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Poem: Please Listen

When I ask you to listen to me
and you start giving me advice,
you have not done what I asked.

When I ask you to listen to me
and you begin to tell me why
I shouldn’t feel that way,
you are trampling on my feelings.

When I ask you to listen to me
and you feel you have to do something
to solve my problem,
you have failed me,
strange as that may seem.

Listen! All I ask is that you listen.
Don’t talk or do - just hear me.

Advice is cheap; 20 cents will get
you both Dear Abby and Billy Graham
in the same newspaper.
And I can do for myself; I am not helpless.
Maybe discouraged and faltering,
but not helpless.

When you do something for me that I can
and need to do for myself,
you contribute to my fear and
inadequacy.

But when you accept as a simple fact
that I feel what I feel,
no matter how irrational,
then I can stop trying to convince
you and get about this business
of understanding what’s behind
this irrational feeling.

And when that’s clear, the answers are
obvious and I don’t need advice.
Irrational feelings make sense when
we understand what’s behind them.

Perhaps that’s why prayer works, sometimes,
for some people - because God is mute,
and he doesn’t give advice or try
to fix things.
God just listens and lets you work
it out for yourself.

So please listen, and just hear me.
And if you want to talk, wait a minute
for your turn - and I will listen to you.

Author Unknown

Maximum hours without sleep?

A small mention for me on Reenashwina’s blog, about the number of hours a human can go without sleeping:
http://reenashwina.blogspot.com/2008/07/what-is-max-hours-without-sleeping.html.
I found Reenshwina through her Twitter profile.

Protected: Fire Gallery

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Fire

We had a lovely time in Singapore, despite having a muppet for a taxi driver. We came home on Sunday and got news that our tenants had accidentally caused a fire at our house in the UK. Here’s a summary from our letting agent:

Having been unable to speak with either yourself direct or Tony (I have left a voice mail) I have some rather bad news to report to you. Our offices have received a call from the Fire Brigade with regards to a fire at your property.

I have just come back from the property having been shown over by the fire brigade after the Fire Investigating Officer had completed his assessment as to the cause.
In brief, the Brigade were called out after receiving a call from the general public who noticed smoke billowing out from the small right hand upper floor window. Time call received 10.29 am.
They had to force entry through the front door, as the property was unoccupied (tenants being at work).
The fire was extinguished.
Resultant damage is that third bedroom was most affected, as the fire started there. The room contained most of the fire therefore the room is charred, double glazed window unit has been destroyed. However, the remainder of the upstairs has been heavily smoke/soot damaged throughout.
The dining room under the third bedroom has been water damaged,due to extinguishing the fire above it.
The remainder of the down stairs is part smoke damaged and again smells heavily of smoke throughout.
The property is currently uninhabitable.
The tenants have lost a considerable amount of their own contents which they were in the throes of moving out.
The cause of the fire has been assessed as an electrical incident and there is no suggestion of arson or deliberatness as to the cause. It would appear that a laptop had been left on charge and that this has caused “the firing point”.
The fire officer reported that if
another 5 - 10 minutes had lapsed the fire would have taken grip and the
roof would have gone up.

This clearly will be an insurance issue. We have placed a call to your
insurers, …, quoting policy no …, initially trying to advise
them as to the event. Regretfully, under Data Protection we could not answer
security questions on your behalf and could not progress anything further
with them. Either, yourselves or Tony, will have to deal with this matter
direct with the insurers. The contact number is …

Our immediate action has been to try and inform yourselves asap following my
return to the office.
As we have been unable to contact you or Tony, or move forward with the
insurers, we have instructed a contractor to attend to the property asap to
secure/make good the front door and to board up the window and make the
premises as secure as possible.

The fire service have taken care of the gas and electric supply.

The Officer In Charge is … of Red Watch, Basingstoke and he can be
contacted on …

I appreciate this must be devasting news to you, considering your return
soon back the UK.

The positive news is that the fire assessors / clean-up crew are going in today to see exactly what state it’s all in - we’ll have more info soon.

Update 2008-07-16: We now have some pics of the damage (currently password protected as Katie doesn’t want to see them yet! - contact me for the password).

Coffee Morning

Every fortnight, the Melaka Ladies (a group of ex-pats and local females) meet for a coffee morning. As an honorary member of the group, I usually tag along. Though not every guy’s way to spend a morning, you’ll be suprised at the gossip and interesting things you find out about whilst there (shoes and breastfeeding-related things excluded). As there are four of us due to leave soon, we had a coffee morning leaving do. Most of the photos were taken by Maria; you can find these and the rest of the set in her Facebook Album (click to see the full image).

The Melaka Ladies
Badminton Group
Vartika, Barbara, Gary and Jill
Amy, Janelle, Liz, Laura, Nicky, Gloria and Tania
Maria, Gary and Olivia

Olivia, Barbara, Sarah and Gary
Sarah and Gary
Olivia and Gary
Anne and Gary
Olivia and Maria

Michelle and Maria
Alina and Maria
Anne
Brenda
Olivia

Sarah
Mahjong Group
I survived...

Oooh, that tickles!

Kenko Reflexology and Fish Spa (product reviewed by Gary Jones on 2008-06-30)

Feeding the fish

Katie and I recently went up to KL for one last time before we head home in August. We had a few bits of shopping to get for relatives, and we went around the usual huge malls, including Mid Valley Mall. One of the latest fads that seems to be hitting Malaysia is that of fish spas, and the one we found was Kenko Reflexology and Fish Spa.

In short, you put your feet (there are also full body treatments available at certain places) into a pool of fish, and they eat all your dead skin, leaving your feet all smooth and your pores unclogged. The fish are called Garra Rufa or “doctor fish” and come from hot springs near Kangal, Turkey. They are used to treat those suffering from skin conditions like psoriasis. The popularity of the fish spa caught the attention of the Japanese and Koreans who introduced this therapy to their Fish Spa Resorts. The fish, with their tiny teeth, help exfoliate dead skin cells, lighten minor scars and is said to relieve those with psoriasis and minor eczema. The fish are also fed normal fish food at night, and the water is heavily filtered and treated with ultraviolet light to kill viruses and bacteria. The craze spread to Singapore where Kenko has 13 outlets, and at Pavilion Kuala Lumpur, the fish spa was brought for the first time into a shopping mall.

As we’d seen and heard about it due to a place in Melaka opening, we’d thought we’d give it a go. The price was RM38 (£5.84) for 30 minutes, and the time doesn’t start until you’ve removed your shoes and socks, washed your legs from the knees down, and touched your card “in”. We were directed to a round pool (with the smallest fish) that has 5 spaces, separated by metal bars that held a table up in the middle above the pool. Two men were already sitting there, and they welcomed us, and asked if this was our first time as we tentatively put our feet into the pool.

Almost immediately, and unlike other fish, they swim straight for your feet and start having a nibble. Now I’ve not got ticklish feet (it’s a mind over matter thing), but even I was struggling for composure as they attacked all sides of my feet; Katie was in fits of giggles, just like many other customers it seems when others came in later. After a while, the feeling became more like pins and needles and I found it easy to ignore and though Katie was trying to read a book, I don’t think she got very far with it!

After 10-15 minutes in the “starter” pool, I decided to try the next pool, which contained medium (relatively) sized fish. With bigger teeth, these fellas caused a more intense feeling, that tickled less, but felt more like an electric shock (not painful). Katie tried it for a few seconds but decided she couldn’t stand it and went back to the other pool.

Finally, a space became available at the pool with the biggest fish, so I took my chance and moved over. There’s a sign saying that pregnant women, anyone with un-recovered bruises or people with a variety of conditions shouldn’t use this pool! The fish in this pool were easily 4 inches long, and when they bit you, you know about it. I have to say that on occasions, the feeling from this pool was one of pain; not enough to make me stop and take my feet out, but enough to think “Ow!”. If you can let your mind wander off to something else, then it’s definitely bearable.

After 30 minutes, our card numbers flashed on the screen and we got out and washed our feet. My feet did perhaps seem smoother, but that might have been due to having had them in water for the last half-hour. Certainly there was still dead skin on the bottom, so I can only conclude that this treatment would need multiple visits, rather than expecting it to be a one-hit result. I wouldn’t say no to having another go, as it is a unique experience, but only due to the novelty factor, rather than expecting any serious health benefits.

My rating: 4.0 stars
****

Tioman

Our trip to Tioman had been cancelled a few times. Once due to Daren cancelling it, another due to not being able to get ferry tickets as it was a local bank holiday weekend, then Katie had to go to Houston. We finally got out there this weekend although we still had problems.

We made our way over to Mersing on Friday night. As Katie had been working that day, we didn’t leave until 6pm, arriving just after 9pm. We parked up, found the Embassy Hotel (more like a hostel really), went out and got some food, and headed back to the hotel. The room itself was basic to say the least, but at RM55 (£8.64) for 1 night for a twin room with air conditioning, you wouldn’t expect anything more. It’s close enough to get the early morning ferry, and it did the job of letting us get some sleep.

Up at 6am the next morning to pack and get to the ferry terminal in plenty of time. Of course, this is Malaysia, so it would have been foolish to expect the boat to leave on time. We left the car in the grounds of the “mini-stadium”, then walked over to get our ticket. This is where our problems started. Daren had given us details of the boat company, the counter to get the ticket from, and what time the boat left. He hadn’t told us which stop to get off at, or even the name of the accommodation (which would have told us the name of the stop), or what time our return trip would be. The latter was fine; the woman at the counter found the booking and scribbled the return time on our “one-way” ticket (note to self: bring a thick black pen next time, but only pay for one way crossing). We sat down for a few minutes, then headed to the ferry - the guy collecting the tickets asked us which stop we were getting off, we said we didn’t know, then he said that this boat only went up to Tekek (the “main” village on the island). I asked if this was the 7:30 boat, and he said yes, so we got on.

The ferry itself was not too bad, although the air con was a little chilly. They played Kayangan, some romantic poor-girl-meets-rich-(prince?)-guy Malaysian film set in KL and elsewhere in Malaysia. After 2 hours or so, we arrived at Genting on Tioman Island. I stuck my head outside to see if Daren was waiting on the jetty, but no luck, so we stayed on the ferry and carried on to Paya; again, Daren was not waiting for us here. Now, we thought that Tekek was the last stop, and being the main place on the island, would be a logical stop for us to get off at, in the hope of finding Daren. We got off, we wandered around, but couldn’t find him. It seems that wherever he was didn’t have a phone signal either - we tried and tried, but unless he found a way to contact us, we weren’t sure where to go (back to the lack of information about resort and accommodation), leaving us no option but ti sit and wait.

After 45 minutes or so, we decided to ring Katie’s colleague who’d been learning to dive with Daren a few months ago. He thought that Daren might be in Salang, further to the north. As I was 90% sure that Daren had mentioned something about diving from the north of the island, this made sense, so we decided to take a water taxi and head there. Typically, as we were arranging the boat, Daren rang to ask where we were and suggested we get a water taxi to head to Salang.

The 15 minute taxi ride cost as much as the 2 hour ferry ride but was quite exciting. After we arrived in Salang, the rest of the weekend went much smoother. We did 3 dives on the Saturday and 2 on the Sunday. On all the dives we saw various fishes and other marine life, even when were in shallow (5 metres) waters doing the skill-based tasks of the course; stay still for long enough and the fish come to you! We didn’t see any black-tipped reef sharks, but we did see a turtle going about it’s business and that was very exciting. We also saw lots of “Nemos” (clown fish), sea cucumbers, devil stonefish, saergent fish, ox-eye fish, lots of coral, spiky sea urchins and anemones.

We’re now certified PADI Open Water Divers and we’re planning to have a holiday in September or October where we can make use of this! More images to follow.

The BCDs being lined up ready to gear up
Looking out towards Tulai Island and Chebeh Island
Looking towards the jetty and Soyak Island

Getting suited up to go on another dive
Just after our 2nd boat dive of the weekend


Norton Help(less) Desk

We’d got a report that a page on the Battrick site was coming up as being a phishing url in Norton Internet Security. I tried contacting a Norton agent, to see if they could help, as although the page in question is in a “hidden” frame, it’s not even close to being a phishing page. As a pre-text to the live chat log that follows, I’ll say that I signed up as Gary Smith (incorrect), with email address as me@privacy.com (a common address if you don’t want to give out your proper addy) and telephone number 00000000.

What follows is a typical support desk routine, of not actually taking a blind bit of notice of the information given to them:

Problem : NIS phishing filter is blocking a site known NOT to be a phishing site.

Mr. Gary Smith has entered room.

We are experiencing higher than usual service times. Please wait and an analyst will be with you shortly.

**** 10 minutes later ****

Aneesh has entered room. (Sun Jun 01 2008 06:58:20 GMT+0800 (Malay Peninsula Standard Time))

Aneesh: Welcome to Symantec Chat support. I am currently reviewing the details you have submitted with your chat session and will be with you shortly.

Aneesh: Welcome to Symantec Virus & Spyware Solutions.

Is this the first time you are contacting us or do you have a Priority ID?

Mr. Gary Smith: Hi Aneesh, first time.

Mr. Gary Smith: A friend’s Internet Security package has blocked a page on a site I develop for, saying it’s a known phishing site. How do I go about getting the site removed from the list?

Aneesh: May I confirm your email address as me@privacy.com . am I right?

Mr. Gary Smith: It’s what I’m prepared to give at the moment, yes.

Aneesh: May I have your phone number with the area code ?

Mr. Gary Smith: No, sorry, that’s not possible. Would you like to answer my question please? (I’m not trying to be rude, just get to the solution quickly)

Aneesh: Alright

Aneesh: Are you connected from the computer, which is facing this particular issue?

Mr. Gary Smith: No, it’s a friends computer. The screenshot they’ve put up is at: {url removed}

Aneesh: Thank You for your patience.

Your Priority ID is 488537516 . Please make a note of it for future reference.

Mr. Gary Smith: The page in question only contains some javascript to update a value in another framed page. No alerts have arisen for the past three years this site has run, yet this alert has suddenly come up.

Mr. Gary Smith: Thank for the ID.

Aneesh: You are welcome !!

Mr. Gary Smith: I assume that the user has received an update, and the site/page is now included on the phishing list. I assume there’s a way that false positives can be removed from this list?

Aneesh: As I understand from your issue description, NIS phishing is blocking a site known not be a phishing site .

Am I correct?

Mr. Gary Smith: Correct. Further details above.

Aneesh: Thank You for your patience.

You are currently experiencing a technical product related issue which is supported by the Technical Support Team.

You can connect to them by visiting http://www.symantec.com/supportoptions .

However I can also connect this chat session to the Technical Support Team directly. Shall I proceed to do so?

Mr. Gary Smith: Yes please.

Aneesh: I will now transfer this session to the Technical Support Team, who would assist you further on this issue.

Please note that, you can also connect to them directly by visiting http://www.symantec.com/supportoptions .

It has been pleasure working with you, thank you for using Symantec; have a great day ahead.

Please wait while I connect you to the Technical Support Team. This would normally take around 2 to 7 minutes.

**** 3 minutes later ****

Aravind has entered room.

Aneesh: Please wait, while the issue is escalated to another analyst.

Aravind: Hello

Aravind: Welcome to Symantec Technical Support

Aravind: Gary Smith , in case we are disconnected, please click on the following link, which will reconnect you with me directly: http://www.symantec.com/dtl

Mr. Gary Smith: Hello Aravind.

Aravind: The connection code for this session is 284337

Aravind: May I confirm that the issue you are encountering is ” NIS phishing filter is blocking a site known NOT to be a phishing site.”

Mr. Gary Smith: Thank you.

Mr. Gary Smith: That is correct.

Aravind: which website are you trying?

Mr. Gary Smith: www.battrick.org - specifically the warning (screenshot at {url removed}) is to do with www.battrick.org/nl/{filename removed}

Mr. Gary Smith: The page itself contains some JavaScript that updates a “ticker” in http://www.battrick.org/nl/{filename removed} .

Aravind: I need to verify some information. Do you mind waiting while I check this information for you?

Mr. Gary Smith: Sure, go ahead.

Mr. Gary Smith: It’s a friends computer. I assume that the user has received an update, and the site/page is now included on the phishing list. I assume there’s a way that false positives can be removed from this list?

Mr. Gary Smith: It’s NIS version 10.2.0.30

Aravind: Thank you for confirming your details. Please make a note of this case no. 488537516 for your future reference.This case number will include the details of today’s chat.

Mr. Gary Smith: Thank you.

Aravind: The product you have mentioned is an Enterprise product. You have reached the Consumer Support desk of Symantec.
For assistance with your Enterprise product please visit this site: http://www.symantec.com/business/support/contact_techsupp_static.jsp

Aravind: Is there anything else I can assist you with today?

Mr. Gary Smith: Is it possible for you to pass the chat over to the business support guys please?

Aravind: I am sorry, I dont have an option for that.

Aravind: You can get a phone number in that link.

Aravind: you can directly call them.

Mr. Gary Smith: Although it’s an enterprise product, then phishing list is surely used between consumer and business products. I just need to know who I can contact about getting a site removed from the phishing list, not a Norton-product specific question.

Aravind: Only the enterprise technition can help you.

Aravind: I would like to encourage you to provide feedback for this chat, as this helps in our ongoing efforts to improve the service we deliver. You can contact my manager at Symantecmanagers@symantec.suth.com.
Thank you for contacting Symantec, have a pleasant day.

Aravind: thank you Bye

Mr. Gary Smith: Will they have access to this chat on the case number you gave me?

Aravind: yes.

Aravind: they can.

Aravind: you can refer the same case number.

Mr. Gary Smith: Thank you.

Aravind: Analyst has closed chat and left the room

Symantec_Chat_End (Sun Jun 01 2008 07:22:58 GMT+0800 (Malay Peninsula Standard Time))

So, having taken half an hour, they confirmed my fake details twice, passed me over to other agents twice, and didn’t even give me a hint at who it really is I should be talking to (I don’t hold up much hope for the Enterprise guy if he were to be contacted). Great job Norton. I’m considering whether to post some “feedback” as they’ve suggested. I understand they have to follow scripts, but sometimes a bit of humanality is needed.

Scuba Diving - the beginning

Sea anenome
Yesterday we began our scuba diving course with Daren. There’s three parts to it, which will eventually give us the PADI Open Water Diver Course. First off, is some practical confined water sessions, held at the public pool in Melaka (2°11'29.39"N, 102°14'51.49"E). Last night we learnt how to set the scuba (which stands for self-contained underwater breathing apparatus) gear up and did a few basic skills, such as recovering the second-stage regulator and replacing/clearing a flooded mask etc. Tonight’s sessions has a few more skills, and plenty of swimming around!
For my own benefit, here’s the steps we were taught, to set up the scuba gear:

  1. Remove the sticky tape from the tank (this Daren’s way of knowing if the tank is full or partly used). Make sure the O-ring is securely in place.
  2. Under the strap on the Buoyancy Control Device (BCD), place it over the tank, and secure the tank in place, making sure the top of the tank is at about the same height as the top of the BCD.
  3. Remove the dust cap from the first-stage regulator, and attach the regulator to the tank, only doing it up finger-tight.
  4. Connect the low-pressure inflater (LPI) to the inflater hose on the BCD.
  5. With the Submersible Pressure Gauge (SPG) facing away from you (in case it’s faulty and smashes in your face), slowly open the tank valve.
  6. Use the LPI to inflate and deflate the BCD a couple of times, to check for leaks.
  7. Check the second-stage regulator and alternate air source are working, either with the purge button (put your finger over the mouthpiece to stop freeflow from occurring), or by taking a few breaths.
  8. Place the alternate air source into the holder, and tuck any other loose bits away as well.
  9. Ready to go!

Once we’ve done the pool dives, then it’s a small test on the theory of it all, then off to Tioman resort on the east coast of Malaysia (one of the best dives spots in Malaysia) for the open water (sea) practicals. Once we’ve done that, then we *may* get to glimpse a sea anenome like above!

Langkawi trip

For my birthday on the 14th, we went to Langkawi, a tropical island off the northern coast of Malaysia. You’ll have to make do with Katie’s review of the trip until I get around to adding my own review on things, and add some pictures too!

In the meantime, here’s a photo from my 18th birthday (10 years ago). Katie, me, Catherine and Matt went out to the local Hilton hotel for a posh dinner. And yes, that dress really was that see-through in real life.

18th Birthday