Civilization on iPad

I have been a fan of Sid Meier since I started playing videogames. The first of his games which I enjoyed was Pirates! back in 1988/89. The next one I picked up was Railroad Tycoon before Civilization came into the picture.

Over the years, there had been many iteration of the classic game. In 2015, the sixth installment of Civilization came to the market and it was a surprise that a year later a working iPad version of the game was available. And I wasn't talking about a watered down version of the game a la Civilization Revolution. It was a full on version and since it was hard on the processing power, it took some time to get used to the slower phase of the portable game.

But on the whole, I was impressed. I was able to play the standard-sized world game at a steady pace in my iPad Pro and had not missed any of the features available on my Mac. Even the sound and atmosphere were comparable. I only wished that I had more time to kill playing that game.

Highly recommended. Yes, it drained the battery somewhat and it was not available on the iPhone - maybe due to the resources needed. A great effort and hopefully it would open the door to more desktop-level game onto the iPad.

A Different Start

During the New Year weekend, we had a small leak at the kitchen. The workers needed to switch off the tap for 24 hours. Therefore Anita booked a hotel room for us overnight while the work were being completed.

It was more of an apartment unit than a room which she got. It was called the Gardens Residence and it came in a single, double or triple bedroom setup. Only a single was available and there were than enough room for us for the night.

If not for the slow wifi and limited cable channels - which meant no United match that evening - things could've been better.

The best thing about the place was you just had to go to the ground floor and you were already at the Gardens Mid Valley. Shopping galore! That also.made getting fried more straight forward to add to the decent room service Gardens Residence offered.

There were also a gym and swimming room available for guests although sadly I didn't have much time to explore.

Would definitely worth a visit with the apartment going at quite a reasonable price. Location was great although I had to get up early the next morning for my ward round ...

One after The Other

2018 began with some bad news for me. First of all, on the evening if the New Year, I received a call from one of my cousin Uncles about his mother being ill. I dropped by at his place later that evening to visit. Things wasn't looking good but my Grand Auntie still managed to muster a smile and asked Anita a couple of questions.

Apparently she didn't talk much after our visit. She passed away the next afternoon.

The morning after, while I was planning to attend her funeral after my morning round, my Mum called. This time one of Ba's good friend - one of Julia's witness during her akad nikah - had just passed away.

Plans was changed and I joined my Mum and Julia in Keramat to pay the family a visit.

So, two death in as many days. I wouldn't say that 2018 started with great news. But things happened. They were both suffering from cancer and their passing would've spared them from some suffering.

Alfatihah.

All Planned Out

I may have pulled out the short straw. But it was something which needed to be done. I was asked to organise the upcoming Malaysian Society of Haematologist Scientific Meeting for 2018 and I felt that one day I would be organising it like many other before me.

We do the meeting every year alternating between Kelang Valley and elsewhere. It was JB in 2017. I remember my first such meet in 2004. It was held at Marriott Putrajaya, which was secluded compared to how it is today where the IOI Mall sat next to it. It was barren back then.

The first order of business was to book the venue. Again, it would be the newly renovated Shangri-La KL, as it was a couple of years back. I surveyed a few other spots but none had the same facility as Shangri-La and it was at a right price.

Then came the team. And this would be a good one. My mates were helping out and now we were just waiting for the sponsors and registration to come in. Still plenty needed to be organised but I'm quietly confident that it would turn out OK. Although I am fully expecting more grey hairs by the time April comes.

New Year Day Activities

I decided to stay low this year as Anita was occupied with her Dad who is still in the hospital. He was just waiting for his tests to come back and hopefully he would be discharged tomorrow.

Not much fire on the works ....By the bed ...Started the day as usual later than usual. I was watching the fireworks last night after watching the two Trainspotting movies. Unfortunately we couldn't see much from the balcony. The looked lower on the horizon compared to before. I could only hear the sound and see a few of the taller ones.

I went for an early lunch in town after the ward round before joining Anita at UMMC to pick her up after she brought lunch for her Dad.

Morning round The afternoon was rather dull ...The rest of the afternoon was pretty slow though with the full weather. I ended up doing some paperworks and sorting out the website for the upcoming MSH meeting before again joining Anita for dinner. A night in tonight watching football. Can't guarantee if I would be awake when United kicks off after midnight later. Have a clinic tomorrow.