I have realize that to be efficient in work, there are a couple of essential items that needs to be kept handy together with the Swiss Army Knife. Firstly is the thumbdrive. This tiny little silicon filled gadget is essential to move huge amount of data between computers. Especially when reports are >10meg in size and the Office Outlook just froze at synchronizing. With memory prize drop, a 2Gig now cost not more than RM50. I bet in the next PC fair, this price would drop further. The next essential item is handy during travelling. Its the VPN key generator. In my old company, there is an electronic key gen that install directly onto the laptop, which is convenient, but a hassle to setup. The current company on the other hand uses this key generator that is not that convenient, but no hassle in setup. This little thing enable me to access mails at the airprots and at the local Starbucks outlet. If you haven’t these items, its time to consider them to enable you to be more effective. One ironic thing to note is that, before I bought the thumbdrive, there were so many instances of the need to transfer huge amount of file. But after I bought it, the occasion reduces to seldom. Nevertheless, it is being used to transmit my ‘virus‘.

Well, maybe not the current version, but I believe in time, we will have one macbook that is lighter than the feather. I woke up this morning going along my day and when I power up my Safari and Bam! Apple have released a new Macbook Air. First impression was it looked like an UFO, especially on the side view. After browsing further, it looks so great that I drooled for one imediately. It comes with an Intel Core 2 Duo, 1.6Ghz or 1.8Ghz processor. I don’t recognize the processor at all. After reading from some of the Tech sites, I found out that the processor is a custom design that Intel does for Apple. When you are the industry leader in style, design and performance, big companies are willing to bend a little to cater for you. On the ram arena, it comes with a 2Gig of ram, which is a good start. With the price of rams droping so rapidly, many of the industry laptop leaders are moving towards 4G as basic offering. 2Gig is a modest start. The option to upgrade to an 64Gig of Solid State Drive on the other hand obsoleted the need for the 4 Gig of Ram. Lighter and quieter laptop you can expect with the 64Gig of solid state drive. The battery life boast an awsome 5 hours of wireless play, meaning if you are just doing normal computing with screen brightness turn to low, it will last longer. Say goodbye to bulky and heavy battery extension. Not only less power consumption and lighter, this new macbook comes with a list of nifty innovasions. Firstly, the touchpad. I remember 10 years back, I was looking at my friend’s macbook that has a touchpad and i was like WOW, it was my first time seeing a touchpad. Others in the industry was using the nipple tug between the keyboard for mouse control, Apple has the touchpad. Today, the touchpad have been improved with multi-touch, where it could recongize pinch, swipe, etc, mimicking the way we read books. On wireless, the macbook supports the 802.11n, with a max datarate of 248Mbit/s, its the fastest in it’s class. Now, if only the SuperDrive could be wireless, then this is truely innovation. With a weight of 3 pounds and 0.76 inch in height, it would be a hit to the college students. Then again with a $1799 price tag for a basic Macbook air it might not fly off the shelves just yet. This would be my wishlist for this year’s Christmas present. Maybe with a price reduction by next year college starts we can see this in the lecture halls.

The best Gyoza in the world is located at Gora, Japan. Before I discover this place, I totally hate Gyoza. In Chinese, its the sticky pot dumpling, which I have had several times and they totally sucks. I never understood why this is such a popular dish. All this hate and dislike came to an end when I visited Gora last fall. This restaurant was recommended in our guidebook. It mention that it is a must try even if we dont like Gyozas and that the restaurant is easily spotted as there are long queue of people waiting to get a bite at this delicacy. Following our philosophy on food, which is any restaurant has a queue upfront is worth the try, I plan a dinner visit in our Japan Trip itinerary.

The shop is located on the main road between Gora Station and Hakone Open Air Museum. Its just a few minutes walk down the street directly from Gora Station. The gyoza is the best in the world. I have never had such delicious Gyoza ever. The outer part was crispy, and the inner part was tasty. The restaurant boast more than 10 types of Gyozas, and we only had the chance to try a few of them. We were staying up the hill from Gora Station and there were no many restaurants around. That was the good thing, cause we were daily patrons to the Gyoza Center. The restaurant people were very friendly, knowing that we do not read or speak Japaneses, they automatically bring out an English menu. We tried the Original Gyoza, Chicken, Crabmeat, Shrimp and the chicken wing stuff Gyoza. There is even a Stamina Gyoza, and its stuff with Garlic.

Till today, months after, we are still dreaming of the Gyoza Center. We have yet to encounter any Gyozas better. Before this place, I just couldn’t dig Gyoza, and I could not understand the fuss of it. After this experience, it went from hate to love for Gyozas. If you ever come by Gora, it is a must to stop by and have a taste. If there is a long que, put your name down and the number in your party and relax at a patio at the side of the restaurant. A lady will call your name and when your turn comes.

Cozy Settings

Selections

Gyoza Set Meal

Original Gyoza

Crab Gyoza

Chicken Wing stuffed Gyoza

While my friends were happily making plans to go canoing, I was all ready to help my friend to do some moving tomorrow. Tomorrow is a public holiday and I was all happy that I did not have to work. Right after lunch, I went over to my colleagues cubicle for a discussion and I found out that it is a working day for my company tomorrow. It was a good thing that I found out, even this late. I could not imagine tomorrow I am out somewhere and my boss called and ask where I am. No one in the office speaks about it, I guess they are all used to it. I on the other hand was happily thinking that tomorrow is a holiday. I see that there are a couple of new employees, I did not have time to talk to them today, I wonder if they will turn up to work tomorrow…

While the nation is frantically buying Oil, I on the other hand bake cookies to pass the hot Sunday afternoon. There are not many choices when it comes to ready made cookie mix, its either the local Nona Cookie Mix or imported Pillsbury Mix. I decided to try the local mix. The instructions on the box was simple, and the entire process is also dead simple. Just mix together butter, egg and the mix, and place it onto the baking tray. Bake for 20 minutes and you are done. Simple as that. We somehow fine some interesting items in the mix. Firstly, there is this dark brown speckle, not sure what it is, just hope that it isn’t any kind of insect egg. Then we also find green colored speckle during mixing. Again, not sure what it is. We decided to throw away the mix as we did not want to visit the doctors afterwards. However, since it is such a waste, and we are already more than 1/2 way through the process, we decided to just bake a few pieces and taste it out. The taste, I have to say disappointingly, 3 out of 10 points. Here are some photos of the bake. Oh, one more thing, the mix does not come with chocolate chips, I have to purchase them separately.

Ingredients

Unknown items found in the mix

Place Mix on the Tray

Bake for 20 minutes

Whoala…