Almost Got Conned

In my last post, I wrote my Niki (Nikon Coolpix 5000 digital camera) was sent back for repairs after it failed. It had been away for 2 weeks and it was not fixed yet. This morning I rang Nikon and it is still sitting there waiting for parts.

In the meantime I was looking for another camera. This time I wanted a SLR digital camera. After some research, I was weighing between a Nikon or a Canon. I decided I do not want to spend good money on a new spanking camera. Since I have bought a few guitars over the Ebay and was happy with it, I said to myself “Why not a camera over Ebay?” So I went surfing in Ebay to see what was on offered.

2 days ago I saw a listing that caught my eye.

Listed was a Canon EOS 350D with 2 lenses, I decided I will go for it even though one of lenses have a speck in it. The seller could not confirm whether it was a dust speck or fungus. It was risky and I requested for a picture shot with that lens. The seller sent a picture and after looking at it, I decided it was dust speck and I could clean out the dust speck out of the lens.

The seller replied 2 of my questions to my Yahoo email account but my questions and answers to it were not posted in his listing. I thought it was strange because all questions posed to the seller normally are posted in the listing. Being busy at work, I brushed it off and did not think much about it. Almost all the time, my instinct will bug me if something is not right and this morning I received an email from Ebay.

Dear xxxxxxx,

Our records indicate that you have received an email from eurobeatsteve through the eBay email system (via the Contact eBay Member or Ask Seller a Question feature) and that the email may contain a fraudulent offer to purchase or sell an item off the eBay site. The email may also be an attempt to obtain your email address if you respond to the sender.

We would like to provide the following safety tips:

* Do not respond to the sender (either through the eBay system or your email provider) if the message is an offer to buy or sell an item. This type of offer is against eBay policy, may be fraudulent, and the transaction will not be covered by eBay protection programs.

* If you received what appears to be a Second Chance Offer for an item you recently bid on and it's appearing in My Messages with the subject of "Message from eBay Member", it's not a legitimate Second Chance Offer. Real Second Chance Offers appear in My Messages with a blue background and subject stating, "eBay Second Chance Offer for Item...". Always check for both the blue background in My Messages and the subject line of "eBay Second Chance Offer for Item." when responding to a Second Chance Offer.

I was glad the seller was caught out by Ebay or else I may be poorer by A$750. I have to give kudos to Ebay for their efficiency.

Friday's Humour

Adapting with Changes

Currently Stage 3 water rationing in still on and there are no sign of rain. That is a very, very bad sign. Grasses in our lawn are drying up except for the buffalo grass on the nature strip. They are one hardy lot, still green and growing thick and lusciously. It's one tough grass, I tell you.

Where water once used to flow freely through the tap, we are now more conscious of not wasting this precious resource. Every drop of water is so precious and we are learning not to waste them. Grey water from washing machine, washing food and dishes and from shower were once allowed to flow into the drain, it is now collected to water the garden and washing the cars.

The plants in the garden are struggling each day to survive. Native plants do well then those plants that were not native. The lawn look so dry with writhing grass and once a while if there is a little shower just enough to wet the surface of the soil, Dandelions sprout out and this make the lawn so messy.

It was a long weekend last week and the ugly lawn need mowing badly. Dragging out the lawn mover and mowing the lawn, I noticed some strange things. Normally while I am moving the lawns, birds will sit on the fences, trees or on electric wires chirping away. As soon as I finished they will be all over the lawn scraping for food but this time it was quiet. The birds knew there was nothing to look for. Worm, most probably are all dead, since there are no grass or mulch to feed or sheltered them. The hard dry ground makes it hard for them to survive. The birds now come closer to the house and drinking water that were collected in pots and pails. They use to drink off the water collected in the gutters. It really breaks my heart to see them looking so sad.

There was another strange thing that I have not seen before. I was fascinated with it. After mowing the lawn, instead of the birds on the lawn, I saw wasps hovering over the lawn and zooming into the freshly cut Dandelions. They were desperately trying to extract whatever liquid that was oozing out of the Dandelions. I watched them for along time and could not wonder how they could be so resourceful and adapt with the changing conditions.

I guess there are many times, when things go wrong or new changes upsetting my comfortable life style, I whined and unhappy over it. The birds and the bees taught me otherwise.

Do Not Worry

25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life^[b]?

28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Friday's Humour

It is One of Those Shitty Days

Today is Friday and this weekend is a long weekend. Everyone in the office walked in looking happy and looking forward to this long break. But this happy mood was not to be for long. The boss who was out playing golf yesterday decided to do some snooping around today and began to irritate and rub some people in the wrong end. The sales people who were trying to justify themselves began pushing blames on the purchasing department for some items not ordered in. Off course, the purchasing Manager was upset since the item or items was not required till the middle of this month. He was fuming and stressed, threatening to look for another job.
After that, the sales people threw their shits at the engineering department - that me. I was pissed off by their incompetents having to do the same work over a few time. It is not a nice day, I tell you. I am not bothered really, just take it easy and looking forward to the long weekend.
Boss on witch hunt and shitty mood (maybe he lost at the golf game yesterday), Sales people on the prowl, Purchasing Manager fuming, me just shrug shoulder and "yan".


I wish all the problems and the stupid peoples are like shit today. You "berak" and flush them away. Bye, Bye and they worried you no more.
Flush, Flush flush. ON LOK SAI. Ahhhhhh, SI FOK SAI.

"Leave me alone, I'm married!!"

Jack wakes up with a huge hangover after attending his company's Christmas Party. Jack is not normally a drinker, but the drinks didn't taste like alcohol at all. He didn't even remember how he got home from the party. As bad as he was feeling, he wondered if he did something wrong.

Jack had to force himself to open his eyes, and the first thing he sees is a couple of aspirins next to a glass of water on the side table. And, next to them, a single red rose! Jack sits up and sees his clothing in front of him, all clean and pressed. He looks around the room and sees that it is in perfect order, spotlessly clean. So is the rest of the house.

He takes the aspirins, cringes when he sees a huge black eye staring back at him in the bathroom mirror. Then he notices a note hanging on the corner of the mirror written in red with little hearts on it and a kiss mark from his wife in lipstick: "Honey, breakfast is on the stove, I left early to get groceries to make you your favorite dinner tonight. I love you, darling! Love, Jillian"

He stumbles to the kitchen and sure enough, there is hot breakfast, steaming hot coffee and the morning newspaper. His son is also at the table, eating. Jack asks, "Son...what happened last night?"

"Well, you came home after 3 A.M. , drunk and out of your mind. You fell over the coffee table and broke it, and then you puked in the hallway, and got that black eye when you ran into the door. Confused, he asked his son, "So, why is everything in such perfect order and so clean? I have a rose, and breakfast is on the table waiting for me??"

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His son replies, "Oh THAT!... Mom dragged you to the bedroom, and when she tried to take your pants off, you screamed, "Leave me alone, I'm married!!"

Pig of A Year

I know this year is the Year of the Pig according to the Chinese Calender. It is going to be a Pig of a Year but don't you think this piggy just went a little bit too far.

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A Wedding and a Birthday Party Weekend

Last weekend was a hectic weekend. While it was fun it also disrupted our planned schedule. The weekend was supposed to be a dinner for the Chap Goh Mei (15 day of Chinese new Year) with friends and relatives getting together especially for Lisa, my niece, returning from KL to continue her studies but it was thrown out of wack by a wedding invitation. I guess I owe my friends and relatives a big apology especially Lisa whom I forgot to inform about the change of plan. A smart girl, she is, she rang up to confirm if the dinner was on. Sorry Lisa.

Saturday was choka block. The wedding was at 10.30 and we left for church early to secure a parking space. The church is outside our place and right in the middle of shopping centre and shopping strip. The car park will be full with many weekend shoppers doing their weekend shopping. By the time we arrived, the car park was beginning to fill up.

The wedding started late because the bride came late. Now I wonder if that a norm where bride keep the groom waiting or is it an inbuilt thing for the woman to keep the man waiting. This happens at almost all weddings. You may ask what about mine wedding? Mine did start about 10 minutes late and there was a good excuse for it. My bride was caught in a traffic jam and considering 10 minute late was not bad at all. Now this wedding I attended did not start until 11.15am that is 45 minutes late considering she lives only 10 minutes away from the church.

I like church wedding over here. It is always short and precise to the point. The message is short and delivered well. Back home, I beh tahan the wedding over there. The message delivered is so long winded and get beaten round the bush, circled the world a few time to make a point. It always bored me.

After the service, we had a small reception at RSL just opposite the church. By the time we got home it was 2.30 pm and we were bushed. We had a short nap before leaving the house at 5.30 pm for a dinner down in the city. The dinner was held at San Remo Ball Room. It is a big place with a dance floor, a bar, a band and 30 tables for dining.

The food was very good but my only complain the serve was too small. The highlight was each of us had half a lobster with noodle. It was a fun dinner with awards and entertainments keeping us laughing. The All Black African band played their style of music and taught some African dances to those who were interested. By the time we finished and got home it was way passed midnight.

The next day we got up early and attended church. It was a missionary support Sunday. The entire tithe collected will be given to mission work supporting overseas missionaries in India, Philippine, Thailand, Fiji and Burkina Faso. The targeted amount was A$22K.

After church, we attended my niece’s son one year old birthday party. She was down from Queensland to attend her Grandpa funeral, who passed away at the ripe age of 80. It was a small family affair with lot of food – satay, steak, sausage, pulut, salad, fruit and cake.

Ps:

All photos were pinched from other guests attending the wedding. Still waiting for Niki to come back.

My Niki

After taking some pictures for my previous post titled “Dodol and the thought that counts”, my Nikon Camera (Niki) decided it was probably too stressful working for me. So it died on me the next day.

Me being me refused to accept the fact that Niki would died so suddenly. There were no symptoms or any impending indications that Niki was not happy or stressful. I like to think Niki was very happy with me. Niki had travelled with me to many places and always in a cosy corner of my haversack away from the rain, the harsh sun and wind. Niki is always beside me. Sometime my wife thinks I looked after Niki much better than her.

Since I love Niki so much I decided to have her fixed. Don’t ask me why it is her and not he, ok? I rang around three reputable camera repairers and explained in details about the failure. All I wanted was an approximate quote so I can decide whether it is worth to have Niki fixed or get a brand new camera. All three come to the conclusion it is either the CCD or the shutters is not working. In my own test I believe the shutter is fine and the CCD had failed but either way none of the repairers are willing to give me an approximately price. It would cost me a fee between $55 to $80 to look at it before they could give me a price. If I proceed with the repair, they will waive off the fee and if I decline it will cost me $55 to $80. What if the quoted price is more or slightly less than a new camera? If that is the case, it would be better to get a new camera, don’t you think? Then, I would lose $55 to $80 for nothing. Would you give good, hard earned cash for nothing?

Not wanting to give up easily, I decided to surf the net to find out if this fault is a common fault for this camera and for anyone who is willing to give a quote without a fee. After reading a few articles at the forum, I found that there were problems with the CCD on some model of Nikon cameras. After a few hour digging here and there I found an article in Nikon website (that was not very obvious) that describe the faults, which Niki had. It also tells Nikon owners who had such faults to return the camera to them for repair. It will be repaired free of charge. I was beaming with joy and excitement. I quickly packed up my camera and posted it out this morning. Yes, in a week or more Niki will be with me again. Yeah!

So it you ever have problems with your camera, check the website and do some research before throwing your hard cash away.