The portable espresso machine mypressi TWIST

Honestly I think most espresso machines are expensive. Especially if you’re staying in Asia, these espresso machines can cost you a lot more than you can imagine. So the only way that we can get a nice cup of espresso is from a coffee shop. I suppose not many people will try to get themselves an espresso machine unless they really love espresso very much or are fairly rich. Here’s an interesting product that I found that might interest coffee lovers. This is a portable espresso maker call mypressi TWIST. It’s just like a spoon where you just need to put in coffee and add hot water on it. Just check out the site and there is a video clip that you can see it clearly how mypressi TWIST works. One thing I’m disappointed with the video is they didn’t show how the complete process from the beginning until the end. I actually want to see how mypressi TWIST is used. It’s meaningless to see how the espresso flows out. The portable idea might be good but practically it might not be so good. I think most of us can make such a portable espresso tools after watching this. There are 2 things that we need to think of when making an espresso. First is to find a tool to press the coffee. Second is to let small amount of hot water flows through. Think you can solve this and make yourself a cup of espresso?

Second Trip to Kuala Terengganu

    After couple of months I’m taking another trip back to Kuala Terengganu again. This time my mission is to deliver a small transportation call “Kancil” from Penang to Kuala Terengganu. The delivery date was 1st Jan 2010 and I have two companions along the trip. The mission estimated will takes about 7 hours of driving. I have to say, driving such a small car on such a long journey is not a good idea. As this is the only option that we have, we just have to do it carefully.

    We start the journey at about 7am in the morning. Everything looks ok. The “Kancil” car has been check and service couple of days right before the journey. It should be fine and free from all the possible damage that can cause the car to break down. You definitely don’t want to have a break down in the middle of the trip from Penang to Kuala Terengganu. The first half of the trip is going up the hills and forest. The only thing that you can see is the road, a few transportation and lots of trees. One thing for sure, cell phone signals are not available at certain areas. So if you really do have a car problem, you’ll just have to ask those who pass by for. Imagine the helpless and danger that you might face if you were to drive at night. Plus animals like elephant or other wild animals might appear along the road during night time. For all that reasons, try not to drive at night if you’re heading to Kuala Terengganu from Penang.

    Driving a small car going up and down hills is not easy, or shall I say it’s far more dangerous than I think. That’s because there are lots of turns and the road condition is not good. Sometimes we have to keep a distance from trucks that carry tree trunks. A simple kiss from these giant trucks is enough to knock us down the hill.

    When we left the hills and enter the second half of the road trip, it began to rain. This part of the road is much safer because we can see houses, mosque and schools along the road. At least there are people living close by the road. For the second part of the trip, the rain is the problem. It never did stop raining once it started. A small car with small tires can easily slip when there is water on the road. Thus we have to drive slower than usual.

    We finally reached Kuala Terengganu but it took us about 7 hours of driving. Lucky this is the second time that we do this but with a smaller car, we have no problem in reaching our destination. As a reward for mission accomplish, we were treated will “Big Tea Rice” at Kuala Terengganu China Town. Check out the photo of the entrance that I took at night.

    We didn’t stay long in Kuala Terengganu. We left the next day taking the bus. The bus departed at about 9:30am in the morning and reached Penang at about 5:30pm. That’s about 8 hours of journey. Don’t think I’m going to take another long bus trip any sooner. It’s really painful having to sit in the bus for such long hours. When we reached the up hills and down hills area, haze form around the road. That’s about 4pm in the afternoon and it’s raining. Driving up and down the hills when it’s raining and the haze around, it’s just dangerous.

P/S: The trip is a bit dangerous but there are lots of great places that you can stop by for sightseeing. There are couples of small waterfalls close by the road that you can have a picnic too.

Having a cup of coffee while writing my weekly report

I still remember the days that I was required to submit a so call weekly report on Friday. The so call weekly report needs to mention the things that I did this week and the things that I plan to do next week.  Well, it’s not just me but everybody in the company need to write the so call weekly report, except the MD as he’s the one started out this activity. This is how I spend my Friday writing the so call weekly report.

1. First thing in the morning, open a new document using Microsoft Excels.
2. Start staring at the monitor thinking back what I did throughout the whole week. As it’s just the beginning of Friday morning, the brain activities are running low in batteries.
3. Having difficulty to start the brain engine. So decided to get a cup of coffee.
4. Back with the cup of coffee. Continue staring at the monitor while having coffee.
5. Starting to remember all the work done throughout the whole week.
6. Start writing the list from No.1 and watching the list increases.
7. Feels productive, busy, efficient, reliable and responsible
8. Complete the list for things done this week. Lunch break.
9. Back. Continue writing the list of things plan to do next week.
10. Can’t concentrate as it’s Friday. Having another cup of coffee.
11. Start planning and remember things that need to be done next week.
12. Start writing the to-do list without stopping. The list increases in a rapid speed.
13. Get overwhelmed, panic, having anxiety.
14. Work on the list. Read and revise.
15. Reduce the to-do list but increase the font size to make it looks “full”.
16. Starts to feel shame, waste of time, non value added, tired, freak out.
17. Give up writing and revising.
18. Submit the weekly report because instructed but did not know why the report is needed.
19. Time’s up. Prepare to go home.
20. Spend so much time on the weekly report and run out of time to actually do anything.

Malaysia is World’s No.5 Friendliest Country

I have to say I’m a bit surprise to see that Malaysia turns out to be No.5 in World’s Friendliest Country. According to an article from Yahoo Travel – World’s Friendliest Countries, Bahrain rank first, second is Canada, third is Australia, forth is Thailand and Malaysia landed fifth. For more details of the information you may go to Forbes.com. Information that I found interesting is that Malaysia turn out to be No.1 for organizing school for children.

    Before you jump into conclusion about anything, the survey is conducted by HSBC Bank on 3100 expatriates. That means it’s the point of view from people that comes to stay in Malaysia. So if you stay in Malaysia and never did stay in foreign country before, you might not be able to understand the difference. The truth is we normally see the good side of staying at foreign county but not the difficult side. I suppose we get those misunderstanding mostly from TV and movies. Those are just Cinderella stories and the magic disappear after midnight.