How to Get Your EPF Statements Online!

You'll may need an EPF statement, if...

You are a Malaysian?

You are or was an employee?

Want to get a loan for a new car?

A loan for a new house?

Or you just want to check how much you have?

Or for whatever reason!

Look no further, a step by step guide is as follows, click me!

Ah! The website? Here.

Realtek won't recognize my 5.1 speaker

Why, won't Realtek HIGH DEFINITION Audio allows one with 5.1 speakers to select 5.1 speakers?
I tried rebooting.. Windows a pain always needing to restart.
Tried reinstalling drivers
Tried downloading alternative medicine (other softwares)

But its still an unresolved issue, taking lots of coffee while writing this, well the next best thing is to select stereo speakers for Realtek HD Audio, at least sound comes out from all speakers, but I have no control over the volume, quality, rendering etc.

End notes
1. the 5.1 speakers connects to a hub that transfers the sound via a 3.5mm jack and not a HDMI as the sound system does not have one!

Any solution to this malady?

Windows 7 microphone not working

Reason for this rant:

I have a Windows 7 computer.. want to do video chat.

Make sure you have all the drivers
Plug in a microphone
Plug in the webcam

Microphone seems not to be working!
Your microphone is muted, please check its settings.
Checked all the settings, try again.
OK it works!

* removes microphone and connect it back again

Tries to video chat
Your microphone is muted, please check its settings.
Checked all the settings, try again.
ITS NOT WORKING =,=
Restart computer, and it worked! Goddamnit

* removes microphone and connect it back again

Tries to video chat
Your microphone is muted, please check its settings.
Checked all the settings, try again.
OKAY..
Restart computer, and it STILL do not work! Mother fucker


So I google (who the fuck use Bing?) Windows 7 microphone not working
Land on many Microsoft forum with no answers.. FUCK
Found other websites which are helpful..

One of which is from a post by justme on  Feb 16, 2010 09:18AM, verbatim from http://en.kioskea.net/forum/affich-22703-microphone-problem

All you guys that end up in here (like me), you may wanna try this (please check bottom line before proceeding):


1. Either connect your Mic to appropriate jack (don't mismatch with output jack for earphones etc.), or if you have integrated one, go to 2.

2. In Vista (shall be similar or same in 7, XP)
go to Start->control pannels->manage audio devices (or sounds...)->recording

3. Either there is listed something or there's nothing. In both cases: right click in the empty area, from context menu make sure that both options are ticked (show disabled, switched off devices - or something like that). Now you shall have listed all devices recognized as Mics.
a) There is still nothing listed, i.e. you don't have your Mix properly installed and/or recognized. If that's an integrated one, try to get drivers or consider reinstalling drivers. For external one, try to use another if you can or test it elsewhere.
b) There is exactly one device - just go to 4.
c) There are more than one device - I would recommend you to try to pick one you believe is correct in your case (e.g. don't pick up external when you're trying to run integrated and so on) and disable all others. You disable them by right clicking on each and then choose something like Disable from context menu. You shall be able to turn them back on if you follow step 3.
If you have no idea which one is supposed to be correct, you may try to pick up just one after another.

4. Do you still have no Mic listed after 3.? Then what the hell you're still doing here - you're screwed already!
Otherwise, you might be the lucky one. Or screwed too. You're gonna find out that soon. :-)
From the list that shall now contain just one item - one Mic - (you didn't close that window, did you) right click on it and from context menu select Properties. New wnd shall appear, with 2nd tab from left being Levels. Make sure that:
a) There is nonzero value for Volume bar.
b) On the icon next to Volume bar the sound isn't marked as muted. Click on it once if it is.
c) As for the Amplyfier - it's up to you, I recommend you to set it to 0.0dB or maybe 10.0 dB with Volume on 100. Don't know if you can somehow damage you're hw if you set it too high, shall not, but who knows (read botom line).

5. Close config window with Levels tab (OK button). In the list make sure that device is described as Active/Enabled/Whatever like that, and maybe select the only item in Mic list and click button Make this device default (or similar to that). Just for sure. You can now close all the config windows. I recommend clicking on OK buttons instead of Storno/Cancel, unless you love doing it all over again.

6. You shall now be ready to test recording performance of your Mic if any. I reccommend using program that can be launched from Start->Accessories->Sound Recorder (or something like that). It shall keep default Windows settings which we've just configured. Try to record something with it. If an error message stating that you've got no Mic configured appears, go to 9a.
Otherwise you shall be able to start recording, so scream like lunatic during recording phase, since you'd like to check that Mic is at least able to catch anything. Stop recording, save file.

7. Open recorded file in Windows Media Player. It is just plain audio, so I recommend you to change Visualization to Oscilator (Right click, somewhere in context menu shall be Oscilator item, click on it). Start playback of file.
a) You've got some sound - you hear it or oscilator, huh, oscilates (changes from straight line). Idealy both at the same time. Go to 8.
b) Oscilator stays straight line all the time and you hear nothing - go back to Mic config (step 2, step 4) and on Levels tab for your Mic check that you've got all your settings as you left them - especially check the mute/unmute icon if it didin't switched back to muted. If something has changed in here, go to 9b.

8. Sounds like you've got you're Mic working, congrats! If you find it useful for others, post here what you did and possible problems you had to solve and you did it (especially if you did it in XP or 7 and there are any changes).
However you're not done yet. I recommend you to re-check the Levels tab (step 4) and take especially attention to Amplify level. You may wanna turn that bar down on behalf of Volume slider. Or it's up to you. Of course any changes to Mic. Input Volume shall be made here too (in 3rd party applications you would find another slider for Mic.). That's all.

9. Problems section.
a) Sound recorder states that you're Mic is not configured abusing an error message for this Purpose.
You may wanna re-check your Mic config (especially if you have selected any - shall be one - Mic as active and default one in config window) AND check 9b.
b) May sound strange, or may not, but try unmute your Mic if it is muted and before closing the window, mute all Output devices (speakers...). Of course if Volume or Amplify levels changed, change those too (however - may be that you're OS leveled down the Amplify value because it recognized it as Mic incompatible - maybe, quite possibly shall not happen). Close all config windows and try from 6. Don't forget to unmute your output sound device after recording during playing in WMP or just check the Oscillator line.
c) Unknown **** happened. Well, it happens, we all know.
If you were able to finally find solution to your problem, please post here. If you weren't just post here your problem.

BOTTOM LINE: I'm not responsible for any havoc or damage to yours or any others computer, life or anything else that would be caused by following this guide. Quite possibly not any new information appeared here in comparison with previous posts, but I guess that this guide is quite step-by-step, so you may find it comfortable to use this. Or may not. It's up to you. I hope that this makes some sense and for parts that would not make sense to you, I guess that you would be able to guess what was it about. Typo mistakes may be found too. Bye. And... good luck. :-)

Please if you have any solutions please feel free to comment. Many of us will need to thank justme for his post.

Dubai Creek

Dubai

Arrival at Dubai Airport, at 0510hrs 18 February +4.00 GMT

After getting the entry visa, iris scan.. bla bla bla.. I arrive at the hotel.. London Crown 2 Hotel Apartments in Bur Dubai the picture shows the outside of the hotel

Below is the picture on Bank Street, Bur Dubai.

more pictures of Bur Dubai

Night view at Bur Dubai

The picture below show Dubai Marina (the cluster of tall buildings in the distance)

JLT, stands for Jumeirah Lake Towers

The Metro

What the sign says?

Lake view in JLT

Another view in JLT

Al Bashah

Dubai Marina at night

McDonalds in Dubai.. Dhs17 for Big Mac meal, Dhs4 for beef burger. Not recommended, Malaysian McD tastes better.

Tall buildings in the financial centre.

Another viewpoint of the financial center


More to come...

Influencing styles

Below is an excerpt from hbr.org about an article about influencing styles.

You may have an idea what your style is just from hearing these labels, but the most accurate way to identify your style is with an influence style indicator — a self-scoring assessment that classifies your style based on answers to questions about preferred influencing tactics. But even without the indicator, here are some questions you can ask yourself to begin to understand your style:

Rationalizing: Do you use logic, facts, and reasoning to present your ideas? Do you leverage your facts, logic, expertise, and experience to persuade others?
Asserting: Do you rely on your personal confidence, rules, law, and authority to influence others? Do you insist that your ideas are heard and considered, even when others disagree? Do you challenge the ideas of others when they don't agree with yours? Do you debate with or pressure others to get them to see your point of view?
Negotiating: Do you look for compromises and make concessions in order to reach an outcome that satisfies your greater interest? Do you make tradeoffs and exchanges in order to meet your larger interests? If necessary, will you delay the discussion until a more opportune time?
Inspiring: Do you encourage others toward your position by communicating a sense of shared mission and exciting possibility? Do you use inspirational appeals, stories, and metaphors to encourage a shared sense of purpose?
Bridging: Do you attempt to influence outcomes by uniting or connecting with others? Do you rely on reciprocity, engaging superior support, consultation, building coalitions, and using personal relationships to get people to agree with your position?

While answering these questions, take your style a step further. How often does it work for you? Are you more successful with certain types of people? Have you ever wondered why? Since there are five different influencing styles, using only your preferred style has the potential to undermine your influence with as many as four out of five people.

Gaining awareness about our own influencing style and those of others is especially critical in light of today's fast-paced and stressful work environments, and here's why: When we are operating unconsciously out of a preference (our style) and not seeing the results we expect, we actually have the tendency to intensify our preferred behavior — even when it's not working!

If your individual success depends on gaining the cooperation of people over whom you have no direct authority, this should concern you. The way to begin to increase your odds of influencing more people is to learn to recognize and use each of the five styles.

Becoming aware that there are influencing styles other than yours is a good start. To further increase your influence, you must learn what each style sounds like when it's being used effectively and ineffectively. Gaining this awareness will help you recognize when the style you're using isn't working and how to determine one that will.

What's your influencing style? And what are you going to do about it?

How to repay PTPTN via CIMBclicks

First, what you need?

Your handphone

Your PTPTN pin.
Forgotten your pin? Here's how at Money Magnet

A CIMB account with CIMBclicks activated.

Pop-up blocker disabled.

If not you will be stuck at this step. How to disable it? Click here

Please note that you can only pay online from 7am-11pm

If not you will see this

So now you have a CIMBclicks account, pop-up blocker disabled and the time is somewhere between 7am - 11pm. And you decided to repay your PTPTN loan.

Lets get started.

With your browser, go here https://epay.ptptn.gov.my/loan/ptptnlogin.html

You will see this

Or from the main site of http://www.ptptn.gov.my/web/guest/anjung

Click on E-FES under TREXX ZONE

Now key in your IC no. and PTPTN pin and proceed

You will see your statement. Like here.

Scroll down to the payment section as below.

For example above I paid RM100.00 Ticked the ponjaman 1 and click Pay

You will see the following

Proceed.

You will see the screenshot below

Select CIMBclicks

Then Agree and Continue

You will see this

And a pop-up such as this. Note that your first window will show this until the transaction is complete.

Log in your CIMBclicks account with your UserID and Password

You will arrive here.

Obtain a TAC code. By clicking on the box 'Click Here' You will receive the TAC code on your handphone.

Now key in the TAC code, select a account to pay from and 'Submit'

A confirmation page will follow

Confirm and you will come to the receipt page.

As follows

Your transaction is complete. If you go back to your first window you should see as follows.

Click Print if you want,

If you click Next you will arrive here.

Complete!

You have paid PTPTN repayment!

Note : You can relogin into your PTPTN and doublecheck the transaction.

Dinner!

Had this for dinner

Its a lai liu har ko fun.. or 濑尿虾蛄饭 in chinese.

Nice filling meal for you =D

Ipoh Chee Cheong Fun!

Place to go.

Canning Gardens Chee Cheong Fun in Ipoh.























Said to be the best Chee Cheong Fun in Ipoh.

Claimed by Foodstreet, Motormouth from Ipoh, Cumi & Ciki,

Note: Operates in the morning only.

Where is it? Click here

Black Canyon Cappuccino ^^

Transformers II trailer - HD! (View in Fullscreen!)

We're the boss

From Malaysian Insider

To YB, from your Boss

APRIL 15 –

Dear Yang Berhormat,

You do not know me although I know about you, since you are such a famous person.

I am just one of the millions of voters in this country we call our home. I am one of those who have voted regularly and, through this process of voting, selected our representatives to form the government.

You are one of the representatives elected by the people , even though the votes are secret and you would not know how each and every one of us voted.

You won because majority of the people in your area voted for you, and your party won the majority of the seats in Parliament, which is the place where all the representatives elected by people like me meet to think how to govern this country on our behalf.

Although you owe your position, your trappings of power and your wealth to our votes, you do not need to be grateful to us.

We do not ask you to be grateful to us. We just want you to do the job – the one that you wanted and asked for, and that we have given you – well.

Just like in a company, if a CEO and his team can do a good job and earn good dividends for shareholders, the shareholders will be happy and reward the team with another extension of tenure.

But, when the management team is not functioning well, and the company prospects are affected, the shareholders have the right to choose another team to replace the team.

The situation is the same here. We voted you and your team to power so that you can carry out projects and policies that benefit all of us.

It is our right, as your ultimate boss, to have schools built, and hospitals that are well manned, and roads well paved, and drains that flow.

It is our right to have protection against harm provided by the security forces which are funded by us.

It is our right to earn a decent living by having licences given to us by the very people that we put in place in the first instance.

It is our right to have a well-run civil service, since the civil servants are our employees, so to speak.

So, as the ultimate boss, we expect development; we expect progress. These development and progress must be continuous and should not be on an ad hoc basis.

Projects paid for with money taxed from us should not be used by your team as gifts to buy our votes or withheld as blackmail during elections, by or general.

As the ultimate boss, it is our right to throw out of office any representative who is not heeding the wishes of the people, who is not functioning well, and who is on the take. This is our right as citizens.

And please do not say we are not grateful if we did not vote you, since to function well is part of your job description, and you have to fulfil your job description in order for us to vote you in again, and not through using projects to exchange for our votes.

If you are too busy to remember all that I have written, just remember one thing.

The people – and I am one of them – are the real Boss. Your Boss.

Thank you for your precious time.

Hsu

(A boss)

Dr Hsu Dar Ren is a medical doctor and blogs on socio-economic issues; he believes that a fair and equitable society with good governance is the key to the future of this country.

Meow!

Have a test on Thursday, Report on Friday, Presentation and a report due next Monday, Letter due on 31st March. Best of all its on Wednesday(two days from now) there will be a presentation, OR a test, the lecturer himself doest know, LOL.
So heck busy, but yeah should be able to handle, we can do all things in Christ who strengthens you. So yeah I feel like I'm Superman


Anyway, caught this cat lie stretched, nicely leaned onto the wall
Meow!

Rimba Ilmu

Went Rimba Ilmu, Universiti Malaya two weeks ago, a place my friend worked during his semester break. He took me to meet his boss, Dr Elengo. Dr Elengo took me on a tour first his lab then the herbarium which is known to be the biggest in Peninsula. Then into an Housed garden where exotic orchids are conserved. One of orchid which was hybrided in Rimba Ilmu itself is named Rimba Ilmu!
Below are more pictures from Rimba Ilmu

Blue moon

Get ready your telescopes for there is a blue moon up in the sky!