Happenings in Sept'08

Arrogant Mac users? Read it from Reader's Digest Aug/Sept'08 edition. Forgot which edition exactly. So, Isaac,.....still going for MAC? hahhahaha. I won't explain more, you just have to read it from the book. Leave your piece of mind to yourself, please.

Yes!!! Finally got my new PC parts from Low Yat in KL. Time to update my old rig to the almost latest tech. So this post I'll simply teach you how to install the parts and setup the PC. But I'm not going to teach how to install Windows XP or Vista, coz it's easy to do it, simple as ABC.

These above are the PC parts that I bought. No budget to buy myself a LCD monitor, maybe in early next year, aiming for 22" LCD *fingers crossed*. So now I'll just stick to my 15" crt monitor. The parts I bought are:

1. Intel Xeon E3110 3.0 Ghz 45nm
2. 2 gb Kingston HyperX DDR2 ram
3. Gigabyte EP45-DS3 motherboard
4. Sapphire Radeon HD4850 512mb DDR2 graphic card
5. 500 Watt power supply unit
6. 320 gb Western digital Hard Disk Drive
7. LG DVD-R rom
8. Razer Krait mouse

Total of the above costs me about RM2200+. A bit costly, but they are almost high end specs, which is good, now that I am able to play some latest games with good graphic displays. Ok, lemme teach you all how to replace and install these parts above. I still maintain using my old casing, as the the new motherboard is ATX form. So won't be an issue to install. Casing is just casing, won't help to improve the PC performance in any way, so no need to spend extra on that.

This above is the old parts. AMD Barton processor on ABIT motherboard, which is very very stable. Rarely crashing cases during it's service to me. I'll still use my 260gb hard disk, as my secondary storage. So my total disk space is 580gb. Sweeet........

1stly, take all the parts away, clean the inside of the casing with a slightly damp cloth, as normally will be dusty and maybe, webby. then leave it dry.

Then I install the power supply unit (PSU). the size is quite standard and should fit on any casing and screw them to the holes provided. (quite standard hole size and position)

Then I install the face plate for the motherboard. Look the different hole sizes beside the gold fan grill. These are those where the USB pots, audio ports, LAN ports & etc will be. Every motherboard will provide their own face plates as the ports available varies with the models you buy.

Next, The motherboard. Place and position the motherboard properly, especially towards the face plate behind. Screw the motherboard to the holes provided, which are standard size and position. The processor and the heatsink+fan are already installed to the motherboard as I previously installed them in KL to try out everything to make sure they run properly before bringing them back to Labuan. I practically installed all of them without any casing in KL during trying them out. It's risky, but also fun, hahaahahah. If a drop of water touches any circuit boards, can say bye bye liaw.

After that, you can start to plug in the PSU socket to the motherboard, read the motherboard installation guide. They have visual guidance on where to plug those cables required. IDE and SATA cable are also plugged to to the motherboard.


You can then install the rest. The 2gb RAM (see the 2 pieces of blue strip in the pic). Also install the DVD-R rom, 320 and 260 gb hard disk, and graphic card.

Plug sata cable to hard disk, IDE cable to the other hard disk. Plug the power socket to hard disks and DVD-R rom. sometimes the cable can be messy. So it's all up you to manage the cables. you can use cable ties, tapes, or sleeves. Purpose for the cable management is to have a proper air flow so that the heat produced from the PC can be channeled out effectively.

It's done! You can fix some stickers provided from the stuff you buy and stick to the casing, just for decoration and also show off what you have in your PC, hahahah. So there you go. the rest should be simple. Plug in those monitor cable, mouse and keyboard, speaker and microphone, and power cable. SUCCESS for me.

IRB budget seminar (16/9)

Was a whole day seminar held in Dorsett hotel ballroom. Quite a big number of people attended, considered as full house. Of course we need to register earlier, so the head count was well planned. Was back from KL a day before, so I was quite tired and couldn't concentrate fully. But it was still ok.

Then lunch was provided, had buffet and the hotel itself. Yum....

The main dish. Didn't eat a lot, afraid that I could be doze off when the seminar resume after lunch.

Sweet & sour fish

Remember that I caught 2 big talapia fishes at Alfred Lim's place? Well this post will tell you my cooking these fishes sweet & sour style.


1st, marinade the fishes. Simple stuff, garlic, red onions, ginger, salt, pepper, soy sauce.


Prepare the vege to cook with the sweet & sour sauce. Carrots, tomatoes, broccoli, and fresh green pepper.


Cover the fish with corn flour. Don't be too thick. Just enough to cove the fishes.


Deep fry them until crispy in the outside. Make sure the fishes are thoroughly cooked.


Crispy in the outside, moist in the inside.


Next is the vege in sweet & sour sauce. I stir fried onions and garlic, chopped finely. Then put in fish sauce, soy sauce, Maggi tomato/chilli sauce, and lastly put in water mixed in corn flour, just to create the thickness of the gravy.


Lastly pour them out on the fishes and serve immediately. The sauce was good, surprisingly. the fishes were not that good as the mild muddy taste and smell was still there. Nevermind, will get a good fish next time and cook again. I'm sure it'll be very nice next time!!!