Two ways to restore my system

I related my failure in creating a rescue boot disk or Repair Disk Windows 7 64-bit under Windows 7 in my last post. Well, I later surf the Internet to look for one and a kind soul had put a torrent link for the said disc. Of course I seized the opportunity to download it.

I burnt the iso file to produce the repair disc. Being adventurous, I booted the disc and it worked and so I tried to restore the system which I saved earlier, risking a crash, of course. I was lucky as everything ran well and my Windows 7 stayed intact.

Now, I am more confident of restoring my Windows 7 should anything happen to the system because I can restore my system image system using Macrium Reflect or this present disc that I owned now. If one fails, I can use the other one to do the restoration of my system.

If you want the repair disc , then search the Internet and the torrent link for it is there. By the way, there is one for the 32-bit Windows 7 system too besides the 64-bit iso file that I downloaded.

Backing up Windows using a free version software

I used to write about reinstalling Windows using Norton Ghost in
my earlier posts. In today's post, I am going to tell readers the free version of a software called Macrium Reflect which can do the same job. I used it to make an exact image of my smooth-running Windows 7 Home Premium. Then I created a self-booting Rescue Disk from this software. After that I risked crashing my Windows to restore my system. Well, it worked perfectly.

You can download Macrium Reflect from the following URL.
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp

Follow my instructions to make an image of your computer and create a self-booting Rescue Disk.
1 Start running Macrium.
2 For backup, highlight C or whatever name you gave it.
3 Then go the bar on top to click backup.
4 For target disk, choose a local drive.

After this, go to Other Tasks on the top menu bar and click Create a Rescue disk. The software will create a boot disk for you. To try out, delete one program from your hard disk. Then boot your computer with this rescue disk and restore your system image. Now you can see that the deleted program is back to show that the restore function works.

I had actually tried to backup using windows backup software but I wasted three disks trying to create the so-called Repair disc Windows 7 64-bit but always ended with error message 0X0011002000001012 and gave up. Then I searched the Internet and found this useful software which I would like to share with readers here.

Day 4 in Ward 306

This is the day I have been looking forward to. Why? Because I will be discharged from hospital. Initially I was supposed to go home at 6.00 p.m. However, the nurse had come to give me the intravenous injection of mesporin at 5.12 a.m., Dr H’ng had instructed the nurse to administer the drug at 4.00 p.m. so that I could go back earlier. I thanked the doctor for being so understanding because he had known that I was too eager to leave the ward.

The quiet ward was full of life at around 9.30 a.m. when three Indonesians came for medical examinations and one more Indonesian came to undergo operation of a growth under his spleen. I struck up conversation with all of them and got the above information.

I was reading my newspapers which I bought downstairs before assessing the Internet with my old faithful – my HP iPaq Pocket PC. to idle away the time before 4.00 p.m. The lunch was quite all right this after for I was given Tomato Rice. The curried chicken was delicious.

Finally the nurse came to give me the last dosage of mesoporin and immediately after that I headed to the Insurance department downstairs to do the necessary procedure before collecting my medicine. Then I said good-bye to Island Hospital and drove my car which was parked in the hospital compound for four days home. It was a happy moment for me.

Day 3 in Ward 306

The patient on my right looked very happy and when I asked him why he was so elated he conveyed the good news that the doctor had agreed to discharge on the day before noon. This man was actually a General Manager of a company selling mobile phone accessories. Hence he had to resume his duty on the following Monday after having two days’s rest at home.

The young man who had torn his leg’s tendon was waiting for his father to take him back too. He had to come to therapy sessions regularly after his discharge from hospital. I will always remember his sweet smile when he thanked me for helping him to open the washroom’s door.

Before I knew the two Indonesians opposite my bed were also discharged and they said good-bye to me at around 12.00 noon. By 1.00p.m. I was the lone lodger in the ward.

Hence I spent the whole afternoon assessing the Internet and preparing some Malay lessons with the laptop brought for my use by my daughter. I completed what I had to do so and shut down the laptop. When my wife came with my daughter in the evening, I asked her to take it back because I was all alone and the electronic gadget might not be safe when I went to the washroom.

At night, I was a bit scared and kept reading my mantra before going to sleep.

Day 2 in Ward 306

Lack of sleep made me a bit drowsy. The 8.00 a.m. breakfast consisted of beehoon soup which tasted flat and a cup of warm Milo.

My daughter and wife came bringing me my newspapers - The Star and Kwang Wah Yit Poh. This time I had what I needed most - sweater to keep the cool air of the room away. I complained about being 'nearly frozen' the night before and asked my daughter to bring me something thick to wear.

When they were back, I spent the whole morning reading the newspapers. In between I talked to the room-mate on my right. From the conversation with him, I learnt that he had undergone an operation to sever part of his infected small intestine two days ago.

As for the young man on my left, he seemed to enjoy watching movies on his laptop. When he needed to enter the washroom, I helped to open the door for him because both of his hands were on the walker and it would be difficult to open the door as it would close automatically because of the spring mechanism above it. This is really not patient friendly. I did the same thing when he wanted to come out.

At around 9.00 a.m. Dr. H'ng came. I asked to be discharged but he disagreed because I had to complete the intravenous antibiotic (mesporin) for another three days. He told me I had infection because I had temperatures even on the second day.

After feeling bored reading my newspapers, I started to surf the Internet. I accessed my e-mail first. Then I went on to read Google and BBC news.

The nurse came every now and then to give me medicine and take my blood pressure as well as my body temperature during which time I had to be in bed.

Later I had the chance to talk to the patient opposite my bed. He had stools stained with blood and his blood kept decreasing. According to the doctor his stomach needed stitching or cut to decrease it. The family hesitated whether to allow the operation to be done or not. The quiet man on his left talked only in Indonesian and I had some difficulty in understanding. It seemed that his intestine was infected and needed no operation. He had medication and would be discharged soon.

Day 1 in Ward 306

I will now relate my experience staying in Ward 306 of a private hospital in Penang.

From Dr H'ng's clinic I was ushered to my ward after clearing the payment via my insurance card.
Before allowing me to enter the ward, the nurse at the counter had my height and weight taken and asked me questions such as 'Are you suffering from hypertension, diabetes, asthma?" and "What drugs are allergic to?" I answered in the negative.

When I finally reached my bed, I was the fifth inpatient of the ward. On my left was a young man whose legs were bandaged. A middle-aged man was on my right. He kept resting and pressing his left palm close to his tummy. Opposite my bed were two Indonesian patients. On the left was a talkative old man and on the right was a quiet man who preferred reading newspaper to chatting.

Soon, a nurse came to read my blood pressure with a machine and my body temperature using an ear-thermometer. I must be excited because my blood pressure went up to 150/86. It could also be my walking quite a distance before being in the ward.

Before I could have a chance to know my ward-mates, another 'Florence Nightingale' came and inserted a plastic tube through one of the veins at he back of my left hand. Then she injected an antiotic (which I later found out to be mesoporin) through this tube. It is kwown as an intravenous injection because the liquid medicine goes into our body through the vein instead of through our mouth. The same nurse also asked me to swallow a capsule which I later learnt to be transamin - a medicine to stop bleeding.

By then it was 3.00 p.m. and I felt a bit hungry because I only ate some bread in the morning. The nurse told me that dinner would be served by 5.30 p.m. and a cup of Milo would come at 4.00 p.m. I was in the least prepard for this stay and hence did not bring anything. I went down to the store selling newspaper to buy a bottle of mineral water to quench my thirst.

I informed my wife that I was admitted to hospital and asked her to bring my HP iPaq Pocket PC, a tumbler, toothbrush, toothpaste, razer-blade, towel and other things which she thought that could be of use to me while staying in the ward as the doctor had said that I had to stay for a few days.

When dinner came, I was very happy because I was very hungry then. Though the fish and vegetables tasted so horrible, I enjoyed eating them because they would make drive away my hunger. When it was visiting time, my wife brought my PDA and other things. My daughter who had a weeks' experience driving her new car ferried her here. She asked me whether I needed her laptop and I told her I didn't feel the need to use one as I had my pocket pc which was as good as a computer.

I spent the whole night before sleep accessing e-mails through my pocket pc and I read the latest results of the World Cup through my handheld computer too. In between I was distured by the nurse who came to give me medicine or read my blood pressure and body temperature.
When I was just dozing off a staff nurse came to administer the mesoporin antibiotic intravenously through the plastic tube attached to my left hand. After that I slept until a nurse woke me up at 4.00 a.m. to take my blood pressure and body temperature.

That's what transpired on the first day of my stay in Island Hospital.

Warded for urinary bladder infection

I am back blogging again after being admitted to hospital for 4 days. Last Friday, when I urinated I noticed some reddish particles coming out with the urine. On rubbing them with tissue, these particles proved to be blood. Hence I rushed to my family doctor in a private hospital. I told the doctor what had happened. His initial diagnosis was urinary tract infection. I was asked to have my urine tested for the presence of bacteria and have my ultrasound scanning of my internal organs especially kidneys and urinary bladder. So I went to the toilet to urinate and the urine turned red this time. However, the ultrasound scanning showed no mass in the kidney or urinary bladder.

The doctor gave one antibiotic and ural to cleanse my bladder and sent me home. Later, I found that more blood appeared in blood as I peed. I had no choice but to go back to the hospital for further action. Straight away, he put me in the ward and had an intravenous antibiotic called mesporin administered there and then besides giving me an anti-bleeding capsule termed transamin to swallow. The combination of drugs worked as the bleeding stopped by 8.00pm. I asked to be discharged the next day but the doctor disagreed because I had to complete the course of mesporin. That explained why I had to be in hospital for 4 days.

The urine result showed the presence of E-coli bacteria in my bladder. According to the doctor, the E-coli could have come from my intestine. E-coli is normally present in uncooked beef. I have never eaten any beef and I did not know how E-coli had gone into my body. Anyway, the bacteria can cause sores on the wall of urinary bladder causing bleeding and the blood will come out together with the urine.

I shall tell readers my experience in the hospital in my later posts.

About dictionaries on my handset

After a rest of well over a week I am back blogging. I felt relieved for not having to come up with something to write about during the lapse. That explains why bloggers like to blog once in a while so that they will not run out of ideas. I usually like to write about something original and hence it is not an easy task to accomplish. Anyway, I shall tell you how I spent those days I was away from the blog.

I was actually obsessed with the new Nokia 2700 classic that I redeemed with my Citibank credit card points. I exchange 58,000 points with this handset and I have no regret. It comes with a 2 mega pixel camera, bluetooth, slot for microSD up to 2G, mp3 and mp4 players. It even has voice commands which I have yet to try. My dowload of mp3 songs play well with the built ini music player. The mp4 player can play converted avi files. You have to use Nokia PC Suite to do the conversion.

As an English tutor, I take an interest in the English dictionary. Although it has one English-Chinese dictionary, I prefer the English-English dictionary. Hence I purchased the The Advanced Cambridge Dictionary online for RM52 and is worth it. Now I am carrying an English-English dictionary with me all the time. I prefer Cambridge dictionary because the explanation of the meaning of words is simple. Morever, there are sentences for almost all the words in the dictionary.

The 170,000-word dictionary is sufficient for my use. I checked quite a number of difficult words and they are all there. The Name Technology sold me an Malay-English and English-Malay dictionary for RM15 but the words are not sufficient. It is a Java dictionary. The better Kamus Pro can only run on Windows Mobile. I do not mind paying RM48 for the dictionary had it been programmed for Java based handset like mine.