Made in Hell, Worn in Heaven

It's the state of business today - look for a country that offers cheap labour, set up shop and start the human conveyor belt to churn out products that are now cheaper to produce, sell them at inflated prices and rake in the profits.

Nike did something similar, and got slapped on the wrist for the exploitation of cheap overseas labour. The company said they've stopped this practise, and everyone was happy again. Nike's profits wasn't particularly affected too. A win-win situation.

So imagine my surprise when I spotted this inside a shoe - Made in Hell, Worn in Heaven. Perhaps an allusion to the sweatshops that produced these sneakers for rich consumers?


These sneakers were on sale. RM29 a pair. Yes, that's twenty nine Ringgit a pair. Quite a drastic price cut from the original price tag of RM179.

I sure hope these shoes weren't made in sweatshops. Exploitation of cheap labour will continue. I can yell all I want for better quality of life, but the world isn't listening. What I can do is to focus on MY life and make sure I live it, and not let others live it for me.

Taking care of business

My desktop on the iBook

This is the desktop on my faithful iBook. It's almost three years old and it's chugging along steadily. Since I see my desktop daily, I wanted to use it as my vision board. If you've read The Secret, you'd know what's a vision board.

So for a few months, I had a Mini Cooper wallpaper. After a while, it didn't work out for me because I wanted to put more things into my vision board. So I looked on the Internet for an application that would let me add tiny photos onto my desktop, and I found Photo Desktop. The latest version isn't free, and with our exchange rate, it's much too expensive. So I decided to do it the hard way, and turned to Pixelmator that I bought during the last Macheist.

But before that, I used Photo Drop to create borders around my vision pictures. Photo Drop is a widget that lets you add visual effects to your images, such as Tape and Pin that you can see on my desktop. I then used Pixelmator to combine the wallpaper and the vision pictures created by Photo Drop. And now I have a nice wallpaper AND have my vision board at the same time.

Other things I did to my desktop:

I keep my morning affirmation displayed on my desktop using Geektool.
CoverSutra gives me a quick glance at the music I'm listening to.
I keep an eye on my system resources with iPulse.
And use StickyWindows to keep TaskPaper always within reach for quick access.
Finally, the desktop wallpaper calendar is from Smashing Magazine.

The Work Table

Heather Champ style.

We try and try, but we hardly see our dining table.

Watches and guys

My first watch, the earliest that I could remember, was a Mickey Mouse watch. Mickey's hands were the hour and minute hands, and I wore it all the time. Then it was a steel Citizen digital watch that I wore for years before losing it on a beach during a hiking trip.

What is it about watches than makes men lust for them? Why are there magazines on watches?

Unlike women who have accessories to adorn themselves, men only had their watches. And men can only wear one on their arm. Well, if you're a rebel, you could wear two. But it is that single watch that men wear to differentiate themselves from the rest of the crowd. Why else would you find men wearing watches that were larger than their wrists. The larger, the shinier, the better.

Watches can be generally divided into two groups - Quartz and Automatic. I believe quartz watches are the majority because the mechanism is cheaper to produce and they keep accurate time. Automatic watches on the other hand have complex gears and springs that are powered by the movement of your arm, and aren't as accurate so you'll have to readjust the time occasionally. Naturally it didn't take long before the line between Quartz and Automatic watches are blurred and now there's a third group, the Kinetic watch, a Quartz watch powered by the movement of your arm.

It took me a long time before I appreciated the wristwatch. I prefer the Automatic watch because I admire the engineering behind the complex mechanism that allows the watch to be powered by my arm. There are no batteries yet it keeps time. That amazes me.
This watch is fine for normal situations. But a guy also needs a watch that can keep up with him when he's in the great outdoors. Able to be with him when he's scaling mountains, and fighting rapids.

When I'm in these situations, I wear my Swatch. Some may recognise this model because it's a gift from a HSBC promotion a few years ago. It's a surprisingly tough and reliable time piece that's survived freezing temperatures at Mount Kinabalu and the bumps and grazes from white water rafting.

So when a guy decides its time to get a new time piece, it's an important decision for him. It doesn't only keep time, it also defines him to society.

Moleskines etc.

Moleskines are very expensive in Malaysia. Not many can justify spending over RM50 for a small notebook. Now that the exchange rate is much lower, how come Moleskines still cost over RM50?

I use my Moleskine mainly as a journal, but recently several other interesting notebooks are popping up in bookstores. One in particular that I especially like are notebooks from Grandluxe. I found them at MPH and also at Borders. They're much cheaper than Moleskines at around RM12-RM14, depending on which type you buy.


These are 2 products from Grandluxe that I like. The top one looks exactly like a Moleskine, but the cover looks rubbery. This is called the monologue Ruled Notebook. I haven't used this yet. But I did use the bottom one. It's a sketch book variety, and it's called the monologue Soft Sketch Book. I used this during my trip to New Zealand, and it was really useful. I liked the band that stretches across the middle of the notebook. It helps keep everything inside and not fall off. I like it so much that I bought another one as a backup.

I'm glad Grandluxe realise people want something more in a notebook. Sure there are cheaper notebooks out there, but how else can you explain sites dedicated to notebooks like Moleskinerie, Notebookism and Black Cover? (disclaimer: I added the link to Black Cover because there's a contest going on there, with a chance to win a Rhodia notebook.)


I probably won't buy another Moleskine... unless their prices drop. monologue notebooks suit me just fine. They're cheap (relatively) and good, and that's a rare combination.

Disney sneakers, and they're affordable!

The last time I visited Add-On at Queensbay, I was pretty put off by the high prices of Disney merchandise. But at our recent visit over the weekend, I was surprised by the price cuts. There was nary a sign boldly proclaiming "SALES", but clothes that were previously more than RM80 were now selling for less than RM40, and shoes that were RM199 were now selling for RM60.

Which was why SP "ter-buy" this awesome looking sneaker.

An outing at Pulau Jerejak

I decided to join the company outing last Friday in my attempts to recover from my slump. We were headed for Pulau Jerejak with plans for a paintball session and a go at pretending to be a flying fox.

It was my first trip to Pulau Jerejak and I didn't know what to expect. The ferry ride to the island was rather pleasant. I didn't get seasick, and everything was very orderly. Once on the other island, we had a pretty good view of the Free Trade Zone.

I couldn't sort what I felt. It wasn't a particularly attractive view since it's an industrial area, but I also felt an tingle of elation because I felt a disconnect from what the area represented - work.

So I decided to focus instead on the sky, which was quite attractive.


I didn't have any photos of my paintball session. Too bad, because I was particularly aggressive. The rules were, if you're out of ammo, you out. If you're shot, you're out. I certainly didn't want to go out without a fight, so within the first minute, I had claimed my 2 kills. Each kill was delivered by multiple shots to ensure without any doubt that it was a clear kill.

As I was preparing for my third kill, I got shot! In the head! I was pretty surprised because I was pretty sure I was hiding behind a wall. It was only later that it dawned on me that the "wall" was actually made of foam that didn't offer any protection.

Anyways, it was then time for the flying fox part. We had to cross a suspension bridge.


The flying fox was rather short, but thrilling. I wanted to go for seconds, but I wasn't allowed.

It was a fun trip. Tiring, but fun. I can't wait to have another go at paintball.