Thanks so much for sending in the gajillions of comments... for my last post on this and my Fly Blog. To begin this entry I shall talk a little bit about what exactly happened throughout the 2 weeks Fabes, Nadia and I were off... I'll leave Fabes and Nadia to give their little update... in this post... all talk about me... ME ME ME... :)

1st week, it was nothing but being SICK! Yes, I WAS SICK AGAIN! If you've been following my facebook, you'd notice that I was INCREDIBLY SICK once more... this time round, the doctor gave the diagnosis of "fonicular tonsilities" - hope I spelled that right... strange thing is, it started off as a mild sore throat, light fever than WHAM BAM - WOOHOO LET'S STOP BEN FROM TALKING...

I didn't speak for a week - yes, it was a strange and awkward silence around me... and for the people around me... even my dog got bored... she just fell asleep...

        

After 3 jabs on my bum (never had anything 'poked' there before - trust me I know) and 4 different types of anti-biotics, I was fine... 1 week and 2 days later, I was healed...

Oh yes, before I got sick, Fabes and I were hosting Puma's Furio instore party at Pavillion KL. If you were there, you'd have heard the commotion... it was massive speakers, right outside the store, fabes spinning, me screaming and along with that came 3 LIVE mannequins!



From left - Nadia (not the one from the show - if only our Nadia was this hot), Fabes (he had to come into this picture), Hafiz and this HOT HOT HOT chick whose name I've forgotten (think it was Kayleen) - sorrrryy... :P
In a nut shell, besides getting sick and the making a heck of a lot of noise at the Puma event, here are some random shots of what happened...



I checked out one of the oldest GPS devices - this thing is almost 'museum worthy!" - black and white screen, HUGE antenna. It's also the first GPS I used - way way way way wayyyyy back...



There was also Faces Magazine's 100th Issue celebration which Fabes and I hosted - some funky laser show going on...



The first 'actual meal' I had after falling ill for 1 week...



Saw this photo opportunity and started shooting away... what beautiful photos I take :P



Was having lunch with Jules and Prem when Jules decided to order this MASSIVE bowl of CHILI infested spaghetti. It was SOOO SPICY I guarantee you she'd have a ball of a chilified time in the toilet later :P



Was at the sony store and heard this song playing from a walkman... Chinese song... that had chipmunk voices - interesting... I took a picture...
Okay, so there you go, some of the updates over the past 2 weeks... keep commenting... and I'll keep posting!

My beloved blog readers, inserted below is my UTMOST DISAPPOINTMENT in MAXIS' latest iPhone promotion... yes it's in Malaysia OFFICIALLY... but look how it's played out on a Maxis customer? Below is an open letter I wrote to their customer care division...

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Dear Maxis,

Being an extremely loyal customer of Maxis for the past 8 years and have literally grown with your company - with absolutely no doubt about your quality service and unparalleled customer service; a quick check on my account would reveal how closely I've followed your products, upgraded my plans from year to year - to my current usage of an average of @#$*@()* a month including my !@#!@# supplementary lines - this last introduction of iPhone 3G plans have been extremely disappointing.

My last change to my account was to sign up for a MyMaxis Phone Deal on the 1st of January 2009 with a contract of 24 months. Since I've been waiting for the longest time for the iPhone to reach Malaysia - I thought all hope was lost so I decided to leap onto the @#$@#$#@$ bandwagon.

Today, I discovered that iPhone has finally been brought in by my telco. It was a bitter sweet feeling.

Sweet - it's here, I can have it and I made the right choice by sticking with maxis all these years.

Bitter - Price plans were good but not great. I've learned throughout the years that with quality comes price so it didn't bother me much - but what about my existing plan? I still have at least 21-22 months left in the contract! So if I wanted the iphone, I'd have to get another line.

I was excited when I discovered this clause in your rate plan terms & conditions...

"If your Maxis mobile service is in contract and you choose to recontract and purchase an iPhone 3G your existing Maxis contract will stand and you will have another contract running concurrently starting from the date you collect your iPhone 3G. You will only pay the monthly subscription of your new plan, but should you have a temporary suspension of service, downgrading of price plan and termination of line pre-termination and/or liquidated damages charges for both contracts apply."

Excerpt from : http://www.maxis.com.my/iphone/rateplan1.asp

The excitement was short lived... when I was told by one of your maxis consultants that it didn't apply to my situation as I had 22 months of contract left to serve. The deal is this, IT DIDN'T ONCE MENTION about a minimum left-over of contract in the above clause! A typo? An oversight? Come on, this is maxis we're talking about - the one with the best team in EVERYTHING - from great service to support...

To make matters worse, I was told later that once I've gotten an iPlan if I so decide to pay a penalty of over 800 ringgit and switch over to the new iPlan, I'd lose all the privileges both myself and my supp lines have been experiencing! No more free calls between myself and the supp lines, no more free sms, no more free video calls - in fact since I was on plan @#$#@$@, my supp lines' per minute charges will be returned to the regular 15 cent / minute rate!

This is an OUTRAGE!

What is maxis really trying to do? Or was this an oversight? Either way, I hope this matter is looked into. I'm really really really disappointed in this as I doubt I'd be spending another @#$#@$# ringgit plus all the other charges to get the iPhone. If only the clause highlighted above was upheld the way it was written.

I look forward to your reply.

Thank you & Best regards,
Ben - a very disappointed Maxis customer

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Honestly... I'm truly disgusted...

There are a few things in this world that really excites me - free and FREE and FREEEE and FREEEEE... Who doesn't like free stuff? It was with this in mind where I scoured the web for gold and found Joiku.

For the uninitiated, don't worry, it's not an extraterrestrial with 12 ears and big bulging eyes, neither is it the name of superman's pet alien. It's a software. Something which you can install into your mobile phone and out comes a SUPER POWER - WiFi Access Point wherever you go!

How does it affect you? Well, if you've got (somehow in a magical manner) an unlimited data line where you can surf the internet all you want on your mobile phone - you'll love this. Let me repeat, ONLY IF YOU HAVE AN UNLIMITED DATA LINE do you use this - otherwise you'll be paying through your nose, ear hole and whatever hole you've got on your body. 

If you don't have unlimited data service, this service varies from telco to telco. Some offering the service from as low as 66 ringgit per month. 

So if you've got it, GOOD ON YOU! Now, here's how you can unleash the power of your mobile phone with Joiku. 

Have the software installed and immediately the sofware will turn your mobile phone into a wireless access point (or you may call it wireless modem) where you can connect to and surf from whatever wireless device you may have! May it be a notebook, a PDA, an iPod touch... from WHEREVER - so long as you've got cellular coverage and mobile juice (battery life). 

The possibilities are literally endless... need to find an access point? No worries, take out your phone, start Joiku and VOILA!

Okay, here's the part where I say "with every free thing comes a price" - an oxymoron nonetheless... what does this mean to you? Sure, you can use Joiku for free - infact for an unlimited number of times with unlimited surfing time... so what's the catch? You can't use Joiku to surf to secure websites - or in layman terms sites with "https" - in front of the URL. That means no Gmail, no FaceBook, no banking sites... NADA... but of course there's still the other 90% of the internet which does not use "https" - one of which is flyfm.com.my. 

Here's where Joiku releases a premium version of the product where you've got to pay around 15 EUROS (after a massive discount on their site). At that one time nominal price, you unleash the MAXIMUM potential of Joiku - surf at high speeds, no more restrictions - any website, anytime, anywhere... COMPLETE mobility... 

Honestly, I think it's a steal. It's usual price is around 25 EUROS. Check it out and download for free at www.joikushop.com!

As captain planet would say - "The power is YOURS"... :)

It's the middle of the week, YAY! - one of those things I really look forward to... just 2 more days and I'll be able to sleep late at night... wake up the next morning at whatever time I like. So what's new in my life apart from the fact that I just had 3 mosquito bites on the feet - I'm telling you - MOSQUITOES LOVE ME... and I HATE THEM... they've got this strange fascination with my feet. Trust me, I've tried very very very hard to make my feet as hairy as possible in hopes that someday mosquitoes will get lost in a jungle of hair... but obviously, it isn't exactly working.

Instead of me boring you with some dumb mosquito talk - I took a video of this a couple of days back - I call it, the ultimate neck cracker...

The SUPER NECK CRACKING action @ Yahoo! Video

Now that's what I call 'relaxxxxiinnnggg' :)

Woohoo! Monday is here and YES, it's strange to sound so chirpy and happy on a Monday when everyone's pretty much dreading to go to work. Strange true but sometimes it's all about getting yourself psyched up - considering the economy crisis, people being laid off etc. etc... it's good to know that you've got a job to go to on Monday :) So SMILE! 

Then of course, WORK is even GREATER to look forward to when you've got colleagues who would PAY YOU MONEY! Yes! That's exactly what happened. It was last week, Nadia, Fabes & I were listening to some station promos that went on air and Nadia commented saying this particular voice sounded like her BUT it wasn't her. I checked it - the person sounded just like her, Fabes checked it - sounded like her, Amrita our producer checked it - sounded like her - 3 people can't be WRONG! So I went ahead and said it was her.

Nadia was ADAMANT about it... she claimed it was NOT her and it would be impossible for her to not recognize her own voice. So fine, Nadia suggested that we each paid her 50 bucks if we lost the bet - our point of verification - the audio engineer Shah who produced the promo. Fabes and Amrita chickened out but I stood my ground... 

That same evening, I asked Shah and she verified it - IT WAS NADIA! Muahahahha... I was right... and there's this UPLIFTING feeling that I'd be picking up 50 bucks from Nadia... 

Friday came, Nadia denied the claims - stating that it was a completely different promo we were listening to... (she tried to wiggle out of it)... of course I didn't let go - being kiasu - I pushed... and pushed and pushed... the COW...

This morning, the cow fell over after all that pushing and voila... 

50 ringgit in my pocket baby! 

The lesson to be learned is simple - if Ben says betul - itu adalah betul :P hehehhe... feels great!