|
Submit
Photos to ShutterStock and make money!
|
| Sunday,I'll bury my friend. |
| 07.29.04 (7:21 am) |
I'll be away until Monday. I'll be busy with the burial preparations tomorrow and saturday.
The casket is scheduled to arrive here in Kuching on Saturday - noon. I'll be at the airport with close friends to receive the casket along with family members.
This is only the second time in my life, I've had to bury a friend. Only this time it hurts even more. It hurts because I grew up knowing Jason. This lost is too deep to describe. Its one of those things that will linger long in my life.
My heart also goes out to the families of all those that were on the heli. I pray that God in His grace and mercy will be close to all of them.
God bless.
|
|
2 Comments
|
| |
| All accounted for. May they rest in peace. |
| 07.28.04 (5:57 pm) |
[image]objectzero_7887627 07.jpg[/image]
[i]FIVE BODIES FOUND AT CRASH SITE
By Stephen Then
MIRI: Five bodies have been found at the Hornbill Skyways helicopter crash site at Gunung Murud, north-west of Pa Lungan, near the Sarawak-Kalimantan border.
The five were among the seven people on the aircraft that went missing in a remote area of Sarawak 17 days ago.
Four bodies were found in the helicopter, one in the pilot’s seat. Another body was found outside. [/i] [more]
The above was yesterday's news.
At 7.30am today my family got word from a relative that the missing two were found. Hopefully today all the bodies will be flown to Miri to be returned to their families.
I am going to miss my friend Jason Eng. He was my mentor and close friend. My heart goes out to both his wife Mui Ling and daughter Alicia.
The church leaders will be meeting today to discuss the preparations as we have to bury three of our church members. I pray I'm strong enough to attend that meeting .
God bless all...
|
|
2 Comments
|
| |
| Heli found hidden in obvious sight |
| 07.27.04 (4:56 pm) |
[i]SAR TEAMS DISPATCHED TO HELI WRECKAGE SITE
MIRI, July 28 — Search and rescue (SAR) teams were dispatched at 6 am today to a site at the foot of Gunung Murud where the wreckage of a helicopter believed to be that of the Hornbill Skyways helicopter which went missing on July 12 with seven people on board was spotted at 5.15 pm yesterday.
The area, northwest of Palungan, is a 10-minute helicopter ride away from Bario or a three hours’ walk from there.[/i] [more]
[i]LOST HELI FOUND
Fate of seven on board unknown
THE Hornbill Skyways helicopter, which went missing 16 days ago on July 12, has been found.
It had crashed 2 to 3km north-west of the highland settlement of Pa Lungan, about 10 minutes by air or three hours' walk from Bario.
Pa Lungan is just over 6km north-east of Bario - from where the ill-fated helicopter took off for Ba' Kelalan that July 12.
However, the fate of the seven people on board the helicopter is still not known.[/i] [more]
[i]RESCUERS FIND WRECKAGE BUT FATE OF SEVEN STILL UNKNOWN
by Stephen Then and Sharon Ling
KUCHING: The wreckage of the Hornbill Skyways helicopter, which went missing in a remote area of Sarawak 15 days ago, has been found but the fate of the seven on board is still unknown.
The wreckage was located about 4km from the foot of Gunung Murud, north-west of the original flight route, – a place that had been thoroughly searched previously. [/i] [more]
[i]MISSING HELICOPTER LOCATED
MIRI – The Hornbill Skyways Bell 206 helicopter that went missing on 12 July has been located yesterday afternoon.It was located at the foot of 7,900-ft Mount Murud, Sarawak’s highest mountain,to the northwest of Pa’ Lungan, about 10 minutes flying time and about four hours on foot from Bario.The trek would involve traversing treacherous terrain and thick virgin jungle. Several ground search parties left early yesterday evening for the site and they will be joined early this morning by others.[/i] [more]
GOD knows how they missed it all this time...
[line]
Latest I heard as of 11.45am today is that family members were called to go to the Miri hospital. High probability there are no survivors or we would have heard of it by now.
|
|
1 Comments
|
| |
| Politicians mood-swings |
| 07.26.04 (11:14 pm) |
[i]Hornbill Skyways missing chopper
SAR DECISION TOMORROW
Cabinet to decide if search is to continue, be scaled down or called off: Dr. Chan
MIRI: The state government will decide tomorrow whether the search operation for the missing Hornbill Skyways helicopter with seven people on board will continue, be scaled back or called off, as the aerial search has already been scaled back and the ground search now is relying more on local tribes people.
The director of the search operation, Tan Sri Dr. George Chan, in his daily press briefing last night said he would be reporting to the Cabinet on the operation tomorrow.[/i][more]
The search effort has already cost them RM1 million so far. As I've blog before cost will come into play - much sooner than I thought.
After all the high-tech stuff that was thrown at this mission eventually it will be the simple village folks who will find them.
|
|
0 Comments
|
| |
| DAY 14 - Two Weeks wait |
| 07.25.04 (7:04 pm) |
[i]CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA (news - web sites) is about to embark on its hottest mission ever, to Mercury. The Messenger spacecraft, to be launched next week, will be blasted by up to 700-degree heat as it orbits the tiny planet closest to the sun — so close that it would be as though 11 suns were beating down on Earth.[/i] [more]
[line]
[i]Hornbill Skyways missing chopper
[b]PENANS SPEAK ABOUT STENCH AROUND LONG REPUNG[/b]
BARIO: This may just be another long wild shot but authorities in Bario are not ruling it out.
A group of Penans who set out to Long Repung three days ago claim they felt the smell of “something like that of human corpse” inside the dense, rugged jungles some two-and-half mile walk from here.[/i] [More]
Last night the above report was confirmed. The stench was that of a dead deer.
[b][i]WAITING FOR DAD TO RETURN: JEMIMA TAGAL[/b]
BA' KELALAN, July 22: I AM writing this in Ba' Kelalan, a small village at the foot of Mount Murut, the highest peak in Sarawak.
As I write, more than 10 helicopters are cruising the skies searching for a missing Bell 206 Long Ranger helicopter and about 1,000 people are scouring the jungles in a remote corner of Borneo, looking for seven men who were on board the missing aircraft.
My father, Dr Judson Sakai Tagal, is one of those missing. He is a State Cabinet Assistant Minister, an assemblyman and a consultant surgeon. Above all, he is my dad.[/i][More]
[line]
As of today (the 14th day) an area north-east of Bario will be searched. There are credible sightings of a helicopter in the Terusan area, which is situated in between Lawas and Limbang, northeast of Bario on day of the incident (12th July).
Eye-witness accounts say that a helicopter flew into a storm structure over Lawas and exited the structure over Terusan. All accounts mentioned that it flew low, low enough for them to see the colours of the helicopter and was flying irratically after exiting the storm structure.
Weather reports for that day suggest that Brunei (which borders Lawas and Terusan) was hit by a micro typhoon.
It is highly logical for them to be in that area and search teams are heading to Limbang to conduct a more detailed search of that area.
What erks us is that the police did not take the eye-witness accounts seriously at the time the reports were made. All reports should be taken seriously until proven otherwise.
The eye-witnesses are simple people and they know a helicopter when they see one. When you have a body of people saying the same thing, who a located over a common geographical area, then there must be some truth to the story.
[line]
Today my son Ryan is 1 month old. The chinese call it "Full Moon", so we are having a small gathering of family and friends tonight. My wife has now got permission to move freely by my mum-in-law.
It is amazing how your decision making process is changed after having a child.
You no longer think for two but have to include a third. Nowadays, wifey and I can't just run off for a movie on the spur of the moment.
We have to actually plan it - who takes care of Ryan? How long are we going out? Will he look for us when we are away?
So I'll have a nice reason to start stoking up on DVDs.
|
|
1 Comments
|
| |
| My Life's Updates |
| 07.23.04 (9:09 pm) |
[image]objectzero_9494813 31.jpg[/image]Currently playing Spiderman 2 on the PS2 in between feeding Ryan and watching reality shows.
Nice game so far but I got really tired of chasing that funny cat-woman villain all over the city. Climbing sky-scrapers and jumping off really gets me feeling weird in the tummy (fear of heights) and the story-line does give the movie away.
(Confession) I've not seen the Spidey2 movie yet....
Would I finish this game...60% chance I would unless I go on to another game. But thats another blog.
|
|
0 Comments
|
| |
| osama.virus and choking control towers |
| 07.23.04 (5:28 pm) |
[i][b]False reports of Bin Laden's death snare internet users[/b]
Osama bin Laden is trying, knowingly or otherwise, to take over the world disguised as a computer virus.
Thousands of messages have been posted on internet chat-rooms with a subject line suggesting that journalists have discovered that the leader of al-Qaida has been found hanged.[/i]
[more]
[i][b]Virus Purporting Bin Laden Suicide Hits Web[/b]
SEATTLE (Reuters) - A virus purporting to show images of Osama Bin Laden's suicide popped up on the Internet on Friday, designed to entice recipients to open a file that unleashes malicious software code, security experts said.
The virus was attached to a message that was posted on over 30,000 usenet newsgroups and is not being spread via e-mail, said Web security vendor Sophos.[/i] [more]
Osama's doing his bit for a place in history - terrorise the world both real and virtual.
Guys, he's not hiding in Afghanistan. He's probably hiding in a cyber-cafe,giggling like a school girl on her first date, sending out a virus to terrorise us internet users.
[line]
[i]Day 12: Hornbill Skyways missing chopper(Yesterdays' news flash)
Search and rescue enters 12th day
BA KELALAN — The search and resuce operation for the missing Hornbill Skyways helicopter with the pilot and six people on board has reached the second phase. ..more
Source: Bernama 10.40 a.m. +0800GMT[/i]
Today is day 13 and the latest we've got from Jason's wife is that they are having a meeting today with the various heads to discuss the next course of action.
I've got word that on the day of the incident there was no-one in the Bario control tower. Normal practice is that helicopters flying that route would make call-backs at 10 minute intervals. On that day there was noone to receive their call-back since the guy who was suppose to be on call went fishing. Total breach of SOP!
In looking at this information, noone can clearly say where they are or whether the heli actually flew the normal route cause nobody traced their flight path! There is speculation that they ventured else-where since they were on a hydro surveying flight. This explains why the search area has now been widen with more people combing other areas further east of Bario.
What I'm blogging here is blacked out by the media because it is an embarassment to the DCA. The official story is that the heli lost contact with the Kota Kinabalu control tower 3 minutes into the flight. Why Kota Kinabalu when the Bario control tower is just round the corner?
Duh, the Bario control tower was closed,empty,nadai orang,man-was-busy...I hope that guy choke on a fish bone.
|
|
0 Comments
|
| |
| Farenheit-11 beating round the Bush |
| 07.22.04 (7:57 pm) |
[i]President Bush says he agrees with the findings of the commission that investigated the September 11th, 2001 attacks and will seriously consider the panel's recommendations.[/i] [more]
[i] WASHINGTON – The panel probing the September 11 terrorist attacks does not blame US President George W. Bush and his predecessor Bill Clinton for failing to thwart the strikes, senior US officials said Wednesday. Instead, the commission will report Thursday, al-Qaeda terrorists skillfully exploited“deep institutional failings within our government” to carry out attacks that most likely could not have been prevented, they said. [/i] [more]
So cun one, just before the elections this nice report was written and released. I personally think that sending troops into Iraq was a mistake. They should have clean up the mess in Afghanistan first - help the people there and then eye-ball Iraq.
In actual fact they are now fighting two wars on equal terms thus spreading their army thin.
Just my 2 cents...dont like,dont like lo.
[line]
Day 11 : Hornbill Skyways missing chopper
Search for missing heli, pilot and six passengers continues
MIRI — The search for the missing Hornbill Skyways helicopter, its pilot and six passengers in the Bario Highlands of Sarawak entered its 11th day today.
Source: Bernama News 12.15 p.m. +0800 GMT
As of yesterday they are widening the search area with the hope that they landed outside of the normal flight path. The SIB church today (as a whole) will have congregational prayers beginning at 8.30pm through out the state.
[line]
THE MALAYSIAN FRONT
Politician being marked for assassination...hm somebody is pissed off.
Salesgirl lends her weight to fight crime - hehehehe hooray! Just when the cops were told to loose weight or loose promotion.
M’sia blasts news reports on ransom payment - all because we are kingpins of the worlds' under-ground bookie scene doesn't mean we'll venture into random ransom payments.
|
|
1 Comments
|
| |
| The Search Continues... |
| 07.22.04 (12:32 am) |
Weather - cause of most crashes. Yup, we already knew that long ago but why on earth did the pilot choose to take off, is the un-answered mystery.
Maybe this will answer the mystery. They are probably some-where else after being sucked up by a black-hole.
Is it me but the japs have really horny teachers.
[i]
Teacher sacked for relationship with student
MORIOKA -- A married public high school teacher who carried out a steamy relationship with one of his students has been summarily dismissed, Iwate Prefectural Board of Education officials said.
The 37-year-old teacher and father seduced the girl after she came to him to seek help with problems she was suffering at home.[/i] [more]
|
|
0 Comments
|
| |
| Annoyed |
| 07.21.04 (7:47 pm) |
:x Still very upset from last nights incidents. Just feel that all these things are plain childish. Why can't these two women get along? Both are strong-headed and un-willing to give way to each other. And yours truly gets caught in the middle.
I'm caught in a jam....
If things get too hot at home, I may just pack my stuff, take Ryan and we'll go on a holiday far,far away. I'm more than capable of taking care of the two of us. Allow the women to slug it out and get their differences out of the way. Then we'll come home.
I've always knew that getting married was not a walk in the park but little did I know that when a baby arrives, it's a walk in a mine-field....
regards,
|
|
0 Comments
|
| |
| ARHHHHH |
| 07.21.04 (4:52 am) |
:evil: i come home n what awaits me?
i hv to play referee to wifey n mum! all becoz Ryan (my son) beens crying the whole day because he has a hard time passing motion.
Man, shit happens!
Wifey has her own way, mum has her way and both of them are pushing their own way while Ryan's needs are not met. The kid just want to shit it out not become a pawn to prove who's right when it comes to raising children.
Man i already hv enough to live on when at work. I just don't need another fire to fight when I come home...
God help me...
regards,
|
|
0 Comments
|
| |
| Sitting in the Dark |
| 07.21.04 (12:53 am) |
The search is still going on with both air and ground units moving around the region. We also have an american air-plane joining in the search. Hopefully it has got its bearings correct, unlike this one.
I have to slowly come to terms that right now we can only wait and hope.
Even the Search and Rescue team are in danger.
Somehow cost could be an issue in the search.
[line]
China offers to transfer missile technology. Ok, another "Malaysia Boleh" thingy in the works? At one time I thought Malaysia wanted to send an astronaut up into the highest heaven then it died out.
Maybe the powers that be remembered that to send an astronaut into space, one needs a rocket or lets build one ourselves. Save cost mah...
Malaysian Idol is currently being screen on 8tv but someone forgot to tell the BlueHyppo webmaster to take off the online registration form. Lets just register and see whether we can make it in the next season try-outs.
To some; Malaysian Idol is "evil". Fear the evils of en-croaching western idealisms...
I [b]watched[/b] it (Malaysian Idol) for the [b]comedy[/b].
regards,
|
|
0 Comments
|
| |
| Life moves on |
| 07.19.04 (10:44 pm) |
Nothing on the downed helicopter. All I can say is that some people are now turning to the super-natural to get anwers. Friends and family are going against this.
Its funny that when technology cannot solve the mystery they turn to [i]bomoh[/i] (witch-doctor) in order to seek an answer.
Before you know it stories of alien abduction would surface in order to explain the disappearance of the heli....
[line]
Ryan kept me awake this morning. He's back to his regular cycle of sleep, wake-up at 2.30-3.00am, take milk, sleep and wake up at 5.30-6.00am, take milk and sleep.
I envy that little guy....wish we all can have that kinda life.
[line]
Work is another story, been keeping my distance from a certain office mate. I received word that this person has not been giving kind words about me to others. Its sad cause I always thought of him as a friend. Little did I know that behind it all things were different. This has shaken my view and trust in other people. Its made me wary of so-called-well-meaning people. You never know what they really think of you. For all you know, they probably hate your guts.
All I can say to this guy is "We all carry our own load buddy. Whether you like it or not."
[line]
I better spend more time with wifey. This week I've been a shadow husband. Being too busy with work and prayer meetings at church has not been good. All are good stuff but I should be spending more time with wifey and Ryan. Have to get my priorities right.
It is so easy to neglect those that are the closest to us when we think we are doing a really good thing.
regards,
|
|
0 Comments
|
| |
| Faith in a miracle |
| 07.18.04 (7:56 pm) |
Rescue mission for the missing Bell 206 helicopter starts to intensify
There is still hope for missing 7
It's cold out there in the highland jungle
[LINE]
Since Friday I've heard rumours and more rumours. All of them seem to tell the same story. That after a week of being missing, is there any hope of survival? Are they still alive?
I have reach a stage where I have no more words for prayer. Now, it's all "Your Will be done". I remember the last night Jesus spent on earth, all he said in His prayer was "Your Will be done."
For Jason's close friends we have reach that stage where we reach the end of self. We place our hopes on a miracle.
All I pray for now is closure. That we would know what happened. Day in,day out we wait for news. The worst day is when there is no news at all. The only news being that the Search and Rescue teams are still searching, Those days seem longer than normal.
I watched my son sleep this morning before going to work. If it is my time to go I want him to know his father lived a life worthy of mentioned. That his father was no slacker, that he can be proud of me. I want to leave him a legacy to follow. One which makes him proud that he is my son.
It's one of those moments that makes you look at your life. I guess in this situation I've learnt to look closely at my life. That my friends also would think of me foundly and respectfully. That I'd be remembered for being the person I am.
regards,
|
|
0 Comments
|
| |
| We're still praying |
| 07.15.04 (7:32 pm) |
Four days and the rescue efforts have drawn in a blank. It's back to square one as several leads pulled in a dud.
The up-lifting news I got yesterday night was that they have food supplies for three days on board the heli. Medical supplies and life jackets are also available on the heli. I know that one of the passengers has ashma.
If they crashed without major injuries then I believe they would still be alive. Well enough to fend for themselves and wait it out.
The weather was good today in Miri, good enough for the search team to check out another lead. We are praying that this one would turn up something.
By far it is the most promising one yet. It is a sector that they have not searched yet and one that would provide them a good place to make an emergency landing. Not sure of the name but it is a mountain south of Bario with a river next to it. The downed helicopter was on a survey mission for a hydro-electric project so they could have gone to the said mountain rather then follow the normal routes that helicopters would take.
We're praying and hoping that something would turn up today. All we have had are silly rumours and bad news-reports.
regards,
|
|
1 Comments
|
| |
| There is hope |
| 07.14.04 (12:51 am) |
Got some up-lifting news this afternoon from Jason's wife. One of the rescue heli's picked up what is believed to be a S.O.S signal. This could indicate that they are still alive and waiting to be rescued. I now hope and pray that the weather holds long enough for them to pin-point the location of this signal.
I'll be praying hard tonight at the prayer virgil in church.
regards,
|
|
0 Comments
|
| |
| Still shell-shock |
| 07.13.04 (5:28 pm) |
A dear friend of mine - Jason Eng is on this heli. We received the news that they were missing late Monday night at a small dinner which he was to attend after coming back from that trip to Bario.
Yesterday was an emotional roller-coaster for family and friends when reports of them having been discovered started circulating. I was pissed off when the reports turned out to be false.
Apparently some official (I can finger this official but I'd be sued) blew his mouth off and was quoted by a news agency. The story was picked up by other news-papers and for about 4-5 hours we lived in the assumption that we would see them soon.
As of today search and rescue teams will be moving into Kalimantan since there were eye-witness accounts (yesterday) of seeing the heli flying low in that area on Monday. There is a possibility that they actually ventured off into Indonesian territory due to bad weather.
We pray that the weather would be better, that they are safe and we will see all of them back home.
regards,
|
|
3 Comments
|
| |
| This is three weeks. |
| 07.11.04 (4:09 pm) |
:shock: It's funny that my previous blog did not get blogged.
Sorry I have disappeared for three weeks. Thanks for the congrats.
Anyway, baby is three weeks old and finally going into a routine. Sleep the whole day, wake up at 2.00am, milk, sleep, wake up at 5.30am, milk, take bath and then continue sleeping.
In three weeks of fatherhood I have learnt the following lessons:
1) Diapers come in sizes.
2) Powder-milk brands would promise you the world but they all taste the same.Don't ask.
3) Gas is not something embarassing to babies. It's a way of releasing stress from both ends - burp and fart.
4) My kid watches Akademi Fantasia (Fantasy Academy - some singing reality show). Reality shows will rule the generation my kid would live in.
5) If you don't like the taste of milk just spit it at grand-pa, mummy and daddy.
6) If nappy can't hold water just aim at grand-ma.
I envy that little fella...
[LINE]
Listening to the radio on the way to work and something the dj said struck me. 97% of prank calls to the emergency numbers are actually from lonely women (Zain posted an article on his blog on this subject).
Now this could be cause by many things:
1) The sexiest men on earth are emergency-call-operators
2) Emergency-call-operators have all the pick-up lines that none of us mere mortals would ever learn.
3) Malaysia is so safe from disasters that our un-used resource (emergency lines) are now used to service the most basic of needs - the eradication of loneliness.
4) Where have all the good men gone? Yup, they all became emergency-call-operators.
5) If the operators wanna get serious with you, you don't have to leave your number. They'll just trace you and pick you up literally.
[LINE]
Among other things, the oldest political party in Malaysia is going to elect its leaders. This soap-opera is worth watching especially to whom the local papers would align themselves to.
I guess for the next few days, local news reports would be as exciting as the local pizza joint menu.
regards,
|
|
0 Comments
|
| |
|
|
