An Encounter With A Unique CMD - Part 1

Just want to share with you my encounter with a CMD recently. Btw, what is CMD? Errm, it's actually stands for Chinese Medicine Doctor. My late old man used to be a CMD as well. But I didn't inherit his skills and mastery because I think I failed my Chinese Language. (Shhhhh!!! We keep this as a secret). Instead, I ventured into Engineering and that's why what I am today. Back to the encounter I had.... Why I went to see this CMD? The main reason is to see whether he can cure my "chronic" coughing or not. I cough once in a while, no blood but just cough and it's normally dry. The western educated doctors told me that I don't have any problems with my body. It's just the air and nothing to worry. Ok well, my wife is worry. Yes, she is also consulting the same CMD and recovering very well on her illness (not serious but chronic like mine), when the other doctors failed to do. But this CMD is not like the other CMDs or in this case not like my late old man. The moment I entered his room together with my wife, he immediately asked me to sit and started to ask questions. He started conversing in Chinese Dialect (Hakka) and then turned to English after a few lines. Yup, he speaks good English!!! Here's the conversation I had with him.

CMD : What's your name?
Me : Cheung Yin Fang
CMD : How old are you now?
Me : Err......(long pause)
CMD : Aiyoo.....why? you forgot your age ah?
Me : Hehe...I never memorized. Errr 1967, is about 41 by now.
CMD : ...... (he jotted down 40 instead)

Then, the interesting part...He stared at my chest and then look at my stomach. Basically, "See no touch" thing.

CMD : Did you drink enough?
Me : I think I drank enough....err...average 8 glass a day. Sometimes more...
CMD : Did you drink enough herbal tea? (Non-heaty beverage)
Me : err...not enough I think
CMD : Did you take enough veggie?
Me : I think I took enough veggie
CMD : You don't have enough fibre in your body.
Me : ?????
CMD : You have to drink more...
CMD : You have to increase you fibre intake...
CMD : Do not eat too much heaty food...
CMD : Your LIVER is burning (literary)....
Me : ???!!!!????
Me : Heaty food like...
CMD : Those non-steam food lah...(low water contain food)
Me : Ooohhh...

My wife then left me alone with him.
He started to write down the prescriptions in Chinese characters that I totally don't understand. (You guys already know my talent in Chinese Language). You see, he didn't even touch me.

Me : Do I need to drink more? How much do you think is enough?
CMD : Different people, different intake. You have to "communicate" with your body?
CMD : Give you one example, if I stay too long in an air-conditional room, is my water intake will be the same as yours?
Me : Definitely not...
CMD : Then, you already have the answer there.... (My work required me to be literary burning on the sun almost all day!!!!. But I did not tell him my nature of work. May be he read my blog....nay...impossible).
Me : So, I have problem with my "burning" liver?
CMD : Yes....
Me : Any serious damage?
CMD : No damage so far...otherwise you won't be here.
Me : ...... (I think I know what he meant)
Me : How about my lung?
CMD : Your lung is in perfect condition.
Me : (Thank God!!, I don't smoke btw)
Me : How about the "wind" in my stomach...
CMD : That's a different story. We tackle this one first.
Me : !!!!! (Shit!!!)
Me : .....Okaaayy
CMD : I'm done here. (with two A4 pages of prescriptions for me)
Me : Thank you, sir.
CMD : Welcome.

It cost me about RM130 for the prescriptions (basically packs of Chinese Herbal Medicines). Consultation fee is RM5 only. He doesn't ask for any charges. It's up to you, anyway. It's just a token, in this case a RM5 "Ang Pow" for his small 10'x 10' rented room in the Chinese Medicine Shop. He's not the owner of the shop. It's like a social service to the people that required alternative medical assistance. Btw, he's already 73 and look very healthy and strong. He walks faster than any other "Old" men on the street. If you did not prescripe to his medicine then you be in for trouble. He "KNOWS" what you did and did not. In the case of my mother-in-law who is also seeking for the cure on her breathing problem, he told her not to breed chickens anymore and the fact that she never told him anything. A lucky "Guess" or "Amazing"? For me, it's simply amazing. I must trust this guy. Oohh...right after the consultation, I took a heaty meal just outside the shop and I hope he will not caught me!!(Arrggggg!!!)

I have started the medicine and it doesn't taste bitter that I had expected. No side effect so far. I have finished my 1st set yesterday and two three more sets to go for an interval of 5 days for each set.

Good luck to me and I will share more on my next encounter.

Top 10 Tips To Getting More Mileage To Your Car

Your own a car? (or the Bank) Doesn't want to use the public transport and trying to figure out how to add more mileage to your car. I found most of the tips here from off-line NST. Here's the Top 10 tips achiving that.

1. Slow down
As speed increases, fuel economy decreases exponentially, so adhere to the speed limit. you'll save a lot of fuel and your journey won't take much longer. Maintaining a constant speed over long distances often saves fuels.

2. Accelerate With Care
If you accelerate to speed, then have to brake right away, that's wasted fuel. By anticipating the traffic and applying the slow and steady acceleration and braking, fuel economy may increase by as much as 20%.

3. Avoid Being Idle For Long
If you expect to stop for more than one minute, shut off the car. Restarting the car uses less fuel than letting it idle for this time.

4. Consider Turning Off The Air-Conditioning
Opening the windows and enjoying the breeze. It may be warmer, but at lower speeds, you'll save fuel. However, windows open especially at highway speeds, increases drag and results in decreased fuel economy of up to 10%. Opening window and turning off the air-conditioning on a rainy day? That's a big NO-NO.

5. Check Your Tyre Pressure
Under-inflated tyres increase fuel consumption. Be sure to check them when they are cool, since driving the car warms up the tyres along with air inside them, which increases pressure and gives a false reading.

6. Clean Out Your Car
Do the house-keeping. The more weight you car has to lug around, the more fuel it burns.

7. Buy Fuel During The Coolest Time Of The Day
Early morning or late evening is the best. Avoid filling the fuel tank to the top. Overfilling results in sloshing over and out of the tank. If fuel nozzle is autumatic, never fill the fuel tank past the first "click".

8. Beware Of The New Wheels
New wheels and tyres may look nice, and they can certainly improve handling. But if they are wider than standards tyres, chances are they'll create more rolling resistance and decrease fuel economy. If you upgrade your wheels and tyres, keep the old ones. For long road trips, standard wheels give smoother ride and better economy.

9. Travel Shortest And Straight
Remember that corners, curves and changing lanes requires extra fuel. The shortest distance between two points is always straight.

10. Regular Services & Maintenance
Send your vehicle for servicing regularly as proper maintenance avoids poor fuel economy related to dirty air filters, old spark plugs or low fluid levels.

Bonus tips

11. Install Fuel Saving Device
There are numerous type of fuel saving devices available in the market. Make sure you make a proper research before installing one. Most of these devices claim to give 20 to 30% increase in fuel efficiency.

12. Install NGV System
Joint the bandwagon. This is proven alternative fuel. Saving is 75% over compared to existing fuel price.

13. Other Alternatives
Interesting website I found here on alternative energies. I wonder when these alternatives will be available and affordable to our shore.

Additional

14. Turn Off The "Overdrive"

If you happen to drive an automatic transmission vehicle, just trust me on this one, turn off the "Overdrive" when you are on the traffic jam.

Mega Structure Loadout Video - The Unofficial Secrets & Guides

Wow….it has been two weeks since my last blog entries. Well, I was terribly busy with my J.O.B. (Just Obey Boss) and there’s nothing I can REALLY do because it’s my only Golden Goose that I can rely on at the moment. Work aside, I was asked by my friends about the video that I posted on the Mega-Structure Load Out. To be frank with you all gentle readers, I took the video all by myself by standing and walking around in blistering hot sunny weather at the place I work, just to get the best possible angles and positions. As a part-time amateur and may be not so qualified “videographer”, it was really a delight to be able to post the “Product” over the internet for others who did not witness the event and get positive responses at the same time. To share you how I did it, the simplify “facts and figures” below tell you the way.

Video Capturing - Video Camera : Sony HDR SR7 ; Video Taking Duration : 2 hours (From 12:10 Hours to 13:46 Hours) ; Format : DVD Quality 720 x 576, mpg format, 3000kps bitrates, 25 fps ; Total Clips : 89 clips for cumulative of 11 minutes video ; Captured Capacity : 804MB

Video Editing - Video Editing Software : Windows Movie Maker v6 (WMM6) ; Output Format : HD720p 1280 x 720, mpg format, 6000kps bitrates, 25fps ; Total Clips : 66 clips for cumulative of 5 minutes video, balance of 23 scenes deleted ; Output Capacity : 213MB ; Video Watermark : Watermark Master v2.0.7 ; Logo Creation : MS Excel and Paint.Net ; Background Music : “Space Road” by Casiopea from the album “Eyes of the Mind” ; Hardware : Dell XPS M1530, T9300, 3GB Memory, 250 HD, GT8600 Video Card, Vista Ultimate

Youtube - Video Compression Tools : Windows Movie Maker v.6 (WMM6) ; Output Format : QVGA 320 x 240, mpg format, 1512kps bitrates, 25fps ; Output Capacity : 53.5MB ; Hardware : Dell XPS M1530, T9300, 3GB Memory, 250 HD, GT8600 Video Card, Vista Ultimate

To watch the video again, please click this link.

There you go. I think most of you are surprised to see that I’m using WMM6 for video editing, MS Excel & Paint.Net for Logo creation? MS Excel for Logo creation especially? Crazy but not impossible. You need to play around with the available features in the software and you’ll be surprised to find out what you can do to get the desire result. Btw, I faced a huge problem with WMM6 limitation in handling multiple clips. It can’t compile more than 10 clips at a time. Meaning to say, I need to compile several smaller clips into one of bigger clip. At the end of the day, the total number is only 9 big clips instead of 66 smaller clips to ensure WMM6 working properly and it doesn’t hang! You don’t have to believe what I mentioned here because I’m a man. You just have to try yourself to believe it. Next assignment is the other Mega-Structure Loadout Video Clip. This time will be the MDA’s Topside Loadout, with more that 260++ clips altogether with 2.5GB video captured capacity. Unfortunately, I got a lot of things coming to me at the moment and wondering when I can complete the whole thing. Please give me some time on this one. One thing for sure, it's going to be headache….headache….headache….and headache for me.

In case my gentle reader has something to share, you know where you can drop a comment.