you can check it out here http://www.elecom.eu.com/products/all/accessory.html

I guess this would be item would be idea for people living in Japan and San Francisco and whereever there are earthquakes lol.

As you know I got mysef a laptop while in KL and "she" (yes she has been dubbed she mainly because of her name "BaoBei" which means "treasure" in Chinese - also means "baby" and well she's both) only cost me RM1,899 which is about S$825. Not bad right? She would of cost me at least twice that amount here, and yes she's brand new!

She's an Acer Aspire 3680 and came with:

Processor : Intel Celeron M @ 1.73 GHz

RAM : 512 MB

Hard Drive: 60 GB

Optical Drive : DVD/CDRW combo

Screen : 14.1" 1280 X 800 LCD screen

Weight: 2.4kg (5.28 lbs)

Others : Built in wireless modem, 5-in-1 built in card reader, s-video/tv out support, PC card slot, built in mic, 3 USB ports, 1 year international warranty

She was pre-loaded with Linux (Windows XP would have cost me an extra RM300/S$130) but I've since installed Windows XP on her (which I got for like RM8/S$3.50) as well as a load of other software.

She's mainly silver in couple but I've "beautified" her top a couple of times. The first I "beautified" here I made this sticker of this black piggy cartoon character I like called Monokuro Boo as well as having "MeiBao" (my Chinese name) printed out on this pink film in English, Chinese, Japanese and Korean. All of which I stuck in a variety of places. Here's how she looked...

After that I decided to take off the pink film stuff, mainly because the printed black area was coming off (I used the office printer which uses toner powder so that could be why) and plus the film wasn't sticking all that well. I kept the piggy which I made out of black and white vinyl sticker roll which I bought at an art store. I decided to use a Korean phrase instead. I ended up choosing "Please help me" - don't ask me why - I had to cut out each character out. I used the same black vinyl sticker roll as the piggy.

Lynn was asking why I used that phrase and I started to think that maybe I should change it, so at her suggestion I used BaoBei but did it in Korean instead. The Korean word for "treasure" is Bo-Mul and that's what I used. Whatcha think?

Since I've gotten her though I have "spotted" another laptop that has caught my eye. It's a Twinhead Stylebook 12D. The 12D comes with a slightly faster processor (1.86 GHz), a larger hard drive (80GB), a DVD-RW optical drive, a slightly smaller screen (12.1"), and only weighs 1.78 kg - everything else is pretty much the same - plus it's white! Would prefer this one so much more because it's smaller and lighter so really more mobile that the Acer one I have now, and that is actually the main reason for the switch. I can this puppy in Singapore for about S$1,600. I've yet to see if I can get it at a lower price in Malaysia, if not then I'll just get it in Singapore. I'm hoping to get the new one in June/July when I get my mid year bonus and then I'm selling my laptop to my nephew for about S$400. I'm going to name "BaoBei" as well and just basically transfer her "life force" over lol. Here's what the future "BaoBei" looks like....

Tue, Dec 12 - did stuff around the house

Wed, Dec 13 - did stuff around the house

Thu, Dec 14 - went for my department year end lunch, left for KL at 8 pm

Fri, Dec 15 - arrived in KL at like 1.30 am, went to Yass & John's apartment, slept a couple of hours, met Ami, went to Tesco to get BBQ supplies, went shopping with Yass at Plaza Low Yat and Sungei Wang. Went to La Maison (a club) with Yass, John, Radzy and Kenneth (friends of John and Yass) - the boys feasted upon "rolling steamboat sticks" outside the club before we headed back. Rolling steamboat sticks is what I call it but it's actually like a food cart where they have food like prawn, chicken, hot dogs, siew mais etc on satay sticks and you cook it in this small pot of boiling water/soup that they have (there's a few pots per cart) and you pay by the stick or something - it's a KL thing lol. I'm told the "technical" name is "lok lok".

Sat, Dec 16 - went to Mid Valley to shop and to wait for Judy and James. Had lunch at Chilis, had country fried steak (woohoo!!!), made my sis jealous by sending her pics of the food. Went back to the apartment to await for the arrival of "Clumsy" aka "Mumbly" aka Lien. Judy and James came over to the apartment and then the 5 of us plus John and Radzy went to a place called Colleuseum and had western food ala Han's style. Not bad actually. After that the 5 of us went club hopping or rather bar hopping well actually we only hopped from one place to another lol while John and Radzy went home to set up for an "after" party i.e. a bunch of their other friends were coming over after a bit of clubbing. Lien, Yass and I got back to the apartment at around 1/2 am - mainly cos Lien was falling asleep at the club, while Judy and James headed back to their hotel room. People started arriving after 2 and the last person didn't leave till like 9 /10 am the next morning!!! This caused a bit of a problem for Lien, Yass and I cos we were
supposed to prepare the food for the surprise birthday bbq we were having later for John!!!

Sun, Dec 17 - Slept from like 4 am till about 9 am in John and Yass' room while everyone else was outside, Lien slept in the spare room from like the time we came back till like about 10
am. Yass had even less sleep but then he's used to these kind of all night parties lol. 2 of
the girls (Joanne and Faridah) who were at the after party and knew about the surprise bbq asked John over to their place (they live in the same condo development) so that Yass, Lien and I would have time to prep the food. In a span of 2 hours and between the 3 of us, we managed to make potato salad, coleslaw, stuffed sotong/squid, marinate about 20 pieces of chicken thighs and marinate about 25 pieces of steak with the 3 rubs Lien brought from NYC. We then brought everything down to the bbq pit by the pool and prepped everything. A few of John and Yass' friends came for the bbq, and boy was John surprised cos he had no clue. He was asking us how we managed to hide all the food and drinks (we had like 4 cartons of cola). We actually managed to hide everything (except for the steaks) in the kitchen. We hid the steaks in one of their friend's fridge who lives in the same apt blk lol. John's sister in law brought the cake. We spent the rest of the day just chillin' at the apartment. We ended up calling for pizza later that night - thank goodness for Canadian Pizza 2 for 1 lol

Mon, Dec 18 - Yass, Lien and I went shopping today. We went to Plaza Low Yat where I got my laptop (who has since been dubbed "BaoBei"), after which we went to the Hard Rock Cafe (all cos Lien wanted his lamb sandwich which you can't get in Singapore) and then we went to KL CC for a spot of window shopping and picture taking of the Petronas Towers. After that we headed back to the apartment to get ready to head home. We were taking the 10.30 pm coach back to Singapore. The boys knocked out for most of the ride while I think I slept half of the ride with breaks of consciousness in between. The coach went via the old causeway rather than the second link so we got off there cos it's closer to my home and the boys and I ended up taking a cab with them dropping me off on the way to their homes. We got back to Singapore at about 3 am and I got home at about 3.15 am.

See all the pics here

Tue, Dec 19 - Actually managed to get up at like 10 am even though I went to bed at about 4.30 am and went over to City Square in JB for a spot of shopping. I enjoy heading over there because the stuff I find there is not normally what I find over here in Singapore, though you do find the same stuff but then the price factor come into play because of the exchange rate (S$1 = RM$2.30). Somethings are cheaper and somethings aren't. I got the usual "stuff" as well as a couple of bags. Went over to do a spot of christmas shopping but didn't really find much. In the evening I worked on loading up BaoBei with the "necessary" software - will have a separate entry on her at a later date.

Wed, Dec 20 - met up with Judy, Lien, Jo, Jo's boyfriend, SuAnn and Yass to celebrate Yass' birthday. We went to a japanese restaurant down the street from Lien's place. Was pretty good, after dinner, Judy, SuAnn, Yass and I headed over to Lien's place to enjoy cake. It was a pleasant night.

Thur, Dec 21 - met up with my dad to go over to Republic Polytechnic to watch Adam compete in the Inter Garsio Silat Competition. He had his artistic tournament today. It was the qualifying round. Took some pics for Lynn cos she couldn't make it. After Adam was done competing, Dad headed on home while I headed off to Causeway Point to try and to do some Christmas shopping.

See pics here

Friday, Dec 22 - met up with Judy and went to do a spot of Christmas shopping. We ended up going to Plaza Singapura...managed to get some of my Christmas shopping done but not everything...managed to get a pair of jeans from Marks & Spencers that were on sale - they were S$35 done from S$89!!! I just love the cut of them, they are sort of a skinny boot leg and made of stretchy denim and a nice indigo colour. Wendy and Yass joined us later for dinner at Swensons. Good thing we're not having our family dinner till New Year's cos of Adam's silat competition which ends on Christmas day, that gives me an extra week of shopping hehehe.

Sat, Dec 23 - can't really remember what I did today, maybe I just stayed home or maybe I went to do shopping up at Causeway Point again

Sun, Dec 24 - typical Sunday, went to church in the morning with dad and came home and chilled out.

Mon, Dec 25 - went to church to watch the Christmas show with Dad, after that we headed on home to relax for a bit then Dad, Mom and I headed over to Republic Polytechnic to watch Adam compete. It was the last day of the competition and Adam was into the finals for the combat competition - he didn't make it into the finals of the artistic competition but apparently he scored quite high for some one who had only be doing it for a year. Adam ended getting the silver for the combat competition. I cannot believe how big he is now...he's 13 and he's like 1.7 something metres!!! He towers over everyone in the family lol.

Tue, Dec 26 - the best day for shopping...I headed out, first to Sim Lim Square to get myself a brand new CPU hehehe. I did some checking on the internet and found a great offer. I only needed a cpu because I was going to hook it up to the same monitor, keyboard and mouse that I was using with my current desktop, just need to get a special "switch" that would allow me to switch between the two cpus. Only payed S$480 for it and it came with 1GB RAM, a Intel P4 chip, 160 GB hard drive and a DVD burner hehehe plenty of room for my Korean dramas and what not hehehe. While it was being assembled I headed over to Plaza Singapura to do the last of my Christmas shopping. Managed to get a bunch of presents for my colleauges at a reasonable price. After I was done shopping I headed back to Sim Lim Square to pick up my CPU. Seeing as it was almost 6 pm I gave Lynn a call and picked her up in the cab before heading home. Both Mom and Lynn couldn't believe I managed to get a new cpu for that cheap - hehehe it pays to know where to shop hahaha.

Wed, Dec 27 - can't remember what I did on this day but I believe I just stayed at home and set up my new CPU

Thur, Dec 28 to Sun, Dec 31 - can't remember what I did on these days but I think I basically stayed home cos I was a little under the weather with a visit to church on Sunday.

Mon, Jan 1 - went over to Lynn's place for "christmas" dinner. Had the usual, turkey, stuffing, gravy, spuds, carrots and brussel sprouts. After dinner we watched tv until about 11 pm when Mom and I headed on home.

Tue, Jan 2 - stayed home to prepare myself for going back to work lol