Although I live in a small apartment, I still face issues with my Wi-Fi connectivity. Well not exactly issues but recently I managed to subscribe to TM's Unifi service and all these while, my PC was sitting right next to the router before I moved it to a more permanent spot which was in my small study room (refer to the layout below). Because the Unifi access point was located outside and in the hall (that was where the telephone cable was located), I didn't want to run a 20 metre long network cable through the kitchen and through the toilet in order to reach the router. Hence I decided to buy a PCI wireless card for my desktop PC.

This was the wireless card which I purchased. It took me around 5 minutes to install it on my PC.



I guess one of the mistakes I made was getting one with the antenna at the back. Because of how unique PC's are, most of the time the back portion is faced against a wall or located under a table. Thanks to that, by the time I moved my PC into my room, it couldn't detect the wifi signal from the router. Heck I could get the neighbours signal from downstairs but I couldn't pick the up the wifi signal from a router located less than 5 metres away. At this point in time the wifi signal was a mere 4% strong.



So after being frustrated, I knew it wasn't really my router which was emitting weak signals because my Macbook Pro which I placed right next to my PC can easily detect the wifi signal with ease. So I headed downstairs and found this antenna at the local PC shop. It was the ASUS WL-ANT150 antenna.



After purchasing it for RM25, I brought it back upstairs and hooked it up to my wireless network card and extended the antenna to sit on top of my PC. Basically what it does is that it replaced the black antenna located on the wireless card itself and extends itself outwards in order to receive a better signal.



(image taken with my iPhone)

Thanks to this antenna I am now able to pick up my wifi signal from the router and am able to even write this blog post about it :)



The antenna also managed to boost the signal strength to 58% percent as well from a measly little 4% initially. And to think I almost went to the Apple store to buy an Airport Express. Managed to save some cash there!

Now I am tempted to replace the antennas of the D-Link router outside with this one.

In keeping with my New Year's resolution, here is another blog post on Elliot and Charlotte's engagement shoot.

I knew both of them through church and Elliot is a fantastic drummer and Charlotte's a fantastic dancer. The two of them looked so sweet and they got married recently! Congratulations to both Elliot and Charlotte. I have a lot to thank Elliot by especially since he was one of the emcees for my own personal wedding, I knew I had to photograph the two of them.

Here are some of my favourite shots below :)



The first guy I photographed who had hair longer than his wife's. :P



































All the best to both Elliot and Charlotte in their new journey in life!

Now I have never owned a white car before and one of my biggest worry that I have is to see it turn mellow! Hence resulting in me scouring through the interweb to fine out ways to keep the car shiny and clean and nice. Initially I was introduced to various methods of waxing and various services provided but one recommendation I received was to try out Sierra Glow.



Located out in USJ1 in Subang, I decided to drive there early in the morning to drop off my car there. Met with the owner, Choong who was a very friendly guy who also gave me a lift to Summit because I didn't want to wait 6 hours for my car at the workshop nor was there any other shop in the industrial area.

What Sierra Glow preaches is not to use wax. They state that conventional waxes and other polishing products merely stay on top of your car paintwork without removing the dust and dirt that are trapped into the paintwork. In fact, rubbing the wax in only pushes the dirt deeper into the paint.



So what is Sierra Glow actually? It is basically a chemical which bonds microscopically with the paint and at 5 microns thick, it is stated as harder than steel. In layman terms, there is a small thin protective layer which sits on top of your car's paint thus keeping and maintaining it's shine intact. What sort of sold me to this is that it provides a 5 year guarantee as well as because there is a protective layer on top of your car now, you don't need to polish and wax it anymore. A simple wash would just be sufficient!

Of course, the other selling factor was that I saw this car which was already there owned by another customer who had Sierra Glow applied on their car!



Here are some of the steps they take for the entire procedure,

1. Prepare the car by washing it and ensuring all grit and grime have been removed


2. Clay bar - basically removing oxidation and marks on your car's body


3. T.C Hard and T.C All which is their patented method which removes surface scratches, swirls and water marks


4. Polish - Ironically they do polish the car after what was explained to me but this is to polish the paint coat


5. Glassglow - Applying the 5-micron layer of GlassGlow.

After a LOOOOONG break in between (of course a big thanks to the owner for giving me a lift to Summit while they took 5.5 hours to complete the whole procedure), here was what I saw when I returned to the shop.







And I was very happy with the results! After 4 months, I am still very happy with the results of Sierra Glow.



Conclusion

Personally at the price I paid, it was totally worth it especially the 5-year guarantee. One of the key areas which sold me was the fact that I didn't need to polish my car and since I live in an apartment where there is no area to wash my car, Sierra Glow seemed like the perfect solution. Also with this, I can safely NOT renew my membership with CARs International because I feel that the amount I save (RM5 for each car wash) does not cover the entire cost of 1 year's membership which was in the range of RM400. Worse of all, some of their centers had really bad service hence I am glad that I am not renewing my membership.

Directions to get to the shop:



A final note:

Unfortunately while I was on my way back home from the Sierra Glow shop, I got caught in the jam at Subang and it poured heavily! The instructions I received was that I was not to was my car for 48 hours but thanks to our wonkey Malaysian weather, I was rather unlucky. When I reached back home, what came to my surprise was the formation of water beads on the car. This is definitely thanks to the protective layer which now protects the shine and colour of my car.

A couple months back I was in Maldives and it was absolutely amazing. I will leave the activities and the location where I stayed for another post here. Anyway one of the key things which I realize, one, I should have planned my stay to be longer and two, I really do need a tripod especially when shooting landscape photos.

Here are some of the landscape photos I took at the various times of the day.



One thing which still mesmerizes me is that the water is so clear here. No teh tarik colours which we get from Port Dickson. You could just see the seabed through the water.



Another amazing point is how blue the sky was. Shooting during the day was an absolute joy with the exception of the heat and humidity.



Throughout my stay there, I was really fortunate to have great weather. It didn't rain a single day but the week before I arrived, it was raining almost everyday. I checked the weather forecast and was really praying for good weather when I arrived there.





Below are some of the chalets where they are built on stilts above the water. One of the best things about staying there is that you can just jump out from your room and into the water. If you could see closely at the image, you might be able to see two specks in the water, who happen to be two guests who were staying at the chalet and enjoying the water.





The next couple of shots were taken during sunset which provides a warmer feel to the images.















As mentioned earlier, because I didn't have a tripod, it was tough finding a flat rock where I could balance my camera and capture the images below at long exposure values.



Throughout my stay there, it was extremely windy and because it the winds were blowing at such a high speed, the clouds are blurred out due to it's movement.



The last photo shows the air taxi landing. Because the Maldives are made out of thousands of small islands, the only way to travel about is to travel via speedboat or air taxis.



Watch out for more posts about Maldives!