Mystifying Valley

Remix Malaysia was launched in LUCT on Tuesday. Sweats was paid off when you know it’s a great event.   Here’s to share with you some of the event snippets which have taken place that day.

Thanks to Yutz for her wonderful DSLR camera for capturing these photos.

Few hundred industry designers, web developers, web strategists, lecturers and university students came all the way to Cyberjaya to witness Remix and the official launch of Microsoft Expression 2.

The venue was called ” Hall of Fame” and it looked very grand. We were very impressed as we don’t get to do many red carpet events here. There were beating of drums performance when the VIP arrived and all guests were given a stub of fresh orchid pinned by their hot chic lecturer, indeed a bonus for the folks. :P

The awesome speakers have struck their audience with awe and you know why? Simply because their demos were way cool! Especially the “deep zoom” technology used in http://memorabilia.hardrock.com/, it gives the world a whole new perspective of prezzo formatting.

Next time if you are doing a presentation and want to jolly impress your audience with their jaws dropped like the picture above, ditch powerpoint and use Deep Zoom by Silverlight!

Launch gambit of Microsoft Expression 2

Noticed we were all in black? That’s the LUCT dresscode and we folks respected that.

With Arturo after the event.

From left: John, Tang, Chia Yee and Yu Tsing

That’s the Power of People!

See also:

http://blogs.msdn.com/malaysia/archive/2008/05/28/snippets-from-remix-essentials.aspx

The dry run on Monday evening  had dragged past dinner time and by 10pm we were all super tired and hungry. Since it was Arturo’s first visit to Malaysia, we went to Putrajaya Seafood Restaurant for dinner. 

Or was it supper already?

This restaurant is a chain of Tai Thong Group quietly tucked by a manmade lake and overlooking the majestic night view of the government city. We were the only customers there.

Dining with these guys were interesting. Leon resides in Singapore so Chinese food wasn’t not a problem for him; but Mexican hunk wasn’t so used to it. He gingerly sipped his tofu & preserved vege soup like how I would chow down those wierd Laosian soup last time. 8-)  He also seemed taken aback when the wholesome fish was served to the table.

Personally, I think all the dishes were really yummy. Maybe I was tired and hungry. But I didn’t feel good for having dinner this late.

Butter prawn was the best!

From left: Ian, Leon, Tang, Peter, Arturo and the happy face after she was fed.

Reached home touching 1am, rested for a few hours before driving back to Cyberjaya again for the event next morning.

Remix event up next!

Went to Jarrods & Rawlins for brunch on a lazy Sunday afternoon few weekends ago. 

Many bloggers have reviewed the place before so I’ll save it for another time.

Hearty American Breakfast Special ( RM37 ++)
Comes with Orange Juice & a choice of Coffee/ Tea

With the price paid, I was expecting highly of their food but it turned out a tad bit disappointing. Orange juice was concentrated. Bacon was cold and the portion of bake beans is so pathetically small ( 2 spoonful at most?). I asked for more bake beans and they came with another 2 more spoonful.  An additional Rm6 was added to the bill.

I miss Cafe 55 English brekkie during those good ol’ Liverpool days! They were cheap and yummy ~

 

However, that Sunday was packed with foreigners & expats at J & R. But how could I tell? Coz as far as I know, Worchestershire and HP Brown sauce are only found common among the Brits. Malaysian would be asking for sambal chilli instead no? :D     

Well if you are willing to pay for the relaxing ambience, I guess it’s worth going. And I’ll still give them the benefits of the doubt that some day when I become rich, I shall return for their fine dining dishes.

LOCATION: No.6, Lorong Dungun,
Damansara Heights,
50480 Kuala Lumpur.

TEL: 03-20930708

I’ll be totally tied up with work in the next few days. Sigh… can’t wait for this to be over. You guys have a good week ahead!

 
 

I’ve been going to LUCT for quite a bit in the past two weeks for work. Sigh… it’s going to be a very hectic week ahead for me. Might even have to sacrifice the weekend to clear some backlog. Therefore, might not be posting much for these few days.

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Before the planning of the event, never knew this university is so cool and groovy.   
 

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They have their own hair salon, film and audio production studio and their cafe ambience and quality is on par with Starbucks/ Coffeebean.
 
 
 

 
 
 
Even Mel Gibson came to LUCT to launch something that I can’t remember
 

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This car model is done by one of their student. Impressive!
  
Anyway if you are a web designer or developer or strategist, come join us at this event.
 
 
Click here for more information: http://www.microsoft.com/malaysia/events/remix  
 

Looking for something different for dinner?
 
Fancy some chicken pie and seafood chowder?
 
You can give Hot Chocolat Cafe in Damansara Heights a try.
 

Went there with Jon about two Sundays ago to try their much acclaimed seafood chowder. It’s served in a bread bowl. Not too bad at all and the portion is huge! 
 
Their chicken pie truly reminded me of the Sayers meat pies in the UK.

 
Casual ambience. Secluded as you’ll probably need a map if you are not familiar with that area. Service a tad slow, though
 

 

 
Address: Hot Chocolat Cafe
25, Lorong Setia Bistari 2, Medan Damansara, Damansara Heights, Kuala Lumpur
Tel : Tel : 0320939133
 

 
 
In collaboration with Limkokwing University, Microsoft is bringing Remix Essential to KL next Tuesday!
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REMIX Essential 08 is all about the latest web technologies in Silverlight 2, Expression 2, Windows Live and etc. If you are a designer/ web developer, don’t miss this chance to see how innovators are creating the next generation of engaging websites and unprecedented user experiences (UX) for the web and window client.
 
Apart from cool freebies, don’t forget to check out the agenda as we have some very credible speakers from Corp and the Region there to talk about Remix.
 
Don’t forget to wear black that day! ;) 
  
To register, please visit: www.microsoft.com/malaysia/events/remix
 
 
 
 
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I think this is my second time blogging about Tech.Ed SEA 2008. Please register now if you haven’t done so coz the ticket price will just keep going up! 
  
This year, contents will be more on Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008, there will be more hands-on experiences, bigger expo hall and definitely more fun. Coz I’ll be there too!
 
 

To register, please visit: www.techedsea.com

Just back from gym. Haven’t been on a treadmill for quite some time ever since I’ve discovered LesMill classes are much more fun & exciting than those boring machines. 
 
Fortunately, the “char kuey tiao” at Little Penang this afternoon and the warm chocolate cake that I had at Bakerzin this evening was my main motivation to stay focused on the treadmill for 40 minutes.

 Tip to all gym goer girls: Never wear wired bra when you are running on treadmill!

 
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For those who know me know that karaoke has never really been my cuppa tea. I’m a tone deaf remember? I’m serious. I can be a mad toilet singer and all that but I can’t never really get the tunes right. Not my fault or anything, just that it runs in the gene.
    
 

But two weekends ago I was so bored out of my wits and yet refused to stay at home watching Bridget Jones for the umpteenth time on a Saturday night… To hell with it, I got some of my colleagues who were just as bored as me to paint the town red and opened a concert at Neway One Utama!

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Introducing some of my very cool colleagues, Yutz, Victor and PohSze
 
 

We were given the biggeset room which can accomodate up to 50 people. But there was only 9 of us in that freezer!

   

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Okay, despite my tone deafness, I still made an attempt to entertain the crowd. Ahem, no one actually laughed at me okay :p
   
 
 
 

    
 
Michael the great singer. Could have gone for Malaysian Idol already if wasn’t his age :D 
    
 

 
 

Everyone had fun and were hogging the mic the whole time even though they said they weren’t going to sing.

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The night ended around 4am but I think I zonked out on the couch much earlier.
 

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I have to confess that I’m not a very good buddhist as compared to my younger days where I used to practice meditation everyday and followed my mum to the temple every Sunday. Wesak was an important religious ocassion for my family; we’d spent the night before at the temple chanting with the lamas and rinpoche. Then the next day mum and her buddhist friends would buy racks of living creature such as baits, insects, worms, fishes and put them away in the pond as part of  the” releasing life” ceremony.

I was quite a spiritual person since I was a kid. My first lucid dream happened in primary four. And I’d ask questions related to human existence that adults would shun me off. And even more creepily, I used to have imaginary friends too! Freaking you out now, aren’t I?

:mrgreen:    

Anyway, let’s not even go into that.

Those were the good old days when life was much simpler and I had all the time in the world to think about human existence and the universe. My spirituality connection gradually faded away over the years after I left home for UK.  Or was it subconsciously that I’ve made an effort to detach myself from things like that? Well anyway, that’s not important. For the past 3 years that I’ve been working in KL, I still make an effort to go to the temple every now and then but that’s about it.

 
 

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So it’s Wesak day today. Went to Maha  Vihara temple in Brickfield this afternoon in spite of the horrendous traffic. But it was such a blessing that the weather was so pleasant.

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But the place was sandwich packed with thousands of people. And there was one problem.
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I’m extremely BO phobic!
  
BO gives me migraine and it was really hard, hence I decided not to linger around and made it as quick as possible. 
  

  
After done with my prayer, got blessings from the reverend, made all the donations, and off home I went.  
   

I kinda lost it again.

Sometimes all we need is to find that balance to keep things intact but I struggled on. I don’t really like this weekend. I’ll tell you why next time. if you buy me coffee.

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This is an eye candy post. :P 
 
 
 After realizing that it’s been gazillion hours last since we saw each other at Fanny’s wedding, the gang decided to meet up again last Friday for some drinks.
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I haven’t been to Souled Out in a while and it’s still as crowded as ever. We didn’t call everyone to come out as it was pretty last minute. Nonetheless it was still a good gathering over pints of Kilkenny, thanks to uncle Johnson.   
    

    
Shirlyn, me and Lyn
    

   
Johny the Bravo hiding behind
    

    
Two of the coolest dudes in the gang, JOhny and JOhnson
    

    
Our obligatory group pic
    
 
More pics are featured on Shirlyn’s blog.