Gmail for iOS

In the last couple of days I realized that my Gmail did not push into my iPhone as quickly as before. My Samsung chirped faster than the iPhone and after a few hours I realized that there was some problem with the push mechanism for my main Gmail account. An issue as I rely quite a lot on email.

On the very same day, I found out that Gmail app for iOS was released. Was it coincidence. I have since installed the app and it was working great. The emails were punched directly to my iPhone, not through the built-in mail client, but the Gmail app. Labeling was straight forward, but the main issue was, I was not able to configure multiple Gmail account into the app. Luckily, my alternative email account pushed without any issue.

Growing Up

Idlan is seven and he has yet to shed any of his milk teeth. Most of his friends had already done and in the last few months he had been anxious about it. What if it happen while he is asleep? What happen if he were to swallow it?

His front tooth had been loose for quite a while now. It was hanging on precariously last week. Finally it came off on Saturday evening, causing a bit of excitement in the household. Puan Anita obliged to put the tooth at the edge of the bed with some milk and cookies for the Tooth Fairy but both Idlan and Irfan refused. So, Idlan woke up the next morning missing his front tooth ....

Early Xmas at Pavilion

So, I managed to make my way to Pavilion last week when I had some free time on a work evening. I am a quick escape for dinner with Puan Anita and I was astonished at the lavish curation on offer there at the main foyer. Somebody was really putting in some effort. And not to mention expense. The whole foyer was transformed. As it was raining outside, I did not have the chance to explore the main entrance, around the famous fountain.

A huge Xmas tree right in the middleWith ornaments as details

I only managed to bring my iPhone, so pardon the quality of the snaps. I counted that there were at least 3 huge Christmas tree, a carousel, a humongous cake and more decorations leading from the main entrance to the main foyer. They also listed out the activities during the Xmas period, complete with carols and of course, appearance by Santa. I did not see a grotto though, although there was a small stage there.

Not sure if this will be open for ride or just there for showLooking onto the main entrance. Can't help but be impressed.A huge cake right in the middle of the foyer

And the sledge of courseThe main difference between Xmas and Raya decorations were the stalls. There were hardly any here, compared to Raya, where the main theme happened to be stalls. The sad thing was, these stalls more or less sell the same things. Cookies, cards, clothes. Here, it was all about activities and wonderment. Sad to say, I enjoyed this decorations much more. Last year, Pavilion had a winter wonderland by the main entrance, complete with fake snow. Quite a spectacle. Let's see if they can outdo themselves this time around.

It also reflected how much Malaysians like their holidays. I'm certainly looking forward for more .....

Happy Birthday Harith

We had been to birthday parties at Kiz Sports in Great Eastern Mall on a few occasion. Usually, the program was pretty basic. The one we had on Sunday was silly different. They had plenty of games and activities for the kids, cakes of course, then followed by the clown and more running around in the indoor playground.

Entering the eating area after the initial gamesSettling down for foodThe ID badge in placeThe theme was cars ....The birthday cake, baked by the birthday boy's MumHappy Birthday to You!Before the cake goes into the belly!The food was pretty standard, but the cake was something else. The birthday boy's Mum baked it herself, and put on the frosting and dressing. Very nice indeed it was.

And then it was time for the clown, but Irfan refused to join in..... while Idlan went clowning aroundSince Idlan had some exams the next morning, we couldn't stay for too long. The party finished in time as well and everybody went home happy. Happy Birthday Harith.

5.0.1 Update

One of the major advantage of iOS 5 was not the notification. That was nice, but we could see that one coming a mile away. I felt the major improvement was the updates. Previously, eve a small update meant downloading the software via iTunes which would take ages as the file would typically be around 700MB. That would jam the bandwidth for around 3 or so hours on my connection. Then, there was always the risk of the connection being interrupted halfway. Nightmare.

With iOS 5, the update would be direct. Instead of 700 MB, the latest update was less than 10% of that. I did that through the fast connection at the office. After the program was downloaded, a gentle message popped up to tell us that the device would be restarted. In under 5 minutes, I was done. For both the iPhone and the iPad. Great stuff.

Has the update made any difference? I think it did. I noticed that the battery drainage was slower. I would still have more than 50% juice on my way out of the office. And this was after heavy use with push email and everything. The night before the update was announced, I suffered the first episode of battery drainage. Inexplicably, my phone just ran out of power in the middle of the night. It was around 60% before I went to sleep. I woke up at 5 for the loo, and the phone was already dead. Luckily there were no call from the hospital that night ......