge as a powerful theme in creating a pragmatic medical campus. The master planning highlighted the significance of the medical library and museum as a point of reference for the students instead of placing the administrative building as the focal point of the site.
Closely knitted building blocks allow seamless connectivity and accessibility for students at all times. Medical students undergo different learning routines thus making sure to reach their respective classes on time is vital, and spaces were designed to facilitate and support these excessive and extended activities. A heavily used and shaded pedestrian spine that cuts through the site is also introduced.
The buildings are designed to surround the library and museum block with pockets of outdoor landscape, water features and cafes to complement the oval and irregular shape of the academic block. The front area of the academic block sits on pilotis, creating a 27-foot high shaded mini plaza where 100 pax functions can be held. Further stimulating this elevation is a nucleus-shaped restaurant and cafe with radial standing seam roofing where students can enjoy a nicely created garden space. Colours are chosen to uplift the spirit and enliven the surroundings within the facilities, rather than having a subdued and mundane setting.
The buildings were carefully sited to face north to reduce concern on solar penetration and address the street frontage. Recessed windows on the buildings are further shielded by vertical aluminium sunshades that help to reduce glare and heat gain but allow light to filter through the interior.
The interior overall was a mixture of play and colourful setting. Patterns, textures and fittings were specifically chosen for vibrancy and interactive feelings. Part of the library is designed with sofa and seating pods on a timber style vinyl flooring area to promote informal learning and make the students feel at home. Students are also encouraged to make full use of the learning themed medical museum where real anatomy specimens are displayed. Informal gathering and learning cubes were introduced in the museum to encourage interaction among the teaching staff and the students.
In general, the UiTM Selayang Campus project was a successful collaboration among the client, project manager, consultants and the contractor. Success of the project is attributed to close coordination works and commitment by the project team during the two-year long construction period to ensure all the details met strict requirements by the Faculty.
The campus is a successful fusion of form and function – and a great addition to UiTM.

All scanned images in this post are copyrights of JKR and UiTM.

dear readers, for those of you who couldn’t make it to davin and michelle’s wedding, don’t worry. you shouldn’t feel left out! this post is dedicated to you regarding my journey with wonderful companions throughout the 2 tiring yet enjoyable days.

we departed at 10 somethin in the morning only to find ourselves at kluang’s mcd around 2pm. the place was freakin pack, as though the weren’t any other food outlets in kluang.

after grabbing some burgers for lunch, we checked in prime city hotel and paid davin a visit (see his suite in picture below).

after that, i managed to get a very short rest before havin to get up and prepare for the church ceremony, which schedule to begin at 5pm.

oh, don’t ask me what alvin was doin in the picture above.

anyway, we were there early and i went around takin some photographs.

the church, as you can see in the picture above, is very small. this photo was taken from the second last row of seats. by the way, these seats are reserved only to close family members.

based on what we observed, this church can only squeeze fit about 50 adults in quite a crammed manner.

somewhat after a quarter of the ceremony, we were chased ushered out of the church due to its limited seats.

my photos after that were then taken from the church windows.

we look like a bunch of papparazis tryin to steal shots from a window

the ceremony, i personally feel, was somewhat a little draggy, and could’ve been shorten as according to alvin, most of the audience are non-christians.

it ended slightly after 6pm, and we all headed back to the hotel room to prepare ourselves for the wedding dinner.

by the time we arrived at the ballroom, my rough estimation was about 20% of the guests were only there.

we spent some time registering and looking through the photo album.

while waiting for the other guests to arrive, jolene was literally askin me to take her photo every now and then.

here’s an example to what i was sayin above.

see what i mean?

finally, the evening’s event started with a grand entree dance lead by the bride and the groom, followed by their trusted bestman, maid of honor etc etc, all wearing sunglasses. this happened when all the lights in the ballroom were turned off, and only a spotlight was shining on them while lady gaga‘s telephone playing in the background.

after that it was cake cutting, toast of the maid of honor and bestman, some violin performance, davin’s song to michelle, and performance by a band. (what i’ve listed might not be in chronological order)

by the way, the food there was so-so only. then, it was some photo taking, followed by a little dancing after all the family members left.

chianming insisted that i post this picture up on facebook, so i assumed she wants it up here on my blog post as well

and that’s me, lookin all tired and worn out. i can’t exactly remember what happened after the dancing, and therefore i’m leavin anythin after that out

the followin morning, we got up, have breakfast at the hotel, then packed to return to pj. before leaving, we stopped by kluang railcoffee for lunch.

source: The Oatmeal