Best Loh Mee in Penang

I have tried loh mee all over Penang including the one in Air Itam but nothing beats the loh mee in Seng Thor Coffee Shop in Carnarvon Street. It is located at the junction where Kimberley Street meets Carnarvon Street.

I would say that is the best loh mee I have ever tasted. I have been eating from this stall in Seng Thor for many years since I was small. Some might say that the one in Air Itam is better but I disagree.

Yum yum. As a picky eater, I like my loh mee served with pork meat, egg, and chilli...plain and simple. No intestines or funny stuff inside.

My usual plain water. Remember to adopt a healthy drinking lifestyle!

The morning crowd.

There are other stalls as well like koay teow th'ng, nasi lemak and wan tan mee. But I only come to this coffee shop to eat the loh mee and nothing else.

Colour of your phlegm

If you are coughing and if you want to know whether it's a viral or bacterial infection, you can just take a look at the colour of your own phlegm.

A healthy person should have a clear phlegm.

But if you are coughing and if your phlegm is clear or thin white mucus, then it is an indication of a viral infection.

If your phlegm is yellowish or greenish, then it is an indication of a bacterial infection.

If your phlegm is brown, it is probable there are some blood in it. It could also mean you are a smoker.

If your phlegm is bright red, it is definitely blood.

If your phlegm is black, you are probably a smoker or a coal worker.

If your phlegm is purple, ask yourself whether you have just drunk Ribena.

Anyway always remember the important rule. If you are coughing for more than two weeks, think TB unless proven otherwise.

Cough and sneeze etiquette

I am writing this hoping to raise awareness about something called cough etiquette. I just came back from my MBA class and again, I noticed that there are students who simply lack basic civic manners. One particular classmate of mine would just cough into the air spreading whatever germs he has to others, which is not much different with the inconsiderate old ah pek I saw in the market coughing and spitting his greenish phlegm onto the pavement, ugggh! Mind you, my classmates are educated and are studying MBA, unlike the ah pek.

I would like to emphasise that if you are down with an infection, please wear a mask to avoid spreading your infection to others.

Remember to wear a face mask if you have an infection!

Below are the basic cough etiquette that one should follow.

Please cough or sneeze into a tissue, then discard it. Or you might want to cough or sneeze directly into your mask. But please discard your mask as well after using it.

If you don’t even have any tissue, then cough or sneeze onto your sleeve or into the crook of your arm. You’re less likely to transfer bugs with your biceps and elbows.

It's not advisable to cough or sneeze into your palm because most likely you will end up using your hand touching the lift's buttons, door knob, or shaking hands with others. In the end, you are still infecting others. If you do cough or sneeze into your palm, then please wipe your palm onto your shirt. That helps a lot!

Please, oh please observe the above cough etiquette considering that you are an educated person and not some lowly educated Ah Beng, Ah Too, or Ah Kow.

Music History #1 - George Michael

Since I like music and history, I decided to blend it to blog about some music history. You may or may not know who is George Michael. If you have heard about him, I believe you probably grew up in the 1980s because that's when he was super super famous. Or maybe you have heard through his umpteen arrests. George Michael, whose orginal name is Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, was born in 1963. Ok ok, who is George Michael. Here you go.

George Michael - a picture taken somewhere in the 1980s

He shot to stardom when he formed a band called Wham! with his school friend Andrew Ridgeley. George Michael was the poster boy of the 80s just like Justine Timberlake or Justin Bieber today. Wham! was a huge and successful band of the 1980s.

Under Wham!, they produced several hits such as Wake Me Up Before You Go Go, Freedom, Everything She Wants, Careless Whisper, and Last Christmas.

Andrew Ridgeley (left) and George Michael (right)

George Michael disbanded Wham! in 1987 and went solo. He did the right thing and he found success with his first solo album - Faith. However, his success went downhill from his second solo album onwards and he is no longer famous in the 1990s.

He gained fame again for the wrong reason in 1998 when he was caught by an undercover policeman for 'engaging in a lewd act' in a public toilet.

And since after that, George Michael has been arrested for I don't know how many times for all sort of reasons. Here is George Michael again today.

The old George Michael today

You might want to listen to this song - Careless Whisper. Probably you have heard it before because it was a very popular song in the 1980s.

DiGi iPhone 4 Play

With the gazillion iPhone apps out there, which one is my favourite?

There are apps like Guitar Toolkit, Ampkit, National Geographic World Atlas, The New Oxford American Dictionary, and the list goes on and on....bazillion of them!

But there is one iPhone app that I find it dazzling, that is The Merck Manual - Home Edition app!

Remember my blog entry where I blogged about reading up medical stuff? Go read this again -http://gabrielgim.blogspot.com/2010/09/reading-medical-stuff.html

This is the dog-eared hardcopy version

How nice if I could have a digitised version of that Merck Manual in the iPhone 4. Oh yes, you can read the Merck Manual - Home Edition from iPhone 4!

I could read it wherever I go. I could read it in the hospital, in the doctor's room, in the classroom and maybe in the toilet (especially important if you notice something abnormal about your own crap). It certainly comes in handy!

See, how cool is The Merck Manual - Home Edition app!

I can get into a debate with my doctor with the Merck Manual at my fingertips. And I can even shove up the iPhone 4 right in front of a smoker showing him/her the perils of lung cancer.

Who knows if one day you might be bitten or stung by jellyfish, centipedes, wasps, bees, hornets, mites, crocodiles, and if you are lucky enough, I might happened to be nearby coming to the rescue knowing what to do in such emergency cases.

And what if one day someone shouted that Megan Fox needs a CPR and you happened to be nearby! Well, with The Merck Manual app in your iPhone 4, you are one lucky bloke.

So, this Merck Manual - Home Edition app is my favourite app and it is also especially important to everyone. I hope smokers with iPhones will download that app as well.

Now, will you give me an iPhone 4, Nuffnang?

DiGi iPhone 4 Me

Why I want an iPhone4? Look at my SEVEN-YEAR OLD handphone! No kidding!

Good thing I'm still faithful to it although the battery lasts for about only two hours. I wanted to change the battery but I couldn't. It is because I always charge the battery while I'm talking on the phone. So the battery has expanded...expanded....and expanded and I can't remove the casing anymore. Sob sob T.T

Can I say it's time to say goodbye to my old faithful handphone? But I'm broke! I can't buy a new handphone! I wannnt a DiGiiiiii iPhoneeeeeeeeee 4...!! Nuffnang is here to the rescue! Nuffnang will be giving out a DiGi iPhone 4 to one Nuffnanger! Sadly only one but at least, Nuffnang is generous!

Please gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme. iPhone 4 is so sleek, so catchy, so hot, so cool, so I want la.

I can do video calling using iPhone 4! I can do phone interviews with it. I always wanted to be a journalist! I can call for a face-to-face interview with George Bush, Obama, Osama just using iPhone 4 and I might be the next winner for the Pulitzer Prize!

I can also do HD video recording using iPhone 4! I always also wished to be a movie director! Maybe it's time for me to create my own movie. But first I have to call Jenna Jameson first. And maybe Kenny Sia?

I can also take beautiful pictures using iPhone 4! It comes with 5 megapixels! I always wanted to be a photographer, if I can't be a movie director. Ok, I have to call Jenna Jameson again.

Of course, I can surf Internet using iPhone 4! I can blog with it, facebook with it, and anything!

Most importantly, I can make a call to anyone using iPhone 4!

Okayyy. Nuffnang, will you give me a DiGi iPhone 4?

Respiratory Disorder - Episode 14

When I went back to the hospital at 2pm, there was an unusual crowd waiting to see my doctor. I have to wait for about an hour before I was called.

She told me that there was not much changes to the x-ray. It was also hard for me to tell because the x-ray was not very clear for a layman to see. The doctor believed that the radiologist did not use enough radiation to penetrate my body. So, the image was not that visible compared to the one I took last month. But at least the radiologist and the doctor are able to interpret it.



The doctor then prescribed me an anti-fungal drug - fluconazole since she suspected that I have a fungal infection in my lungs. Also, my phlegm is positive for Candida which is a type of fungus. However, probably that was not the fungus that causes my cough because candida is a fungus that is commonly found in anyone's mouth.

Again, I have to undergo some medication of swallowing big big capsules which I don't fancy at all. What I'm undergoing now is some sort of a trial and error treatment because the doctor has yet to know exactly what causes my cough. We still have to wait for the full result of the bronchoscopy. The lung biopsy which I have yet to do would be somewhat a much faster and accurate diagnosis.

If the fluconazole could not cure me, then I have to go for the lung biopsy to find out what's wrong. Oh, Jesus, please help me.

It looks unlikely that I could avoid the lung biopsy. I do really hope that this fluconazole would cure everything. I just do not want to do the lung biopsy. My next appointment is about another two weeks time.