nokia N95 wireless adventure

Probably you have heard of Nokia N95 Wireless Adventure on TV recently. It's like a treasure hunt ala the Amazing Race with a twist.

Through the Nokia N95, your team which comprise of you, your team mate, a local celebrity and a media dude will work through a given list of 8 clues over the course of 2 days! The clues will lead you to different locations with specific tasks to carry out.

During the course of carrying out the tasks, you will navigate the city (using Nokia N95) and capture specific urban elements that make it unique. Interesting, right?

In the end you will unearth the Soul of the City (which I do not know what it is) as well as to unveil the grad prize which is a jeng jeng jeng... all paid expenses to Europe and Nokia N95!

I think there will be interviews for selected participants. I've already submitted my application last night. Just try my luck lar. Anyone interested to join too? Let me know. Maybe we can form an alliance later if we get selected.

finally HP said the desktop pc is ready

After my post yesterday, finally I have received a good news from HP this afternoon.

I did sent an email to the HP Marketing Manager (MM) yesterday asking the status of my prize, a HP Desktop PC which I won at the Window Vista Launch recently.

And today after failing to get the person in charge on the phone several times (I failed to get her on the phone yesterday too), I decided to call the MM himself. He told me that the PC is available for pickup.

I've just log on to my email and saw the MM's reply and he thought I already collected the PC.

I'm just glad that I called the MM or else the PC is going to sit at the office just because nobody cares to inform me (or should I say attend my enquiry).

I'm going to pick it up tomorrow and going to write a review about the desktop PC soon. Hopefully it's going to worth the wait.

where is my desktop pc loaded with Window Vista?

I have waited patiently. Indeed very patiently. My friends including a few bloggers and treasure hunters have been asking me the same questions repeatedly for the past 1 month.

"Hey, how's your new HP desktop PC, ah? Window Vista nice or not?" asked Shuh Yong.

"I'm sure you already get your PC by now," said a treasure hunter in an email.

"Wei, nice or not ah the PC? I thought we agreed to sell it at ebay and then split the money since we don't win anything at the Vista Walk Hunt?" asked Chia Chia, my treasure hunt team mate and friend.

"Joking only lar. What??? Serious ah?! HP haven't give you the PC, meh?" she continued.

"I told you to complain already. Supposed to be your birthday present, wert. Now after more than one month also haven't get. No stock, no stock. Ask them to give you a laptop with similar feature lar," my sister insisted.

"Yah, yah yah. I will call them again tomorrow lor. They said no stock mah. I also cannot do anything, wert. You know I don't like to ask so many times. Not that I'm embarrassed to ask for my prize. But I called so many times till people also scared liao," I explained to them.

"HP is a big company mah. If that model out of stock, sure they can afford to give something better than that model mah. You think which one is important? Owe people a PC or just give away a PC or laptop with similar model and save their face?" my brother added.

"Aiya, you all don't say liao lar. I pening already lar. Tomorrow I'll call again lar. Altogether I'm like call four five times liao. Email to the Marketing Manager also send liao. But he can't even promise me a date," I said trying to calm everyone down.

"I'll give them a call tomorrow and then see if they can settle that for me within this week lar. Seriously I lagi pissed off than you all coz I have to wait for more than 1 month liao. Window Vista punyer mood also tarak liao. Haih, we'll see how lar, ok?" I tried to convince them again.

winning a desktop PC @ the Microsoft Vista launch

Now I feel really bad for complaining about the Amazing Vista Walk Hunt for not providing better Hunt Kit in my previous post.

Why? Because today I received not only extra Microsoft Vista freebies (pen, notepads, paper clips, etc) but also a new HP Desktop PC preloaded with Window Vista for winning the 1st prize in the Windows Movie Maker contest.

I did not save up the 90 sec clip I submitted last night though. My clip is about Visit Malaysia Year 2007 with a little bit sense of humour by using the limited number of photos available in the PC available at the foyer of Low Yat Plaza.

When the Microsoft people called me on my mobile asking me to come over to the stage @ about 5 p.m. today, I was in PJ. Luckily my friends were there to be my representative.

Thank you to my friends (Shuh Yong, Chia Chia, Sok Ei, Jess and Dr Ho), Bro and Sis for taking part with me in the hunt. And especially thank you to my good friend Shuh Yong for noticing the contest and persuaded me to join. Shuh Yong, Jess and Chia Chia also helped me to pick up my prizes today. Love you guys! Congratulations to Dr Ho for winning the 3rd place in the Windows Movie Maker contest as well! Let's celebrate this week!

In the end, special thanks to Microsoft and HP for the prizes! Coincidentally, I'll be collecting the desktop PC on my birthday.

Amazing Vista Walk Hunt

It was quite a happening Microsoft Vista launch at Low Yat Plaza today. My friends, Sis, Bro and I were there to participate in the Amazing Vista Walk Hunt.

However, the registration sucked. There were too many people (about 675 participants altogether!) and very unsystematic. The so-called Hunt Kit was even worse. Well, perhaps my expectation was high. I expect more than just a can of carbonated drink, a wafer bar, a mineral water, a brochure and an ugly sissy black coloured Window Vista bag. Yep, not even a pen or note pad. I know this Walk Hunt is free, but this is the biggest launch by Microsoft, the richest company in the world. Not to mentioned there were only 8 winning teams out of 188 teams. With so many so-called big sponsors like Maxis, Samsung, Toshiba, Intel, Acer, etc, they could only offer so few prizes and freebies. I joined a free AXN mall challenge before and the sponsor (Brylcreem) was so generous we had lots of freebies apart from so many free games like rock climbing, baseball, terror ride, etc.

Despite the lack of system by Time Out Solutions during the briefing, the kedekut-ness of Microsoft and the simplicity (in another word, no uuumph) of the hunt (which only took us 1 hour and 45 minutes to complete and the questions are less challenging), my teams enjoyed ourselves very much. We enjoyed the fact that we were able to participate together in two teams. We did so much better this time eventhough half of us are newbies. It would be impossible to answer all questions with only one team going from sector to sector.

Although majority of the participants are young people, in their teens or early 20s, the winners are mostly 'old people' (read: pro hunters) with familiar faces like The Lucky Ones and Hunters 'R' Us who won in every single hunt. I have great respect for them and I wish I knew their strategies and how long they took to be where they are now. How do they do it?

After the race, a couple of my team members and I joined the Microsoft Vista Movie Maker contest. The results will be out tomorrow at 5 p.m. Anyway, I'm pretty intimidated by the huge crowd. So I'm not going back to Low Yat Plaza tomorrow.

Amazing Vista Walk Hunt

The people at Crystal Edge did a very good job in sending out reminders to participants of the Amazing Vista Walk Hunt. Not only I received a reminder email but each of my team members actually received a double text messages to remind us about the event on Saturday.

I actually split up my existing hunter friends so that we can have a better strategy with two teams. We sucked in the previous hunts. We don't have expectation to win but just to gain some experience, have more right rather than wrong answers and most of all, hoping for some good freebies to take home with (dear organizer, you know what to do!).

My team no is lucky 23, comprising my Sis, Bro, a friend and of course, yours truly. So, anyone of you joining the hunt, see you guys there.

bahasa Melayu crossword competition #1

Bahasa Melayu Crossword Puzzle Competition!

Win a 6 months subscription of Dewan Siswa!

This is the first academic crossword puzzle competition here. This month, the student (or even adult) who can give me the most correct answers will be entitled for a 6 months subscription of Dewan Siswa.

• The competition closes on Thursday, 15 February 2007. Winner will be announced on Saturday, 17 February 2007.
• The judge's (me!) decision is final.
• You can enter as many times as you want. But each set of answers must be accompanied with a slogan "I love/hate Bahasa Melayu because......"
• If there is more than one entry with all correct answers, the winner will be selected based on the best slogan.
• If there is no entry with all correct answers, the winner will be selected based on the most correct answers.
• To submit, just list down your answers (Melintang: 1. Asonansi, 2. Hiperbola....Ke Bawah: 1. Responsi, 2. ABAB....)
• Send all your answers and slogan to academicxwords@gmail.com
• Click here to download the file.

Tekata #1: KOMSAS Tingkatan 1

Melintang
5. Rima akhir bagi setiap rangkap Syair Menyambut Pelajaran ialah ___.
6. Pantun Budi ialah pantun ___ kerat.
9. “Laksana menumbuk beralas nyiru” dalam Syair Menyambut Pelajaran ialah gaya bahasa ___.
13. Di negeri manakah letaknya Tasik Biru yang menjadi sumber inspirasi kepada penyajaknya, Kemala?
14. Banyak udang banyak garam, banyak orang banyak ___.
15. Kata “pokta” dalam Syair Badrul Zaman ialah gaya bahasa ___.
17. Pengulangan huruf vokal "a" dalam baris “bila kita tiba-tiba merasa kehilangan” dalam sajak Puisi Buat Mama ialah gaya bahasa ___.
18. Kata “bersiram” dalam Syair Ken Tambuhan ialah gaya bahasa ___.
19. Latar masyarakat yang digambarkan dalam Syair Ken Tambuhan ialah masyarakat bangsawan ___.

Ke bawah
1. Nada sajak Puisi Buat Mama ialah ___.
2. Apakah maksud kata “khatam” dalam Syair Badrul Zaman?
3. Tema sajak Negeri Cinta ialah semangat ___.
4. Frasa “suara bibirnya” dalam sajak Seorang Guru ialah gaya bahasa ___.
7. Hancur badan dikandung tanah, ___ yang baik dikenang juga.
8. Sajak Burung ___ bertemakan kegigihan.
10. Kapal belayar dalam semak, perut lapar semua ___.
11. Sajak Surat dari Kampus menceritakan kejayaan anak kampung melanjutkan pelajaran ke menara ___.
12. Dahulu parang sekarang besi, dahulu sayang sekarang benci. Pengulangan kata dahulu ialah gaya bahasa ___.
16. Maksud kata kucupan dalam sajak Puisi Buat Mama bermaksud ___.
17. Apakah rima akhir Pantun Kanak-kanak?

You can also download from here.

AXN Amazing Mall Challenge @1Utama

When I woke up this morning, my body was still aching and there were bruises on my legs. My Sis asked me why I didn't sleep longer. I told her I'm still excited about the challenge and wanted to blog about it.

Yesterday, SY (my team partner) and I arrived early @1U. We walked around so that we can be sure that we were ready for the challenge. We registered at one of the booth, got our tshirts and a gel (by one of the sponsors) and we were asked to style our hair. No prizes for the best hairdo though. Right after we had changed into our t-shirts, we went back to the booth and sealed all our stuff (wallets, handphones, etc).

The Amazing Mall Challenge (AMC) started slightly later than the schedule which was supposed to be at 1 p.m. sharp. During the briefing, each team was given an envelop containing three checkpoint (CP) clues inside. We were told that we can do the first three CPs at random but at CP4 onwards until CP13, we need to perform the tasks in sequence.So we read our clues and off we went!

CP1 - 3: My team (Team 21) decided to go for CP3 because we (and most teams) thought it was better for us to go to the upper floor first as that was where the the cinema was. It turned out that the cinema wasn't the right place. Then, we tried at MPH to see if there's this "Big Fish" DVD there but again we failed. We tried the second clue at CP2 which we thought were at Starship Galactica. Again we were at the wrong place.

Then we decided to go to the lower ground floor and we were lucky to see other teams at Movie Magic! So we knew we were at CP3. The marshall was standing way inside the store and we saw everyone looking at Nelly Furtado's poster. We went to the marshall and read our task. We were asked to find a highlighted letter. They did not specify any particular poster or dvd but since everyone was looking at the poster, we looked out for the "highlighted letter" on the poster. Straight away we saw the letter "A" which was highlighted with a red-coloured tape. It was amazing because there were other teams who can't see it. Since it was a tight challenge at the beginning of this stage, we decided to only help Azlan's team (he was the husband of SY's colleague). Then we proceed to CP1, a golf shop which was a few shops away. We were required to perform golf putting and hit a ball into the hole each. It was an easy task. So now we needed to proceed to find CP2.

Almost all teams were clueless and struggled to find CP2. We went to Celebrity Fitness because we thought it could be the right place as the clue said "..play among the stars". There were marshalls there but turned out that it was CP4. We walked to the escalator and we were lucky enough to see a team and a couple of marshalls at a shop that sells travelling bags. We quickly dashed to the shop and perform our task which was to find an AXN tag. At the back of the tag, there's a clue saying "Superstar". We knew our CP4 was at Celebrity Fitness.

CP4: SY and I were the first team to arrive. First we had to run 1km each on the treadmill. That was completely exhausting as we rarely jog. Not to mention that we had never been to a fitness centre before. Another team (the guys from Explorace) arrived and in no time they beat us at this challenge. More teams came in. Then SY had to do 20 pull-ups and finally both of us had to perform 1km cross trainer each. No doubt this was the worst physical challenge of all. Once completed our challenge at CP4, we were given a baseball as our next clue.

CP5: On the baseball, there was the word "Hitachi" and a web address "www.hit.com.my". There was an electrical shop nearby and we tried our luck there. Since there were no marshalls around, we knew we were at the wrong place. So we decided to go to Starbucks or the nearest computer shop to borrow a computer to check out the website. We went to a computer shop and the owner was kind enough to let us use one of their laptops. We were surprised to find out that there's a batting cage at the rooftop of 1 Utama! Newly opened in mid 2006, it is the first automated batting cage in Malaysia. We headed to the rooftop and we saw a few teams there. We were required to hit 6 balls. After a few tries, we managed to complete the task and head on for the next CP.

CP6: We sucked at this CP. We spent so much time looking for the wrong places. At first we thought we are going to Nando's to have a feast (coz we were too hungry!). Finally we were lucky enough to met up with one of the member from Team 6 (sorry I couldn't recalled your name) and her team member Renee already left for Berjaya Times Square. She told us that CP6 was at the bowling centre (for god sake, we had no clue that "turkey" is a term used in bowling which means three strikes bowled consecutively). She on the other hand, had been looking for CP8 and we told her it could be rock climbing. Then, we rushed to the bowling centre. Thank god we didn't have to strike a turkey but only need to complete two frames (a combination of 10 pins for a team). We quickily finished the task and headed to CP7.

CP7: The clue for CP7 was easy to understand. It said something like "Tarzan's hometown" and we knew it was at the Rainforest. We were asked to get 2 members of the public to drink 2 bottles of mineral water. We went to the nearby restaurant and get two brothers (many thanks to Nicholas and his little brother) to perform the task. Once completed, the marshall told us that our team had to be separated; one of us will perform an extreme challenge and two other tasks while another team member had to go to Berjaya Times Square. So we decided that SY stayed in 1U and I went to Times Square.

CP7b - c: Many of us had to wait for the bikers to bring us to Times Square. After waited for like 15-20 minutes, it was finally my turn. It was a terror ride! Never in my whole life I was on a bike riding at 120km/hour on a highway to the congested KL city! I kept praying that all of us going to Times Square would be safe. Once arrived at Times Square, I quickily formed an alliance with Team 1 and we headed for our first task there. We knew we had to go to the theme park. Our task was to ride the DNA Mixer (it rotates in different directions 360 degrees) while solving a mathematical sum. My strategy was to get on the ride and quickily did the calculation in my head before the ride started. It was a helluva ride! The girls were screaming away while Azlan who was sitting next to me, and on his second ride, felt really uncomfortable. We managed to give the correct answer and head on the next CP, which was the IMAX theatre. We were given a torchlight and inside the cinema, we had to look for an AXN sticker each. Luckily the cinema wasn't really big and all of us managed to find the stickers in a couple of minutes or lesser. Now, we had to go back to our drop off point. On the way down, I saw Azlan sitting on the floor near the escalator. He said he had a cramp. Since there's no marshall, I stayed on and helped him push his legs. After a couple of tries, he seemed a lot better and we continued running back to the drop off point. There, all of us had to wait for the bikers to pick us up. I had to wait for about 15 minutes again. It was wasting time and there was nothing we can do to go back to 1U. We had no $ and the traffic was bad. So, we chitchat while waiting. Coincidently and thank god, I had the same biker who brought me to Times Square earlier on.

CP8: Earlier on, @1U, while I was waiting for my turn to go to Times Square, SY had to go to CP8 and perform the rock climbing task. She had an experience at the Outward Bound School (OBS) but it wasn't a good one. She always told me that it wasn't an easy task but insisted that she would do this task if it's one of the challenge. She also told me that at OBS, she only managed to climbed half way before giving up. However, her perception towards rock climbing completely changed right after the challenge at CP8 because it wasn't as tough as it seemed to be. She completed the challenge and head on to the next CP. Well, SY, I am proud of you because you managed to overcome this obstacle because this is the challenge that made us worried even before we decided to join this AMC.

CP9: While I was still waiting for my biker at the taxi stand, I saw SY heading to the central park opposite 1U. It turned out it wasn't the right CP. She knew that CP9 was either at the central park or at Giant. It was indeed at Giant supermarket. There she had to buy a list of 15 items. Some of the shoppers were very helpful. The problem with this CP was there were a few items which were out of stock and some of the teams had to wait for it to be replenished. Once the task was completed, SY had to go to CP10 to perform more task.

CP10: At first, SY thought that CP10 couldn't be the rainforest because she had already been there in our previous task. However, she followed her instinct and went there anyway. At the rainforest, she had to perform a task whereby she had to transport 5 eggs from the fourth floor onto the ground using a string. She had to wait for some time because only two teams were allowed to perform the task at a time. They had to transport the eggs one by one, touching the ground without breaking it. SY broke one egg and she had to eat an egg which turned out to be a half boiled egg (supposed to be hard-boiled).

CP 11: I was back @1U and saw a few teams solving jigsaw puzzles. SY was nowhere to be seen. So I had to wait for her. I chatted with other teams and found out that there were only 7 bikers during the entire race. We found out that there was one particular team who had to wait for 1 hour for her biker to bring her to Times Square. We also knew that the team who won was from the Explorace Challenge (shown on TV3). SY finally arrived and in a couple of minutes we completed the task and moved on the the next CP.

CP12: We only had about two minutes to solve this clue. We tried a few places including Travelmart. However, the bell was rang and time was up. We finally knew that CP12 was at Kluang Station. We were just one CP away from the finishing line but we had tried our best.

We went back to the finishing line. My Sis and our friend, CC, were there waiting for us. We didn't really know what was our position or how well we performed. I think only the first three places matters. After all, this was just a fun race. After the prize presentation, we had a buffet dinner. We said goodbye to some of the teams before knocked off at about 8 p.m. We brought home a goodies bag and a certificate of participation each.

SY and I really had a splendid time meeting new people and doing things that we never or seldom do before. It was our first experience participating in such race and we are looking forward to more competition like this in the future.

AXN Amazing Mall Challenge

My team is acccepted to the Amazing Mall Challenge this coming Saturday. The event is going to be held in 1 Utama and I think my team, the OutREACH team is ready. We are quite familiar with the new and old wings.

So far the only thing that bothers me is the possibility of rock climbing as one of the challenge. We are going for at least one training session one of this week day to see if we are able to do it. Well, my partner, SY tried rock climbing before and managed to climb half way before she gave up. But the thing is that was many years ago when she was studying in uni. We put on a lot of weight since then.

We have no prior experience like treasure hunt or extreme challenge so we have to depend on our good navigation skills and dare to try attitude. I'll use whatever knowledge I have and experience in watching reality tv and game shows to help us pull through this. On the other hand, SY is not really a fan of reality shows but she is one tough lady (she was a PALAPES).

We are not really there to win the $ but more of challenging ourselves and win some new friends. So, our strategy is to struck up with an alliance (like what we usually in on reality tv shows) and enjoy the game!

WWF rowing competition for charity

I was at the WWF rowing competition last Sunday as a spectator. My Sis was there to participate in the competition as she was in the Astro Rowing Team. Her team tried hard to chase the HSBC's second team to get a third place but their competitor was just too strong (maklumlah they had put in lotsa money and effort to came up with the result). I must tabik all the guys because most of them had to row many so rounds (each organization had to row about 40 rounds altogether from 9am to 4 pm).

Taman Tasik Titiwangsa is not a bad place at all to organize such an event. It's very clean and totally above my expectation (I always have this bad image about the place). It's also the right place to bring your children to and as for the adults it is the right place to find some peace and inspiration.

something to cheer about

AXN Asia: Something To Cheer About
First time lucky

So my blog about winning sports merchandise from Samsung Sports World is in AXN Asia's Sightings. It doesn't matter about the embarassment of mistaken the prize for something else.