Joy & Happiness: July 2010

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Fruitful Trip

Despite those quirky happenings, my working trip to KL has been a fruitful one. Managed to download some journal articles and locate and photostat most of the hard copies that I need although there are also some which I couldn't gain online access to since I'm not a student of UKM.

I think I've had enough of the the libraries of UM and UKM for now.

The graduate lab where I've been sourcing for more online articles

Computer 15 - my preferred unit
July 12: UKM graduate lab

I know I'd never be able to finish locating all the articles as I've yet to conduct my pilot study so those I've found will have to suffice for now as I still need to review all those articles and include them in my dissertation.

I came to KL with one thick ring file and will be returning with four times its thickness. Hopefully none will be wasted and will be of use.

The good news is that my supervisor seems to be satisfied with my proposal although I'll need to revise my third research question. I hope all will go well and my pilot study and further reviews will take off after my scheduled appointment with him this Friday.

This is only the beginning and I'm bracing myself for the full works ahead.

Dear DD, thank You so much for your providence. I can't thank you enough!

Coffee, Anyone?

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A few years ago when I arrived at QQ's house for a 2-week holiday, I was surprised to see a huge, ugly-looking 'equipment' which seemed quite out-of-place in his tiny kitchen. Apparently, it is a heavy-duty water filter which is crucial for filtering KL's questionable 'clean' tap water.

Water Boss

Uncle said that it was necessary to get the water filter because the usual smaller unit is not capable of filtering the amount of dirt found in the piped in water from Selangor's reservoir.

I was quite skeptical of uncle's claim until I saw with my own eyes how much dirt was trapped by the filter system when uncle cleaned his water filter that very weekend.

This time, I managed to snap some pics of the water that flowed out of the filter when uncle went on his weekly routine of back-washing and rinsing the filter.

Dirt water at the start of the first back-wash

Middle of the flow

End of the flow

Like the washing machine, it has a rinse cycle too!

More dirty water at the start of the rinsing cycle

Middle of the rinsing flow

Clear water at the end of the rinsing flow

You would think that the filter is clean at the end of the rinse cycle since the water already runs clear, right?

Wrong!!!

More dirty water!

July 10: Uncle's kitchen sink

Repeat the back-wash and rinse cycle for another two times before the core filter is 'adequately' cleaned. 'Adequately' because uncle had tried the fourth cycle and still light brown water flowed out from the filter. He thinks that the filter is quite clean after the third cycle because cleaning the filter wastes copious amount of water and time.

Oh, did I mention that you'd have to clean the filter on a weekly basis?

Here's a video of the process.

Laine's 18th Birthday

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We celebrated cousin Laine's birthday on July 8, Thursday, with a meal at Sin Kee Restaurant at Brickfields. Yvonne and David skipped their Friday tutorial to be home early. I took the commuter straight from UKM to Central and walked across the street to the restaurant.

The meal was fantastic and I must say that they serve the best 'yau mak' I have ever eaten! The veggie was so crunchy and scrumptious even for a meat-lover like myself.

Lightly stir-fried veg

We headed home at about 7.40 p.m. and KL's traffic was heavy with after-office workers on their journey home. We dropped by Sweetly, a cake shop nearby QQ's house, to pick up Laine's pre-ordered birthday cake.