Home Alone Still

Waking up!The myalgia - painful joints and muscles - was still troublesome this morning. Sore throat was a bit less and my nose started to leak last night. Took some antihistamine and I slept uninterrupted all night. Woke up this morning to the gorgeous weather.

Puan Anita had taken the kids to Bird Park. This morning, she said that Irfan got a slight temperature. It could be viral but it was too early to have gotten it off me. More likely from school. He wa still eating allright. The only concern was will it trigger his asthma again. We shall just wait and watch I think. I will have to drive him if he were to get an attack then.

Stock in the fridgeSome more stock just in case I dry outSome junk food of courseAll in all, I felt better today and if not for the joint pain and muscle ache, I would have been possibly more mobile. The headache was gone but it was more likely due to the 3 liters of water I gulped down and the bottle of Tropicana Twister. That's another 1.5L. I better watch out not to overload myself. If I feel better, I'll probably do some literature search for my papers, Internet connection permitting.

What I wouldn't do to be able to take my SLR out and take pictures this weekend. I was also meant to do some interviews on my patients forthe upcoming CML Workshop. That will have to wait I'm afraid.

Home Alone

Woke up this morning with a touch of myalgia and sore throat after a restless night. I just couldn't get comfortable despite going to bed at around 9pm. Still woke up tired. Aching everywhere. Since I had to go see my Mum - she was travelling to Desaru with her UMNO friends for the weekend - I decided to just ignore things and got myself up. After visiting my Mum and arriving at work, the tiredness just got worst. A slight temperature and I took some paracetamol.

Saw a couple of patients who needed sorting out and when I walked into the transplant unit, I felt that I had no energy left. And that was only 8.30. Unfortunately in the last week, I was in contact with a couple of cases of "the flu", so I thought to myself, be sensible, don't be a hero.

Got some advise from my ID colleague. I was sent for a throat swab and asked to leave work and quarantine myself. A quick discussion with Puan Anita, and it seems that I will be spending the weekend alone at our Cemerlang home. The plan for chilling and outing with the boys wet out the window. We were planning to go to Bangsar and then the Bird Park tomorrow. I was also given "the drug" if I were to get worst later in the day.

So, I was back home before noon after sorting out some paperwork and discussing about patients with my colleagues. I watched a couple of movies - Vantage Point with Dennis Quaid and Forrest Whittaker was quite good. Not sure what the plan will be for later since my WiMAX unit was at the other house. Will need to boot up the E71 into a base station then.

New Croc

The new Croc - same with Irfan'sMy trusty old red Disney Croc has served me well. I bought it almost three years now, and had been wearing them almost daily. The soles were all worn out as you can see from the picks, but the hinge on the cover was still perfect. Excellent pair of shoes, comfortable and tough. Among the best RM150 I ever spent. So it was time to part again from another RM150 for a new pair. Since I have some vouchers from buying my father’s pair from last week, I might as well buy them.

Look at the old one - sole completely worn out. Accident waiting to happen!Last weekend, I went to a branch of Croc retailers at IKANO and was really disappointed by the service - the staff kept ignoring myself and Puan Anita for a bunch of old fat expatriate with bimbo young Malaysian girlfriends. We finally given up when it turned out that they did not have the particular model that I wanted. Well, they might do but couldn’t be bothered to find them for me. The sad thing was, my Dad wanted a pair, and I bought it for him, and still the service did not improve. At least they were consistent. Treat Malaysian badly! Gave a piece of my mind at the check-out and the boy was startled that I expressed my feelings bluntly - plus a quick email to the branch manager the next day, who ‘promised to look into the matter and will always strive to provide the best service to all their our customers’. Bull!

The branch I visited this time was in Bangsar Village, and the service was miles better. Apparently it was run by a different franchise. The selection was a lot better despite smaller shop foot print. One query and the salesperson found the pair I wanted straight away. Sold! Better still, seeing how well they treated me, Puan Anita bought another pair for her and Irfan. Now, that’s how you do business! You be nice to your customers even if they are Malaysian, because they may have purchasing power as well!

So , I am now a proud owner of a new pair of Croc. So did Irfan and Puan Anita. We got a matching pairs for me and Irfan as well! He has been running around with them so far. As for my old pair ….. I think I should just keep in the cupboard. Yes, it can be slippery to wear at times, but it was still wearable. Maybe I’ll keep it for going to the beach at Port Dickson, and leave them at the apartment.

Just to prove that we really go way back;

In Cherating, December 2008

In Sungai Petani, May 2009

Shopping at Mid Valley

Doing what it does best, by the beach in Port Dickson

KL Hilton Talk

You can tell I was hardly concentrating. I can assure you that the Windows computer was not mine. God forbid!Full day yesterday, but not as full as my colleagues from USM, Kubang Kerian, Abu Dzarr and Azlan. We had a round table discussion followed by a lecture and dinner by Prof Antonio Palumbo, a prominent Haematologist from Turin, Italy. He talked about multiple myeloma, and it was excellent. I summerised his lecture on my hematologiPPUM.com site. It was certainly great to be able to hear doyen speaking about their work, and Prof Palumbo was certainly up there. Azlan and Abu Dzarr actually took a 4pm flight from Kota Baharu, listened to the talk and had dinner, before flying home at 10.30 pm! Now, that was hectic!

Dato' Chang chairing the round table discussionFor the round table discussion, I was asked to prepare and discuss a case, which I duly obliged. I must say that I could have put more effort, but since the offer was at the last minute, I concentrated on getting the message right, without even using a powerpoint slide. Now that was bold, but it through OK. Stirred up some discussion. After about half an hour break, we proceeded on with the main lecture. The talk was held at the new level 7 convention floor at KL Hilton. I was more used to the level 6 facilities, and it looked like the suite there were just refurnished, with plush seatings and state of the art equipment. Well, close. It can’t be state of the art if they were still using Vista! The room used for the lecture was rather small though, too small for the crowd, which was bigger than expected. Even the venue for the dinner was too small. Luckily it was buffet. The majority of the crowd actually lingered in the foyer.

The actually dinner was an eclectic mix of Japanese and Western. The dish was nicer than the previous buffet I experience at the hotel. I still prefer the buffet at the main eatery there, which I think was on the fifth floor, New Recipe. The buffet there I would readily recommend. A bit dear, but you get what you paid for.

Another surprise on the night was the fact that it did not cost me a thing on exiting the car park. Usually at KL Sentral, the parking for conventions and meetings will set me back RM8, despite endorsement. Well done Mr Sponsor!

Garden @ The Curve

It was a barmy Sunday afternoon. I had to review a patient in the ward this morning, and by the time I got home, the boys were already settled in for their homework and was having lunch. Puan Anita asked if I can take her to The Curve. She was eyeing some dress last weekend and wanted to sneak out and buy it. Of course I said fine, so off we went.

The welcoming sign to the Sunday MarketThe stalls from the second floor of The Curve. Too warm for my liking!Waiting for Puan Anita to finish her shoppingBreakdance anyone?

Due to the heat, there were not that many punters doing the shopping. So at least navigating was simple. Even the vendors were finding it hard to cope choosing nearby shades rather than incubating in their tiny little stalls. While Puan Anita was doing her shopping, I went to browse around the shops in The Curve. There was a breakdance show at the main foyer courtesy of one of the local gym. Too 80s for me those dances. So I went over to IKANO. Nothing much going around either. But for Anita, she was having a blast. She did more shopping indoors after she was done with the market. At the end, to cool things off, we decided to try a new restaurant at the Curve, right at the end of the row towards cinemas, called the Gardens. We only noticed it a few week back and reckoned they must be new in town.

The menuThe elaborate ceiling decorations It was basically themed after the English Garden and the menu was pretty much fusion. Since we were still full, we decided to have snacks instead. I ordered Caesar Salads and iced coffee, while Anita had some sandwiches. To finish things off we ordered mango sorbet.

Our table - number 12 - Check please!Hail Caesar!The ambiance was really neat with pretty lightings and elaborate ceiling decorations, as you can see from the pictures. No, they were not live plants, although I wished they were. The restaurant was quite busy when we took our table, but the order zoomed in really fast. From what I can see, the chef during the shift was a tubby Malay guy who spoke in Perak dialect, which got Anita interested. The caesar was fresh with delightful dressing, although they overdid it a bit on the crouton and mozzarella side. Not much complaints really. Anita’s sandwich was really rich and tasty. It was so rich that she could not finish them off. The iced coffee was nice, and the sorbet was something else. The mango ice-cream was placed in an orange peel, topped with fresh cream. You can smell the orange while tasting the sweetness of the mango. It finished in double quick time!

Anita's sandwichesAnd finally the sorbetThe price was also really reasonable. The whole meal was under RM50, enough for the change to tip the waitress. She was nice and polite although a couple of male colleagues on duty were a bit much on the camp side …. If you know what I mean. I will certainly swing by again and apparently they also have a promotion going where kids eat free. I was not able to read the terms though. I will see what the deal was about next time I drop by. We chose a table indoors because of the warm weather, but the seats outside were just as welcoming. There was even a grand piano parked at the shade by the entrance. Shame that there was nobody playing then. Will I recommend the restaurant to friends? Definitely for snack as it would not be fair to say otherwise as I think I really need to come again to give a final verdict.

GARDEN LIFESTYLE STORE AND CAFE Lot G41, Ground Floor, The Curve, Mutiara Damansara