Our trip to Genting was strictly business, but that was just on Friday. On Saturday we played paintball with the (almost) entire team. The road there was pretty awesome, lots of tight curves that’ll make your head tilt back and forth. Of course I had to behave now that I’m a married man, but that doesn’t stop me from having fun with the curves

This is a classic wooden bridge. I quite like the engineering and aesthetic bit.

The Master Chief helmet from Halo. I wonder if they’d allow me to wear my Optimus Prime helmet. Maybe next time.

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I have always wanted to learn how to sew or at least learn to make my own stuff. As you know, the accessories for Apple products are generally EXPENSIVE. A simple laptop sleeve costs about RM100, so I decided to make my own.

I bought these fabrics at Nagoya and I’m never going back there. Why? The Chinese guy there are so stingy. I wanted canvas material, but the cloth was a bit dirty. Generally, textile stores will give you an additional 1/2 meter to compensate for the dirty part. This guy told me to go home and wash it. Fuck you man. So we walked away.

Anyway, I got the tiny polka dotted and some rough cotton. My advise, buy non-slippery fabric because you wouldn’t want to let your laptop slips off your hand.

1. Cutting the fabric. I prefer mine snugged so it’s a hard to slip off the sleeve. I left at least an inch for every side so it’ll be easier for beginners like me to sew. (That’s my wife’s hand btw)

2. Sew a “U” shape for both fabric, except one, sew double “L” shape leaving holes at the bottom, so you can flip it once you’re done.

3. Cut the edges so that it’ll form a sharp corner.

4. Flip “U” shape so that the right side faces each other.

5. Slip the flipped one into the other.

6. Sew the end together. Make sure you don’t overlap, otherwise you’ll have to do all over again. I assure you that can be frustrating.

7. Remember the hole of the “L” shape? Carefully pull the inside fabric out.

8. The last part, sew the holes using the ladder stitch. (Such manly arm! Hahhaa)

9. Flip the inside out to make sure the reversible sleeve works.

Now it fits well into my bag along with my other red stuff. The possibility of getting a scratch from keys is reduced. Job well done.

The story begins last night, I got home at 12 am and told my sleepy wife, “I want to learn to sew a laptop sleeve”. She helped me through the process and showed me how to operate a sewing machine. The rest was history. I made one complete sleeve in one hour. Not bad for a noob eh?

If you feel cheated by Apple or any other laptop accessories, share this post, we all might benefit from a thing or two

In 2008, I wrote a decade resolutions. Let’s strike out things that I’ve done.

1. Get married. I know initially I wanted to get married to a doctor but God has better plan in store for me. I married a girl who’s ambition is to become an architect, something I’ve always wanted to be but never had the courage to pursue. My parents thought I’d be better off as an engineer.

Who would have thought I’d marry a blogger whom I followed. I guess it’s true what they say, follow your passion and the rest will fill in. I have to say, it was the best decision in 2011.

2. Have kids. Not yet. We think, the best way was to allow my wife to finish her study first. That will always be the priority, at least for now. But seeing her happy face while playing with A’zeem (my nephew) has kinda sped that up. At least after she gets her first job, inysa Allah it will be next year.

3. Financial freedom. Well, I still have a car to pay and my credit card debt is very manageable. I guess we’ll have to push this in years to come.

4. Finish what I started. Not there yet. I have a problem reading a book cover to cover. I got bored halfway through. Maybe I’m meant for this. As for projects,.. hmm still many pending at the moment. Got to get it done by this year! Puhleezzz ed!

5. Do wonders to Malaysia. Nil, but I do pay tax and zakat. That sure helps a bit, though not significant.

6. Solidify Existence. Hmm, still not taking up tertiary degree. It has a lot to do with finance. I have to free up something or get a scholar to pursue this dream of mine.

7. Be a good family member. I can control my temper now, except on the road. I try not to miss any family gathering. Maybe ought to pay extra attention to my in laws. I don’t talk to them often because I’m shy.. kot?

I guess that’s it

Let’s do a little recap.

I got married! I don’t know how I managed to pull in the funds, anyway, I’m glad I did. It’s true what they say, God will help you in mysterious ways if you want to get married. Picture, thanks to FarisFakri. I got him on Groupon

Work wise, well, I did achieve my yearly quota by August. From there on, it was smooth sailing till year end. All I had to do was focused on 2012 items.

Part Time work. I managed to complete a few projects. Antaragrafik, TeddyTods, Toshiba and some internal dashboard for the company. It’s too bad I didn’t complete my company’s website. I have it in my head, just never threw them out in the open.

I’ve also learned what’s it like to be an Apple user. I got the iPad 2 and MacBook Air. I don’t really think they live up to their expectation. I’m more of a windows user, shortcut is my thing and on Mac, you just have to press an additional key. However, I doubt anyone can beat them at built quality. It’s an astonishing feat (provided you take good care of them)… and the love-hate relationship continues. But if I have to recommend, I’d definitely be against it.

This year (ahem, mind you that it’s already 2012), my deary wife will pursue her studies in Australia. After much contemplating, we decided that it’s best I remain here. After all, it’ll be really tough to find a job like mine in Aussie. A job like mine is best for locals. It’s like how mat salleh comes here and tell me that they understand this country’s economy better, yeah, doubt so.

Also, this year’s resolution, I guess I’ll have to revisit my 2011 and blog about it later. Till then

I wonder if these words still stands. Something to ponder huh?

Have a Happy Christmas.

ps: Did you know in UK, they say Happy Christmas instead of Merry Christmas?

pps: Did you also know the celebration of Christmas was to commemorate the birth of Jesus? Kinda like Maulud Nabi and Jesus is our prophet too. So is it HARAM to celebrate it?