My little corner of the world

2010...1st post of the year

2010-01-13T10:16:00.003+08:00

Wahaattt? its been more than three months since my last post?

Been off the blogging bug for that long? So much has happened in the last few months.

Professionally

New job, its has been 6 months now, and I am at a crossroads. My confirmation is coming up in a week or two, but on the other hand another company says that they are keen on my services. Looking at that company's profile (it is a big, well known company in Malaysia) I am also keen in coming on board. However, they have yet to put an offer on the table. sigh. if they offer me now, it's 2 weeks notice. If the offer comes much later, it's 3 months notice. Well, work is starting to pile up at the moment. But it is not as exciting as my previous job. Probably because I used to call the shots, whereas now I am more of a mediator and implementer and no longer call the shots. The clients do. I balance the requirements and wants of the clients and what my company and our partners can do. Boring stuff eh. At least on my resume, I can put in that I have been involved in one of the biggest project of it's kind in Malaysia. Other companies (including my previous company) have done it on a smaller scale.

If its time to move on.. its time to move on....

Family wise...

We have moved to our new humble abode. Nothing fancy but its our new home now. After 10 years at our old home, with all the good and fond memories, it's time to start a new chapter at our new place.The new place is not far from where we used to stay (I still love this area). The kids love the new place, and so do Mama and me. Hopefully we will have more fond and good times here.

AF3 started schooling in year 1. No tantrums, no anxiety attack and he is fitting in well so far. Alhamdulillah. So new schedules, new transporter, new environment and everyone is coping well so far. The kids dont have any problems waking up in the mornings, have breakfast and off to school. So AF1 is now in Form 2 afternoon session, AF2 & AF3 in the same school morning session. Still undecided and contemplating whether to send AF1 & AF2 for tution... as their performance have dropped a bit. Probably will consider it once they have settled down to their daily routines.

And on another note....

Sun Hunt 2009.......one fine Sunday... our team barely missed a podium finish by coming in late. The points deducted cost us a top three finish. We won fourth place and landed ourselves with a Samsung 22" LCD TV each... not bad, not bad at all.

Signing off for now...... God knows when I will write again. Haven't finish dusting this blog yet with all the cobwebs, probably will accumulate more dust before I write again.....

it really has been a long long time

2009-09-09T11:00:00.002+08:00

June.. that was my last posting. Too many things have happened between then and now, and some that have already slipped my mind before I could post it here for prosperity.

I have some time to kill today, hanging around at the car service center and luckily I do have internet connection..so why not scribble something on this page that has a lot of cobwebs, dust and whatnot.

I have moved on to a new workplace. Seems nice, but working here one has to be 'immune' to the so called lectures from the client. Every meeting without fail, there is always a point to be brought up and the rambling goes on and on.....

Ramadhan this year again is the same, I am stuck into a routine, wake up for sahur, wake everyone up, eat sahur, solat subuh, go back to sleep, send kids (AF2 & AF3) to school, go to work, come home from work, go to Bazaar Ramadhan, pick up AF1, berbuka with the family, go to the surau for terawikh, come home for mor'e, go to sleep....every day with some variance on the weekend. Boring huh?

At least Mama and I have our big project now and every weekend there are stuff to be looked at.... what project? All will be revealed in due course.

In the mean time.... signing off

A unpleasent event

2009-06-12T10:11:00.002+08:00

It was last Wednesday at 6.30 pm that I went to check up on my Mother in Law's house. She was away in Penang and I went there to look after the house and feed her fishes.

When I got there with Mama, the gate was wide open..... the grille door was wide open as well as the front door.

OH MY GOD!

We alighted from the car fearing the worst... Then the Bibik from the neighbour across the road came up to us, and told us that she saw a man leaving the house in that condition at about 4.30pm. She described a tall malay man getting into a silver Kancil.

It has been two hours with the gate and the doors left wide open......gulp!

I went in slowly to check the damage, with a broom stick in my hand (the only thing available within reach)

Living area looks ok.. TV and dvd player still there...kitchen check.. nothing has been ransacked..proceed upstairs...

Only the master bedroom have been ransacked, The drawers were pulled out the wardrobe left ajar. I guess the robber was just looking for cash and jewelleries and not interested in heavy electronic items.

Called the police and they arrived 20 minutes later, checked things out and advised us to lodge a police report at the nearest police station so that an IO can be assigned to the case.

By the time everything's settled, it was already Maghrib, so I sent mama home, performed my Solat Maghrib and had a quick bite for dinner before going to the Police station.

Didn't have to wait long before my turn for the report, made the report to the personnel manning the station and waited for about 10 minutes for the IO. I was then called to the IO's room and went through another investigative report before adjourning to my MIL's house.

There were four police personnel there, with one cameraman (Their version of CSI I guess) and one other person sketching the layout of the house and the affected areas. The other two guys were just hanging around.

It was at 10 pm that everything was done and the police left. I am not very optimistic that they would be able to nab the culprit, but I still went through the motions of the formaility of lodging the report.

My MIL got home the following day, and according to her not much was missing, there were no cash or jewelleries missing since she took it with her to Penang.

According to her what was missing was:

1. Some costume jewelleries
2. A Hairdryer (I just dont understand this.....)
3. Some pencils ( Now I am perplexed!!!!)

Well..... I am grateful that no major things were missing.....that nobody was hurt.. and to the police for not making it any harder than it is.

Except for the damage (and the repair works on the door and grille) I am counting our blessing for everyhting that happens, happens for a reason.

Alhamdulillah

A new Phase

2009-05-20T10:29:00.002+08:00

That's it. I have taken a bold step. I will be moving on to newer pasture soon. I dont know whether the grass on the other side is greener, but sure beats the wilting grass on this side.

I have two months to go before starting my new endeavor but basically I'll be doing more or less the same stuff as I am doing. As someone put it... "same shit...different place"

After 14 years at the same place doing a lot, gaining a lot, I owe the full development of my career to this place. Made it who I am today, what I know, the skills I've got, the knowledge I've gained. I have seen people come and go without ever thinking that I will be next. Sometimes the environment may suck, but the job satisfaction was always there.

The achievements over the years, the failures, the success was part of what makes the job exciting. I got to play with the latest technology, cutting edge technology (which makes me drool thinking about it)

The mentor that I had, the mentees that I had all add up to the experience. All the fruitful meetings, the wasteful meetings and projects.

To all the people that I have known along the way.... thank you

swamped, overwhelmed and chasing precious time

2009-04-03T14:52:00.002+08:00

I haven't written anything for a long long time. I am now really up to and beyond my nose with work commitments, and that leaves whatever time after work for family.

I wont be writing much in the near future as well although there are a lot on my mind to say as I haven't seen any reduction in my workload so far... increasing ada la kut...

The last few months have been a packed working week from 8.30am to 6.00pm with just few breathers in between.

So there you go

Cheers

Of rewards and such

2009-02-24T09:18:00.002+08:00

Last Saturday, Mama and I were again very fortunate to have AF1 & AF2 involved in their Hari Anugerah Cemerlang. The kids were both understandably excited on their participation and getting the reward and recognition for their efforts. For the record this is what they got:

AF1 - 5A's for 08 PKSR, Best student for English Subject, Anugerah Nilam & 5A's for UPSR 2008
AF2 - 5A's for 08 PKSR Year 3

AF2 knew there was a drop in her performance, since she used to get a placing in class and best student in subjects, and she promised to buck up... I am glad for that.

That's all for this update. Cheers

Drool...drool....drool....

2009-02-03T11:12:00.006+08:00

I have to confess... I am a gadget freak. I love gadgets. Here are the top 3 phones that I would drool over for now. Also note that Apple's iPhone is not in my list...why? I simply dont fancy it... it's overrated I guess...

Here they are in no particular order...

First up the Palm Pre

Why? Because its a Palm .... unfortunately it hasnt been released yet.. not even in the USA

Next... The Nokia E71...

Why.. its a Nokia and it uses Symbian OS, is it time to migrate from Palm to Symbian... seriously thinking about it... unfortunately a new phone is not in my priority list at the moment.

Next.. the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1.... it looks gorgeous... sleek and tempting... unfortunately it uses Win Mobile... and I hate Win Mobile...

As a footnote..... look at this

The Google Android G1 phone..... how good is it... no idea... not much feedback yet as it is only available in the US... hahaha... another wishful thinking..

Sigh.....

A belated birthday greetings

2009-01-21T10:08:00.002+08:00

My Dear AF 2 happy birthday and many happy returns.... You make me proud and all of us loves you very much.

What the new year brings...oh 2009

2009-01-21T09:44:00.002+08:00

Cant believe that the new year has come and we are now into the full swing of things. This is my 1st posting for the year 2009. Haven't been active lately with work commitments, irregular internet access and the usual reason, writers block.

The past two weeks have been pretty packed. I had to go for offsite retreat formulating business plans. Long days starting from 9 am all the way to 12am for 2 nights in a row for two weeks. Finally it was done last Friday and waiting for the green light for execution.

Renovation at the office has just been completed. I have been nomadic for the past three weeks sitting all over the place with no regular spot and no phone extension. Thank god I still have my Internet connection, so it is torrent as usual :)

On another note

Everybody is now settling into a routine. AF1 is now in form 1 in her new school. She got into the Kelas Rancangan Khas. However, her circle of close friends ended up in different school. So she is forced to make new friends. I am glad coz at least she is forced to do so. She has this problem that she thinks that she doesnt know how to make friends..... Mama and I were initially thinking of sending her to evening tuition classes, but looking at her hectic schedule we decided to adopt a wait and see attitude and see how she settles into her new routine. She is now in the afternoon session instead of morning session. She leaves for school at 12pm, and only finishes at 6.50pm. By the time she arrives home it would probably be 7.30 pm. Knowing her, she will take a long time in the bathroom, a long time eating (she is a slow eater) there is no way she will make it for the tuition classes which starts at 8 pm, comfortably. Then there is her arrangement for compulsary morning sports training sessions... another logistic rearrangment on our part...sigh. But evrything is worth it for her education. Her new school has more emphasis on acedamic and leadership. They encourages active participation in any type of activities and points given especially for holding posts in any activities. AF1 has had a good start with her being appointed as one of the AJK for her Taekwando activity and she is hoping to apply to be a librarian. Good luck to her.

AF2.. ah AF2. She turned 10 a couple of days ago. Happy birthday Dear. She is settling well into her Year 4 class. A big surprise for us the other day as she volunteered for the trials/selection for pertandingan bercerita. She used to be very timid and shy and wont say much in the previous years and now this... it is a huge improvement. The trials is today and can't wait to find out the outcome.

AF3.... happily in his K2 class at kindergarden with some minor hiccups along the the way. He is, as I just discovered, is a very ...... cant seem to find the word..... he becomes nervous if things are not according to his routine, he gets worried and nervous easily. He was very nervous before getting to his new class unitl he discovered his cousin is in the same class.... then he started to relax and everything is back to normal. So far so good for the past few weeks.

So thats about it for now.

Champions Again!

2008-12-22T08:55:00.003+08:00

The UEM Media Boogie Hunt was held on the 20th Dec 2008. CoC was Fuad Dahlan (formerly of TAB, now with Cipta Asia Worldwide)

It was a a hunt with 30 route questions, 2 treasures AND......2 Bonus questions and 2 Missions...so typical of Fuad's style.

It was a 6 hours hunt, Started in PJ, off to Taipan USJ with 10 qusetions for the 1st leg (without tulips). Proceeded to KESAS highway where the tulip started and ended up in Cyberjaya for the end of the 1st leg. Submitted the 1st leg answer sheets and did the 1st Bonus questions which was matching actor/actresses to the musical related films they appeared in. There was no mention of not being able to use any 'aid' during that session, so the 4 of us started surfing the web on our phones for the answers.

Started the 2nd leg from there and off to Bandar Baru Bangi Industrial area for another 10 questions and then to the 2nd pitstop at the library in BB Bangi for the next part and collected the final 10 questions and the 2nd Bonus qustions where we had to match the type of dance to the description given.

Final leg was at Wangsa Maju (in Wangsa Link) via Taman permata where the final 10 questions were located. Breezed through (and we managed to solve and bought the treasures within the 1st leg itself) and submitted our answer at about 12.30 one hour ahead of time. (we managed to save half an hour by taking a short cut rather than following the tulip, since we knew the MRR2 would be jammed from Bangi to Tmn Permata)

We had to do 2 missions there. The first was actually doing the PS2/3? dance mat. Well, Zul our driver breezed through for full marks there. High 5s all around :). 2nd mission was to identify from the list dances that were shown on the video clips. Full marks there again.

However I couldnt attend the answer and prize giving presentation as I had a prior engagement elsewhere. They dropped me off and they went for the presentation.

I only got the call saying we won at 5 pm and the guys were elated. Got a bunch of thank you SMS from them :)

All in all we scored 231 out of 250 points. Which meant we got 3 route questions wrong (15 points) which one I knew the answer but couldnt find the sign, second I was totally stumped and the third coz we didnt know what snakehead fish was in Malay (turns out to be Toman and we were searching for Haruan). The other four points was from the bonus questions where we confused the description for Hip-hop and Breakdance.

There you go Ladies and gentlemen.. my adventure for the weekend. And to Zul, Man & Rosli....you guys ROCK!

Preparing for the new school term..with a hint of nostalgia

2008-12-17T10:12:00.006+08:00

Well... preparation for the school items have started. Have been going shopping with Mama, AF1 & AF2 for their school uniforms, shoes, stationary etc.

When we were looking for the school shoes, we came across this..

Bata Badminton Master! Mama was so excited that she insisted AF1 get one of those. Ahhh it relived all the memories... I used to own a few pairs in those days...and it was definitely cheaper in those days.

However, this is what I used to wear once I got to secondary school...
Warrior shoes....! It was considered cool to own a warrior shoes back then. Multi purpose shoes it was... for jalan-jalan, football, takraw, basketball and of course for school wear.

AF1 has a new set of uniforms right now... she was a librarian in her year 6, so no hand me downs for AF2....since librarian wears a different uniform (the brown uniforms). It was quite hard to get uniforms for both of them since AF1 is very tall and thin.... If it fits her waist, the kain would be too short. If it fits her height.... it will be too loose... sigh. but we ended up with a good fit any way.

When I was paying for all the items, it brought me back to the days when my arwah father was paying for all my things. Never thought of it that much when I was younger, but now I realise how much he cared for me when he bought all the school items for me without any complaints. And it took me thinking to families more unfortunate than we are, how the kids are without new clothes for school, make do with hand me downs but still with smiles on their faces.

Apologies for not being able to articulate my thoughts well into words, but hopefully you get what I mean.

All in all the kids are ready with their new school term, and even AF3 is eager to go to his kindergarder with a pair of new shoes. What is left now is just the school text books for AF1 which she will only get once school opens.

-------------------------------------

On another note, I havent been updating the postings since things at work have been affecting me a lot lately. I will not go into details or dwell in it but suffice to say that things are not really well and morale in the company is quite low at the moment. I try to be as positive as possible... hey, its the paycheque that I bring home at the end of the day that matters. Cari makan maa...

Another day...another presentation

2008-11-17T17:11:00.003+08:00

Tomorrow morning I will be at one of the private universities, giving a presentation at a knowledge sharing session. The audience will be from the university community, lecturers and students, researchers and govt agencies related to technology and research.

I have an one hour slot to fill and so far my slide count is at 33 slides. That comes about to 2 minutes of talking per slide. Hopefully there will be questions for me to answer to fill up the time.

Wish me luck.

Tears of Joy.... tears of sorrow..UPSR results comes around

2008-11-17T16:43:00.003+08:00

UPSR results are out. I was at AF1's school for the results. Mama and I got there at about 12pm just in time when the Year 6 kids are assembled at the open hall of the school. Parents were starting to arrive at that point.

The Headmistress started to announce the overall results. There were improvement in all the subjects but not by much. probably around 10% increase in A achievements. Overall there were 70 students with straight A's compared to 64 last year.

The teacher called up each student one by one to get their results starting with class 6A. AF1 was in 6E so there was quite a wait for us. When her class' turn finally came, they let her class teacher do the honours to callup the students to get their result slip and announce the results as well. I was really really nervous waiting for her name to be called up. At least I dont have to wait long, her name starts with A and sure enough when the teacher calls up her name... 'AF1........5As!'

And I was going 'Alhamdulillah' all her hard work and our prayers have been answered. My eyes were swelling and tried damn hard not to let any tears flow. I was overjoyed, I was ecstatic and when I look over to her, she was smiling and still calm, keeping her composure.

Out of 40 kids in her class, one boy failed to get 5As. He ended up crying, consoled by the class teacher and his mom. There were contrasting scenes all around. There were kids crying tears of joy hugging each other (the girls of course), there were boys jumping for joy at their results, punching their hands in the air with triumph.

There were kids smiling although they got 3As. There were kids crying because they only obtained 4As. Overheard this one kid saying 'I'm dead man! I'm dead! My parents will kill me!'. There were kids running to hug their parents to show off their results. There were kids consoled by the teachers. There were kids comparing results, there were kids keeping the results to themselves. There were kids that was still sitting down, being cool as cucumbers...and AF1 falls in that category, grinning from ear to ear with her 3 best friends who got the same results as she did.

Maybe the expectations were different, maybe the circumstances are different. To some it was an achievement. To some it was satisfaction. To some it was a disappointment. And maybe to some it is expected.

It was really noisy and the teachers were having a hard time getting heard whatever announcement that they had to make.

Overall, I was happy she got the desired results. Whats next? Trying to get her into Kelas Rancangan Khas (KRK) in her Secondary school. AF1 doesnt want to go to boarding school and we are fine with that. So KRK is the next obvious choice. Got all the forms and all required attachments ready. Kiasu? I guess you could say that...definitely.

Whats next after that? 3 years.... AF1 will sit for her PMR and AF2 will sit for her UPSR. At least I can prepare mentally and physically for that...:)

Alhamdulillah

SunHunt 2008... foiled again

2008-11-10T15:20:00.003+08:00

The Sun Motor Hunt has gone past... and again I did not meet my target. My target was simple, get a top ten placing in the open category. My team mates expectation was higher... get a top three placing....ouch.

Final results... we did not even break into the top 20. granted we lost out to the 2oth team on tiebreak... but I came to the conclusion that we are just not good enough. To get 6 Qs wrong and 1 treasure is just abysmal in a competition of this nature.

I tried to put everything into perspective and analyse what went wrong. I came to some points to ponder.

1. We did not analyse or decipher or understand the question thoroughly. We did not look for the indicator (anagram, container, synonym, homonym etc) and we did not find the fodder for the indicator properly. Basically we were running on instinct and adrenaline alone.

2. We rushed through spotting the answers to the questions. We were not observant enough. Take for example Q7 & Q8 which have the same answers... we just assumed that it has a different answer. never bother spotting the same board for the answer.

3. We didnt decipher the treasures carefully. Although we got 3 treasures correct, although one was tembak... we were not sure of the Pepsi revive treasure.... we just failed to get the other one that was broadcasted on MixFM. I was at fault as well.... I knew I was looking for Vita - something. I was really searching for Vita milk if I interpret the question correctly. but once i read the work 'container' I was fixated on a carton of Vita milk instead a bottle. I dont know why but somehow I equated the word container=carton. Stupid of me. I was at the last Petronas shop on the NKVE, where I missed the treasure by not looking at the section where they stock the bottles. That 5 points would have inched us nearer to a top 10 finish.

I retrospective, we cousl have and should have answered at least 5 more questions that we got wrong correctly. Granted the question "Bays?"got us totally stumped and even after understanding the way the CoC thought of the question, I would still have not got the answer.

Ah well, God willing there is still next years hunt which we will still be in the open catagory :)

To all the winners, congratulations

UPSR results

2008-11-10T15:13:00.002+08:00

Well the UPSR 2008 results will be out this Thursday 13 November 2008. Am I nervous? Like hell I am.

Is AF1 nervous? I dont know... she still looks cool enough. She will have her school farewell dinner in one of the Hotel in our area on the 12th....wondering if she will enjoy the dinner with her friends.

Already enrolled her in her Secondary school last week, she got into a good school.

Fingers crossed and a lot of prayers for her results....

A hunting we will go......

2008-10-31T11:43:00.002+08:00

Mama and I along with two other members will be competing in the Sun Motor Hunt this Sunday 2nd November 2008. We are a little bit rusty since this will be our first Open hunt of the year. Yikes. Really really rusty.

Wish us luck...hope to perform better this year than how we did last year.

What's with the sorrow?

2008-10-17T15:12:00.002+08:00

I have been lazing around this hari raya.... mostly glued to the idiot box and radio. There is something that has been bothering me for years now. Have you ever realized that majority of the raya songs being played on the radio or sung on TV are all sad songs. They are filled with sorrow? Classic example is Dendang Perantau... dont get me wrong, it is a classic song, its a great song with wonderful melody and fine lyrics with evergreen tune but... why must we fill Hari Raya with sorrow?

Look at the malay drama fare on tv... especially directed or produced by Rashid Sibir. It will usually go like this... Parents/single mother sacrifices for the son/daughter's happiness. They end up sad, missing their 'kacang lupakan kulit' son/daughter. The story then ends up with a death in the family, with the ending at the graveyard with the sound of Takbir in the background, with tears flowing, regrets and redemption. Why?

Hari Raya is a time for celebration for the success of Ramadhan. Why must we bring sorrow in the celebration of 1st of Syawal? Granted we need to rember the passing of loved ones, but it can be done throughout the year, not just on Hari Raya.

I have missed kissing my parents' hands on Hari Raya for a few years now, but then again I miss them not only on Hari Raya but throughout the year. Life goes on, and I have to assume that they are in a better place by God's side.

I miss the TV programs in the good old days.. remember Rasa Sayang Hari Raya bersama Pakcik Jamal? If you remember that you must be a veteran..just like me.

Somehow I pity my kids, they dont have the kampung environment like I use to have, tolong bakar lemang, running away when it was time to help kacau dodol... kejar tangkap ayam utk buat rendang tok...sigh

My kids now dont even have a place to call kampung. The old kampung is now no longer a kampung, It is now a town or a city. It is not the same calling it 'balik bandar' isn't it?

So.. my message is, make Hari Raya a happy time, with Happy endings and a happy storyline

Coming to The End and the new beginning and everything in between

2008-09-29T13:36:00.003+08:00

It is now coming to the end of Ramadhan. It is sad to have gone through the month realising, that I could have done a lot more, much much more. Insyallah, I will wait for Ramadhan to come along again next year.

On a lighter note, wanted to update on some going ons in the past couple of weeks. I have been getting invitation for Buka Puasa from my suppliers and vendors. Usually I would politely decline the invitation since I prefer to buka puasa with Mama and the kids in the comfort of my home. However, I accepted one buka puasa invitation from one of my biggest supplier, since I can bring Mama and the kids along. Mama upon hearing the name of the hotel that we are going to, is quite excited since the hotal has quite a reputation for its buffet (Its coffehouse buffet is one of the best that we have had before) However, I will not name the hotel since takut nanti kena saman lak...

When we got to the place, apparently due to the overwhelming demand, they have opened up their grand ballroom into one big Buka Puasa Buffet spread. Everything is heavily commercialized nowadays, that the spirit of Iftar is lost. Coming back to the place, there were nearly 100 tables in the ballroom. My suppliers booked 4 tables for my compnay, and we managed to get our seats which was quite near to the buffet spread.

There were long buffet lines, and somehow we got there late, and the queue has actually subsided. People already took their plateful and were already seated. I got the kids with me and we took our time taking the desserts for the 1st round and only after breaking of fast would we go for the main course.

All in all it was quite a dissapointment (I got to know later that the Buka Puasa buffet in the coffee house was RM10 more than the buffet at the ballroom and there were limited seating)

- in the sense that, the food could have been better for the price.
- The service sucks, there were too little waiter around (I guess the place stretched themselves too thin with their service in trying to maximize the number of patrons)
- -it was too crowded

I dont know, maybe I had a different expectations for these things. Probably I was comparing to our BUka Puasa outing last year, which was enjoyable, not too hectic and a nice dining experience.

Finally, I want to express my good wishes to anyone reading this, anyone that knows, anyone who doesnt know me,

have a safe journey

cheers

Pasar Ramadhan

2008-09-19T14:44:00.005+08:00

Which Pasar Ramadhan do you frequent? Everyone would have a favourite. Me? Not really my favourite, more of convenince. I frequent the nearest Pasar Ramadhan at USJ4. To tell you the truth, I always go there early, on my off days between 4.00-4.30. On my working days between 5.00 to 5.30. (I finish work at 4.30 during Ramadhan) I never go after those times. There would be too many people after that.

My favourite or usual haunts?

Putu Piring.
This Makcik is quite famous. She even appeared in Star Metro. Her putu piring is simply delicious (sorry I dont excel as a food critic as my vocabulary on adjectives are quite limited). But be prepared for a long queue. RM 0.50 per piece

Murtabak
There are only about 5 murtabak stalls. Look for Murtabak Langkawi. Its easy to spot. It has the longest queue. Well it does taste better than the rest. RM2.50 per piece (Chicken or meat)

Talam
This uncle sells a variety of Talam and similar kuihs. He sells one big block in the polestyrene pack. There Talam Gula Melaka, Talam Pandan, Seri Muka, Kasui, Kuih Lapis, Bingka Ubi, Bingka Beras.. etc etc..
RM 4 per piece

Johor delicacies
This lady sells Laksa Johor, Mee bandung Muar and Mee rebus Johor. The best in that row. RM 5 per set

The others that we usually buy are quite run of the mill kind of food, delicious and good enough to eat but nothing outstanding. My AFs would usually ask for roti John, Tau Foo Fah, Otak Otak, Caramel, tepung pelita, kebab, popia goreng and a few more that I cant remember at the moment.

Thats about it I guess....but I do miss the popia at Section 14 PJ, and my weekend mee mamak at USJ 20

See you at berbuka....

Ramblings without any purpose

2008-09-19T14:44:00.002+08:00

I havent been diligently updating my journey and experience lately. Too many things going on that have been keeping me procrastinating from updates.

UPSR have passed. My AF1 went through it with good spirits. Mama and me to..... Anyway, she did her best and we will just wait for the results to come out. Anyone know when the results will be out.

My AF2 has successfully lasted her fasting (up till time of writing). This is her first attempt at fasting for the whole month without any breaks.I am really proud of her.

AF1 got her first taste of Tarawikh prayers a few nights ago. Mama and me dragged her along for the Tarawikh prayers at the nearby Surau.

Breaking of fast outside? So far not this year unlike last year where we had our outing. Have declined invitations for Buka Puasa by my vendors and suppliers so far. Dont feel like eating out. Rather have the comfort and daily routine at home. Ever get that feeling of contentment and bliss where you would rather repeat your routine instead of doing something else for a change? I am in that rut and would rather stick to that for now..:)

It is here....

2008-09-08T08:53:00.003+08:00

I have been really busy since Ramadhan started. No updates and not even any attempts of updates. My working hours ends a 4.30, and usually I get to leave at about 4.40 or so after wrapping up the days work. Work has been piling up last week, lots of meetings and deadlines. Meetings during puasa? oouch, need to talk a lot till your throat dries up......

Tomorrow is D-Day. UPSR starts tomorrow. I will be on leave for the next 3 days... err providing moral support for my AF1. I think I am more nervous than she is. But the again inside I am a bundle of nerves, on the exterior I am as cool as a cucumber.

I will start thinking about all the kids baju Raya next week after the exams and AF2 already have a special request, this year she wants a Baju Kebaya insead of Baju Kurung... oh well kids, they know more about fashion than I do.

My Doa are with AF1, may she be successful in her exams. Insyallah

Around the corner....

2008-08-12T11:01:00.002+08:00

Ramadhan is around the corner. Another blissful month. Somehow I feel calmer during the month of Ramadhan. I feel more patience in me and people around me, more tolerance more giving and less hatred, less anger and less rush. Cant wait for it to come.

on another note... of something else around the corner

Have you ever get the feeling of helplessness? My AF1 is going to sit for her UPSR soon. I have the feeling of guilt and all the what if's.... Have I done enough to help her? Have I provided enough for her to get through her exams? Have I given enough support to her? If I could sit in the exam for her... maybe I would. But that would be irresponsible and illogical. She has to go through this on her own and for her own good.

I am not good in coaching her for the exams. The best I can do is to provide her with all the moral support and encouragement. I send her for tuition, in the hope she can get in enough practice for her exams. I try to help her out in her work. I try to point her in the right direction. I try not to show my anxiety. I try not to pressure her although I am the one feeling the pressure. What is it with me? Is it just me or do all parents feel that way? I pray for her success, I doa every day for her success. Insyallah, I hope she will do well.

On another note altogether... remeber the spelling bee (RHB NST SIR) that AF1 entered a while back. Well the Selangor leg was shown on TV last week, and we sat down eagerly in front of the TV hoping she would appear on TV. I know this may sound trivial to some but hey its not every day that I can brag my daughter appeared on TV.

The show started and voila! Mama and AF2 was seen in the crowd. Moi was nowhere to be seen.. probably I was on my toilet break at that time. And AF1? They didnt show her spelling the words, just caught a glimpse of half of her face when it was somebody else's turn. Oh well. Got it on vidoe tape anyway :)

And we had a good laugh that evening.......

Under the weather...again

2008-07-30T11:15:00.002+08:00

Been feeling under the weather for the past few days. Have terrible bouts of cough. Alhamdulillah getting better now. The cough have subsided and feeling better. Realised one thing though... when you are not feeling well, all the aches and sores on your body is amplified...

I am a bit disillusioned with the goings on lately. I'm no analyst nor I pretend to be. I am just a man on the street looking for a better Malaysia for my children. I dont have the flair to write about going ons with good governance, CAT, and such. Please I plead get on with logical and respectable policy that is worth digesting. I want and demand a good government that cares for the people and no more conspiracies, affairs, hanky panky. I pay my taxes and I expect the money be put to good use. It is hard enough to make ends meet, and I can change my lifestyle to fit my budget with the rising costs, but what about the more unfortunate? Have you been down to the rural, down trodden areas? Have you looked at how people are living?

All I have left is faith to Allah, and what keeps me going is my family. I want a better future and a better Malaysia for them to be proud of.

Please in future..
no more Benz issues...
no more DNA issues...
no more C4 issues...
no more conspiracies....
no more lavish spendings....
no more wastage....

and have more
quality education... (and I mean quality!)
quality of life....
affordable essential items...
accountability...
transparency...
security....(lower crime rates... so I feel secure in my own country)

Those are the things that I can think of now.....

Am I selfish? Maybe. Is it too much too ask? Shouldn't be. Have I the right to ask for all that? As a citizen of Malaysia, I have.

Just my 2 sens worth (whatever 2 sens is worth nowadays.... practically nothing... and round down becomes zero....)

Announcement - Old Boys Weekend

2008-07-17T16:01:00.003+08:00

STAR OBW 2008 will be on 18 to 20 July.

Venue : Star, Ipoh

Itinerary

Day 1 - 18-07-2008
0715 : Solat Maghrib & Tahlil
0830 : Motivation Session

Day 2 - 19-07-2008
0600 : Solat & Kuliah Subuh
0830 : Opening Ceremony
0930 : Telematch, Treasure Hunt, Futsal
1230 : Break
0300 : Clash of The Titans [ Debate : STAR vs Old boys ]
0530 : Rugby
0815 : Dinner & Prize Giving Ceremony

Day 3 - 20-07-2008
0930 : AGM STAROBA Handing Over Ceremony
1230 : Lunch & End of OBW 2008

Unfortunately, due to prior engagements and commitments (plus too lazy to drive there) I wont be there.

Al Fatihah

2008-07-08T09:36:00.001+08:00

Got this in my email today

Dear All,

Dengan sedihnya diberitahu bahawa kawan kita Abriza Mohamad from class D1, town planning, grad at Manchester telah kembali ke rahmatullah after midnite. Jenazah beliau akan dikebumikan di Bukit Antarabangsa hari ini selepas zuhur. Beliau menetap di Riverdale Park dan akan di sembahyangkan di masjid berhampiran.

Al Fatihah.

I didnt know Allahyarham that well but ucapan takziah. And to those that may know her may want to sedekahkan Al-Fatihah

Some going ons at school

2008-07-01T12:13:00.002+08:00

I am in a loong meeting right now. I have done my part, presented my new project proposal and current project updates, now listening at other updates. So might as well do some updates :)

A couple of weekends ago, AF1 & AF2's school had a 'Hari Karnival Keluarga' to collect funds for the school for facility improvements and so on. It was quite successful in my opinion, with a huge turnout from the kids, the parents and the community. There were a lot of activities, flying fox, 'rumah hantu', games, food, competition and entertainment.

The kids were so excited to be able to go on the flying fox and rumah hantu. Even my AF2 who usually is quite timid and less adventorous went eagerly on the flying fox. I didnt do much, just entertaint the kids to what they want to do, and AF1 went off to be with her friends.

Moving on, last Friday, the school held its report card day. I didnt want to rush, so I took the day off along with Mama to see the teachers to hear from the how both the kids are doing in school. We wanted to hear from them, especially AF1's teacher to check on her readiness for the coming UPSR.

AF2's teacher commented that while she is doing quite well in her studies, but she is still very quiet in class, and the teacher perceived that she lacks courage and confidence to speak out. She tries to encourage AF2 with mixed responses.

AF1's teacher assured us that she has no problem with her studies. The teacher extended her praises for AF1's Maths results where she is showing good grades for her maths subject.

Enough for a quick update.

Cheers

The Spelling Bee

2008-06-16T15:16:00.002+08:00

Last Saturday, my AF1 participated in the RHB-NST Spell It Right (SIR) competition for the state level competition. She represented her school along with 3 other girls from her school.

Details for RHB-NST SIR H E R E

It is a spelling competition for schools throughout Malaysia and the event last Saturday was for Selangor state level competition. Competition for Primary school was held on Saturday and for secondary school was on Sunday.

Here's how the competition works, there were 4 schools to a group and each school has 4 participants making 16 kids for each group. The group were then seated on stage and when their name is called go to the mike and spell the work that the judges will tell them.

If the student gets it right he/she will return to his/her seat. If they get it wrong they are to leave the stage. Once everyone has spelled their 1st word, they will go to the 2nd round with whoever is left onstage. There are 3 rounds of ie successful students who correctly spelled 3 words will remain onstage. Whoever is left after 3 rounds will then go into a tie break to determine a winner for each group. Each group winner will then proceed to the final round to determine the state champion who will then represent the state to the national finals.

Well AF1 did quite well, She completed the 3 rounds, and after 3 rounds they were left with 3 participants and all 3 were from her school. However, she lost out to the eventual champion, her classmate in the tie breaker round.

I am really proud of her. I have to admit, when it came to the tie breaker round, there were some words that even I could not spell!

I think there were about 43 schools competing, and AF1's school emerged champion in the school's category besides her classmate that became the state champion.

Well had to spend the whole morning at the mall waiting for her to compete, but it was worth it.

AF1 had her grading for her poom belt the same morning, but eventually she chose the SIR competition, as she postponed her taekwando grading.... At least she got the experience that a lot of people dont get.

I am really really proud of her.....

Cheers

A short trip up North

2008-06-10T10:35:00.003+08:00

The weekend in the middle of the last schools holidays, Mama and I decided to take take a short break and take the kids away from KL. We were undecided where to go and after Mama making a few inquiries (most of the hotels at our favourite getaway locations are fully booked) we decided Penang it is.

Started our journey on Saturday morning, with our maid packing lunch for us, as we thought of stopping somewhere for lunch....The drive was a pleasant one, no traffic jam, the North Southe Highway was clear and we arrived in Penang way before lunch time.

Proceeded to my SIL's place as we will be staying over at her place for one night. However, we ended up having lunch in a beach at Teluk Kumbar which is near her house. Aahhh.. the sea breeze on our faces blowing gently made lunch so much better, far away from the daily hustle and bustle of my routine.

Didnt do much that afternoon, just hanged out at my SIL's place while they were out for a Kenduri and her kids extra classes. Well it was supposed to be a break and relaxation time. Went out to get some goreng pisang for tea for everyone... and when my SIL came back they brought another load of goreng pisang and other kuih as well.

Dinner was again at Illyana's... well I have to be frank, when in Penang, all I can think of is food. My AF1 can attest to that. Well it was a dose of Ikan bakar, Kerang rebus, Sotong goreng, Tom yam campur and ketam... (meleleh air liur mengenangkan dinner malam tu...)

The night ended with the 4 girls, my AF1 & AF2 sleeping with their 2 cousins.. and my AF3 not allowed to join, being the only boy.

Woke up early and went out with Mama in search of breakfast. Our destination was taman Tun Saadon Market. The delicacy that we were looking for was serabai.... I dont really know how to describe it but Penangites would know it... But the disaster! Horror! The serabai stall was closed! And it was closed for the next 4 days! Ouch. So we ended up with other type of kuih and various types of nasi... nasi tomato and nasi dalca packed away for our breakfast.

By noon we were out and about, and arranged to meet with my other SIL that came down from KL as well to go shopping at Chowrasta. Arrived at Penang Road and about 1 pm, had lunch at Hameediyah Restaurant somewhere near there for for Nasi Beryani. We were lucky since we got there before the restaurant was packed. My Penang SIL couldnt join us at Chowrasta, since they had to be elsewhere and would only join us at the hotel in Batu Feringghi later that evening.

We ended up buying 2nd hand books at Chowrasta and my other SIL did some shopping, comparing price for another round of shopping at the Batu Feringghi night market.

On our way to check in at Batu Feringghi, managed to stop at Island Plaza to get AF3's birthday cake to be devoured later.

Checked in at Holiday Inn Freingghi along with my SIL from KL who had checked in a day earlier, relaxed before going to the beach and pool. My SIL from Penang checked in to Parkroyal which was next door, and everyone went out to have some fun by the beach.

The kids really had fun at the beach and pool and we went to both the hotel pool :) and my AF3 finally had the courage to go down the water slide at the pool, though not alone since I was there going down the big slide with him.

We had him cutting his birthday cake at the beach, and it was nice day indeed.

Dinner was a restaurant nearby with all 3 families congegrating together. After dinner it was stroll to the pasar malam, which was along the road in Batu Feringghi. I got my DVDs which was at RM4 per piece (buy 10 get 1 free), Mama got for her mum a handbag and got herself a purse. I couldnt go far since my AF3 was already tired so I left Mama with AF1 to continue with her sisters while I took AF2 & AF3 back to the hotel.

That morning went down for breakfast early, again managed to get seats before the crowd started to swell...

Did nothing much after that, relaxed at the room before checking out and headed back to KL.

Initially wanted to stop by a famous mee udang place in Juru, but circumstances did not permit it, so just ended up at the McDonalds drive through before driving back to KL arriving safely that evening.

Just a last note, this place was recommended by Mama's cousin and I will definitely make it a point to stop there the next time I am up north.

Exerpts from his email indicating the place, with pictures credited to the original photographer

quote

Nama Gerai Pak Su

Buka jam dari 12.30 tgh hari – 11.00 malam

Khamis Tutup

1) RM 10 aje sepinggan 5/6 ekor udang besar (mee/nasi goreng)

2) RM 10 aje sepinggan 2 ekor ketam (mee/nasi goreng)

“Click kat WikiMapia Map”

http://wikimapia.org/1921830/

http://wikimapia.org/5955713/ms/warung_pak_su_mee_ketam._mesti_cuba

Now doesnt that makes your mouth water.....

The Presenter

2008-06-06T15:25:00.004+08:00

Yesterday my company had a function at Sime Darby Convention Center. I was given the opportunity to make a presentation by my VPat that function on his behalf.

The presentation was a technical presentation, more on technology updates, migration to newer technology, the company and my division's technology adaptation roadmap, my division roles in the development and updates on key milestones for the components of the upgrade. The presentation was to take place at the ballroom, with approximately 150 person, ranging from the Directors, to Division heads, VPs and Senior Managers throughout the company.

Two things were running through my head, firstly I was excited for the experience to give a presentation to that number of crowd, since before this the most I have given a presentation to was only about 50 people and first time I will be talking at a big venue such as this. Second was the downside, I am actually trying to keep a low profile with the management because of my previous frustration (see here), so now either I am going to do well, and raise my profile or I am going to screw up big time....

The reason I want to keep a low profile is that the top guns are looking for people to be roped in to the Change Management group as Change Agents. Pleaaaassee.... Its not something that I look forward to do since I like what I am doing now and a new project just kicked off which will keep me occupied till October.

Coming back to the presentation..... I was the 3rd presenter after the opening speech by one of the board of directors and I was allocated 30 minutes for my spot. Everything was running behind schedule by the time we to the break and I was suppose to go after the break.

So there I was on stage with the slides projected behind me... I did start out a bit nervous, but then after a couple of minutes I got warmed up and I did crack something to make the crowd laughed and relaxed (it was intentional, ok!). Everything went quite well and I was fielding any questions that was thrown to me confidently, and all in all I thought I did ok... although I did spot a few in the crowd who dozed off....

The MC did not inform me when my time was up and I actually was on stage for one hour before I wrapped up... phew... one hour talking? Never thought I could do that...

During the next break after the 4th presenter I was showered with kudos by my colleagues for a good presentation. What a relief. I even got an SMS from my VP for a job well done and he wants my materials as the foundation for further training materials for the non technical personnel in the company. I was really honoured.

Going back to the earlier Change thingy.... I was right, the director did mention to my VP saying that I would be a good candidate for the team. Luckily for me my VP said that he wants me to stay put since I am needed where I am now to run things... if they keep pinching people from all the essential division... then who are going to run things? Thank God for my VP....

There you go.. at least something cheerful or high point for me to write about my job....and to top it off I gain valuable experience in standing there in front of a big crowd and managed to pull it off. It may not be a big deal to some people but it is a big deal to me since I never did excel in Public Speaking and never had the gift of the gab.....

Cheers

I am Astro-less

2008-06-06T11:39:00.003+08:00

Sigh

It has been another one of those moments. Last Tuesday my Astro was hit by lightning (the 2nd time in five or six years). But fortunately this time only the decoder and the transceiver on the dish was spoilt. The rest of the items, tv, amp etc was spared and working fine.

Therefore I called my regular Astro repair man to have a look. He confirmed that the transceiver is faulty and took away the decoder for further inspection. A phone call later confirmed the motherboard is gone and needs to be replaced.

My options are:

1. Replace transceiver (RM40) and replace motherboard of the decoder (RM 180+) - not a bad option since I have the old Phillips decoder which is reputably the better and more robust of the types of decoder that Astro supplies.

2. Go and get a new set and register a new account (RM 199 - not sure of any hidden cost though) - the upside is I will get a new set, the downside is I have to go through the hassle of registering a new account and cancel my old account.

3. Called up Astro and they have this scheme for a replacement decoder for RM 169. Their authorized service person would come and confirm that the decoder is faulty and arrange for the replacement. I still need to pay for the transceiver replacement (RM 40). However, what Astro failed to tell me is the there will be an additional service charge by the service person of RM50. I got to know that from my regular service man. Ouch that will come out to be more than option 1...

Finally I decided to go for option 1 and right now waiting from my regular service guy when the decoder can be ready. Hopefully by weekend I can get back my decoder.

I am going to miss the French Open finals... already missed the semis.....
I missed my weekly dosage of Life, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, CSI ....

Sigh

Updates (1 week later)
Finally got my Astro back. The repair man sold me a previously owned (marketing jargon for 2nd hand) for RM150. So everything totaled up to RM 190 (RM 150 decoder + RM 40 transceiver) not bad eh...

Happy Birthday AF3

2008-06-06T08:57:00.002+08:00

It is actually a belated birthday entry. His birthday was on 1st June. We celebrated it in Penang on the beach at Holiday Inn, Batu Feringhi. (more on this Penang trip in another entry)

Had a tough time finding a cake since I was not familiar with shops in Batu Feringhi, but managed to get one at Metro Jaya Island Plaza along the way.

Celebrated by AF3 cutting the cake (no candle blowing since it was too windy) and surrounded by his cousins, aunts, uncles and Grandmother.

He got his Birthday gift, when we got back to KL, a set of Hot Wheels set (the one that can do loops and so on) and of course his Speed Racer DVD which we got in Penang (RM4 each maaa...)

So AF3, happy birthday to you.....

Well thats the last birthday for this family for this year....

Aaaaaaargggghhh!!!!

2008-05-23T15:35:00.002+08:00

While I was at the mosque for Friday prayers, somebody broke my rear car window (the fixed window at the back, the one that couldnt be wound down) in an attempt to look for valuables. Luckily I dont have any valuables (Laptop, Handphone etc) in the car. The person did not attempt to open the door otherwise the alarm would have been triggered.

The person broke the window, ripped the boot cover and saw that there was nothing in the boot. Everything else was left untouched.

I was liked pissed off, since now I have to send the car for repairs and get the glass replaced. On the other hand I was relieved that nothing was stolen, the car wasnt stolen and can still be driven.

What to do....

So I drove the car to my regular workshop, which is the workshop chain for the car, and left it there for repairs. Luckily my insurance included windscreen coverage, which included this piece of glass.

In all the commotion, I forgot to snap even one picture of the window.... sigh.

My car will only be ready tomorrow and I am carless for now. I am getting a ride home, thanks to my friend who is staying nearby, and tomorrow I will have to drive Mama's car for all the errands.

So to everyone else... Park safely

Happy Birthday AF1

2008-05-21T10:51:00.003+08:00

To My Dearest AF1... Happy 12th Birthday and many Happy returns

Abah & Mama loves you very much

And Happy Belated 5th Birthday to our nephew SS

Cheers

Going UP

2008-05-16T11:44:00.002+08:00

So I know I needed to unwind, and when the offer came from a friend who wanted to treat me... off I went and took up his offer, took the day off and went for a round of... GOLF.

It was not really a good way to unwind, especially if your shots starts to go astray and land all over the course and not where you intend it to go....

Fortunately it was a good choice and it was a relaxing day indeed. Teed off at 9.30 am in Monterez (we were supposed to tee off at 9.00, but my friend woke up late...duh). It really cleared the head, surrounded by all the greenery, weather was nice, not really that hot...

Just for the record I shot 112... for a par 71 course.. HAHAHAHAHA

The Ups and Downs

2008-05-13T15:24:00.002+08:00

Life at work really sucks for the past few weeks. Although things are picking up again for the past week or so, but the period was quiet a downer for me.

It has been a frustrating few weeks of that period, at least in the workplace. Thank God for my family at home that act as a beacon during those tired weeks. I know it may not be as severe as some people, not as if I had to be laid off or anything but it feels like I'd hit a brick wall... hard.

Unreasonable request, trying to find solutions for impossible tasks, crazy datelines, changing requirements and to top that off uncertainties of the future of the company.

Office Politics is starting to rear its ugly head, not that it never happened before, only lately it affected me. I have been keeping a low profile lately and seemingly that is not enough. There seems to be some movements of late, I sensed that those movements are the results of the power struggle.

I keep thinking to myself, what am I doing here, why am I still here? There are more questions than I dare to answer. Or maybe I am afraid of the answers. I was behind on my work, the desire went away for a while. The drive was missing during that period, and going to work was not something that I look forward to in the mornings.

There are too many battles to be fought to ensure everything is a what it should be. I cant win each and every battle, so I have to choose when to make my stand. At least my team understands the stand that I have to take. To see what you have build being turned to something of a mockery, a rojak and a mish mash of everything that was not thought through and with anything under the sun thrown in as an afterthought makes even the dedicated guys down.

It used to be fun, what I am doing, It was a great learning process, and the characters filling the environment made it more bearable. With the high rate of turnover of late, changing of guards at the top, the custodian of the ship trying to direct an unsteerable ship, nobody knows where the hell this collective is heading. You lose the expertise and expect new fresh recruits to be an expert. You cant bring in experts coz they are too expensive. You cant retain people because they are offered much much more outside.

When you operate within a certain parameter, people sell what is way outside the parameter. When we cant deliver they say think outside the box.... but in actual fact they are still in the box. These ignoramous think they are so called thinking outside the box without realising thay are still in the box, not knowing how big the box is, not knowing the where the box is and not knowing whether the box exists!

I was tired, I was frustrated, I was down, but now seems a bit better like a calm before the storm. Tomorrow... who knows, could be better or I could be somewhere else.

Apologies for the rambling. Anyone reading this would not know heads or tails. I just need to release this frustration with this nonsense that I am writing. Probably part of my therapy :)

cheers

A Tribute to the guys of 511/13

2008-05-07T12:09:00.002+08:00

Feeling a bit nostalgic today. So today's post is dedicated to my homeys that I had the privilage of sharing the abode with in KPP sect 18, circa 1986-1989

Ah Pye

My closest roommate. We do have a few things in common. His brother was the Headboy of my Alma Mater. Came from the same kampung albeit his kampung, and my mum's kampung. Physically fit, the rugged outdoor type. Even bought a bench for weight press complete with barbells and dumbbells for his daily workout. Along with his food supplements stocked up for consumption. The most lepak guy... dressed as he please ie the simplest with white t-shirt and jeans 90% of the time. We ended up in the same class and he is the most popular with the guys for his antics....and quiet popular with the girls coz of his handsomeness, although never had any girlfriend during that period, come to think of it way way till he started working he never had any girlfriend. (which prompted Mama to ask me whether he is gay...)LOL. He is into motorbikes, superbikes, and our flat would be filled with his car and bike magazines. Since he cant afford motorbikes, he had a bicycle, with good components on it. Later on in life he used to have 4 wives (superbikes in his possession at the same time). During puasa, we would often end up buka puasa somewhere near Semua house where the used to be a lot of gerai with wrestling shown on tv....

He ended up in Sunderland, where he would visit me all the time way down south. I would occasionally meet up with him up north but more often than not he would travel down south every summer and find summer jobs at my place. I still keep in touch with him and ladies... he is still single

Ijad

He is the one immaculately dressed and well groomed. He is the B class and the one with all the connections. I used to lepak a lot at his place in BP during semester breaks. He is the ones with big dreams and ambitions. Broke his leg in an accident, and he was with crutches for a few months and with our unit being on the top floor of the walk up flat, that was a problem for him....

Ended up in Leicester via MCHE and now a bigshot with one of the investment company.

Ah Hoon

How did he end up with that name? His real name ended with Mi, and me and Pye used to tease him, Mi Goreng or Mi rebus? and his answer? Bihun.... so the name Hoon stuck. I know, I know it was childish of us... but I admit guilty as charged.

Now he is the romeo of the group. These guys were handsome, and with me standing besides them was like really out of place. He came from Muar, and quiet a hockey player. He is the one with the social life and a bit Jiwang.... always tension with his lecturers, and has a weird laugh. Oh boy he would crack up at our jokes like crazy and would go teary eyed. Has a long history with girfriends. Another one from B class.

He ended up in Liverpool, but one year later since he had to repeat his A Levels. Last I heard he was with a famous event Management company. I have his number, but have yet to call him or meetup with him.. and it has been years...

Atos

Passed away in 1995 peacefully in his sleep. He was still living with his family at that time and was still single. It still saddens me to remember him.

He was a local KL boy, and unfortunately he used to be the butt of our jokes. He was the clown of the group and the one with the musical inclination. The only one that can play guitar competently. However, his linguistic skills have a lot to be desired, always using the wrong vocabulary most of the time.....

He continued his studies in London (I cant remember which U).

Lie Jang

The guy from Sarawak was not originally from this unit, but since he spent 99% of his time at our unit, finally he moved in (there was supposed to 8 people to a unit, but our unit was only occupied by 6 guys and then it was seven). With his seluar londeh, the trend of rockers at that time, tight fitting jeans, and with his quirky sense of humor he did manage to fit in. He is from C class (for the love of me I cant remember what C class' stream was). The sportsman, where we played football and rugby together for the A Levels team (btw the A Levels team was the Champion for the KPP Inter-course - note the hyphen- competition)

I cant remember where he ended up in UK, but now resides in Sarawak. Last met him 15 years ago.

Nazri

He was the odd one out from the unit. He didnt mix much with the rest of the gang. Being a Kelantanese, he usually was with his group from the unit beneath ours. But he was still part of our family and we treat him as such

I have lost contact with him, and if anyone knows where he is, pls drop me a line

Well that was the gang, it sure bring back a lot of memories throughout the two years there. We have been through a lot together and our unit sure had a lot of visitors since the occupants were quiet famous.

FYI, the unit was a two bedroom flat, with two double decker bed in each room, a living area filled with desks and chairs for us to study, an empty kitchen, one bathroom + toilet and about three standing fans (if I recall correctly)

cheers for now.

A celebration of Life's Anniversary

2008-04-30T14:08:00.004+08:00

Tomorrow marks another chapter of my life's history.

I dont know how I will be feeling tomorrow, but all I know is I will be spending tomorrow with Mama and the kids.

Cheerio

Sports Day Redux

2008-04-29T12:05:00.003+08:00

Well, apparently I did attend AF1's sports day last Saturday. But she did not take part in any of the sports event.

The evening before, her Taekwando instructor SMSed me, asking if AF1 can participate in the Taekwando demo during the Sports day. Well, she was excited with the chance to participate, and our (Mama and I) plans for Treasure Hunting fell through, so participate she did.

She went early, for her weekly Taekwando classes and the demo was supposed to be at 10 am. Mama, AF2 and I arrived at 9.45 and the Taekwando group was just making a move to the field. She was pretty excited. Everything went smoothly, and part of the demo was for the kids to punch and kick the plank. I pity those kids, none of the three kids that were suppose to break the planks couldnt manage to do so. Finally the instructors had to take over and demonstrated how it should be done.

I asked AF1 later why she didnt take part in that particular 'breaking the plank' event. She said that she tried it out in class before adjourning to the field, and she didnt manage to break any, so she was not selected to do so on the field.

Ah well, it didnt matter, what matters was that she looked happy participating in the demo and she had a good time

cheers

Updates on my colleague (story here). He is now warded in HUKM. Managed to chat with his wife last week when she dropped by the office. He is recovering now after undergoing 3 surgeries. Will proceed with another two surgeries once he recovers from the effect of the 1st surgery (which was to reattach (??) his severed arteries in his leg)

For those who might wonder, the word "redux" does not mean what it would appear to. It is a Latin word that means "brought back", "revisited".

AF2 sports day

2008-04-24T14:34:00.002+08:00

Just got in the office. Attended AF2's sports carnival this morning. (This is for level1 ie year 1 to 3). She was quiet excited. The whole gang went to support her..:) ie Mama, AF1, my MIL and yours truly. We did not bring AF3 since he has just recovered from fever, which prevented him from going to school for the past week, and we dont want to exaggerate his fever (plus he doesnt like crowded places).

Unfortunately for AF2 it rained this morning, after only completing 2 events. So the teachers decided to bring the event indoors to the school's Open Hall. Then it was really noisy, with all the kids, the parents and close proximity of the location....

So we waited for her turn, and in the mean time we watched the other kids participating in their events... it was fun. Among the events, doing hula hoops, then pull a ball with the hoops. Throw small hoops onto skittles, throw small bean pack (???? - pundi kacang la....)

Af3 had to balance the pundi kacang on her head, walk and make a U-turn past a skittle and tag her team mate. There were 11 kids to a team. When it was her turn, she ran to pick up the pundi kacang and....... proceeded to walk like a princess, on a catwalk with grace and poise (instead of like being in a race) balancing the pundi kacang. I broke out into laughter. Luckily Mama was the photographer, otherwise I wouldnt be able to snap any pictures due to my burst of laughter.

Her team came up 3rd. After the medal presentation... off we went...

AF1? She is not participating in any events.... I dont think she is athletically inclined.

So now I have to wait till tonight to see all the pictures once it is downloaded to the PC

Cheers

Updates... belated updates

2008-04-09T10:33:00.002+08:00

been busy the past few days, so mostly kept my thoughts to myself. Just wanna share some going ons with AF2.

Ah... my dear AF2, she is really really manja. Sometimes little things will trigger her to withdraw herself in her tantrum mood, and she will just stand there, crying and refuses to budge or listen to anything anyone else says. She will test Mama and my patience to the limit... just like the other day a very simple thing.. I woke her up for school and I took her towel and gave it to her... and that triggered it off... she wanted to take her towel and she became angry and she stood there crying, refuses to budge. luckily she recovered in time to go to school before it was too late. Generally she is a good girl, well behaved, only on occasions, there will be this 'drama'. She is now officially the drama queen of the family.

Mama made a pact with AF2... If she behaves and no longer throws any tantrum of the sort from now on until her next birthday (which is in January), we will buy her what she wants for her birthday... (she has already requested a handicam)

Bribery? Maybe. Good example of parenting? Maybe not. But can we teach her a lesson into being well mannered and behaves... Maybe.

But I had bet with Mama saying, she wouldnt last a month before she starts having her tantrum bouts again. It is a bet that I would willingly lose.

On to another thing... the Futsal tournament last weekend, my team ended up runnersup in the 8 team competition. Not a bad result at all. The team qualified for the group company's sports carnival, but I will not be playing... I told the team I will be pulling out from the tournament since it will be too taxing for me, and I have asked them to get a replacement defender to replace me...
Not bad for an old man...

Futsal tourney

2008-04-04T16:20:00.002+08:00

Guess what... my company is having a mini Futsal tournament tomorrow (as well as making it a selection for representing the company for the group Futsal/sports carnival). I was roped in by the guys at the office as if I really can play. Moi, being an honorary Lifetime president of the Kakibangku Asscociation, was really honoured with the invite from all the younger guys.

Well looking at our team list, I will be the oldest amongst the players, whereas I should start playing in the veterans league, not with these young guys, well they are in their 20s and probably a few in their 30s.

Well good luck to me on my endavour.

The tournament kicks off from 8pm -12am at Sp**ts B**n, PJ. Anyone interested can drop by and see this old man huffing & puffing chasing the ball

Unfortunate things...

2008-03-28T15:14:00.004+08:00

Unfortunate things do happen, and it happened yesterday to my colleague yesterday. He was involved in a terrible accident yesterday morning. He was hit from the side by a speeding and careless vehicle, and he was thrown from his motorbike.

His right leg is broken in 7 locations, and he had surgery for 7 hours last night, and according to his wife, they had to stop the surgery since he was not stable. He is still in the ICU, and waiting for the next steps by the doctors, who are observing his condition.

All of us are praying for his recovery

Update 4/4/08
News from the hospital says thanks to the blood drive donation, they now have enough blood to proceed with the surgery, and they are now waiting for his fever to subside before proceeding with followup surgery

Oh Dear!

2008-03-18T09:35:00.003+08:00

Unfortunate things do happen...... Last Saturday I was going out to run some errands, with all AF1 & AF2 wanting to tag along. As we entered the car, suddenly AF1 cried out in pain. Somehow, as she entered the car, she unfortunately hurt her hand. She cant explain how she did it, but her ring finger on her left hand was really hurting. No she did not smash it on the door, nor smash it when closing the door.

When we got back from running the errands, she showed Mama her hand and she was crying. Well her crying was different this time, so Mama got worried and wanted me to bring her to the doctor. No objections from me, took her to the doctor. I really hope that it was just a sprain, hopefully it wasnt a fracture or dislocation.

The GP at the clinic couldnt be certain by just looking at the finger, so she wrote a referral for me to get to S*MC to get her finger checked out with an X-Ray. So off we went to the medical center that evening to the ER.

The registration went smoothly, fortunately everything was covered by my company's insurance. Waited to see the MO, then went for the X-Ray. It was AF1's first experience with all this, and she was calm, no ayoyo as she usually is.

When we went back to see the MO with the X-Ray, she couldnt ascertain whether there is a fracture or just a sprain but definately no dislocation. To be on the safe side, she applied a splint to AF1's fingers (covered 3 fingers) and made an appointment for us to see an Orthopedic on Monday.

AF1's fingers on Saturday

On Sunday, at lunch

Well she spent Saturday evening and the whole of Sunday with splint on.

She cant do much since she is lefthanded, and she is worried about school, and not being able to finish her homework assignment.

Come Monday, I took the 1/2 day off, to bring her to S*MC again to see the Orthopedic. Good news! there was nothing serious, just a sprain, no visible fracture, and she should be ok within one or two weeks.

Alhamdulillah

What I am reading now...

2008-03-04T08:45:00.004+08:00

Just finished

DisneyWars: Civil War In the Magic Kingdom
by James B. Steward

Starting now

The Google Story
by David A. Vise and Mark Malseed

Nowadays I am not into fiction, but although these biographies probably do contain some element of fiction due to different points of view...:)

Unfortunately I only manage to finish a couple of pages each night before I doze off.......

How do you like your money, sir?

2008-02-22T15:18:00.002+08:00

A group of us were reminiscing old times... and this old joke came up. Bring back the memories way back during the times of being a foreigner in foreign land...

A Malaysian student went to the bank to cash his cheque...
He hands in his cheque to the teller who then proceed to ask the student,

"How do you like your money, sir?"

And the response came....

"I like it very much"

Duhhhhh

Another one...

A 2nd year Malaysian student was standing at the bus stop, waiting for the bus which was late when an old man arrived at the bus stop. The old man asked the student,

"How long have you been here?"

And the reply came...

"Oh... I have been here two years"...

Duhhhhh

Travelling time.....

2008-02-12T17:14:00.001+08:00

The CNY holidays presented us with an opportunity to take a break and go somewhere. My SIL and her family drove down from Penang to KL on Tuesday evening. And on Wednesday morning all of us, in two cars, started our journey to the east coast.

The 11 of us, me, mama, AF1, AF2, AF3, my MIL, my SIL & her husband, her 2 kids and my SIL's MIL packed in the two vehicles and we ended our first leg of the journey in Cherating. Upon arrival the 5 kids were eager to jump in the hotel's swimming pool. All of us ended up swimming, 'berendam' and lazing around at the pool. Once the kids had their share of the pool, off to the beach for some sand playing. I didnt even get to attempt to build a sandcastle (as if I could) as I was busy looking after the kids at the beach. Mama was with her new toy, snapping away pics of the kids and the scenery.

After the kids had enough of the sea and sun.... it was back to the pool for more splashing... before retreating to our rooms to get ready for dinner. Next challenge was dinner...

I was not from around there and since we dont prefer dinner at the hotel we had to go search for a decent place to eat. I chatted with the guy and gal at the reception and they suggested that I try out an eatery called Restoran Bulan. It is located by the sea, by the Legend Hotel. Well that suggestion was enough for me to give it a shot. Managed to find that place easily, since Legend Hotel had a huge signboard. Drove past Legend Hotel's entrace and right up to the beachfront a voila... there it was a quaint and nice and cozy place. The whole group went in and ordered.... and to know what, we are by the beach.. and nobody ordered seafood....

While waiting for our order, we strolled at the beach, and it was wonderful. The sky was clear and you could see the stars. My kids were amazed at the sight as 1.they dont go out often at night and 2. in KL we wouldnt be able to see this beautiful skyline...

Dinner was nice with the ambiance and sound of waves and the food was good. The price was reasonable and all of us had a good time.

Once we got to the hotel, everybody was ready to hit the sack due to the 'strain' of swimming and me... tired from the driving.

All of us woke up early that morning and after Solat Subuh, we went out to the beach to try to catch the sunrise on the beach. Although we were quiet late, but it was still a sight to behold.

Apologies since I am describing this in words since I dont have any pictures to show you guys.

Then checked out of the hotel and made our way to KT. We had our reservations in a hotel in Merang, so we decided to stop by KT to visit some places first.

On our way....

My AF3 saw some goats by the roadside.... and he went "Mama, look... deer!"....
Town kids.....

We arrived in KT with both me and my Biras was really unfamiliar with KT. I was in the lead and just praying the the roadsigns and signboards in KT were adequate. Luckily for us it was adequate enough for me to get into KT and to get to Taman Tamadun Islam.

There was a huge jam to get to TTI. I saw people walking from the State Museum (I didnt know it was that far then) I managed to drive all the way to the parking spots in TTI itself. We didnt have to walk far. But TTI was a huge disappointment for me. All the models of the mosque from around the world was closed as it wasnt fully completed yet. The only highlight was the Masjid KristalManaged to get in and performed solat while I was there (No, it wasnt officially opened yet, it was only officially opened the next evening )

Went to the exhibits and the Exhibition center and then made our way to the hotel in Merang. The kids were a bit disappointed since they didnot have any pool time for that day.

The next day spent half the day in the pool and at the beach. The beach was so and so, and the waves were quiet strong. Did not encourage the kids to really splash in the water, only sat at the edge of the water and let the waves splashed on us....

In the afternoon again went to KT, ended up at the State Museum, and we had limited time since it was only open from 3-5pm on Friday afternoon. Went over to Pasar Payang after that, where my SIL got some shopping done.. and mama didnt shop much as she had her resolution that this trip is for sightseeing and not shopping..... well done mama...

Having no clue where to have dinner, and I saw a Retoran Terapung nearby, we decided to try that..... It was a huge disappointment again, and I wouldnt recommend that place to anyone.

Back to the hotel and I again crashed and burned right into bed, tired form the exertion of the day.

Next morning there were still time for the kids to go to the pool and the beach. We were all 'tanned' by the time we got back to the rooms to clean up and pack up. Checked out that afternoon, and we went our seperate ways. My SIL and her family went further north to take the highway to go back to Penang (cant remeber the name of the highway... Lebuhraya Timur Barat?) and we went back the way we came, going south down to KT and to Kuantan and through the LPT. Stopped by for lunch somewhere nearby the hotel, where we had Nasi Kukus for lunch. It was quiet good, and picky eater AF3 finished his rice.....!

Stopped by Marang to buy keropok, both keropok ikang and keropok lekor and some satar (thats me shopping). There were a lot of cars on the trunk road, made a few stops along the way and it was nearly Maghrib when we reached Gambang rest area on the LPT. Had dinner there and drove all the way home, dropped my MIL at her place and arrived home tired but satisfied...

Next holidays?... it will only be after AF1 finishes her UPSR... thats a long way to go.....

Nostalgia

2008-02-05T09:13:00.000+08:00

The KPP A-Levels Rugby team circa 1986-87.
Pic courtesy of Hardy...
taken from The KPP Yahoogroups
My God.... I look so young...:)

Happy Birthday Mama

2008-02-01T10:34:00.000+08:00

Tomorrow is Mama's birthday.

We have grown together, through the ups and downs. I know I havent been the perfect husband and father to our kids, but I try my hardest to make you happy. I am happy with all the years we have been together, from our courting days to our dating days. The marriage that we enjoyed together further bonds us.

Together with AF1, AF2 and AF3, we have seen each other grow, evolve, nurturing them together with the love that we have. I do hope I can celebrate more birthdays with you.

I know we have our up and downs... lidah lagikan tergigit, but we have come back stronger each and everytime.

I will always be there to love you, support you, cherish you in everyway that I can and in everyway I know how.

Wish for your happiness when you blow those candles out. I will forever pray that I am worthy of your love, and hope we can lead a long, loving and prosper life together.

Here's to you Mama... Happy Birthday and I love you always and forever

Back in the groove

2008-01-15T11:00:00.000+08:00

Well, everything is back to the normal routine. Kids to school, AF3 to his kindergarden, tuition, homeworks, bla bla bla...

My AF3 was very good this time round. No fuss like last year, went to school happily so far, although he might be a bit behind on his reading. Last night when we got the message from the kindie teacher, Mama grilled him on his reading. Everyone scooted out from the room leaving Mama and AF3 in the room for his reading session. Ended up he knows his key words, only that he is too lazy to read at home, more engrossed in his TV programs and his Internet games. This morning he is as talkative as usual, chirpy as I dropped him off at his kindie.

My AF1 and AF2 now have their own rooms. We redecorated the guest room to become AF1's room. But realising that they have a close bond AF2 spends most of her time in her sister's room. AF1 also persuaded AF2 to sleep with her at night on the queen bed in her room instead. Now they spend most of their time in AF1's room. I just let them be as long as they get along well together and let them decide where they want to sleep or spend their time.

Tuition for AF1 has started, and I have started to worry about UPSR this year. I try not to show my worry, but from time to time I try to remind her to dive into her books. She watches less TV nowadays, but still buries herself in storybooks. I just pray that she would do well in her exams.

Last weekend as Mama and I were browsing through at PJ Digital Mall, managed to grab (what I think was) a good deal. Managed to buy a new SDRAM (I was told that it was expensive since newer computer doesnt use this type of RAM anymore) 512M for RM 180. I enquired at Summit subang - new 512M - the going price was RM 340. Another outlet on the 1st floor of PJ Digital Mall was selling a used 512M for RM240, and an online offer of used 2x256M RAM for RM 130 (minus delivery charges). So I hope that I got a good bargain. Now my old AMD Duron PC is running faster, since it was running Windows XP with only 128M RAM! So I figured since I was there I got a 1G DDR for RM 70 for my other computer...... Both are Kingston by the way...Did I get a good price? I really hope so.. since I didnt go survey at Low Yatt...

Anyway, besides all that it has been a routine few weeks into 2008. Here's looking to more exciting moments for 2008.....

An expensive lesson

2008-01-02T16:12:00.000+08:00

It was an expensive lesson.... a big mistake on my part which really burned a hole in my pocket.

My maid returned from Indonesia last week and I thought everything was fine. I had to renew her passport (here). But what I didnt check was her permit. I didnt read what was printed on her permit on the old passport which was cancelled. So I let her go back to Indonesia with both her passport (the new and the old) assuming that the permit on the old passport was still valid.... HUGE mistake.

She came out from the airport saying that there was a problem with the Immigration, and I was to go to the Immigration branch that issued the permit.

Went there on Monday, and I was told that the permit was no longer valid, and I was supposed to have the permit transferred to the new passport (at no cost) before she made the journey. And I have to pay for the JP Visa, since she is now considered as entering the country without a proper working Visa or Permit. Luckily Mama was with me and at least she was still calm enough to talk to the Immigration officer. Me... I was really angry, angry at myself really for being so stupid. But there was nothing that I can do and at the end of it I had to pay RM515 for the JP Visa, and got the previous permit which expires in April 08 transferred to the new passport.

So the moral of the story

1. Always read whatever fine print or even what is clearly stated or written
2. Never assume, when in doubt ask....
3. Never lose your cool....always stay level headed otherwise you'll end up in more trouble
4. Never forget the things above....

That was really a lesson for me. What with it being January and a lot of expenses for this month for school fees, transport fees deposits, kindergarden deposits, tuition center deposits and on and on.....

Sigh....

Happy New Year

2008-01-02T16:02:00.000+08:00

Happy New Year to everyone

I know its a bit late for the greetings, but I was away from the office and was too lazy to update this from home. The kids occupied the two computers with internet connection at home most of the time and I couldnt be bothered to switch on my notebook.

Oh well.... to everyone, happy new year and may the new year bring more treasured memories.

New year resolution? I have none. I dont want to be tied to an arbitrary date to make any resolution. Why make resolution if by end of Jan you have achieved it and what next? a new month resolution.

So what I do is actually constantly make resolution or goals for short term, medium term and long term... (long term here is between 3 to six months coz things change too fast nowadays). I always re-evaluate the goals and know when I cant achieve them or when to let go. I cherish the small victories when I meet my target.

So there you go... my attempt at being perfect.... the results.... unlike job appraisal at year end where everything is perfect and every results achieved, my resolutions and goals are more of a hit and miss affair......mostly misses.

My objective, everyday is a learning process, and no matter what the goal is, the journey is the adventure.

Make sense?.... I think not....

Pseudo-random thoughts for today

2007-12-13T13:32:00.000+08:00

I am maidless for the next three weeks. We (Mama and I) allowed our maid to go home for Hari Raya Haji since its been three plus years since she's been home. So the current arrangement is that we will take turn to take care of the kids for the time being. I will be taking a bulk of the turns to stay home since I still have a lot of annual leave to utilize.

So the last three days (Monday to Wednesday) I really spent time with the kids. It was relatively easy, make sure there is food for the kids to eat, do the laundry, and everything else that needs doing (hey, there so much with my ability that I can do...:)

My precious AF1 have been very good, helping me out with the chores and so on... she is quiet dependable. I am proud to be her father :)

Well today & tomorrow I am in the office and its Mama's turn to be at home, and I am sure that the kids is in better hands than their father's.......

Then I'll be off from next week onwards and Mama will join me from wednesday onwards, and hopefully after Hari Raya Qurban, the whole family can sneak of for a holiday somewhere for a well deserved break...

On another totally different note....

I was reading wanshana's blog the other day.. and it took me back to my yonder concert days. I actually started out going to so called 'concerts' during the KPP Shah Alam days, when they had the funfair across the road (those days there were no Giant or all the shops there, there were only huge desert). I would go with my group of friends, and watched Search, Bumiputra Rockers and the rock group of those times.....

It continued when I was overseas, Iron Maiden, Motley Crue (with opening act by Skid Row), Bon Jovi at Wembley Arena. Then Suzanne Vega and Tanita Tikaram at Brighton (how diverse was my taste in music - go figure)

Back home, Sheila Majid Concert in Stadium Negara, then after I met Mama, smaller gigs such as Harvey Malaiholo at Barn Thai Jazzaraunt (I think) and Go West at Hard Rock Cafe...

And those are just the ones I remembered...

So I admit that my taste in music was quiet weird... I listen to

Rock...
Iron Maiden, Metallica, Motley Crue, Guns n Roses, White Lion, Skid Row, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Halloween, Poison, Extreme, Heart, Gary Moore, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Linkin Park... to name a few

Other types
Tanita Tikaram (she's no longer around I guess), Suzanne Vega, Sandra, Amy Grant, Bangles, Matchbox Twenty, Rick Astley (I dont believe it myself), Wet Wet Wet, Toni Braxton, Sadie and the list goes on...

These are the most notable ones that sticks to my mind.. Hey I even listened to the old classics.. Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong... and even classical classics Bach, Beethoven and the likes just because I liked the sound of the instruments coming from my Hi Fi....

I still have my Hifi sets from those crazy student days...

Musical Fidelity B1 integrated Amp
Musical Fidelity Speakers
Philips CD610 CD player
Denon Tuner
Denon Cassette Deck....

Probably I'll write about those much much later.

Back to my taste (or lack thereof) in music. Nowadays my taste is much simpler..... whatever is playing on radio, or whatever CDs that Mama or I bought, or whatever I downloaded for the kids, that now becomes part of my current music favorites...

So that ladies and gentlemen, ends my (scattered) ramblings for today

Ever got that feeling....

2007-12-07T10:57:00.000+08:00

Ever got that feeling when you come back from a tiring day at the office, only to be greeted with three smiling faces, scrambling to get the first inline for their hugs and kisses. They would then talk simultaneously to tell what they did for the day and whoever loudest would get heard?

Ever got that feeling when its bedtime and they would drag you to come and tuck them in, to give them a hug, and to kiss their forehead and say the goodnights and 'I love you's so that your voice will be last voice they hear before they go to sleep

Ever got that feeling when they kiss you goodbye before you go to work, and wave to you as you drive off

Ever got that feeling when they kiss you hands and say their goodbyes before alighting the car to go to school

Ever got that feeling when they say their thank yous when you buy them something, even if it is something small and blase

Ever got that feeling when you hear their laughter when thay are playing outside with their bicycle or roller blades

Ever got that feeling when looking at how excited they are before entering the cinema for a show

Ever got that feeling when you take them for a holiday where swimming pool and the beach rules and how eager they are to splash in

Ever got that feeling when you are being a bit sentimental like what I am feeling right now....?

Champions!

2007-12-03T12:55:00.000+08:00

Alhamdulillah. We came out tops in last weekends Treasure Hunt. The four of us came back with the perfect score and won the first prize of RM3,000. We got all the treasures correct, answered all the questions correctly. We came in quiet early, got to the midway control 10 minutes before it opened, and only the media teams came in earlier than us. We breezed through the questions to arrive at the final destination 30 minutes before the opening time.

Well.. the people at corporate comm office knows me now... and so does most of the people in the group.

On another note, went out on Sunday with the family and bought a chess set for my AF2. I am trying hard to teach her how to play, and she knows the basic moves, but I am not a good teacher :( She sometimes gets bored playing with me, since I dont let her win, although I gave her hints on what I am doing. Oh well.... thats why I never became a teacher although bot my late parents were teachers.

Update on going ons....

2007-11-30T08:56:00.000+08:00

Well the school holidays are here, and we havent been anywhere yet. hopefully we can get away at the end of December, provided we can rooms somewhere... havent decided on it yet.

Nothing much has happened the last week or so... Everything is quiet routine. Next month there will be break to that routine. My maid will be going back to Indonesaia for Hari Raya Haji for 3 weeks. Hopefully she will be back here on schedule before school opens. In the eman time I will be maid'less' for the next three weeks. The solution? Mama and me will take turns taking leave to stay with the kids at home. I will take the most leave since I still have a lot more leave to finish up... So dont expect cooking from me during my turn with the kids, it has been many many many moons since I last cooked. So lauk kedai lah nampaknya for the kids.

My AF2 in the last few days has shown a keen interest in learning chess. I spared my time to teach her and play with her in the evenings. Too early to say whether she will be good at it, but hey if you kid shows interest in anything I need to support it right?

My AF3 wakes up in the morning, goes to his sisters' room and check up on them. Once he sees them in their room, comes back to me and says.... 'Abah, tak payah sekolah.... sekolah cuti panjang...'. Once I acknowledged, he smiles and turns to do his things. He is oblivious to the dates and days and he just knows that when his sister goes to school, he will have to go to his kindie. Ah well, lets see what will happen next year when school starts. Will it be easy or will it be a struggle just like earlier this year.

My AF1 slips in her usual routine, books, computers and more books.

Tomorrow, 1st December I am going for my company's Treasure Hunt. Unfortunately I cant go with Mama this year. We are a good team together. Yes we do fight ocassionally when we go for hunts when there are just the two of us... but hey I have got no complaints. I get to spend a lot of time with her. With the kids and work and all... that would be the time that we go out together without the kids wanting to follow us. Therefore I am going to this hunt with my officemates, and hopefully this time this gang clicks well, since there is a first timer, and this is the first time I am going with them too. So wish me luck for that RM3,000 first prize.

So then back to the grind. Updates will come in if I can find the time.

My cheeky AF2

2007-11-23T14:42:00.000+08:00

Ah.. my AF2, she is a darling at times. She will be 9 this January. She was born on 1st Syawal in '99. Yes she was born in the morning of Hari Raya. She has grown quiet big.. she is a tall as her sister who is 11. She is quiet smart... but a little bit lazy. She has beautiful hair but she is too lazy to take time to comb her hair.... so her hair would look 'berserabut' most of the time. She is very photogenic and would really pose for pictures.

She is the 'manja' one in the family. Of course, she is very attached to me just as her sister, AF1. She talks a lot at home, but outside, she is very meek. When she was in kindie... you would find that it is very very hard to get even a peep out of her. It continued to standard one and slowly after making new friends that she started to open up and start talking. But still not very much. I used to tease her, saying that once she steps out of the house, she would zip up her mouth and keep the key in her pocket... and she would 'tarik muka masam'....:)

She is one who kuat merajuk, merengek and expects me pujuk her. 99% of the time I would do that... but sometimes I would lose it and she will really get it from me. She is more of a TV girl ( I mean she watches TV a lot) and still despite that she reads a lot just like her sister. But she still reads that has no more than 100 pages (no novels involved)

She is still not at the level of maturity like her sister and I still treat her like the kid she is (hey.. no complaints here) She is doing well in her studies, although she did not get any placing in class this year (she got 2nd placing last year) she still got up the stage for 5As & best student for BM (Penulisan).

She likes to write, and she would write stories in her book... and sometimes I would have a peek. (mind you this is not her diary) She has quiet an imagination, although sometimes it will be quiet ridiculous, but hey this is an 8 year old.

My AF2, you know I love you, always have always will. You know it when every night when I tuck you and your sister in bed, I will always say that to you guys.

The Friday that was

2007-11-12T11:31:00.000+08:00

With the long holiday (with me taking the Friday off between Deepavali and the weekend) I decided to take my maid to the Indonesian Embassy to renew her passport.

I took along my AF1 just to accompany me. We arrived at the parking besides the Embassy at about 8 am. As soon as we walked to the Embassy we were already been approached by the 'Calo' offering tips and services.

Pak! gambar sudah diambil? Belakangnya merah ya bukan biru. IC nya sudah di fotostat? Paspor sudah di fotosat?

Me being me, I realised that I havent photocopied my IC and some pages of the passport... so might as well do it...

Then after all was done.. then came the offer...

Calo: Pak! kalau mau saya uruskan semua bisa.. semua sampai beres...
Me: Berapa? bila siap?
Calo: RM250 sahaja..... siap Rabu depan....

What the..... the passport renewal would cost me RM22 only and would be ready the same day...
So being the selfish and kiasu dude that I am.. figuring I would save a lot, I politely declined..

Later I realised what I need to go through....

We arrived at the Embassy gate and we started to queue up. It was a long long line. Reached the guard at the gate, he went through the documents and when he found everything in order, he gave us the renewal forms to fill. Then on to the counters (or Loket). The was no numbers, just queue up. At least it was orderly. So got my maid to join the queue. There was no need for the employer to be in the queue.

So my AF1 and I left to run some errands. half an hour later, we returned, only to find my maid have barely moved and inch. Ouch!

So, what to do me and my AF1 went out again, this time we decided to go to the nearby Secret Recipe just to hang out. Another hour passed by... finished my cup of coffee and the Almond Brownies (yum) and headed back to the Embassy.

Luckily this time my maid have reached the counter and completed the transaction. She paid the RM22 for a three year 24 pages Passport. A quick check with the guard, and the passport will be given out from 3 pm.

It was only 11 am, I decided to drive home, go for Friday prayers and return alone to the Embassy in the afternoon, just to get it over with. Looking at the slip number, #165, I thought I wouldnt have to wait long.

Or so I thought

So at exactly 3 pm I arrived at the embassy, thinking that I just need to queue up at the counter, hand in the slip and wait for my turn...

How wrong I was...

What happened was... you just have to wait until they call out the name of the passport holder... I dont know heads or tail, I dont know how long I have to wait, I dont know whether my maid's name have been called. So I had no choice but to stay there and wait for the names to be called....

I peeked a glance at the people around me, there was a number 347, a number 89... well I was thinking my number is between these two, so I should be OK.. it wouldnt take long....

Again I was wrong.

So I just stood there, cannot go far since I need to be within hearing distance of the speakers. There were people who cam all the way from Ipoh and Kelantan just to renew either their passport or the maids.

To cut a long story short..... my maids name was finally called at...... 6.15 pm

I tried very very hard to be patient and not to curse.....

My Dear AF1

2007-11-07T13:55:00.000+08:00

Last night was a peaceful night. My AF2 was down with fever. She had her early dinner of Quacker Oats, took her medication and went off to bed early. My AF1 was in very talkative mood last night. All of us were initially in my bedroom watching Fear Factor on TV with Mama and AF3, I decided not to disturb them with all the conversation between me and AF1 so we moved to the family area and and watched the TV there.

So there I was with my mug of coffee and my AF1 with her mug of Milo, and she continued her ramblings of everything. So we ended up talking as friends, and not and a parent child. She talked about her circle of friends in school, how she is doing in school, some minor misunderstanding with her best friend. And I told her that I will always be there for her, to support her emotionally and financially for her welfare and studies. I told her of my expectations wanting her to succeed in her studies and her life. I told her as well that there are times that I will be a father to her, disciplining her, instructing and directing her, nurture her and there will be times that I am a friend to her, and promises of no secrets between us.

You see my AF1 is 11 years old. At times she is childish over petty things (well she is a kid...) but ocassionally she can really be matured. Sometimes she worries over our finances (not that we have any serious financial issues Alhamdulillah), not wanting to asks expensive things (eg toys, gadgets etc) that other kids would usually ask or throw tantrums when they dont get it. I have to reassure her again and again not to worry about this. She prefers books for presents from her uncles and aunts for her birthdays. She sometimes worries about the future, she worries about not meeting our expectations, she worries about not getting good placing in class (we never push her for this, I clearly state that she must have a target and at least her target would be 5As in her exam would do for me) She just need to reduce her carelesness and she would do just fine. She is a bright kid. She wouldnt ask for new CDs instead she would ask me to download it from the net (I know its wrong but then I do it.... not setting a good example am I) so that she can load it to her MP3 player. I got the MP3 player as gift and since I dont have time for MP3 players and Mama already has an ipod, so its hers for her birthday.

She is good with computers and gadgets. I gave her a handphone to use especially for her to carry during her tuition classes. Well, now she knows how to edit MP3s to use for her ring tones. She knows how to navigate the net (but I always check so she doesnt go to unwanted websites) she knows how to check for the connection status on the wireless router that I setup for the Screamyx connection at home (she knows this more than Mama), She knows how to transfer songs from the PC to her MP3, she knows how to use iTunes.. and the list goes on...

She is now a senior red belt in taekwando, and at the last grading she wasnt confident enough to take the test, but Mama prodded her a little, and she passed with flying colours. She is sometimes afraid that she lets us down just because she is not athletically inclined as Mama and I am, since Mama plays squash, used to play hockey in school and me playing futsal regularly and used to be active and represented my school in football, volleyball and rugby. She is not interested to take part in her school sports events. To tell you the truth, I am ok with all that. She is who she is and I am happy with who she is and how she turned out so far. She is a bookworm and and she prefers books but she is active and likes to hang out with me in the evenings maybe on a bike ride or a stroll around the housing area. And yeah, she is really close to me and I do sometimes spoil her....

My AF1, Abah loves you very much and stay you always

HUGE dissapointment

2007-11-05T11:45:00.000+08:00

It was a disappointing Saturday, thought we did really well in the SUN treasure hunt. We were in the Open catagory, and we were doing very well on the route questions, even got the bolded questions right. Then it had to happen, we became complacent and we didnt read properly the treasure questions. Due to our carelessness, we missed three treasures worth 15 points, and only ended up in the top 30. If we were to add the careless 15 points, we would have ended up in the top three... sob sob sob....

We didnt get the

Loose Gown (Wong) that shows cleavage I hear (low cut - Lo Kat)
The Wong Lo Kat Drink....

The Tong Garden Honey Almond (didnt finish the 1st line's anagram properly)

and the 40g Kit Kat (didnt read beyond the time out line)

Well instead of a 32" Philips LCD TV, we ended up with Philips 1 GB MP3 player...

My AF2 with here 'sincere' smile is already asking for it... (and I said was we'll see....)

Sparse and sporadic updates

2007-11-02T14:58:00.000+08:00

Again, my fault for being too preoccupied with work to provide quantity updates. Coz once I'm in the mood I can ramble on and on. But this is part of my disciplinary training where I have to force myself to make updates for that is what I have promised myself.

Last weekend was my AF3's Parents- teacher discussion on his progress in kindie. Ok, so this boy is only 4 years old and should I put high expectations? I am talking about socially and academically. Compared with his two elder sisters, they were better socially (altho AF2 at this same point wasn't talking very much in kindie) and academically. Four year olds are now taught subtraction and addition. And he is now reading Ladybird's Peter & Jane books at book 6A. Is this now such a kiasu world that we are rushing kids along and hope them to mature earlier. Can kids just be kids at this age? However, I am at fault (if you can say that) as I am that goes with the flow in this aspect, hoping my AF3 dont get left behind. I let him still be the baby that he is once he gets home.

Anyway, socially he has improved, made friends, but still cant hold a proper conversation with me. (No, I dont expect a debate.... at least till he is 9 years old :)) At least I observed that his way of thinking has improved and he has become more observant. He is not that fluent (orang melayu kata petah bercakap)

My other two girls are now waiting for their results of their final exams. AF2 got 2nd place and 5As last year... I have a feeling she will drop slightly in her position in class, but she told me last night that she got 5As and best marks in BM Penulisan. Alhamdulillah

My AF1 still doesnt know how she fared, but going through her marks so far I anticipate she woould get 5As (Insyallah)

Ouch I sound like a a parent that keep scores on how my kids are doing... maybe to some extend I am.

So now in the afternoon I get calls from the asking permission to surf the internet or to watch Astro.

Well, I am now well versed in Hannah Monatana, High Schools Musical 1 & 2, other Disney channel series, Kim Possible, Totally Spies, and Nick series, Drake & Josh, Zoey 101 and a couple more that have slipped my mind, Astro Ceria series Adi & Ayah, Telematch (I hate the voiceovers), gerak geri gasing......Why? because I watch it with them... how good of a father am I? :)

AF3 if he gets bored watching the above.... he will go to the DVD cabinet and choose from his current favourite and ask me to watch it with him... and when I say current favourite he will watch it over and over and over again. I have gone through multiple sittings of The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, Matilda, Transformers, Rattatouile (among others). Currently he doesnt have a specific title that he watches over and over again.

Enough rambling. I will now go back to the thing I call my work or the thing that I was suppose to complete one hour ago.....

Update....

Watch out as I will be driving around tomorrow (Saturday) taking part in the Sun Treasure Hunt. Hopefully we can win something....

Post Raya Blues

2007-10-23T14:31:00.000+08:00

Blues? Well, not really. I did have a nice Raya though. Started the journey to Penang on the wee hours of Friday, and got there at about 8-9 am. Stayed at my SIL's house. After Friday prayers went with my BIL to get some lemangs. For me Raya is not complete wihout lemang.

Ever tasted lemang pulut hitam? or even lemang jagung? Well, I can still remember when I was still young balik kampung to KK, my uncles would prepare lemang pulut hitam. And along the road from Kota Lama to KK town, lined up lemang sellers, with plain lemang and lemang jagung. Makes my mouth watery just mentioning this.

That evening, a small gathering at my SIL, with the wife's cousins, aunts and everyone else dropped by and a nice feast ensued. The kids had fun with bunga api (no mercun roket or meriam buluh mind you). Even had time to rush out for 10 minutes to meet my old STARian friend Kadiaq who lived around that area. Kadiaq, it was nice seeing you again.

Hari Raya again was enlightning, it was good time for reflections of the month that was.

My AF3 behaved very well, this year wearing his new Baju Melayu without throwing any tantrum. I was really proud, him able to wear his Baju Melayu and Songkok (no sampin though, doent match and not colour coordinated). The 5 of us were not really colour coordinated, everyone wearing different colours, or different shades. Doesnt matter, as long we celebrated Hari Raya together as one happy family.

Got back to KL on Sunday, via KK - short stops at more relatives and catching up on stories since meeting up once a year.

Took the whole week off, just to clear my head from my hectic schedule. Managed to find time to go to the Gardens (near Midvalley) just browsing through Robinsons, then had lunch at Italliannes, headed down to MPH, where the wife treated the kids to some books.

Saturday, after the normal schedule of being the chauffer (taekwando classes etc) went out to open houses, gathering at my Uncle's place in Klang. Had a wonderful meal steaks, chicken chop, tenderloin, sirloin, lamb shanks, salads, potato salads, brocolli, KFC(??) and desserts.

He cooked it himself and it was really filling for everyone. Then headed back to USJ for another friend (hunter) for his open house.

OOT - talking about hunt... Next hunt on my calendar - The Sun Hunt, for the hunters, see you there.

I'll take my leave here for now. See you soon

Puasa is coming to an end

2007-10-09T14:36:00.000+08:00

Well folks Ramadhan is coming to an end. It was an eventful Ramadhan. It was more hectic than usual.

For the first time in years I went for Buka Puasa at a Hotel. The wife got two vouchers and I only have to pay for two kids, AF3 is still too young for the hotel to charge me... which works out to a price on one adult. Not too bad I guess although I am in the opinion that Hotels do overcharge during Ramadhan....

That was two weekends ago when I took the whole brood to the Hotel in KL. I took everyone on the LRT. Boarded from Kelana Jaya, it was fun for my AF2 & AF3, it was their 1st time on the train. They were so smiling, out of happiness & fear I too I guess but it was great to see them have fun.

The ride ended at the hotel in Jalan Ampang. It was a nice environment for a change, there was no rush, no long queues, the food was nice the seating arrangement comfortable - not too packed.

Saw a familiar face, to Wan Jo, nice to see you again.

We stayed for a little bit more than an hour before we made our move. Went back on the LRT again. This time the kids were braver, I guess clear of any inhibition or hesitation since this technically is their second time on the train. They were more excited to see out the window, the lights when the train came out the tunnel.

the three of them were sleepy by the time we got home.. even AF3 went to bed early that night.

I might not be able to update this page until after raya... So I would like to say to whoever is reading this,

Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir Batin

I'll be in Penang for Raya then back to KL soon after

See Ya...

Type your Title here

2007-09-26T12:47:00.000+08:00

Sorry, for a lack of a better title. I have no idea what to write but I am forcing myself to write since it was a week long ago that I added any entry. Well things have been monotonous lately, only been broken up by a visit from a relative,

Well my sister in law lives in Canada. She's married to a Canadian. However, last weekend her husband came to malaysia, while she couldnt make it here (loooong story). So my brother in law spend berbuka on Sunday with the whole gang. My family, My mum in law, my other sister in law & family and my wife youngest brother and family. Oh ya my youngest brother in law, brought his kids along (the ones who were hospitalized earlier). It was noisy to say the least.

oh ya and what my brother in law related to me was... It is going to be their wedding anniversary next weekend, they are not going to spend it together, since his flight is due after that, and worse of all he is spending it with her family in Malaysia....

Whenever, he or they comeover from Canada, the kids would be the happiest 1) they would be able to see their aunt & uncle 2) presents...
Their presents mainly consists of clothes... so my AF1 ended up with a tshirt and a pair of jeans, my AF 2 got herself a tshirt & bed sheet (?) and my AF 3 got himself two tshirts. Mama got a pair of long denim skirt. Me.. somehow I ended up with a new pair of 501 Levi's. It was a matter of who can fit into a size 36.. and I was the first to try it and it fits....

It was a memorable evening where everyone had fun, my kids were happily playing with their cousins and there was enough food (main course courtasy of my elder sister in law), with yours truly being the host (and provider of venue, drinks and desserts)

So far my AF1 hasn't missed puasa with today being the 14th day of puasa. My AF2 had the first two days full.... then started to make her ayoyo self.... and now she is only doing 1/2 days.

Let's hope they can learn to appreciate the meaning of berpuasa.....

Change of pace (I wish)

2007-09-20T14:22:00.000+08:00

Well not really change to a slower pace.. maybe faster?

Changes going round... well my company as the previous years lets everybody off 1 hour earlier (4.30) provided one works throughout the lunch period. Me? I have tons of work besides my research (more on this later) that time really flies, that it is impossible for me to have time to doze off during the lunch period... (if my boss is reading this, which I doubt.... boss saya tarak tidur punya).

Once I'm out of the office sometime between 4.40-5.00 I would rush to the nearest Pasar Ramadhan (that would be either SS18 or USJ4). Too lazy to drive much further.. altho I wouldnt mind driving to Sect 14 PJ for the popia....

Before reaching Pasar Ramadhan, frantic phone calls from yours truly to everyone, taking orders for buka puasa. Mama would usually ask for murtabak or putu piring. My AF1 would ask for Tau Fu Fah or agar agar. My AF2 would ask for agar agar or roti John. My AF3 wont ask for anything... he just eats plain rice and nothing else...

Me?... I will end up eating everything that everyone else orders....

Everybody will eat together at buka puasa... the guaranteed only time of the year where everyone eats at the same time. Otherwise it will be makan berterabur. By 8.15 I will be off to the surau for Isyak & Tarawikh prayers... the only month that I spend my nights at the surau.

(So far I have skipped 2 nights from going to the surau.. me bad me bad)

Oh ya.. my nephew have been discharged yesterday, and hopefully my niece will be discharged soon (refer previous post on the virus)

The research that I was talking about earlier? Well it is for one of my upcoming project. I am nearly at the completion of my MPLS network project, and I have three more projects coming before year end.

1. Upgrade my ISP Core to a higher capacity
2. Implement traffic & application management (the one I am doing my research on)
3. Phase 2 of my MPLS network rollout, which has been brought forward from next year

I guess you guess in what line my work is... probably to some extend anyone can guess which company I work for......

It took me nearly one hour to complete this entry... I am doing it with constant questions bombarded by my colleagues (work related of course). Well I think it is a sign for me to sign off now.....

Virus going around

2007-09-17T15:19:00.000+08:00

I guess there is a virus going around. My wife's cousin two sons were admitted in Penang two days ago due to vomiting & purging. Last night my four year old nephew & 1 year old niece were also warded in one of the hospital nearby. They have the same symptoms. Well those guys from Penang did visit my nephew's house last week and probably it was spread then from one person to another. Luckily my kids are clear for now. No sign of any symptoms that their cousins are having.

Alhamdulillah.

Selamat Berpuasa

2007-09-12T16:55:00.000+08:00

Nothing to add except

Selamat Berpuasa Kepada semua yang beragama Islam

My kids havent started their Hari Raya countdown yet

and yeah... I'll miss my morning coffee

Picture of my coffee mug taken with my TREO 680

It has been a week since....

2007-09-04T09:44:00.000+08:00

It has been a week since my last post. That long? sooo many things happened, and I didnt record it here for prosperity. Looks like I have to start from the latest events while it is still fresh in my memory.

Yesterday, went to lunch with vendors at Holiday Inn (the Japanese Restaurant). Nothing eventful happened, only when we arrived there was a 'drama' shooting... starring.. Rosyam Nor. No big deal but just want to write it here...

An old friend dropped by the office, havent seen him for a while since he left this company. If you are reading this drop by often.. dont be a stranger

Sunday, travelled back to KL from Penang... huge jam at Bukit Beruntung. I was stuck for two hours starting from after the Tapah rest area.

Saturday, from Penang went to Alor Star for some shopping at Pekan Rabu. Got the girls baju kurung for Hari Raya, and got the boy Baju Melayu and Songkok. Well my boy was so excited because his Pak Long was there with him and showed off all his new attire to his Pak Long.

Had dinner again at Ilyana's in Teluk Kumbar. The food was great, the company was great. It wasnt too expensive. 4 adults and 5 kids and I ended up paying RM 80. There was ikan bakar, tomyam, lala, sotong goreng tepung, telur dadar and drinks

Friday, I was still in Jerejak Island Spa and Resort, the kids joined by their cousins had a great time at the pool. Check out at 2.00 pm and left on the ferry at 3.30.... ouch, that was a long wait.
Tried to go to Teluk Tempoyak for dinner, we went there at about 6.30 pm and my God... the place was packed, there was no parking and we ended up having dinner at Ilyana (not again.. remember this was the day before). So ended up ordering 1 siakap bakar, 1 jenahak masak stim, sotong goreng tepung, tomyam, sayur campur, and drinks. RM 102.. not bad.. and the food was delicious.

Thursday, travelled from KL to Penang, took the ferry to Jerejak Island Spa & Resort. It was a nice place, spacious room for reasonable rates, big swimming pool with water slides (the kids loved it) there was a lot of activities suspension bridge, flying fox, wall & rock climbing, jungle trekking, trek to the old prison, paintball et al... but we did not go for any of those. Well with the kids nagging me to go to the pool.... lets just say we I spent most of my time at the pool. The only setback to this place? There was no beach for diving in.....
This place was facing the seagate area (those familiar with Penang would know where this is)

We were told that that night would be fireworks on display on the beach across the resort. We wanted to wait for it at midnight, however, by 9.30 all of us were already asleep....

Probably I'll continue later and adios for now

Blanks, Blanks and more blanks

2007-08-28T13:30:00.000+08:00

I have been really busy the last week. I did go outstation and yes I did have internet connection at the place where I had to work. No I did not bother to connect to the internet for this blog updates at the hotel. Was too tired ended up working till 3 am the first night and 1.30 am the second.

I did try to login from Coffee Bean Wifi at senai airport (my flight was delayed for one hour) somehow my old trusty notebook was unable to get connected to the Wifi AP.

So today I am still stuck with tons of things to finish before I go on leave starting tomorrow. So I will only be able to do updates next week (as if that many people read this thing anyway)

I do have a lot of things to write, about my trip, the politics of business & in the office, the characters I met, my 'durian runtuh' etc etc but time is not on my side at the moment so I will leave it for later. Just hope that I wont forget the details of the happenings for past two weeks

till then more blanks on the blog

Got this in my email

2007-08-21T12:22:00.000+08:00

Got this from an email... you know the type that goes around saying distribute this.. share this with other people... there you go

Copy & pasted without any ammendments

A successful business man was growing old and knew it was time to
choose a successor to take over the business. Instead of choosing one of his
directors or his children, he decided to do something different.

He called all the young executives in his company together.

'It is time for me to step down and choose the next CEO,' he said. 'I
have decided to choose one of you.'

The young executives were shocked, but the boss continued. 'I am going
to give each one of you a seed today - a very special seed. I want you
to plant the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today
with what you have grown from the seed I have given you. I will then judge
the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next CEO.'

One man, named Jim, was there that day and he, like the others,
received a seed.

He went home and excitedly, told his wife the story. She helped him get

a pot, soil and compost and he planted the seed.

Every day, he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After
about three weeks, some of the other executives began to talk about
their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow. Jim kept
checking his seed, but nothing ever grew.

Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still nothing. By now,
others were talking about their plants, but Jim didn't have a plant
and he felt like a failure.

Six months went by - still nothing in Jim's pot. He just knew he had
killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had
nothing. Jim didn't say anything to his colleagues, however. He just
kept watering and fertilizing the soil - he so wanted the seed to
grow.

A year finally went by and all the young executives of the company
brought their plants to the CEO for inspection. Jim told his wife that

he wasn't going to take an empty pot. But she asked him to be honest
about what happened.

Jim felt sick at his stomach. It was going to be the most embarrassing
moment of his life, but he knew his wife was right.

He took his empty pot to the board room. When Jim arrived, he was
amazed
at the variety of plants grown by the other executives. They were
beautiful--in all shapes and sizes. Jim put his empty pot on the floor

and many of his colleagues laughed. A few felt sorry for him!

When the CEO arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted his young
executives.

Jim just tried to hide in the back.

'My, what great plants, trees, and flowers you have grown,' said the
CEO.

'Today one of you will be appointed the next CEO!'

All of a sudden, the CEO spotted Jim at the back of the room with his
empty pot. He ordered the financial director to bring him to the front.

Jim was terrified. He thought, 'The CEO knows I'm a failure! Maybe he
will have me fired!'

When Jim got to the front, the CEO asked him what had happened to his
seed.

Jim told him the story.

The CEO asked everyone to sit down except Jim. He looked at Jim, and
then announced to the young executives, 'Here is your next Chief
Executive! His name is Jim!'

Jim couldn't believe it. Jim couldn't even grow his seed. How could he

be the new CEO the others said?

Then the CEO said, 'One year ago today, I gave everyone in this room a
seed.

I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to
me
today. But I gave you all boiled seeds; they were dead - it was not
possible for them to grow.

All of you, except Jim, have brought me trees and plants and flowers.

'When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another
seed for the one I gave you. Jim was the only one with the courage and

honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one
who will be the new Chief Executive!'

Moral:

If you plant honesty, you will reap trust

If you plant goodness, you will reap friends.

If you plant humility, you will reap greatness.

If you plant perseverance, you will reap contentment

If you plant consideration, you will reap perspective.

If you plant hard work, you will reap success.

If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation.

So, be careful what you plant now; it will determine what you will reap later.

It has been a while

2007-08-21T11:38:00.000+08:00

It has been a while since my last post. I know, I know that I tried to make it a point to update and tell my side of the story as frequent as I can, but shit happens.

I am required to go for a business trip in the southern region tomorrow for 2 days. I just got the agenda, the portion that I am suppose to look at is only for an hour or so on the first day. I mean thats it? spend the unnecessary traveling for hours, which I think air flight is not possible due to two reasons; first its gonna be hard to get flight tickets due to school holidays and second, the MD is not around to approve for air travel (ouch!)

So I am trying my very best to wiggle my way out of going.

So now is the school holidays, I am still tied up with my project which is one week behind schedule from my original plan. However, the actual completion date in stages and the first milestone is actually end of this month, so in a way I am still ok.

So to not let the kids disappointed by not going anywhere for the holidays, I took the whole family for another movie last weekend - "Rattatouille" (did I spell that right?). I guess they kinda enjoyed it, I liked it, my AF1 liked it, my AF2 said she liked it, my Af3 said heliked it, but he did looked bored on occasions, and Mama said she sorta liked it.

So it was fun, they did enjoyed themselves, which was the whole idea anyway. Munching away on popcorns and the movie did evoke laughter from all of them....

My AF3 has a defense mechanism on getting himself out of school. The last week before the school holidays he was very reluctant to go to school. Angin dia masa mula mula sekolah datang balik. He cried and tried to get out from getting me to send him didnt work, so when he got to school, he got himself to throw up so that the teacher would call me up to pick him up and take him home. That worked for the first day (monday) then he didnt go to school on tuesday & wednesday.

On thursday I forced him to go to school. He threw up in the car (fortunately in a plastic bag) but I still refuse to budge nor did I show any sympathy (it was hard but I had to do it... I felt really bad). He didnt vommit in school that day. And the thing was repeated again on Friday, and he was finally ok by the time he got home. Now with one week holiday, I dont know whether he will be worked up again on the first day of school.

So now, my head is in a mess about the traveling issue (the first paragraph of this post). Therefore I leave this post as it is now, and maybe just maybe I will get in some updates later

Wise words perhaps?

2007-08-14T14:02:00.000+08:00

Here is something that I read recently that may be applies to nearly everything in life

You would have three things in most solutions in life, whether it is work related or in everyday life

Good, Quick, Cheap

And in most cases you can have only two of these components, no matter what.

Good + Quick solution = Not Cheap
Good + Cheap solution = Not Quick
Quick + cheap solution = Not Good

How does that sounds? Take a pick of what you usually choose

On another note here is a riddle told to me by my 8 year old AF2

If
Farmer A sells vegetables
Farmer B sells fruits
What does Farmer C sells?

It had me thinking.....I said a lot of things and she would laugh at me each time saying I am wrong...

The answer.. Farmer C (pronounced - Pharmacy) sells medicine!

That sure puts a smile on my face...

Futsal with a view and other thots

2007-08-07T13:50:00.000+08:00

Last night was my futsal outing with the guys from the office. Well put it this way, the rest of the guys are young.. in their 20s, me and and YBA are touching 40.. sigh.

Anyway, one of the guys arranged a friendly with a team from TV3 (kononnya). It turns out that these guys are training for the upcoming National futsal league this weekend. Ulp! what have we got ourselves into.

Eventually it didnt turn out too bad. We didnt make a fool out of ourselves. Lost 2 matches and drew the other. Score... cant remember.

However, the view for that night is there was a filming going on at that venue... a taping of the tv series Gol & Gincu episode was taking place. So all the main actresses were there. So it was a nice sight indeed.

At home, my AF3 was still in transformers mode. Keep on repeating watching the transformers dvd, just like what he did when 'Cars' came out. The other day when we were in Subang Parade, he saw 'Cars' watch on display, he came to me with his cute eyes....

"Babah... boleh bili jam cars?'

This boy is four years old, cant even tell time, has two watches at home (one is a free faber castell digital watch, the other is a spiderman watch). So me being me, try to divert as much attention away from the topic until at one point..

'Babah.. naik atas pigi toysus' (Toy r us)

'ok nanti kita pergi' I happily replied, knowing if he goes to Toys r us he'll happily browse around, watch the promo on the tv sets until he is satisfied then we can leave peacefully. He is such a darling that he doesnt throw a tantrum.

Selamat duit babah

On another another note, I was at the Shah Alam pasar tani (the one located near the stadium) last sunday. As usual I would browse through the stalls carrying sports apparels. One particular stalls with footbal jersey replicas had the latest Arsenal 07/08 away strip. It was so much like the original. With the printed small print on the strip, the herbert chapman commemorative logo on the inside, with the quality of material... it was like wow? the price? RM40

Then I went to nike shop when I was in subang parade, there it was on display the same replica strip. The sales assistant came up to me started his sales pitch..

"bang, latest Arsenal jersey, tulisan tu semua pakai laser technology"

'yeah.... how much?'

"RM 250 jer...."

'ok... thank you'...

I check the quality, it was like very very very similar. I think only if I worked for Nike that I would know the difference. I am not advocating piracy or anything, but for that price?

Enuff Said.

Final thoughts of the day..... Welcome back my Treo 680. He ehe

New Car?

2007-08-03T11:03:00.000+08:00

Yesterday, as I was dropping off my 4 year old AF3 to kindergarten, I parked the car. As I opened the rear door for him, I noticed there were some tears on the rubber lining of that door near the seat. I just mentioned to myself, "Oh Boy koyak pulak getah ni..."

And guess what the response I got from that boy?

"Koyak.... Abah, bili kereta baru la..." Banyak kereta cantik... tu tu " pointing to the other cars parked at the parking lot (among others a kancil, kelisa, getz and a proton)

I just smiled not knowing what else to say..... speechless....

Solat....

2007-08-02T14:32:00.000+08:00

Entah macammana sebaik saja selepas solat maghrib two days ago, tiba tiba terlintas dihati, nak suruh my two precious girls AF1 & AF2 start solat on a regular basis. So I called them up, had a nice talk with them (with me doing all the talking actually) The two were initially worried, coz usualy if I called both of them and sit down and talked to them, usually they had done something wrong. But they were very receptive to my instruction and they were ready to do as I have asked. It was very heartwarming to see them eager and willing to perform the solat without me having to throw a fit. All I need is just to remind them (or maybe sometimes their mama or bak ti) of the prayer times.

So far Alhamdullillah, evrything is going well... no tantrums thrown when it is Solat time.

Whats going on?

2007-07-31T09:29:00.000+08:00

Exactly. Whats going on in this world? As I was driving to work this morning, I was listening to HotFM, this was this caller, who said that she knew a female friend of hers in college (or was it a local U) who was humiliated by her boyfriend. The female friend was having a discussion about their coursework with colleagues (male amongst them) and he became jealous and he came over and spit on the poor girl. What's up with that? Man I tell you you are bringing shame to the whole of the male species. How could one treat another person especially a female with that? It is a deplorable behavior.
What has the world come to?

Buang anak dlm tong sampah, wife abuse, where have the feeling of compassion and responsibility gone to?

All I can do to change this is to raise my kids so that they will grow up with principle, dignity, responsibility, accountability, compassion, berilmu, berakhlak and fear of God.

On another note.. the Putrajaya hunt. we failed ... we did well on the hunt proper.. we failed on the missions. the 3rd mission it was all or nothing 0 pts or 10 pts..... guess what... we got nothing. there goes any hope of any decent top 20 placing.

Probably next year we might skip Putrajaya hunt... too many missions

time to go back to work....

A frantic weekend

2007-07-23T16:34:00.000+08:00

I have been too tired to write anything. Been really busy managing my project. But I just wanna write how my weekend went, just for me to remember what went on last weekend. Here goes:

Saturday

Wet Market day. Dropped of AF1 for her tekwando class. Shoot of to Pasar Borong Selangor. Equipped with my trusty trolley off I went. Lets see what I got...

5 kg of ikan sardin
5 kg of ikan pelaling
2 ekor terubuk
1 kg udang
3 ekor nyok-nyok
2 ekor tenggiri
11 ekor cincaru
3 ekor ayam
1 kg daging
1 kg paru
2 kg tulang

Sayur - bayam, kangkong, pucuk paku & my favourite petai!!!!

Not bad for a couple of hours shopping. All in all for all the above I spent less than RM200 (which is my budget for the shopping every fortnight)

Rushed home to pick up everyone to go to Tok's place to put away all the things (Tok's place has a big freezer)Picked up AF1 on the way. Had a breather.. and there goes my morning.

Had lunch then brought the kids and Mama to Summit for "Tranformers" I had to go the previous night to get the tickets since
1. All the GSC phone booking lines are engaged... (for hours and hours)
2. Online reservation is down... cannot be accessible

The kids had a ball of a time... especially AF3 which was his first cinema movie experience.

The movie?.... AWESOME!!!!!

But get this... movie tickets RM 33... popcorns & drinks RM 16.. total RM 49..
I went to buy some pirated DVD (shhhh.. dont let the enforcement officers know about this....) I got 6 discs for RM 40...... sheesh no wonder the pirates are making a killing....

But all in all it was worth spending the money.... by the look on the faces of the three kids coming out from the movie theatre... it was like... priceless......they were smiling from ear to ear.

Finally... got home and was able to relax..... just parked myself in front of the TV watching Tiger Woods failing to make an impact.

Sunday...
You know why I was determined to bring the kids to the cinema? Coz today me and Mama are going Treasure Hunting... It was our first treasure hunt of 2007. We were on hiatus for nearly a year.

It was the Multiple Sclerosis Awareness hunt. We had a respectable finish...

for results see http://www.michaelpang.com.my/home/blog.php

It was tiring... yes it was. But at the same time rewarding especially when you get the answer. Treasure hunting is like a drug. The more answers you get the more you come back for it. Who in their right mind wakes up very early on a Sunday, just to torture themselves with hunt questions.... and then comes back for more.

Next week we are going for the Putrajaya hunt. So... see you guys there...

Evening... Giant time.. shopping for groceries... again!

I need to finish up some work now.... will continue when I have time......

The fragility of it all

2007-07-17T14:54:00.001+08:00

Referring to the previous post, it set me thinking. How life is so fragile and unpredictable. We plan but God determines. Every time I go out, will I get back safely to see the cheering faces of my wife and 3 adorable kids. Will I still be around to see them grow up, will I always be there to nurture them, to provide for them, to educate them, to be there during the good and bad times, during the ups and downs?

Will I be able to take care of my health in order to always be there for my family. Will be safe on the road to be able to travel to and from home to be there when they need me?

I have had the pain when my parents passed away. I was unfortunate not to be by their side during the last moments. I was in KL at work on both occasions. However, the impact was different from this situation. When my parents passed away, there was just sorrow, sadness and a sense of loss. This occasion the impact was different. It hit closer to home. You lose the sense of security. Granted he was 9 years older than me but what is 9 years? Pejam celik pejam celik 9 years passes you by.

It had me pondering, what if something happens to me? What have I prepared for my family? Financially, hopefully it's covered. I have my life insurance and EPF which has my wife as my benificiary.
Emotionally, I dont think one can ever be prepared for the devastation.
Spiritually, I will always be there.
Physically, life goes on for them.
I hope I have raised my kids well enough to overcome whatever lies in their path.

To my wife, my dear wife, my beloved wife, I know well enough that you can survive. That's why I married you in the first place. I know you are fiercely independent, you are strong and I know that you can take care of the kids better than I ever could.

Sorry for the sombre mood today cant help but think of what transpired over the weekend.

Hopefully my next entry will be on a more cheerful note. Till next time

Al Fatihah

2007-07-16T17:08:00.000+08:00

It was a sad day indeed. I was in PD for the leadership program. One of our friends passed away during the session. Al Fatihah to Roslen Yusoff, one of my team mate during the rafting program. He passed away due to suspected shortness of breath and heart attack. We were all stunned. I was in the front row of the raft with him.

So very short post today, Today post is dedicated to him and semuga ruh nya dicucuri rahmat dan semuga Allah tempatkan beliau disisinya bersama orang orang yg beriman

Al Fatihah

Going away again

2007-07-11T17:11:00.001+08:00

I will be away again from tomorrow till saturday. Off to PD this time. Its a leadership program. More about it when I get back.

Another scenario thats going round the company now is resignation. Quite a number are leaving. Why? I dont know... they have better opportunities. Why am I still here. I can only think of two things

1. I dont have a better offer elsewhere
2. I like what I am doing here.

For number 1, I did have an offer a few months back. I declined since it was not attractive enough at the end of the day. It was only a 10% increase intially, when I sounded my intention to decline, they increased another 5% to a GRAND TOTAL of.....15%. Well considering the travelling..(it is in the middle of KL btw) the additional costs of tol and worst of all..... WORKING SATURDAYS. That beat the lot!

No 2 - I am in the middle of a big project, racing with the other giant telco to rollout the latest network. A new thing, new challenge, things to learn. So... nothing beats that!

I think I am marketable... but there have been no attractive offers.... any takers out there?

On another note
My AF3 is not feeling well for the past couple of days. It is very hard since he refuses to take medicine orally. No choice but to insert the bullet shape medicine up his behind. so far his fever is on and off, but at least he is eating well. He has only been his bubbly self in spurts when he feels better.

OK I need to finish my work before I sign off for the day. See you next week

Back to reality

2007-07-10T13:53:00.000+08:00

I got back from the team bonding session on Sunday. Didnt have time to write anything yesterday (read lazy/too preoccupied). A few interesting things did happen over the weekend. The session itself was not physically strenuous as expected. Although it was tiring, but it wasnt that hard.

Highlight of the session was the jungle trekking and camping. The whole group was adjudged by the instructor as to be unfit. We only ended up a quarter of the planned route when the instructor made a detour and we ended up in an alternative campsite. The two camps on top got a place near a waterfall, and the two group at the bottom got near durian trees. the top camps had a bash at the waterfall, and the lower camps got their durian feast. A group of four went to find 'dinner' while the rest of the team members set up camp. The 'dinner' in question included chopping down a bayan tree, to get its 'umbut' on the top part of the tree. My God... the tree was really hard. These four guys (yours truly included) laboured with parangs for one hour and we barely went through a quarter of the tree. Rescue came in the form of other team members who have completed setting up their camps. the tree eventually fell.... unfortunately it fell to the opposite side than the one that we wanted and it fot tangled with other trees and never fell to the ground. Well that was the end of it. Well later that evening another group went to look for another bayan tree and started hacking away. I was too tired to join and went to the waterfall instead. They never got the tree to fall that night, they continued early the next morning and got it for breakfast instead.

The session that night ended at about 12.30 am and I was already feeling nauseous from the lack of food. We only had rations of sandwiches , lemang from the previous night cookout and some oranges. I threw up that night in the bushes. I took some panadol and dozed off....

Worse was to come the next morning. We still had some discussion session that morning, had some of that bayan umbut, but mostly empty stomachs all round. I only had a small piece while some of my mates really gobbled it up. Then it started, at about 11am when we started our trek down back to the resort, people started to vommit. My guess is about 7-8 of the threw up along the way down. one of my mates was hit real bad. From the starting point to our next stop where we had to do our next task, which was about 15 minutes walk, he threw up 8 times! (I heard yesterday he was admitted, I suspect due to dehydration)

Some of the things we had to do? Lets see....
1. Paint our faces....
2. Make your own lemang
3. Pass a rubber band from one team mate to another using straws
4. Bride across a ping pong ball using sheets of A4 paper
5. Answer riddles (most of it were ridiculous)
The best one was the catapult (catapult water balloons and try to hit the target. It was a riot!)

You want to know some of the riddles?

Q1. Apakah persamaan telefon dan kain jemuran?
Q2. Namakan Buah-buahan yg berakhir dengan huruf K
Q3. What is heavy going forward but backwards its not
Q4. Apa yg ada pada yg hidup dan yg mati?

There are a few more, but maybe I'll save it for later. Answers? later

All in all it was an interesting outing. Wanna know something else? I am slated for another similar program this weekend! This time it is a program from from the Holding company. Two weekends in a row. Aiyaaaaaaa! At least I have the comfort of knowing that there will be no food rationing or outdoor camping. Oh ya... it is not a teambonding program, it is a leadership program

adios muchachos

Order! Order!

2007-07-04T17:16:00.000+08:00

Just a small quick note before i go home for the day.. I've got a few weird friends that once they get to shops their brains went overtime in ordering drinks or food... here goes

1. Air suam Kurang Manis, satu!

2. Teh O Ais Panas Satu!

3. This only applies on a Friday at the mamak shop

Friend: Mamak! Hari Jumaat Pisang free kan?
Mamak: Ya, Ya Pisang free
Friend: Kalau Macam tu kasi roti pisang satu.

4. This really happen once upon a time

Friend: Air Buah apa ada?
Waiter: Air tembikai, honeydew, belimbing, belimbing susu, carrot, orange, mango, laici, longan, nenas......
Friend: OK bagi teh O ais satu

And do you realise that if there are two of you and you order teh tarik kurang manis and your friend orders teh tarik biasa... usually it will be from the same kole..... meaning there is no difference in the kurang manis and biasa....sigh

I rest my case.. I've been hanging around friends like this too much

Signing off

Team Building?

2007-07-04T13:56:00.000+08:00

Who on earth invented this thing called team building outings? Is it sane to send 30 something and 40 something age groups to this so called team building where all the physical activities take place? All the trekking, camping and the strenuous activities.. If only it had happened in 10 or 20 years earlier I wouldnt have minded in fact I would have relished it. I used to be the adventurous type. Wished that I could have attended OBS (my folks couldnt afford it) and there was no sponsors anyways (well my school Headboy and two assistants were sponsored by the scool at get to attend that course).

But back to the present. Just like what a senior management personel said on his involvement of the same programme on the previous session.."Tell me what you get by sending a 50 year old up the hill in the name of team building?"

I am not against team building per say, or on improving things... but I am willing to bet you whatever lesson learnt during that 3 days excursion will soon be forgotten within the next few weeks.

Oh well I will be off this friday for a tiresome three days. Hopefully I will survive intact and back in one piece, Insyallah

On another note, my projects are well under way and me ending up with all the paperwork. The worst part is navigating myself thru the SAP system. My God! Enlisted help from a couple of people, parked myself in front of their terminal and egging them on until the first part of it was completed. (I cant do it myself, not trained and I dont even have the SAP username and password) Well still need to delegate the shitload of paperwork as in keying in individual Bill of Quantities for each location for the project deployment. Now... who will be my next victim to assist me...(with a devillish grin, and raised eyebrows).

You guys must be thinking that I am shirking my job/tasks that I am giving it out/delegating to other people. The fact is I am juggling too many things on my plate at the moment to ensure this project A is smooth, Assisting my colleague on Project B, Project C is waiting to be tendered out, improvement programs needs to be planned and initiated by Q4 this year. Upgrading works on our gateways need to be identified etc etc. sheesh.. it is just tiring listing it out. So the next best thing is actually to bitch it out, rite

Back to reality, my flu is getting better and feeling fresher though still not as sharp as I should be. Have to stay away from my kids since they have exams this week (Both AF1 & AF2 are having their PKSR exams)

Untill my next ramblings, stay cool and dont do what I wouldnt do

Take care

Under the weather

2007-07-03T15:53:00.001+08:00

The weather is making me go under the weather. Sorry no updates yesterday. Had a few things on my mind to unleash in this ramblings. Unfortunately I was knocked out by the flu. No updates on the weekend tho, I only blog from the office so there you go. The computer at home conquered by the kids, once I switch it on my AF3 will come and say " Nak Lightning Mcqueen" which means he wants to go to the Disney website and play the games there. Not bad for a four year old kid.

Any way, still not feeling to well and my brain is still stuck on second gear. I have a lot of paperwork to finish. And I damn well hate paperwork.

Got this call last Sunday evening:

Caller: Can you send someone for a meeting with customer on Monday 10am
Me: What is it about?
Caller: They want technical person to resolve some issues
Me: OK. What issues? So I can send the relevant people.
Caller: Some technical issues
Me: Ya larr... What are the issues
Caller: I dont know, all I know is there are issues...
Me: Then why dont you get the people who knows what the issues are instead of calling everyone as if it is a crisis. Go and call Mr X to solve this....

End of call

Dont you just hate that? HooHaa about big issues where they dont even know what the issue is? How can we solve ISSUES when nobody can tell us what the issue is? How can we prepare when no one knows what the issue is? Such an issue

I know, I know some of you might say that it is irresponsible of me not supporting the team But picture this, when there is meeting with the customer and you are sure to be in the line of fire, these guys get all the technical people to be 'hentamed' by the customer and no sales or presales person in sight.

Oh ya.. btw the caller did not attend the meeting.

Before I go I will leave you with some inside joke that we have in the office. Some of the techies might understand what they mean but surely could not get the joke...

Lelong VRF 3 RM 10
BGP routes satu 20 sen

There you go.. to see how craetive(crazy) our presales team is

C Ya

Little ol me?

2007-06-29T15:35:00.000+08:00

I am just a typical guy, your average Joe kinda guy. Been there done that, but still stagnant. Attended one of the residential school in Ipoh (an all boys school.... you guys can sure guess which one) went on to KPP/ITM (duh... as it was known back then.. it was changed to PPP (Pusat Pemulihan Pelajar... btw KPP stands for Kolej Perosak Pelajar, but now known as INTEC - dont ask me what it stands for)

Went of to an island in Europe, in a town by the seaside (Famous landmark - Palace Pier - You should know the place :)

That was a brief resume of my travels in pursuit of higher education. What did I get out of it? Pretty much a screwed up life experience. But seriously, my travels made me who I am today. Really in my opinion Malaysian students with overseas studies opportunities stands out better than local Malaysian students (most of them anyway)

Why you say? the experience, the independence, the interaction, really is different. You're on your own dude. no spoon feeding. zilch (unless you have a too good too be true coursemate that feeds you everything - naaah highly unlikely) Some of you might disagree... prove me wrong

What am I doing now? I am in this company for nearly 13 years and this is only my second job. (God.. has it been that long?) I do interesting stuff, planning for technology advancement, get my hands dirty with things other people havent done before. but one thing really gets me puzzled. Heve anyone heard of NGN (Next Generation Network)? Why do people still call them NGN when they are already here, now? whats so next generation about it. I would rather call it the Now Generation Network and save the term Next Generation Network for something really is next generation.

Anyway, if anyone out there ever heard of Morse code? Thats what I do.....NOT!!!!! I let you guys whoever is reading this to ponder what I really do... or maybe I'll get round to tell more about it some fine day.

Before I sign off, let me tell you a joke that my eldest daughter (Lets call her AF1) told me the other day.

Do you know how Hang Tuah got the title Laksamana?

One day the Sultan sent out Hang Tuah to get him a bowl of Laksa, Hang Tuah searched high and low for the laksa, unfortunately there was none to be found. When Hang Tuah went back to the palace, the Sultan saw him and promptly asked in front of everyone, "Laksa mana Hang Tuah?"

Upon Hearing that all the Bendahara and menteri thought that the Sultan just gave him a new title... and he title stuck till today.

Hey, dont be angry if you dont find it funny, at least it got me smiling, especially coming from my AF1

Stay tooned

The Starting point

2007-06-28T14:42:00.000+08:00

Greetings and salutations

I'm definitely no scribe, I dont think I have a flair for writing amusing things. My writings may not amuse you, but I am writing this for me (Syok sendiri lah tu). This is my corner of the world to say whats on my mind, things otherwise I would not say face to face.

I will write what amuses me, about me, things around me, my family, especially my kids (my three adorable kids) things that affect my life, my crappy working life... dont get me wrong, I love my job, what I am able to do in my line of work... but they are times when so called colleagues will drive me up the wall (more on that later)

This blog will remain minimal for now.. no pictures (too lazy to download from the camera - I dont have a digital camera tho there's two good working units at home, or downloading it from my phone)

About me...

I am an optimist by heart tho sometimes a pessimist by nature. Nothing really bothers me. I most of the time contradict myself, and can be a hypocrite sometimes. Cakap tak serupa bikin. I do avoid confrontation. On occasions I am an introvert, but can be a perfect extrovert on other times.

I speak PERFECT BROKEN ENGLISH. I dont go out much as I love spending time with the kids and my better half (Definitely my BETTER half)

I will ramble on and off but for now I have to sign off by saying STAY TUNED to my side of the story

Your Humbly