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SurF tHis SitE RaNdoMly

Sundowner

>> Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Every few months once, the company will have a simple dinner, called the Sundowner, within the company's ground. The Sundowner is usually held after our Townhall meeting, a 'company meeting' whereby every employee are invited to sit in & discuss issues concerning the company.

This time around, we had quite a good variety of food, specially catered from a Nyonya restaurant/caterer. There were 2 rows of non-vegetarian food, 1 row of vegetarian food, another row of dessert, an ice-kacang stall, & a satay stall as well :P

Here are some snap shot from the Sundowner:

One of the non-vegetarian lines

Dessert: fruits, cakes, 'kuih'

Ice kacang stall

My plate of food :P

My Gang of friends

Working here brings some joy, no doubt. It's not because of the work culture nor the job scope itself that're nice, but the people who walked into my life when I started my journey here :) I'm really thankful for the bunch of colleagues here whom I can call friends :)


- Ruth

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New look for PerutBesi's blogsite!!

>> Monday, February 25, 2008

I'm SO excited!! What do you think of our new look?? (the blog, I mean... :P) Thank you, Anne!! She's been MIA for a while due to her hectic work schedule, but it's just awesome to have her keep this site in her mind & cherished deep in her heart! This site has just TOOO many memories of our adventures together ;)

*sigh* It looks as if I'm very free as compared to her, but haha, I've been MIA-ing for a while as well. The past week has been totally MAD. Work just avalanched on me, & I had to stay back in the office for OT (over time) for almost the whole week!! *faints* By the time I got back to the room, it was past 10 o'clock (after work & dinner)! Although work gave me several heart-attacks & adrenaline rush, I still find myself enjoying the tasks that I had to do :) UNIX, data migration, testing (ergh...), project management... It's a good learning experience despite the hardships that I'm placed to go through. Ah well, this is 'real work' man... :S I'm reassigned to another project effective today!! *faints*

Blogging keeps me 'sane' somehow. It's a good avenue to just express myself (and I'm sure Anne will agree on this too, although she just finds herself TOO stretched after all the programming for the day) & it's fun to share our experiences with our dear readers!

I'll be in Sitiawan this weekend for some national-level youth ministry. No doubts, I'll spend quite a bit of time on the road eating my way there & back as well :D (explains the terrible weight gain...I just LOVE food!! :( ) I'll share my adventures when the time comes ;)

Stay tuned!

- Ruth

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Marco's Pizza

Last Friday (2 days ago), I was at Marco's Pizza in PJ for a friend's farewell dinner. Marco's Pizza is situated walking distance from the Kelana Jaya Putra LRT station. This place serves pizza, pasta, & the alike :) The ambiance of the place isn't too bad & it's pretty suitable for gatherings of such sorts.

Overall, I reckon I would give this place a B+ in ambiance & atmosphere, A- for their pizza, & B for their pasta. Their pizza is certainly much better than their pasta, as I find the pasta a lil too 'flat'. If you're the type of person who prefer a less flavored or simple pasta, this is the place for you. However, if you're into something more flavored & rich, I reckon it's better to go to the SS2's Pizzaria or the high-class Itallianes.

Oh ya, price of food & drinks here are pretty reasonable as well, so it's not too bad an option for a meal ;)

Here's just to share how 2 of the pizzas that we ordered look like:

Marco's Pizza

(can't remember this pizza's name :P... but it's not as nice as the top featured one)

- Ruth

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Sumptous Dinner at Hy Thian Restaurant

>> Thursday, February 21, 2008

I had a sumptuous dinner on Monday with my CS department colleagues at the Hy Thian restaurant in Seri Kembangan. The food served is pretty good! For the entire Chinese New Year, I reckon this was one of the better meals (excluding the home-cooked ones that I had!). Oh yes, boss ‘belanja’ (treat), so it’s surely a meal to remember :P

It was quite an enjoyable time as the colleagues were a fun bunch of people. We have a variety of fresh graduates to those who are much experienced :P I sat a table with my usual GT gang & some other colleagues who felt young enough to sit with us…hahaha…

Seriously, I ate SO much (there were just too much food!!) that all my ‘diet’ plans are ruined. Bleh. Here’s what we had that night:

Yee Sang. We made a great deal of mess on our table as it was tradition to lift the veggie as high as you could & toss it to mix the variety together. *lol*

Shark’s fin soup. Yes, we had shark’s fin soup *faints* The broth was thick & there was so much crab meat in the soup!! Yep, of course there was a good portion of shark’s fin as well :P

Four season platter: Fish paste mixed with prawns on scallop shells, glazed fried chicken drumstick, stir-fried celery & snow peas with scallops, & yam mixed with fish paste wrapped in specially-made skin of some sort *lol*

Deep fried fish with sweet & sour sauce. This was quite interesting. The middle of the fish were sliced & made into fish fillets, & then cooked in sweet & sour sauce. The head, tail, & ‘stomach’/front-sides of the fish were deep fried whole without the sauce poured on it. Quite nice, I could say.

Fried butter prawns. Although the prawns were a tad small, the taste was surely a good consolation :)

Abalone slices with mushrooms, ‘fatt choy’ & ‘pak choy’. This dish was the most ‘tasty’ as the gravy, I feel is cooked using chicken stock, oyster sauce, & probably abalone broth!

‘Lap Mei Fan’/ Giant ‘Loh Mai Kai’. Mixture of glutinous rice & rice cooked with dark sauce & steamed with slices of waxed duck (‘lap ngap’ in Cantonese), waxed Chinese sausages (‘lap cheong’ in Cantonese), & waxed duck liver sausages (‘lap ngap cheong’ in Cantonese). This was one really delicious dish!! Something special ;)

The final 2 dishes were the desserts, sweet canned longan drink & jelly.

This was one great night :) Not only was the food good, the fellowship was also great! I look forward to more of such events ;)

- Ruth

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Of Fish Balls Noodles & Fried Ice

>> Tuesday, February 19, 2008

I went on this MAD adventure last Saturday- solo trip to Kampar to meet up with some friends. The trip was one of the most frightening ones. Here’s the story:

I found out that the earliest bus to Kampar. I woke up at 6am, left the house at 6.30am, got to the Putra LRT station in PJ & went to Pasar Seni station to get to Puduraya. The only bus that leaves at 8am is the Edaran Express. In front of me, in the line, at the counter, was a man purchasing a bus ticket. At that time, it was already 7.40am. I was pretty anxious and excited as well. There was a sign that shows “8AM” at the counter.

As soon as the guy left the counter, the sign was removed! *Nooooo!!* I stayed hopeful & asked for the 8am bus ticket to Kampar. Jolly ho, it was sold out! Bummer!! The next bus to Kampar is at 10am! *pout* I got into an ‘auto-panic’ mode & started looking around for other bus companies to no avail. *sigh* I called my friend who’s in Kampar already & I just couldn’t get her! I had to call several times AND call some other people in Kampar to seek for help. Bah.

In the end, I made the decision to take a bus to Tapah, the next nearest town from Kampar; it’s 30minutes drive apart. To my greatest ‘delight’, all bus tickets to Tapah were sold out! LOL. “Cham” already. How ‘fortunate’. I kept asking around, & came to the Kesatuan Express’ ticket counter, where the lady told me that there’s a bus to Tapah at 8.15am, but it costs RM14! Bummer! A ticket to Kampar costs only RM11.50 :( & Tapah is before Kampar! Bleh. I went around like a mad woman to look for other buses that goes to Tapah to no avail, so I had no choice but to take that particular bus at 8.15am at RM14. Wonderful. Phase one of the madness settled. Moving on to Phase 2! *faints*

Phase 2 was at the bus lanes below the ticket counters in Puduraya. I saw my bus parked at Platform 18 already. To my greatest delight, I saw the sign on the bus which reads “Cameron Highlands – KL”. Wow. So does this bus actually goes to Tapah first or directly to Cameron? I waited in faith ‘til the ticket conductor arrived. I lined up in hopes to get into the bus quickly & avoid inhaling too much carbon monoxide. So much for lining up. When it was my turn, the conductor looked at the ticket and…

Conductor: “Tapah? This bus doesn’t go into Tapah…”
Ruth: What?? “I bought this from the counter & now you’re telling me that the bus doesn’t go there???” I asked him, raising my voice a little.
Conductor: "Wait wait." (shows me to stand aside)

The bus that I took to Tapah- Kurnia Bestari

I was quite mad, irritated, annoyed, & tired by that time. I had to pay more for a ticket & now I can’t get onto the bus. Argh. Anyways, to cut the story short, I got into the bus, which had no choice but to get into Tapah town before heading to Cameron Highlands, & myself, plus 3 more ‘victims’ of this madness were called to alight when the bus stopped at the roadside on the main street in Tapah. How ‘exciting’. Thankfully, my friend knows where I got off when I told her, & the trip after that was very much nicer than how it began.

I didn’t get to eat THAT much, but I guess this will give me the excuse to go to Kampar again! *lol*

Lunch at a coffee shop:Kampar’s famous fish ball noodles
Barli drink (it's not the pure barli like we get it in PJ. I guess 'barli' in Kampar is understood as 'fu chuk yi mai' (Cantonese for 'beancurd sheets + barli')
Dinner at Kam Ling restaurant (a couple from Kampar Wesley invited a few of us for a lavish dinner!)

Snack: “Ais Goreng”(literally means fried ice) from the pasar malam. This is the best food I’ve tasted in Kampar! Very unique & delicious too!!
Phase 1- Guy 'frying' ice


Phase 2- From Water to Ice!


End product....delicious & VERY smooth coconut-flavored slush! :P

Basically, that’s all the Kampar food that I had while I was there, cos I had to leave for KL after lunch on Sunday!! *sigh* Didn’t get to go to Gua Tempurung nor Batu Berangkai :( It’s back to work…I’m looking forward to the weekend again! *lol*


- Ruth

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V-Day at Q-Thai

>> Friday, February 15, 2008

While everywhere else in town is jam-packed, & while every other person is out with their partners, my roomie & I headed to Q-Thai for a simple & appetizing meal :) This outlet of Q-Thai is at the Street Mall in Cyberjaya, right at the Cyberjaya's bus terminal. It's beside Penang House, & it's quite easily located, since Cyberjaya isn't all that big ;)

A decent plate of rice or bowl of noodles costs RM7.80 onwards, while drinks range from RM1.00 - RM4.00. They also have a range of appetizers, which costs around RM10.00.

Wen had the Q-Thai Fish Head Noodles, which caught her in surprise, as she expected her fish head noodles to taste just like the Chinese ones :P The soup has evaporated milk, plus chilli padi, lemon grass, & lime juice to give it a Thai feel & taste ;) Pretty appetizing & different, I could say. I'll give this a B+.

Q-Thai Fish Head Noodles: RM7.80

She also ordered the Sour Plum & Calamansi (type of lime) drink, commonly known as 'kat zhai shuen mui' in Cantonese.

Sour Plum & Calamansi: RM4.00

I had the Q-Thai Seafood Tom Yam Kuey Teow, which well, wasn't really to my expectation somehow. It was not too bad, but I guess I placed quite high hopes when it comes to a so-called 'authentic' Thai restaurant. There were prawns (2), lala (2), squid rings (2), & half a crabstick. Hmm...so much for a 'seafood tom yam'. Bah. Overall, I'll give it a B-. There's plenty of noodles (the kuey teow was kinda nice), & the soup tastes not too bad, but the portion of seafood was terribly stingy, I would say. *lol*

Q-Thai Seafood Tom Yam Kuey Teow: RM7.80
As a consolation, I had the refillable cold Thai Tea to accompany my so-called seafood tom yam. The tea is actually pretty nice. It is like jasmine tea, but with a touch of lemon grass fragrance. I kinda like the tea! *hahaha* Refreshing :P

Thai Tea: RM1.00 (refillable)

I guess when it comes to Cyberjaya, one cannot expect too much from the food available here. As long as it doesn't taste horrible, it's considered a 'wow' thing already. Sad man...*lol* I've yet to find out more on food in Cyberjaya! (hmm...I wonder where did Anne go for dinner tonight... :P)

- Ruth

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Happy Valentine's Day!

It's the time of the year again where love fills the air. Oh, commercialism is to be blamed! *lol* Knowing that it's V-Day today, I decided to spice up my life & do something for others :) I got my 'twin' (my colleague & closest friend in office) to join me in this fun :P & the excitement begun!! :D

I packed packets & packets of sweets & Shiv, my 'twin', made the heart-shaped tags :D I reckon, in total, Shiv & I gave out 10 packets of lovely goodies *hahaha*, while I personally gave away another 9 packets to my project team members & colleagues whom I usually hang out with :P

It was really fun to do such things & just brighten up someone's day :) V-Day isn't only focused on 2 people, I suppose :) When the love of God dwells in us, that love contained is too much for just 2 people! *teehee*

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!

** Hmm... I wonder what's Anne up to today :P I'm sure it's gonna be one special day for her as well!


- Ruth

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Perfect CNY breakfast

I just had d 'puuurfect' Chinese New Year breakfast today :P 'Bah kua' ('long yoke' in Cantonese/ 'daging salai' in Malay/ bbq pork slices) with bread AND a cup of rich, 'creamy' Milo! Simply delightful! :P Gives me the CNY feel *yums!*


- Ruth

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Chinese New Year Day 2 2008

>> Saturday, February 9, 2008

Day 2 of Chinese New Year always begins with either brunch or lunch, where the family comes together for the ‘hoi nin’ (Cantonese for literally translated ‘open new year’) meal. The meal will be somewhat like that Chinese New Year Eve’s meal- rice & dishes (up to 10 dishes!).

Among the many dishes, the table will definitely have the waxed duck (‘lap ngap’ in Cantonese), Chinese pork sausages (‘lap cheong’ in Cantonese), & Chinese duck liver sausages (‘ngap yuen cheong’ in Cantonese) to complete the ‘hoi nin’ meal.

The variety of dishes for the 'hoi nin' meal

The 2nd day of Chinese New Year will usually be spent visiting relatives & friends. After the brunch, my family went visiting my aunts from my mum’s side, & we had dinner with a family friend at a nearby Chinese restaurant, Hoi Thong, in SS23, Taman Megah. The ‘Yee Sang’ at Hoi Thong is so far the best that I’ve had throughout my first few days of CNY! :P

- Ruth

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Chinese New Year Day 1 2008

>> Friday, February 8, 2008

Last night’s reunion dinner was really good that I looked forward for an even better spread throughout the festival…hahaha. Each year, my family will not fail to gather in the morning on the 1st day of Chinese New Year for a vegetarian meal. Somehow, I feel that the vegetarian meal that we have is very different from what I would get in other houses. I guess every family will have their own style of a vegetarian dish & I could certainly say that nothing beats what I get each year at home!

My aunt will usually wake up around 5.30 a.m. to prepare for the veggie dish. Cooking for a family of 20 people is certainly not an easy task. Mind you, my family members are pretty picky when it comes to food, so flavor is extremely important! If the dish is too salty, lacking in fermented bean curd (‘fu yue’ in Cantonese), or even if it has a slightly burnt smell (due to over-boiling of the veggie), you’ll have to be prepared to receive some feedbacks ;) It happens each year, & perhaps that’s why the dish gets better each year! Kudos to my aunt! *lol*
Home-cooked vegetarian dish

It is the tradition to eat the veggie dish with rice. Each member is highly encouraged to go for second helping of rice (‘tim fan’ in Cantonese) as it symbolizes ‘prosperity’ in some way (I’ve no idea how it connects) :P I reckon, the simplest way to put it in the Malay language is ‘ada rezeki’.

Every family member will also participate in the tea ceremony, whereby the younger ones will serve the older ones tea while saying some well wishes as a sign of respect. I return, the older family members will give a red packet (‘ang pow’ in Hokkien) as a symbol of good luck & best wishes for the younger ones.

Traditional tea cups for the tea ceremony. Family's heirloom!! Can't find it elsewhere & can't buy it off the rack now!

Tea ceremony. Even our uncles & aunties are encouraged to honour each other through this act of respect :)


After carrying out all the tradition, culture, & routine, all members of the family will adjourn to my grand aunt’s place for a visit, as well as to savor her irresistible home-made prawn cracker (‘keropok udang’ in Malay) & home-cooked ‘achar’ (cucumber sticks, carrot sticks, and cabbage cooked in chilli & sprinkled with chopped peanuts before serving). Seriously, both her specialties are not to be missed & my grand aunt has to reserve at least 1 large tin of prawn crackers (if not 2 tins!) for my entire family when we visit her! *lol* Each individual family will then go for their own visitations after stopping by at my grandaunt’s place.

Most of the days in Chinese New Year will be as such! Food, Fun, Red Packets, & Reunions!

- Ruth

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Chinese New Year Eve 2008

>> Thursday, February 7, 2008

This year’s Chinese New Year was interestingly quieter than last year’s. I reckon, as the years go by, & as tradition is overtaken by commercialism, Chinese New Year will just be another time for a family reunion & more food.

The true meaning & warmth of the festival has been diluted with the interest of cash in the red packets received & the thought of banking out cash to give out to the children & those who are not married. *sigh* At times I wish that the festival will be celebrated with simplicity & excitement, rather than its current commercialized meaning.

My family still holds the Chinese New Year tradition quite strongly. Each year, all members of the family will gather at my grandpa’s house on Chinese New Year Eve for the reunion dinner (‘tuen nin fan’ in Cantonese). Without fail, there will be at least 8 dishes on the table, & many of which are ‘traditionally’ served only on the festival’s eve. This year, we had 10 dishes served (including ‘yee sang’ & soup)! *yum yum*

Yee Sang (Chinese 'salad')


Tossing the Yee Sang while saying well wishes is a tradition & culture of the Chinese

CNY Eve's dinner spread!! - chicken, prawns, veggie, duck, fish, etc...
Dessert- durian tarts (round ones) & rice flour pastry with lotus paste (carrot shapes)

Such dinners are surely something not to be missed. Although I didn’t really feel the atmosphere of Chinese New Year even on the week of the festival itself, coming back to the house for the reunion sure made an impact & gave me the much needed excitement for the season :)

- Ruth

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Korean Dinner Madness (again!)

>> Sunday, February 3, 2008

Yes, yes, there is just something wrong with Ruth as she's pretty hooked to Korean food. The time I had Korean food was in October 2007!! Gawd...it's been too long a time!

This time around, I went back to the same Korean restaurant in Jalan Ampang, but with my TRAC MYF (Trinity Annual Conference- Methodist Youth Fellowship) committee members/friends- 2 of them only for this time around. Lawrence (Vice-President 1) & Chris (Treasurer) couldn't make it. We happened to be at that area for a visitation to the Amapng Methodist Church youths...

Ah, I remembered the name of the restaurant this time :P It's called Romance & Cheers! It's located at the 2nd Floor of the shop houses beside Ampang Point, & it's directly above the mamak restaurant.

This time, we had the usual free appetizers, the Dokbokgi, Samgeopsal, & the Bibimbap! We ate to our heart's content & was SOOO full that we found it hard to breathe! Imagine, there were only 3 of us, & we had the equivalent amount of food that I had with my ex-colleagues last October!! *faints* (all these contribute to my weight gain!! bummer...)

Free & refillable appetizers

Dokbokgi (애ㅏ ㅠㅐㅏ 햐): RM10
James turning the pork slices on the electric bbq pit

Our Samgeopsal (ㄴ므 ㅎ대ㅔ ㄴ미 ): RM25/serving

Bibimbap (비빔밥) - rice with meat, vegetables, & egg: RM15/ bowl

After tossing & mixing the Bibimbap (like Yee Sang!)

James (President) & Samantha (Secretary)

James & Ruth (Vice President 2)

I would highly recommend this place for its good & affordable Korean food. The restaurant is pretty quiet too as I believe it caters to their regular Korean patrons, & it's all the better if you're looking for a place to chill, relax, & do some fruitful catchup with your family & friends! The lady boss there speaks pretty reasonable Mandarin, so it's not too great a problem if you need some recommendations of their specialties *wink* Oh, if you don't speak Mandarin, simple English would do as well!

For explanation on the individual dishes, click here.

- Ruth



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Visitation to DHL's Gateway, Subang

>> Saturday, February 2, 2008

I had the opportunity to visit the DHL's Gateway in Subang this morning. Oh yeah, for those who do not know, I'm currently working with DHL IT Services Asia Pacific, Cyberjaya. The visit was part of our Induction program & this visit was to give us an exposure of what happens in the packaging, delivering, & logistics side of DHL.

I don't think I can enclose much information here, but this post is just to share with our dear readers on the interesting things that are happening in Anne's & my life :)

The visit started at 7 am & ended around 9 am. There were about 10 of us who grabbed this opportunity to visit this part of DHL (this part of the Induction isn't compulsory, but encouraged. Most of us traveled quite a distance to get here). The manager of the DHL Gateway took us around the 'warehouse' & explained to us each processes that was involved in the entire delivery of a package, from the arrival of package to the warehouse, to the sending out of package to the recipient of the package.

The entire visit & tour was very informative & it gave us a clearer picture of how the software that we develop or projects that we're involved in, back in IT Services, are implemented. I'm very glad to be part of the team who attended this part of the Induction. Somehow, through this Induction program, the 10+ of us got to gel pretty well & we had a lot of fun together too! :)'

Listening attentively to the explanation of a process by the gateway's manager

The packages ready to be delivered to the customers

Transmile is the courier airplane that DHL uses to deliver their packages.

Outside the warehouse after the tour
- Ruth

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Mizi Shabu-Shabu

>> Friday, February 1, 2008

The PerutBesi duo celebrated the blog site's 1st Anniversary with some friends today! Looking back, it has been a very exciting year 2007 that we had; exploring new food outlets, visiting old ones, & going on road trips just to relax & have fun!

On this special occasion, we made the decision to try out Mizi Shabu-Shabu, something that we haven't blogged about on our site. The place is often packed with people, & Anne had to book a table to avoid getting disappointed *wink* We invited 3 of our uni friends to join us for this celebration, as well as to have our usual get-together.

The food there was not too bad. Variety is certainly available, though I reckon they could have more! *lol* We paid around RM26 for the buffet 'package', & had a good couple of hours, sitting there for the good food & catch ups ;)

The Shabu-Shabu concept is alike our Chinese steamboat, except that each person has his/her own pot to cook the meat & vegie. Soup will be provided, & each individual can just reach out for the food items that they desire on the rotating 'sushi belt'. It's quite an interesting concept, although nothing that great to shout about :)

Variety of food available (this was just our 'starters'!! we didn't have enough table space for everything!!)
The 'food belt' at Mizi Shabu-Shabu

The drinks available: Orange & Grape Slush (like 7-11's Slurpee!), Green Tea, & Sky juice

Our friends who joined us: Shu Wen & Anne

Yo & Ruth

Shu Wen & Joey

The different soup that we had :P We can put anything into our soup, so each individual's soup would taste different at the end of the day *wink*
(L->R: Original soup (Yo's), Onion oil & sauce soup (Anne's), ABC soup (Ruth's)

If you're interested in having Shabu-Shabu for dinner, we'd recommend this place, but just make sure that you book a table prior to going over!

Restaurant Mizi Shabu-Shabu (Famous Japanese Steamboat)
No. 17, Jalan Puteri 2/5
Bandar Puteri
47100 Puchong
Selangor Darul Ehsan.
Tel: 03-80603221

Business hours:
Mon-Sat

11.30 am - 3.00 pm
6.00 pm - 11.00 pm

Sunday
11.30 am - 3.00 pm
5.30 pm - 11.00 pm

- Ruth & Anne

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