ringgit.me

Twenty Twenty didn't start well. Covid-19 cases are all over the world and in Malaysia, the government imposed a Movement Control Order. Schools are closed and we are all asked to #StayAtHome and work from home. As an introvert, I should feel joy and happiness. In a way, I am enjoying my time at home in front of a PC and spending more times with the family. But after 4 weeks of being cooked inside a house and two more weeks to go, I think even an introvert needed a break from this solitary! Let's see how this goes.

My only consolation is that I have recently changed role and do not have sales pressure on my shoulder. So, that lifted some stress off my back, amidst the stress caused by Covid-19 uncertainties.

Happy New Year! It's 2020, the start of a new decade. It is a clean slate for everyone of us to chart what is our next decade going to be!

I think I would like to go independent in this coming decade. I am not sure what I will be doing, but I probably do not forsee myself being in a 9-5 job anymore. Maybe it will take me additional 5 more years as a salaried worker while I prepare myself.. but, I think after working for almost 24 years non-stop, it's about time I think of something I would like to do, simply because I LIKE doing it. So, I am also re-looking at my family's expenses and hopefully, able to adjust the spending while still considering the kids college funds, the mortgage, the car loan and looking to extending the life of my current computer gears.

More importantly for me is to reflect on my strength and also sharpening the saw on areas I am lacking - reeducating myself so that I can be independent.

However, let's talk about what gear I am going into the ne…

And I was saved by my tire! It was my front tire which hit his rear left bumper, thus stopping the car from banging into my front door. There’s no way to explain this except protection from shoten zhenjin!

Saturday morning, I took the girls for breakfast in our usual joint around Aman Suria. You know how at times things just don’t go your way - and in these moments, you are careless and reckless.

Early this week, after piano lesson on Tuesday evening, I turned out of CentrePoint and was very close to getting my front left bumper to scratch the sharp corner. My front sensor was in red and the alarm was blaring very loudly. I told myself I have to be careful. And the following morning while parking near Taman SEA, I got too close to the curb. It’s like this is a bad week for driving as I was not careful and was always gambling.

And it’s almost the same this morning. I was driving along the Pet shop and Restoran 747. I passed by an empty parking slot on my left. Then I stopped and deci…

Apple announced a new MacBook Pro 16" a couple of days ago. They had a small event for reporters to show off the new MacBook. It replaced the 15" model, so there are only two MacBook Pro models for sale starting today - the 13" and the 15". There are a lot of enhancements to this model but all I read from the tons of news coverage are the new scissor-switch keyboard!

As a mechanical keyboards aficionado, my head was nodding at every review talking about the importance of keyboard to the overall user experience. There's a podcast over at Upgrade where Jason Snell interviewed the product manager of MacBook Pro and they discussed about the research work which went into designing the new keyboard. The topic covers area like the feel when typing, getting your fingers oriented by feeling the layout of the keys, the sound that typing made and how it sound to you and people around you. They also discussed why the gap between keys are wider in this new keyboard and this…

I have a 15 year old Seiko watch which I love very much. It's a Great Blue series and kinda one-of-its-kind, because Seiko discontinued it as soon as it was launch. So, there are very limited number of units. The watch I own is a Kinetic Auto Relay which means it is powered by my arm movement. And the nice thing about it is that if I don't use my watch, it hands will not move but the Kinetic capacitor which stores energy (up to 4 years of inactivity) will continue to keep track of the time. When I picked up the watch and shake it a bit, it will wake up and auto adjust to the correct time whether it is AM or PM.

But my watch is 15 year old. At that age, the capacitor cannot hold a lot of charges. These days if I left my watch unused for 2 days, the watch stopped keeping time.

I need to get the capacitor replaced. But who is the official service center for Seiko?

The thing about luxury watches is that if you don't send it to their authorized dealer and service center, it wi…

iPhone 11 was launched yesterday. In a surprising an unexpected twist, Apple reduced the price of iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro Max. I suppose they learned their lessons from iPhone Xs a year ago. How much can they continue to squeeze from their loyal customers?


It's a good news really. Just as a comparison, before the 10 Sept launch day, an iPhone Xr 128GB sells for RM3,849. The new iPhone 11 with 128GB is now selling for RM3,599. That is a RM250 reduction (around US$50)! That's great news.

What is EVEN better news is that today, right after the launch of iPhone, the same Xr is reduced to RM3,099, a RM750 (US$150) reduction on the old model. Last year, Xr is considered the most value for money, especially the 128GB model. Today, while stock lasts, it is a STEAL! If you are considering an upgrade from 7 or 8, now is the time to do it!

Edit: This excellent article by Ben Thomson is worth a read:

That means that this year actually saw three price cuts: First, the iPhone 11 — this…