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| Terri Schiavo dead |
| 03.31.05 (7:53 am) |
Terri Schiavo has passed away after 13 days of pain and suffering.
The more civilize we become, the more inhuman we treat one another. Since when do we debate the right to end ones life when that very right belongs to God and God alone?
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4 Comments
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| Next figurine in line... |
| 03.29.05 (4:15 pm) |
Ladies and gentlemen above is the only rational partner to the Matrix Sentinel Model. The Mifune Last Stand - Matrix Deluxe APU model.
This model stands 12 inches tall. Is highly detailed you'd swear it was used during the filming of the mecha battle scene and quite a rare in Malaysia (well at least in this city). I've seen one and it had me hooked.
Sigh, there goes next months allowance.
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3 Comments
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| Arg, the pain, the pain! |
| 03.28.05 (5:39 pm) |
The price for getting my little sentinel USD85.98. USD50 is the courier cost.
Yup, the courier cost is more expensive then the cost to purchase the little critter. Partly because I'm only ordering one unit. It'd probably be more cheaper if the model was ordered in a bulk amount.
Thats the price you pay to have (probably) the second such model in the city. I seem to be collecting the second of everything in this city.
I'm seriously wondering whether I should opt for a cheaper shipping service. Of course the cheaper ones would not really guarantee that it'll arrive in one piece.
Hmmm, my little sentinel should travel in the safest way possible.
USD50 to ensure that it reaches Malaysian soil intact and within 5 days is the price I have to pay. After this I'll charge people to see it and even more to touch this little critter.
Wifey gave me that queer look last night when I told her. Yup, she's probably wondering who on earth did she marry. Should I swing the "Ryan can play with it when he grows up" line on her? Come to think of it the sentinel is not leaving the box.
To date my Batmobile has only left the box once after I purchased it. It has been in its box since. Only when I've managed to set up a proper display cabinet will these little beauties come out.
Yes, Ryan will never get to play with them.
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1 Comments
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| My piece of the Matrix in my living room. |
| 03.27.05 (7:33 pm) |
The below item is now MINE!!!! muahahahahahahahhahaha
Managed to get one on eBay. Mint condition and still in box.
Now how do I explain this to wifey?
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4 Comments
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| Matrix Sentinel Model |
| 03.27.05 (4:20 pm) |
Saw the Matrix Sentinel model in a shop yesterday, DAMN!
Only one in town, DAMN!
I wonder if he'll trade it for a Limited Metal Edition Batmobile Hotwheels? DAMN!
eBay here I come...muahahahahahahaha
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2 Comments
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| I'm a sentimental sponge |
| 03.27.05 (4:09 pm) |
Last night I watched Sepet (again) with wifey, Ryan, mum, dad, sis and brother's girlfriend.
Yelah, yelah, it was so good I had to make my parents and family watch it. Partly because I've been talking about it for the past two days and they wanted me to stop talking about it.
The movie is just sooooooooooo cute.
Probably because I can identify with the characters in the movie and with what they have to go through. I've had my share of love and lost...
Call me a hidden-stone-face-romanti c but I'm more akin to a closet-sentimental-sponge . We dry up without an occasional dose of sentimentalism. We need that moment of shedding a tear for something that could happen to us. A tear for the ugly duckling who gets his girl or for the couple whose love is unrealised. No, Titanic does not fall under that category!
We all need that moment of vulnerability. That moment when our guards and masks are put aside and we can just be plain joes or janes. A snapshot of the person we try so hard to hide from the world.
The person that sometimes is scared, lonely, insecure or burdened with the weight of the world. We all need that moment to cry.
Next sentimental movie on my A list is Batman Begins. Hey, if you've paid RM250 for a Limited Metal Edition HotWheels of the Batmobile from the first two movies, you'll cry. And yes, I've watched every Batman movie this side of the universe.
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| Sepet |
| 03.25.05 (6:49 pm) |
I'm in love with this movie.
In 2000 I met Yasmin Ahmad, I was captured by her personality and character. She has a way of just being herself and this shows through the movies that she makes. She was frank (then) talking about how hard it was for her to bring Spinning Gasing into mainstream cinemas and her quiet agreements with the pirated VCD operators and the censorship board.
Malaysian would know her work via the Petronas adverts that we see during the major festivals. The ones that tug our hearts, make us cry, laugh and love the fact we are Malaysian. She has a way of coming up with ideas that showcase real Malaysians in real Malaysian situations.
This rings true for Sepet. It's touching. I must admit, it made me mushy inside. It's one of those, "I know that, I feel that" movies. We all can identify with it. It's Malaysian to the core. Its all about love between a Malay girl (Orked) and a Chinese guy (Jason) who sells pirated VCDs.
Its a love story that could have happened to anyone of us. It's one that looks beyond the race and religion issue and just concentrates on what drives our very hearts - the need to be with someone who understands us. Throw in their lovable best friends and we've got a biopic of everyday life in Malaysia.
Fortunately, I got to watch the un-cut version. Yes, the (outdated) censorship board asked that 8 scenes be cut out. Which to me were merely small stuff including a statement by Jason's friend that certain Malay historical heroes could have been Chinese-men (sensitive stuff there).
Devoid of fancy camera shots, special effects or melo-dramatic soap opera acting, you just see normal people being normal people. Heck, Ng Chee Seong who plays Jason has never acted before! He just happened to be in the right place at the right time when Yasmin was casting that role and mind you he carried that role as if it was made for him.
So folks, watch this show. Yes, its simple, yes its not the big budget movie we are use to watching but by no means is it not good. Its marvelous!
More on Sepet read this. You've got to read this too.
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3 Comments
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| Counting the beans |
| 03.23.05 (2:24 pm) |
Everyone should count beans.
How many beans are there in a can of bake beans? It would be a blast if we all knew just how many. How many match-sticks are there in a box of matches? Raisins in a fruit cake?
How many blessings do you have in your life?
If we count them all, then we'll realize that inspite of all that we have to go through in life, we actually are well off. We actually have things to smile about. We have bright tomorrows to look forward to. We have moments to laugh about. So start laughing.
Yup, I'm talking to you. The one who thinks theres no hope left in the world. It's all in how we view things. Our state of mind. Remember every coin has two sides. Every situation has two sides to it. We just have to see what the other side is all about to fully understand the whole situation.
I'm counting the days until I get this flu off my shoulder. I was side-line again last night by it. But it gave me a chance to stay home and rest. Plus, I got to watch Ryan stand up and attempt his first step. Which means his walking abilities are just round the corner. It also allowed me to spend time with wifey, while she watched her favourite show on tele, CSI. Yup, she's a massive fan of CSI. I've got this feeling she has the hots for Grissom...don't tell her that. It gave me the chance to talk to my dad about the business of making money and listen to my mum tell me about the exploits of Ryan while I was at work.
So how many flu-pills it took to keep me at home? A lot. How many falls it took Ryan to learn how to stand? A lot.
How many lives do I have to live? Just one and I intend to live it to the fullest.
Sky-diving, anyone?
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2 Comments
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| My new specs...vanity run. |
| 03.22.05 (1:45 am) |
Yup, my Carrera CA7280 (O2Q-Ocean Blue) everyday glasses.
My turn to be vain under the sun. I can hear it now...
You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you, about you, about you
p/s Nothing else to do with my 1MB line.
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| Ryan is teething |
| 03.22.05 (1:40 am) |
[image]objectzero_1331410 90.jpg[/image]
Yup, Ryan is now teething which explains the excessive drool and finger biting.
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1 Comments
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| Bent glasses |
| 03.20.05 (5:04 am) |
My son pulled my glasses or to the english "my spectacles".
I've got bad eyesight. My right eye requires a degree of 750 in order for me to read clearly.
The docs call it "Lazy Eye". For most of my life I was actually seeing through my left eye. My right eye was merely for show. Only when I was 12 did they detect the problem. My first pair of glasses had degrees of 600-R and 125-L.
At 30 they have become 750-R and 250-L.
Anyway, my son pulled my glasses. For a moment I lost focus but drawing him nearer to my face I was able to catch the details of his smile. He thought it was funny that daddy would touch nose to nose with him. For me it was necessary, I lost sight of him.
Looking back at that incident, I've realized, how so many times we actually loose sight of the real stuff. We see from afar, never noticing the details. We make guesses as to why things are like that without drawing them nearer to us in order to make a fair assessment.
Worst still we become judges who pass sentence on others base on blurred vision. what a way to live life, passing judgements on everything like the weather to the kitchen sink.
Stop passing judgement for things we do not know much about or the things that we see with blurred eyesight.
Only when I drew my son nearer did I notice how cute his two tooth smile was. Only when I drew him nearer did he chuckled at the fun of it all.
The same thing also applies for situations in our live. Only when we draw nearer to situations will we ever learn something new. Probably today you're in a situation that seems bad. Financial, relational, family, work, the weather...whatever the situation sometimes the best action is to draw nearer to them.
Only when you look at your financial problems closely will you see where you are spending too much. Only when you look into your wife/husbands eyes, will you see that they need more attention from you. That goes for your family too.
Don't run away from what erks you. Draw it nearer and things become clearer. You may even chuckle at it.
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3 Comments
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| I've just been mentioned |
| 03.20.05 (4:20 am) |
Some dude commented me here.
Hm, does that make me some form of concious voice in this matter?
I'm not sure I want to be coined like that. Anyway, thanks for the mention.
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| So how's the weather? |
| 03.19.05 (7:23 pm) |
The weather is playing havoc on my sinus.
I've been feeling really terrible these past few days. My flu just refuses to go away. Yesterday I lost my voice.Sounded like Al-Pacino in the Godfather series.
Worst still, I had to sing in church. Yup, sore throat and all; I sang.
Most likely, I'll post a sick leave tomorrow. Just need 1 day to sleep things off. Thats all I need, sleep. I've not been able to rest properly these past week. Work has been piling up on my desk and I've been scambling to clear them all.
I wonder what will happen if I inffect the whole office? I wonder if the boss will call off the day for everyone. Like he'll force us all to take sick-leave, man that'll be cool.
I've been looking around for stuff to install on my Nokia 9300 Communicator. Seems like the softwares are in short supply. I wonder if there is a chat program for Nokia phones which can run over Bluetooth. Wouldn't it be cool if we were able to switch on Bluetooth and chat with your friends?
Man, that will take chatting onto another level.
I'm sure someone has come up with it. If anyone out there knows of a chat program that runs on Nokia handphones which can ride on Bluetooth let me know.
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2 Comments
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| Telco Wars |
| 03.16.05 (6:27 am) |
George Lucas should have turned to me before naming the 5th Star Wars movie "Attack of the Clones".
In Malaysia, we have the Telco Wars. Every other day one of the telcos (all 3 of them) would announce a new package to attract more subscribers. We have created a new phenomenon in the form of telco-jumpers. People who switch from one telco to another in order to get the best deal. Much like base-jumping or bonking your head with a yo-yo...nevermind.
The price-wars are an advantage to the consumer but how low will it go until someone goes bust. Sad to say, the lower the price the worst the customer service or VAS that they provide. Yup, cheap living equals cheap returns.
I'm also foreseeing the discount-call players to also throw their prices out the window. Currently RedTone is king of that hill. But with the telcos throwing their prices left,right,front and centre; I don't think they can afford to stay competitive with their prices.
Will this drive the prices of handphones down? I don't think so. If things go right, prices would probably go up for example Nokia phones prices have rose in the past few weeks. Supply and demand rule applies here. With cheaper subscription rates, more handphones are sold thus hand-phone sellers can drive their prices up.Practically everyone can own a handphone now. On last count I had 4 lying around at home. Yes, I have backups of backups.
Land-lines have become obsolete with more and more people simply turning to a handphone for their communication needs. The only reason I had to install a land-line was to get my broadband running.
Don't you wish cars or houses could go through a price war?
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4 Comments
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| Elvis wasn't a straight As student |
| 03.15.05 (1:27 am) |
Yes, I'm backeth from yonder camp-eth.
Whatever?
Back from a church youth camp held during the weekend. What did I get out of it? Flu which side-lined me today.
I'm feeling much better now, my Melon-day is in the past and I'm getting along with life.
It's that time again in Malaysia when exam results come out. Here its a big do, with features in the papers of every kid that did well in the exams. Generally there are two major exams in Malaysia. SPM or (translated) Malaysian Education Certificate and STPM or Malaysian Higher Education Certificate.
This year there was a record set when this girl took 17 subject for her SPM and got 17As. There was a massive news coverage that lasted 1 day. With interviews on how she did it and stuff. Anyway, she aspire to be the prime minister of Malaysia.
My two cents on this matter is "What for?". I mean you take 17 subjects when all you need is probably 8 or 9 subjects, your social life looks as dead as a mortuary doornob and you aspire to be the prime minister.
Girl, there's more to life then studying. Regardless of how smart (on paper) you seem, the real world is a different matter.
This is the sad phenomenon in Malaysia. Parents are pushing their kids to score high on these exams and the kids grow up thinking that their self worth and life depends on them. Score low and you are looked down upon by society. Score low and you are considered a less-then-perfect citizen.
How come no-one ever interviews the lower end of the chart. The kids that struggle with their learning. The kids that can't read or write even at 17 years old. The kids whose parents can't afford to buy them shoes. Where are the stories of these people?
It sad but the divide between the super smart and relatives of Forest Gump is widening in Malaysia. Some kids have given up on education all together. They just feel they are not good enough for the education system. The education system is about creating critically thinking people, who are good at what they can do. Instead we are creating a Template society. Only two templates exist. Smart and Dumb. Score high and you'll fit into the Smart-template, score low and Dumb shall you be.
I'm wondering whether the girl knows that over the past few years the examination commission has been lowering the benchmark for As. In reality your score of A today could have been the C of last year.
Does that mean we are producing smarter kids or merely re-packaging what naturally is average?
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3 Comments
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| A melon day |
| 03.10.05 (2:55 am) |
I had one of those days when nothing I do gets appreciated at work. Or worst it has to be approved by a committee.
So I'm sitting on the ledge of sub-conciousness, pondering my meaning in life. My role in the scheme of things. Maybe Darwin was right, I'm probably a descendant of some extinct mucus that served the cave-men as their desserts.
Why??????
The universe was against me today. So I'm back to being the cubicle prisoner, a wage-slave that drums out websites for an organisation that only remembers you when their corporate web-presense background turns pink. When information is not updated (typo-picker) or when pictures of the boss look like a monkey (touch-up duties).
What a melon day.
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5 Comments
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| None of the above |
| 03.09.05 (5:51 am) |
Sometimes answers are not that obvious.
I've finally manage to install SP1 on my XP box. Apparently, I needed XP with SP1 installed in order for my Nokia PC Suite to work properly with my Communicator. Why they never write this down on the box to tell owners like me; is beyond me. But anyway, I had to hack my XP box to install SP1 and walah...SP1 installing.
Thanks to some kind-hearted guy, I've managed to walk around some compatibility issue with my XP and SP1. Apprently I'm not the only guy who had problems with their cd-key.
For all its worth, I believe Microsoft is fueling the cracking world. I mean, there has never been any piece of software that is so open to compromise. Some folks out there are like doctors who know that insides of their patients when it comes to the Windows boxes. I stop wondering in the microsoft-system when XP came out. Just got bored, I guess.
The Malaysian Education Ministry is telling kids to do what they've known all along. Watch more TV in order to improve your english. Parents now have less one reason to make their kids do homework.
I can hear them now, "Ma, pa. This is homework. America's Next Top Model is our ticket to speaking better english".
May I also recommend that the teachers themselves watch more TV in order to improve their english (sorry wifey). We may now have english teachers speaking impeckable english much like Queen Elizabeth.
My office mate asked me the other day, "What do you do with your 1MB internet line at home?"
"Surf the net, update my blog and check email"
"What? You don't download movies and stuff. What a waste!"
Dumb look on my face.
Ya, what a waste...
Ok, so I don't download porn or the latest Smallville episode. Nor do I run a backdoor business selling MP3s....ya still cannot justify what I'm doing with my 1MB line.
Hm...
So what do you guys do with your 1MB lines?
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4 Comments
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| Nerd Music |
| 03.07.05 (8:16 pm) |
Nerd hip-hop click here
Yes, the nerds have taken the planet.
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1 Comments
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| I need a pillow shape keyboard |
| 03.07.05 (8:11 pm) |
Yes, I'm really sleepy.
I'm at my desk staring aimlessly at this screen, while it's raining cats and dogs outside. The sound of rain hitting the roof is rather soothing as it drums my eyes into submission. Given the chance I would readily place my head on the table and take a nap. But the table is too hard and drool will drip if I sleep face down. Worse still, I'll get a neck-ache.
The greatest invention was never the wheel but the pillow. Yup, where is the keyboard-shape pillow when you need one? Right now I'm really gunning for an hour of sleep. Make that two hours...heck just give me the afternoon off.
Hm, I could always try sleeping under my desk, barring the chance I'll get electrocuted. That way my boss won't know I'm sleeping, heck he won't even know I'm around. Provided I don't snore or knock my work partition down.
Nuts, I'm sleepy...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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1 Comments
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| Bring on the free stuff. |
| 03.06.05 (7:17 am) |
I love the free stuff.
I've installed WinXP on my previously Linux desknote. Why? Well, I needed to do some work on a WinXP box.
Now, I've got no cash to purchase the Office Suites so I'm going for Openoffice, which is a productivity suite that is compatible with Office files. Yup, this fella can open, write and save Office files. Pretty nifty considering it is free and opensource. It's stable version is version 1.1.4 but there is a version 2.0 Beta currently available for download. I'm going for the 2.0 Beta for the fun of it.
But first I need to download all 84MB of the installation package. Thats where Download Accelerator Pro (DAP) comes into play. This piece of code can download a whole site, yup suck up everything in its path.It's ad-ware so you'll have to put up with ads plastered in your face but at least its free and without any time limit.
I've also managed to install FireFox, which is way faster than IE.Currently, FireFox is moving up steadily in taking the browser market. By keeping themselves free (opensource) they ply into the market with a vengence. I can imagine the guys at Gate's HQ on red-alert, scheming up legal tricks to stop this revolution. Can't wait to see the fire-works.
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2 Comments
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| The tomatoes are frying |
| 03.05.05 (1:27 am) |
Honey, I'm home.
Yes, I've been away. Just got back yesterday evening from attending a course in a town on the outskirts of this fair city where we were deprived of internet connectivity, cable tv and chocolate chip cookies.
It was an interesting course and I came back from it with knowledge, confidence, motivation and a back-ache from the really non-ergonomic chair we had to sit in.
It was a course to train trainers for the organisation I work for. We intend to save the bucks by having our own people train the staff members. Once we are able to do that we are also looking at marketing the trainers to other organisations and continue to make more bucks.
Aside from that, I've still have not resolve my GPRS issue. It's nerve wrecking to see your phone reboot after each attempt at logging on. Thats like seeing your car turn itself off and on again each time you press the gas. Anyway, I'll probably pop into their office sometime next week to squeal and scream.
Being the loyal Malaysian that I am, I will still stick with them since their coverage covers obscure places like interior Lawas, islands of the coast of Terengganu and Timbaktu. I've even heard that fishermen prefer Celcom since when out at sea Celcom still maintains a strong signal.
Take care folks.
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5 Comments
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| Celcom killed my Communicator |
| 03.01.05 (6:59 am) |
Celcom GPRS is a tool of the CIA. Worse it the devil's personal telco to irritate the people of the earth.
I've registered for the GPRS service. Got the internet settings from Nokia.com. But every time I use GPRS, it restarts my 9300 after just 2 seconds. WHY?
I even formatted my phone to its factory settings, still it restarts itself after just 2 seconds of connection time. WHY?
Yes, you can format a Nokia phone that runs Symbian OS, much like formatting a pc.
Open Complaint Letter to CELCOM Malaysia
Hello Celcom,
I've been a loyal customer for 4 years now. While the rest of Malaysia was enjoying lower rates and GPRS a year before you finally did the same, we remain faithful. While the rest of Malaysia was moving into value added services such as MMS, video streaming; and to you polyphonic ring-tones downloads were the greatest invention after the wheel; we remain faithful.
But for your service to be this crappy? Man, I'm seriously thinking of shifting to Maxis.
Of course it could be that the browser on my 9300 is second to scum but its no excuse for you not to inform me that you've haven't figured out the GPRS settings for my phone. You left me in the dark for three whole days after I registered.
I had to go to your office to ask you my GPRS status, when you'd said you would SMS me the settings, and you had the nerve to tell me to visit nokia.com for the settings. The funny thing is nokia had the settings for your network while you did not have it at all. Talk about being at the forefront of innovation. You can't even keep your information current.
Plus, when I wanted to pay my bills (today) via credit card; your credit card connection went down. Telco company? Shouldn't telephone lines be coming out of your ears? Shouldn't you be able to fix a line that goes down?
Now I'm paying for something that I will not be able to use. Total scum, SCUM!!!!
ARGHHHHHHHH!!!!
The only reason I use Celcom is that my number is out-in-the-open. Too many people know me by that number. I can't afford loosing contact if I switch to another telco. So I'm caught in a bind here. Either that or I maintain two lines. Get a prepaid just for surfing the net and a fixed line for calls.
Nuts, my life just got complicated.
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6 Comments
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