fourfeetnine – w w w . x e .s . c x

Timothy Tiah & fourfeetnine’s Wedding

I remember when I first spoke to Timothy. Nuffnang just started and he asked me to be part of Nuffnang to help out on legal matters. I immediately took up his offer without hesitation. At that time, I had the same idea of having a blog advertising network but since Timothy has started it, I abandoned my idea and took up his offer. Now Nuffnang has grown into a multinational company with presence all around Asia.

I also remember when I asked Timothy on when is he getting married to fourfeetnine. He said, “Not so fast la!”. But shortly after that the famous meme proposal video came out.

wtf

Their wedding was held in Penang. After having a bad experience in New York city (bed bugs, permanent scar from bunk bed), I decided to spurge a little on hotel. We stayed in Lone Pine Hotel, Batu Ferringhi. Lovely place, good service and great food. Ah.

Awesome tub outside our room

Place to chill out and feed mosquitoes

We swam here!

Timothy and fourfeetnine’s wedding was a Disney themed event. Up! was the flavour of the night.

Loads of balloons and lanterns.

There were plenty of people from the advertising industry and also bloggers. My wife and I were seated with the famous Sultan Muzaffar and Vivy Yusof and her husband. Muzaffar is now an editor at Gua.com.my whereas Vivy and her husband runs an online shopping mall, FashionValet. Internet entrepreneurship FTW!

Unlike my wedding, I managed to speak to Timothy a few times. Most of the time, it’s quite hard to get to speak to the groom and bride as they are too busy. For this reason, I usually disappear in the background and enjoy the food and company.

The hall was large and spacious

You can read more about Timothy and fourfeetnine’s wedding at Timothy‘s website and fourfeetnine‘s website.

The Year 2010 at a Glance

2010 went by like a breeze. I must say it has been a good year overall – although there had been some downs. Work was enjoyable, got promoted, parents are well, A and I hit our 3 years mark, got featured in newspapers and media and so on.

I read from somewhere that one should always look back on what has been achieved throughout the year and vow to achieve better next year. It is also good to reminisce the good and bad times in a year.

Here’s a summary of it. Click on the links for the full story 😀

In January, I got featured in Astro B.yond TVC together with other fellow bloggers.

Looolllinnnggg

In the same month, my 2nd article on Putik Lada was featured in The Star. I wrote about Social Media and Law

The entry was retweeted many times and got me a cool 400 page view! I’ll be writing another article on Putik Lada again in January – stay tuned!

April wasn’t a good month as I had a streak of bad luck. It started off with a RM100 parking fine. Then Mum had an accident, my car broke down in Court and got towed, tyre was punctured and petrol leaked from my car thereafter!

But the month of April was an eye opener. Jamie Toh broke “the world record” by finishing 10 sticks of raw siham cockles.

PURE RAW COCKLES SOAKED IN BLOOD!

May marks the death of my brother in law. May his soul rest in peace.

On the same month, I travelled to Boston to attend the International Trade Mark Association conference. In the meantime, I stopped by New York City.

I met up with Timothy Tiah and fourfeetnine there as well.

You can read all my entries on NYC and Boston here.

June sparked my interest in Data Protection. I was featured in The Star newspaper in an article entitled Keeping it Private.

It spearheaded me in this data protection field and got invited by various organisations to talk about the impending Personal Data Protection Act 2010. I did probably around 15 talks on this topic alone. Work started trickling in after all these talks.

Data protection wasn’t the only topic I spoke about. I spoke about social media as a panelist in the Asian Blogger & Social Media Conference with other fellow bloggers fehmes Niki Cheong, Kenny Sia and KinkyBlueFairy.

Right after the conference, I was featured in The Star newspaper in the article “Tweet below the law”

September is the month where civilians p4wned a robber. The security guards at my area caught a robber and got the robber’s picture published in a leaflet!

In November, I was featured in Klue magazine as one of Malaysia’s Top Ten Hottest Bloggers.

It was embarrassing -___-

Later in that month, the KL Bar IT Committee organised the IT Law Forum @ KDU College of Law and Business on 12.11.2010. Organising it wasn’t easy. We had so many twists and turns.

In the end, it went well!

December was an entry busy month for me. Although I took the entire month off to clear my leave, I had to go to the office everyday. Gah.

Anyway, I look forward to 2011. Happy New Year everyone!!! Have a great year ahead!

Maxis iPhone4 Launch

I attended Maxis’ iPhone 4 launch at Garden’s Hotel. As some of you may know, I am a lawyer by profession. Attending a product launch is something out of the ordinary for us practicing lawyers. It was definitely an eye opener and was glad to be invited to one!

I arrived at the Maxis iPhone launch at 11pm. There was already a long-long line! I thought long lines to get iPhone4 is a thing of the west! Heard some people waited until 6am for the phone!

Upon arriving at Garden’s Hotel, I was whisked into the VIP section for free flow of drinks and food. I was alone but luckily I bumped into a few bloggers such TimothyTiah, fourfeetnine, sixthseal and a few others. Hate going to parties and be alone :/

Fourfeetnine, kinkybluefairy, me and kennysia

ShaolinTiger and fourfeetnine – check out the height difference.

At 12am, the phone was launched and a press conference was held. The bloggers stood by the side while journalists cramp together to catch every word that was said. It was an eye opener to see real journalists in action. It was quite cordial. No pushing and shoving and journalists took turns to ask questions.

There was even a lucky draw for journalist. The lucky ones got themselves an iPhone 4! I should have gotten myself a blogger name card and drop it at the lucky draw bowl.

So after the press conference, it was time to get my hands on the new iPhone 4!

I got myself a 16GB. It compliments my iPad 16GB 3G! Heh.

It was already 130am when I got my new phone. I had to wake up at 6am to head to Seremban the next day. -_- Felt like a zombie the next day.

As for my review of the iPhone, I’ll write a review after I play with it for few days 😀

The prices are @ http://www.maxis.com.my/personal/iphone4/

New York City: Food Guide – Part II

This entry marks the last entry of my New York City 2010 series. Finally!

Cafe Sabarsky

I found this place through the recommendation of Yelp (popular social media website in the US). I was searching for a good place to eat around the Met Museum and this place was highly recommended by some people.

This Viennese café is located inside the Neue Galerie’s museum. The cafe is not visible from outside but you can see it once you enter the museum.

Although the cafe is quite small, the atmosphere was really, really nice.

fourfeetnine and TimothyTiah!

Latte to kick start my meal 😀

Sabarsky Heiße Schokolade (House made Viennese Hot Chocolate with
Whipped Cream) :D~~~~~~~~

Bratwurst mit Sauerkraut & Röstkartoffeln (Roasted Sausage with Riesling Sauerkraut, Roasted Potatoes & Dijon). Izz zoooo zesmalllll

Apple strudel here is highly recommended. Looks awesome. Unfortunately, I am not a big fan of cooked fruits. Hence the apple strudel tasted so-so for me.

Address
Neue Gallerie
1048 5th Ave
New York, NY 10028
Website: http://www.cafesabarsky.com/

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Magnolia Bakery

This bakery was featured in numerous movies and sitcoms – recently being Sex in the City.

This bakery has a few outlets around New York City and the one that I went was not the one featured in Sex in the City.

The highlight of this bakery is their cupcakes.

I think it was so-so. It was a little bit too sweet for me. But if you’re a big fan of cupcakes and have a sweet tooth, do try this.

Address
1240 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
Website: http://www.magnoliabakery.com/

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Burger Joint @ Le Parker Meridien

On my last night in New York City, Raymond said he will bring me to a place to eat burger. He brought us to an office building and I was wondering where could this burger place be. He then lead us to one small corridor and voila! a burger joint! It is tucked in a small part of Le Parker Meridien!

The interior, of course, was not fantastic. In fact, it was quite messy. The walls were scribbled with writings and there were left over food strewed here and there. We even had to clean the place ourselves.

However,the burgers were awesome! Many thanks again to Raymond for buying us supper!

According to many reviews, Burger Joint serves one of the best burgers in the city. Do try it out when you’re in NYC!

Other reviews
DMANBURGER “Burger Joint at Le Parker Meridien Hotel

Website: http://www.parkermeridien.com/eat4.php

Address
119 W 56th St,
New York‎

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Bloom’s Delicatessen & Restaurant

Sarah brought me to this place on my last day in New York City. According to her, this is a “crew joint”. That means a place frequent by steward and stewardesses.

The reason she brought me here was to try out this restaurant’s breakfast set. She said the food is good and huge. I usually have no problem in eating large meals but the breakfast in Brooms brought me down to my knees. It was huge!!

I had this breakfast set called Lumberjack – came with pancakes, eggs and bacon. There were 3 slides of pancakes and the pancakes were as big as capati!!

After my second piece of pancake, I surrendered. My “bottomless stomach” does have its limits. Those who wishes to try this, I would recommend you to share it with a friend unless you’re 130KGs.

Website: http://www.bloomsnewyorkdeli.com/

Address
350 Lexington Avenue,
New York, NY,
United States‎

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That’s all folks!

New York City: Food Guide – Part I

Before my trip to NYC, I was told that I should try the hot dogs on the streets. Well I did and I must say it was great!

American diners were another thing recommended to me. I am glad that I manage to eat there. It’s nothing special but it’s the experience that matters.

Anyway, here are some good places that I went.

Lombardi’s Pizza

This place was recommended by Raymond. It is recognised as the first pizzeria in the United States and was opened in 1905.

We were brought to the upper floor of the restaurant which only has a few tables. We ordered 2 awesome pizzas and I must say that they were awesome!

32 Spring Street
New York, NY 10012-4173, United States
(212) 941-7994
Website: http://www.firstpizza.com/

Open Weekdays 11:30am-11pm; Weekends 11:30am-12am

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Junior’s Cheesecake

On the next day, Raymond brought us to another awesome place for dessert – the famous Junior’s cheesecake. They’ve been around since 1950s and they have few branches all over NYC. Raymond brought us to the one at Times Square. In fact, it was so good that I went to Junior’s twice!

I would highly recommend the plain cheesecake. It’s quite big hence sharing is recommended.

Red velvet is good as well.

Devil’s Food Cheesecake was too rich for me. I was full after half a piece of this thing.

West 45th St. between
Broadway and 8th Ave.
Phone: (212) 302-2000

Hours (EST):
Mon–Thurs: 6:30am–12am
Fri & Sat: 6:30am–1am
Sun: 6:30-11pm

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Sushi Ichimasa

Timothy Tiah, fourfeetnine and I found this place by chance while waiting for our play to start. It is a small Japanese restaurant. Chefs were Japanese and one of them even visited Malaysia!

Food was fresh. Service was good. Price was reasonable. Place was cozy. It was perfect. What else more can you ask for?

I tried ordering my meal through Japanese. It’s been a while since I spoke Japanese. I managed to order my meal but the lady thought I was some second generation Japanese that cant speak proper Japanese -_-

302 W 50th St
(between 8th Ave & 9th Ave)

New York, NY 10019

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New York City: Avenue Q

Before my trip to NYC, Timothy asked me whether I’m interested to watch a play in NYC. I said yes and he bought me a ticket to watch this play called “Avenue Q”. The ticket costs couple of hundred ringgit.

NYC is well known for its plays and those who wishes to visit NYC should at least watch a play. There are many theaters in the city and tickets can be purchased online.

Back to Avenue Q, the play is played by actors and actresses holding puppets. It’s like the adult version of Sesame Street. There’s singing, swearing, cussing and sex (puppet sex to be precise). It was nice but I didn’t like the lady who played the role of an Asian stereotype who speaks with an Asian accent. I find it degrading to Asians just like how Bruce Lee finds Mr. Tanaka degrading in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. If you’ve seen the 1993 film Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, there was a scene where Bruce Lee and his girlfriend Linda Emery was watching Breakfast at Tiffany’s in the theater. Bruce seemed upset with the stereotypical depiction of an Asian man portrayed by Mickey Rooney as Mr. Tanaka.

Anyway, back to the story. Halfway through the play, jet lag kicked in and I zzzzz-edd….until the end of the show. I missed 3 quarter of it!

-_-

New York City: The Metropolitan Museum of Art – Part II

So after the Egyptian section, I wandered around until I reached a room filled with all sorts of armours.

This is the armour of Emperor Ferdinand I of Germany. It’s been around since the 1500s. The interesting bit of this armour is the part below.

They have an armour for his penis!

The Greek section. Boring stuff. I’m not cultured enough to appreciate it.

2 men playing Liubo, a popular ancient Chinese board game during the Han dynasty. The exact rules of the game are unknown, but it is believed that each player had six game pieces that were moved around the points of a square game board that had a distinctive, symmetrical pattern.

This guy looks like George Bush!

Kwoma ceiling.

Gold pendants from Colombia 1 – 7 century. Still shiny after so many years!

A thousand over years old shoe. I did a throughout check on it to see whether there are any trade marks on it. Apparently, trade marks are used since the Roman days for swords. Interesting!

New York City: Woodbury Outlet Stores

Woodbury Outlet Stores is well known for its low prices for designer brands such Adidas, Banana Republic, Burberry, Brooks Brothers, Calvin Klein, Coach, Chanel, Dior, Giorgio Armani, Gucci, J.Crew, Nike, Polo Ralph Lauren, Prada and so on. You can literally stay here for 2 days just to shop at this place.

To get there, you can take a bus from Port Authority Bus Terminal. The costs is around US47 (!!!!). You can ask the Information Counter for the counter to purchase the bus tickets. I sat on the Grayline. It takes about an hour to get to Woodbury.

If you look properly, you can see fourfeetnine doing a V sign.

The stores are spread all over the area. There is no covered walkway. If the weather forecasts say its going to rain, bring an umbrella or wear a hoodie.

If you’re planning to buy a lot of stuff, you can bring a luggage bag. Don’t worry about looking odd as you won’t be the only one.

Our shopping spree started as soon as we stepped into Woodbury. I bought some hand bags and the lady at the counter gave a paper bag to carry my stuff.

Halfway shopping, it started raining heavily and I had to walk under the rain. My paper bag started to tear. I then went back to the same store for a plastic bag but all they had was paper bag. The lady gave me two.

Unfortunately, the two paper bags didn’t last. As we were about to leave, my last paper bag broke and all my stuff dropped out. A passer by was kind enough to give me his paper bag (of a cheaper brand!). The paper bag lasted me throughout the entire journey -_-

Our bus trip back was a bit dramatic. The line into the bus was long. Tim and fourfeetnine managed to squeeze into the bus and got themselves a seat whereas I was stuck behind. The bus had no more seats when I was about to board. Fortunately, Tim persuaded the bus driver to let me in. I told the bus driver that I’m willing to stand for an hour. Bus driver allowed me in!

Tim and fourfeetnine were nice to let me share their seat with them! But the seats were so small that I only had a quarter of my butt on it. -_-

New York City: Manhattan – Part III – 5th Avenue

After our trip to Empire State Building, we ran out of places to visit. A friend of mine suggested that we check out Abercrombie and Fitch at 5th Avenue. Tim said we must check the place out. According to him, he went to the Abercrombie and Fitch in London and it was an eye opener! They apparently hire good looking models to run all over the place. The girls would be skimpily dressed and would dance to the music in the shop. It’s like a club according to Tim. At that moment, I said to myself, “I MUST GO THERE AT ALL COSTS!!!!”.

But the walk from Empire State Building to 5ht Avenue was torturous. My legs felt like it was about to drop off. I guess its because we walked a lot in the morning.

1 hour later..we finally reached 5th Avenue…

There was a queue in front of Abercrombie and Fitch. It’s like lining up to enter a club.

Then when we enter…no skimpily dressed girls.. no girls dancing to music. But there were many muscular guys around. GAAAHHH

Anyway, the famous Trump Tower is opposite Abercrombie and Fitch. If you don’t know, Trump Tower is the place where they shot the reality TV show, “Apprentice” featuring billionaire Donald Trump.

I visited the building during my trip back from Boston. Almost the entire lobby is gold in colour. Most of the name of the shops would have the name “Trump”. Trump this, Trump that. There was also some merchandises using the brand name Trump. Donald Trump must love his name so much.

Trump Cuff links

Trump Vodka

We took a bus back to our hotel to meet up with fourfeetnine and her brother, Ooib.

4Feet9

We then met up with Raymond, one of Tim’s blog readers. Raymond is a Malaysian but currently living and working in New York.

Raymond is a New York foodie and he knows the best places to eat in NYC. Whenever I wanted recommendation for places to eat in NYC, I would text Raymond telling him my current location. He would then reply me with the recommended place to eat! Better than Google.com!

So anyway, we went to this place called Lombardi’s. It is the oldest pizzeria in the United States! Will blog more about this place in my NYC Food Guide entry later.

After that dinner, I moved my stuff to my hostel in Brooklyn. It’s nicely decorated but my room is quite small although it is actually meant for 2. It was just nice for me.

Each room has different pictures

What to do when you check in..

The place is nicely decorated as well. But I hardly saw anyone around.

Next entry, Woodsbury Outlet Store!

New York City: Day 1

If you didn’t know, I had to bunk over at TimothyTiah‘s hotel because I didn’t book a place to stay in NYC on my arrival night because I thought I’ll arrive the next day. All my travel schedule throughout the entire trip was a comedy of errors. I think I can have one blog entry just to blog about all the wrong things I did. I really need a PA.

Anyway, after touching down in JFK airport, I took a bus to Manhattan. It took around 40 minutes and it only costs me USD15. The bus dropped me in front of Grand Central Terminal on the 42nd Street.

And I had no idea where Grand Central Terminal was. Thank god the roads system in Manhattan were easy to understand.

Tim’s hotel is about 20 streets away hence I dragged my luggage to his place. So upon arrival at Tim’s hotel, I dropped my stuff there and we headed to Times Square thereafter.

This is Tim’s hotel room. Comes with a small toilet with frosted glass walls. Niama can see Tim’s nekked silhouette.

We had a hot dog while on the way to Times Square. I had ketchup, mustard and onions on it. It tasted awessomeee! Mustard was extra sour!

Although there was an attempted terrorist in Times Square few weeks before, the place was packed. The buildings had magnificent amount of lighted and illuminated billboards in all sorts of shape and sizes.