Penang here i come

Going to 5xmom's Penang for a church camp.
so will be looking up Penangfaces for places to go makan.

as for polluting Penang, i promise 5xmom i won't do that. it's like my second hometown. i was from USM, but have not been there for 2-3 years now.

time to go jogging again. loose a few pounds (fat hopes) then can makan till puas* at Penang.


* satisfied

Garden WIP

part of the new grass that i've planted .




my garden - different view, it actually does not look as messy as in this picture.

Working on my garden

yep that's what i've been doing while the world passed by.
it started off with carpet grass and after some years weeds/cow grass sort of took over a bit (i used to suspect my neighbour threw their weed across to my lawn)and after some more years, my garden of carpet grass became the garden of cow grass + weed and a host of other plants.
well one of the goal that my wife set for us this year is doing up the garden and i'm doing it. just about 6 sq Ft more to go.
will put in pic next time.

Near Accident experience

this morning i nearly butt a mercedes.
it was in front of me an we were both looking out for oncoming cars to move into a main road. when i saw it was clear from my side i started moving.
looked to the front, behold the merc was still there ! foot on the break double time !!
it really really looked like i've bumped into him, but i did not.
gee...where did these guys learn how to drive ?
uttered a Praise God and moved on. God know i cannot afford to butt a merc.

Rubber time

why do wedding cards says dinner is at 7pm when everyone knows that it'll start at 8 or 8.15pm ?

this wedding i went to had 130 tables and at 7pm, it's not even 10% full.



as usual, the dinner started started only at 8.15pm.

the other thing is that karaoke sessions & wedding dinners seems to go hand in hand. nearly cost me my marriage as i was still shouting at my wife when talking to her after the wedding dinner ended. hehehe....exaggerate a bit can or not.

Happy Birthday ZW

Sunday was my daughter's birthday but we had Church and a wedding dinner to go to so we took her out on Sat instead. as expected she chose to have her lunch treat at McD (so much for giving her a choice).
we went to the one next to Ikea and they had lots of fun.


my 3 little one - ZW, ZY, ZM

can u c me - pt2

Well, i forgo the dinner and went to Mandarin Oriental. it was about 9pm, i had a short chat with my friend from China, say goodbye, we'll try & catch up again and parted.
i really didn't want to go meet my CEO. he's not known for being punctual, but is from time to time (that's the trick part).
i was thinking to my self...

- having the 'pls' at the end of the sms really helped made the decision easier. although it's not uncommon for him to call for meeting after office hours, i've explained my way out such meeting before.
- knowing there are some important launches coming up,i'd better not missed anything important.
- i would want my staff to be as flexible with me as well. i mean, i want my staffs to be able to have no troubles staying back late to finish a project if the need arises. you reap what you sow, period.
- although he's very accessible, hands on, funny at times and 'friendly' i know there's a fine line between taking him as a friendly guy and him being the boss.

can u c me

well the full sms actually reads - can u c me at mandarin oriental now pls.
i had already planned for a dinner with friends, one of them a malaysian working in china back here for a job. we're to have dinner at 7ish but everyone was late (including me).
a little over 7, while waiting for my friend to finish her presentation, my CEO sms me the line above. i ahem.... sort of ignore it for a while but he sms me again.

now what would you do in such situation ?

additional info - we will be launching some new stuff on friday and tuesday

next blog, i'll tell you what i did and why.

Hit and Run

not me, someone else.
i suppose i was the 1st one there, and the victim was loaded onto my car and i was left to take him where ever i wanted.
first i sent him to a medical centre nearest. a private 'hospital', calling themselves a trauma centre. some nurses came out, the younger looking to the older for a response. "i'll need to call a surgeon in for this, better you send him to UH". You have an ambulance park here, can you send him with the ambulance ? " no, it's not working."

not wanting to waste anymore time i drove off. i stopped by a police station hoping to get some help, like a police assort or something. not much help either. was told the same thing, send him to UH.
drove there hoping he would not die in my car. he was wheezing and moaning as i was driving as fast as i could.
there was a traffic light right in front of the hospital, blocking any quick access to it. can you believe that! what good planning.
once there, the service was fast, they quickly loaded him onto a streacher bed and wheel him in for treatment.
i later made a police report. it was quick and the policeman there didn't give me a hard time.

all in all, if anyone wants to stop to pick up any road accident victims, please send them straight to UH (they're good), or any major government hospital. unless you're willing to pay, private ones will just give you lots of bull.


UH ER team at work

Uninvited Guest

one day when i got back from home, my wife told me we had an uninvited guest.
very messy eater. eat out of garbage bin, nevermind but one day bold enough to come into my kitchen top & tried to eat some chili sotong.
that's it-lah. mr Chief started to set trap for it.
on 1st day, left the trap in kitchen area using fatty p**k. i thought sure kena one. who can resist that. but, no takers.
next day, using same bait, left the trap outside, the next morning, trap door closed, trap shifted but uninvited guest not inside.
wanted to give up, but gave it one last try. using same bait.
wahlau..... what do you know, this morning when i take a peep, it was inside the trap !
now got another problem. how to get rid of it.

Marketing

this morning on the radio i heard a good marketing ad.
it's for Hot Link Pre Paid.
i think it's clever coz -
you get a surprise KFC discount vouchers when you top up minimum of Rm 30. when you top up your pre paid, Maxis will need to acknowledge that you're top up is successful anyway, hence adding extra wordings into thank you message does not cost them one bit, plus they probably get KFC to share the cost of discount given for the discounted meal. telling them have a potential of X number of people eating at their store (all the prepaid guys, or a certain percentage of it).

i'm waiting for Digi to 'retaliate'(am a Digi user), and as usual Celcom will either do nothing or react too late.

Also heard over the radio - Star Wars III is rated PG13. parents across america are upset coz now they have to accompany their children to the movie. guess after the last episode, he needs to boost the boxoffice. a briliant move by George Lucas.

Fuel Increase

:( want to cry already.
but i've always told my wife this is a fair way of 'taxing' ppl.
i mean if you could afford a 3 liter car, you can pay for the petrol what.
this is some thing they cannot cheat. coz a number of them cheat on the road tax. anyway i would prefer the gov. to do this and lower the tax on cars imported from asean countries & keeping to the spirit of the open trade agreement.

Reflections on climb

1. Be Prepared - like all things in life, if you set yourself a goal, then you must prepare yourself for it. i was poorly prepared and was 'punished' with thoughts of quitting and doubts if i could make it.
There's a big difference between a journey where you struggle to reach the goal or one that you can enjoy along the way there. i've done this before and therefore made a conscious effort to enjoy the beautiful trail. on the way down i met with people who did not.
someone once said LUCK is OPPORTUNITY meeting with one who is PREPARED, think about it.

2. Keep Up - try not to fall too far behind. you'll need the encouragements of others to keep you going when you feel like giving up.
i had a walkie talkie and was in contact with the person who went way ahead of me. i would from time to time call in to see where he was, and he would encourage me by lying telling to me how far i was from the next stop, or how was the condition up ahead of me.
at one time or another in our life we'll be needing to do that. have good friends with same goals so that all of you can encourage one another. when learning a new software, i enjoy nothing more that having someone learning it together with me and 'teaching' each other tricks we've learned. i not only learn faster but remember better.
if you're ahead, remember those who are slower, it's a long walk, and you won't be in front all the time.

3. Rest, don't quite. - i sure took lots of rest & if you ask those that went up with me, it was probably more than average. but guess what...... i reached the submit as well. The snails made it to Noah's ark, you know.
rest did me wonders. when i rest on the last leg, i took my mind of the tiredness by enjoying amazing number of stars i could see from up there. it was an awesome sight and refreshed me even in that few minutes.

4. Move up further. - when we reached Laban Rata, our hostel was further up. i sure didn't feel like hiking some more (instead felt like killing the person who made the arrangement) but was rewarded with great view and had the advantage of starting from a higher point then the rest. a good 10 mins climb.
most of the time we're just satisfied with so so, but i'm reminded to go further, sets you apart from the crowds and you'll probably have and advantage over the so sos. it won't be easy but it'll be worth it.

5. Wrap it up. - after reaching Low's peak, we had to come down,....all the way to the park HQ. only then is the journey complete. tired as i was, i had to do it. there were not other way down.
some goals are long term and are will be hard to stick to, well...no way out but to stick to it.

i guess that wraps up my stories from Mt. Kinabalu trip. had to squeeze everything out of it.

post script.
my thanks goes out to Andy and family and extended family for the accommodation, meal and climb arrangements & warm Sabahan hospitality shown to us. Jaya's extended family for a wonderful meal. Fong for sharing her Yoko Yoko. and all at the office who had to do extra work while we're away.