Outing at Restoran Puteri

We had an outing with the families at Restoran Puteri, TTDI last sunday.

Politics in everything

Malaysians can really incorporate politics into almost any topics.

I was browsing through a well-known local automobile site and the moment I open the reader's comment, lo and behold...

... all sort of comments relating to BN la, UMNO la, PR la, racism la..

... lets just enjoy reading about cars, boleh tak..

Happy Annivessary Honey Dearest :)

Our annivessary this year falls on Aidiladha, so it was a belated dinner for Honey Dearest and Me.

We had dinner at San Francisco Steak House which is like a two minutes drive from our house. It was the first time for both us to be having dinner here and indeed it wonderful. Both of us had steak but it was the dessert that proved to be the piece de resistance... the apple pie a la mode.. I would definitely be back for more

Honey Dearest, it has been a wonderful two years and I look forward for many years to come.

I love you so, so much.

DEDICATED TO THE FOURSOME BEHIND US AT KGPA ON DEC 4, 2008

Yes, this posting is dedicated to you guys. You old f**ts know who you are.

It was suppose to be a nice game of golf for my friend and I at KGPA. I have never played at KGPA, thus was really looking forward to the challenges of the green. Since there were only two of us (and we are expecting rain later in the afternoon), we played at a reasonable pace.

It must have been at the second hole where we notice these old f**ts playing behind us. We kept quite a reasonable distance with our pace and when we teed off at the fourth hole (which is a Par 3), these old f***ts were hitting shots approaching the green of the 3rd hole. My shot was spot on, landing squarely on the far side of the green while my friend had the unfortunately sliced his shot to the right of the green, quite a distance from the green.

While my friend was laying his shot, I managed to two put my ball for a par and waited for my friend to complete his shot. I was standing outside of the green by the tree while my friend's shot landed in the bunker. My phone suddenly rang (it was a call from the office) and I picked up the phone. Suddenly I heard a voice from far:

"Cakap telefon, woi, tak payah main golf la! Gi balik la"

One of the old f**ts shouted from the tee box and another shouted something incomprehensible (these are old f**ts anyway).

We ignored them while my friend finished off his shot as fast as he could.

Wei, old f**ts... "aku dah amik shot aku, and aku answer the phone kat bawah pokok tepi green, bukan kat atas green tu, b****h!"

"Ingatkan main pandai sangat. Yang pakai seluar panjang dgn setokin tutup seluar tu, OB jugak shot... you Org T** C**** ."

Things you would like to say

How things have changed ever since the last GE..

...............................

On this rainy day

Alhamdulillah, things have started to pick up again on the business front.

A new business opportunity presents itself in the form of an untapped captured market (who could have asked for more) and a great source of distribution channel. Obviously it is easy to get giddy over the possibilities but at this juncture, it is very important to not overstretch the already limited resources. With the economic outlook not expected to look rosy for the next few years, this discovery gives a sense of hope and an avenue to ride the economic uncertainty.

Talk about a moment of inspiration... while buying burger at the stall last night, I thought of something that the burger stalls can do with my beef and poultry products. I called the owner and we are meeting this friday where I will show the product concept to him. If thing works out tell, heck, it will be a new product offering at ALL burger stalls ALL over Malaysia... :)

The rain has subsided.

MCOBA Dinner

Long Overdue Posting..

On November 8th 2008, I attended the MCOBA Annual Dinner at the Hotel Istana, Kuala Lumpur. My attendance was truly at the very last moment due to come unforeseen cancellations by my other batch mates.

Adri took the lead by booking a table under our batch and managed to get ten of us in no time. A few of our batch mates who are now big shots in their "kementerian" and "company" attended the dinner under their own table, so it was qute a merry reunion of sorts for the class of 1992. I came to the dinner with Don (who got lost while on the way to my house, my fault for giving faulty directions) and we were greeted by sea of people in the hard-to-miss college striped tie. Batch members at our table were Vyn, James, Bogak, Aca, Ganj, Adri, Sarly and Badak while KE and Reza were seated at the CIMB table.

I do not wish to elaborate on the dinner itself (lest I offend some old boys who worked hard on the performance that night) but it was the after dinner gathering at the Pavillion which was really memorable. Nope, nothing took place that would worry the missus back home. Suffice to say, you guys rock!

The Last Few Hari Raya Open House

I would have missed it if my staff didn't remind me that today one of our biggest client is having their Aidilfitri Open House. Its the same every year, they would have their towards the very end.

The company may be my biggest client but not too long ago, it has something to do with my father and I. You see, not too long ago, we used to be a significant shareholder of the company. How we were removed is a stuff for novel (which one day, I will write) but I guess the point I am trying to put across is that in business, your friends and your enemy can switch in a blink of an eye.

Anyway, I arrived at their new installation facility located across from their current premises. The place has yet to be used so instead of putting up tents like they normally do around their compound, they have all the table and chairs indoors. The place looks good after being spruced up. It used to be a pet food factory but after it was auctioned, the new owner rented the place to the company for their project.

I met a few of the people who were around when I was there. I even bumped into an ex-staff of mine (another lesson in life.. about friends and enemies, the likes) and we chit chatted about the old days and days to come. He's doing rather well and I am happy for him. Perhaps we can work on some projects together.

The Aqiqah

Alhamdulillah, Amir Haris' aqiqah went well on Sunday, 28/10/2008.

It was a very good turnout of family and friends.

Haris slept throughout the Marhaban and Potong Jambul, heheh...

Market Reach

You can sometime be amazed by people around.

Just now, I had a chat with the cleaner who cleans our office and discovered that she could probably get me more market for some of my products as compared to some of my sales force. We sometime tend to overlook the smaller markets where personal relationship counts for everything and how the "local" factor can sometimes tip the balance to your side.

Worth exploring...

More Work Updates

1. I spoke to Kamol (our partner in Bangkok) today and he has some very promising news on the french buyer who will most likely purchase frozen ready-to-eat meal for the French market from our company. Way to go brother!

2. Without compromising who the "impossible client" is, I really wish she would stop insulting my products and not be so high-handed. I could easily refer her to her company's tender committee or even upper management but I do not wish to create trouble for her (though Allah knows how much she has spoilt my days and weekends too). Can't wait for the meeting this week where I will prove her wrong in front of her management (she called for the meeting, not me).

3. Whenever I provide my service to my client, I try to put myself in their shoes and I try to make sure they don't spend more than neccassary. However, it amazed me how some of them would waste money on storage fees; something they could easily avoid if they just provide us with the documentations on time.

Office Updates

1. My clerk went AWOL since after the Eid break. The last I heard from her was a day before Eid where she sent me an SMS (contents shall not be revealed), which among others, stated that her father no longer "allow" her to work at my company. Its her first job and its always difficult when parents interfere (macam kat sekolah pulak). I have been nothing but nice to her but if this is the way she is acting, then, good luck to the new employer.

2. After a week of evaluating, I've decided to get the office new copier from the company who happens to be across the street from our office. To think that I had companies from all over KL coming to submit quotations.

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri

This year I am celebrating Aidilfitri in my my mum's kampung in Masjid Tanah, Melaka. Lucky for me, Honey Dearest hails from Hutan Percha, which is just 25 minutes away. So, it is quite easy to have celebration on both sides.

This is the first time Honey Dearest and I are celebrating the Eid with our baby Haris. He is exactly three weeks old on 1 Syawal; too bad they don't make Baju Melayu for infant :)

A True Alternative?

I am pretty sure someone will now say it to my face, "Well, you did lament about not having a credible alternative to BN... so, how about now?"

We'll see...

By the way, what's the rush ? Why not the next GE ?

Pics of the Amir Haris

This is the among the first picture of baby Amir Haris just after the Honey Dearest gave birth to him on September 10, 2008 at 8.23am. All 4.32kg of him :)

babychikjournal.blogspot.com

Alhamdulillah... My Little Bundle of Joy @ 8.23am

At exactly 8.23am at SJMC today, my little bundle of joy came into this world, all 4.32kg of him :)

Alhamdulillah.

I will definitely write more.. at the moment, a bit exhausted with all the excitement :)

Smoking

During the last budget presented by our Prime Minister, the tax for cigeratte was increase quite substantially.

Guess what someone said when he was interviewed in one of the dailies regarding the higher cigeratte cost ? He said he will adjust by cutting back on other things!

Like what ? Food ? Shouldn't it be the other way round ?

Down Memory Lane: Ramadan circa 82-87

When I was in Standard One, I only managed ONE full of fasting. It was on a sunday and I remember I was practically on the couch the whole day. The rest of the fasting months were the "buka puasa tutup puasa" regime, where I would fast until noon and self declared that the fast continues after I have taken my lunch, hehehe.

It was only in standard two when I managed to extend it to 26 days of full day fast. The remainder 4 days I did not fast was because I was down with fever. In standard three, it improved to 28 days with two days of fever and finally when I was in standard four, I finally managed to complete one full month of fasting.

These were the days before the bazaar ramadan, so breaking of fast were practically like having early dinner, with some kuihs brought from street vendors who continue to sell at their lot even in Ramadan.

However, what was memorable during this time (especially in my std 5-std 6 years) were the Tarawih prayers. During that time, there was only one mosque for the whole of Subang Jaya (USJ was just a plantation back then) and it is the SS15 mosque. We would perform the Isyak prayer, a few rakaats for the Tarawih and all of us would head to 7 Eleven near the old pasar for Slurpee. Sometimes we would play with fireworks and firecrackers but it was evetually banned when on one fine sunday evening, someone decided to play during the day time and a stray firework landed on a pile of paper at mosque's entrance and caused a small fire.

Our Last Visit

Our visit to Dr Delaila is normally on a saturday but since she was on leave last saturday (being that long Hari Kebangsaan weekend), we decided to schedule our visit for today. As usual, we arrived earlier (or though we did) and by the time we took our number, it was already 8027. Luckily, about 23 of those above us have appointment for other doctors so we were fourth on Dr Delaila's schedule for that day.

After the normal check up and examination, Dr Delaila told us that due to the circumstances prevailing, Honey Dearest has to go through Caeserian Section. We were therefore asked to choose a date by the good doctor and we decided on Sept 10, 2008. 10.09.08... and it will read in his IC as 080910-10-XXXX.

Hehehe...

How come the anxiety has started to set in?

Ramadan Al Mubarak

I would like to wish all Muslims Selamat Menyambut Ramadan Al Mubarak.

Ramadan certainly brings back many memories to me. From my primary school days, the glorious MCKK years, the PPP/ITM times, ramadan in US, Ramadan when I first started working...

It'll be nice to reminisce all the ramadan, all over again.

The 51st National Day: Road to Nationhood

It is exactly 9.55pm on August 30th, 2008 when I wrote this entry.

I am back at my hometown in Melaka and was a bit disappointed with my wireless broadband service (heck, its only about an 10kpbs faster than my dial up connection). Then again, that would be a story for another day.

At the brink of Malaysia celebrating her National Day, there are a lot of things which I have been pondering, especially so since the last March 8 General Election. To put it in a nutshell, as a nation, are we really there yet? Was the last general election result really a sign of a maturing society dispensing its right to choose responsibly or was it an act of frustration of our society trying to teach "someone" a lesson but at the same time, maybe jeopardizing the very fabric of our social existance?

There are certainly a lot of pent-up frustration with the present governing coalition (with the main target being the backbone of it :UMNO) if the articles and comments on the blogsphere are to be taken. The people are becoming more vocal in their demands and when there are demands from certain quarters, there are bound to be uneasiness and sometime downright hostility to these demands. We are all for just society where everyone is treated as equals and given equal opportunity to succeed but given the very basis of the founding of our country, we should thread this issue with care. Nobody is promoting discrimination and no one is promoting the slave-master relationship (as being portrayed by the "ketuanan" issue) but unfortunately a lot of us seemed to forget our historical background and how independence came about.

Yes, we need to be progressive and look ahead, but not at the expense of discarding our history.

On this note, Happy Birthday, Malaysia.....

Something on the horizon ?

There was no question that Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim would win the Permatang Pauh by-election. The only question whether he would win with a margin more than his wife or less.

The question was answered resoundingly when DSAI beat Dato' Arif Shah Omar Shah with a 15,579 majority, which was more than the 13,388 majority garnered by Dato' Seri Wan Azizah during the March 8 General Election.

So, after an absence of 10 years, DSAI is back at the Dewan Rakyat and sits directly across from the Prime Minister as the new Opposition Leader. I am sure there must be a sense of deja vu when DSAI entered the parliament again to to be sworn in and while sitting at his place, it must have striked him that not too long ago he was only one seat away from the coveted position of the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

What will be on everyone's mind is that come September 16th, 2008, would he finally be able to take oath as the 6th Prime Minister of Malaysia, as he has been telling to all of us ?

UiTM di Hatiku Part One

Wujudmu di sini di tanah anak merdeka
Bagai obor ilmu memayungi putera-puterinya
Pelopor hidup budaya bangsa
Agama Negara

OK, that's as much as I can remember on the UiTM song but I had the opportunity to sing in on two occassions : my ADP certificate presentation ceremony during my PPP/ITM days and during the convocation for my MBA (during the commencement for my degree at UW-Madison, I sang The Star Spangled Banner, heheh... hey, please don't question my loyalty to my Malaysia). My attachment to UiTM is also due to my parents whom are both UiTM graduates. Reminicsing back on stories told by parents, it was ITM that gave them the chance to improve themselves and makes them what they are today. If it wasn't for ITM, none of them would graduate with Bachelors and Masters degree from the United States and I would probably be writing this blog in Bahasa Malaysia.

So,when someone suggested opening 10% of UiTM intakes to the non-bumis, you can bet it touches a lot of nerve.

... more will be discussed.

MAHA 08

This is my first year participating in MAHA 08.

Our principal, a manufacturer from Kedah took up the booth offer from the Kedah state government to participate but with this year's event being 12 days in total, they have asked us to man the booth and conduct the sales on their behalf. After all, we are their Selangor/KL state distributor and we believe the exposure at MAHA would help in our marketing effort.

Looking around the hall C, most of the participants are "old hands" at participating in exhibitions as their deco, goods presentation and posters are all glossy and professionally done. Looking at what the manufacturers provided us (four buntings-2 for each flavour, samples and a pot), it will be quite a challange to make the booth decent.

Luckily, my staff Shida and her friends are quite creative and it was fun to watch them doing up the empty booth. Lo and behold, we finally looked like we are here!

Pak Lah spent almost half a day at the exhibition site, which at a total cost of RM240 million, is definitely one huge exposition center. Lets hope that it won't be used only once a year for MAHA.

I met a few fellow participants from programme organized by MARA and Matrade. Some of them have been doing quite well in the export market and it is something I aspire to do.

Since I will be here for another ten days at least, I will keep posting on the happenings.

Let The Games Begin!

It was indeed a spectacular start to one of the greatest sporting event in the world. The Beijing Olympic Games began on 08.08.08 at 8.08pm with probably one of the most elaborate and breathtaking opening ceremony ever. The highlight has to be the lighting of the Olympic torch, where former Chinese gymnast, Li Nang was suspended mid air and depicts the action of a runner while behind him unfurls all the venue of the Olympic Torch Run.

Malaysia is on the hunt for the elusive gold medal.

Who will be our first Olympic Gold Medallist/Millionaire ?

Month End July '08

I am back at my office again on a monday.

Honey Dearest, though her sprained ankle is improving, is practically immobile and is still on Medical Leave. We did went and see and orthopedic specialist last week but due to the pregnancy, x-ray can't be performed, thus its basically a guessing game on her condition. As the good doctor said, it is not likely to be a fracture but at this rate, it will take much longer than usual to be up and about.

I felt so pressured coming to work today, knowing that August would be a challenging month (cash-flow wise at least) and to some extent, I may have exhausted almost all my avenues.

We'll see...

Malaysia for all Malaysians (Penang Island macam mana?)

I read a very interesting comment someone sent via SMS to The Star today. I can't remember it verbatim but roughly it goes something along this line:

"Very easy explaination why road signs in Penang should also be in Chinese. Majority of population here Chinese and tourist from China are here all year around, not like the seasonal Middle East tourist, hence no need Arabic signage"

I can understand the argument (though not agreeing at all about it) on having the signage for Chinese tourist but too have it because of majority chinese living in Penang Island ? Excuse me, what is our national language again ? Whats this cry about "Oh, everyone is Malaysian.. should not be divided along racial/religious/sexual preferences/bank account lines.." while its ok to have signages in ones language because of majority of a certain race inhibits and island? I don't recall seeing any chinese signage in Singapore, for that matter.

If we must have another language, have it in English.

Dah tinggal 50 tahun pun takkan tak boleh faham bahasa kebangsaan kita ?

Honey Dearest Day In

Honey Dearest has been confined to the room for the last three days due to her sprained ankle. It wasn't so bad when it happened on thursday nite. In fact, she was able to go to work on Friday, albeit walking a bit slowly. However, by saturday morning she was not able to even stand up was at time in tears. Luckily my cousin Abg Razak was able to "urut" the affected leg and Alhamdulillah, she is now able to move around a little bit.

On another note, CONGRATULATIONS to Bogak on the arrival of his fourth son! Another one and he will have his own Cagers basketball team :)

Fatherhood beckons

If the calculations from the doctors were to be right, I will be a father in exactly two months from now.

That would be on September 16th, 2008.

I wonder who will be the Prime Minister of Malaysia on that day?

Arresting A Politician

Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, with his problematic back and age, is unlikely to flee or brandish a semi-automatic when faced by the police who came to arrest him.

Why then, the Unit Tindakan Khas with the ski-mask and all when they took him just a few meters before his house ? Flight risk ? Surrounded by armed supporter ? Hell, No.

The poor guy was given until 2.00 pm to present himself at the IPPK. Yeah, had it been 2.01pm, sure.. arrest him.

The Debate

Who would have thought Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim with lock horns with Dato' Shabery Chik in a live debate telecast by Astro Awani, Bernama TV and TV9? It did happened and the debate, which took place at Dewan Bahasa & Pustaka was moderated by Datuk Johan Jaafar. The format followed the US presidential debate but the same can't be said about the content.

Anwar was his brilliant self, playing to the gallery and camera. The topic "Hari Ini Bentuk Kerajaan Besok Turun Minyak" was about the current oil issue but Dato' Shabery Chik was more content on delivering personal attacks which has nothing to do with the topic.

... hmmm..

Monday Morning Traffic

I was on my way back from sending Honey Dearest when I saw the roadblock just before the Kota Darul Ehsan arch on Federal Highway. Lucky for me I was heading towards PJ/Shah Alam or else I would be stuck in a very very long gridlock. The jam lasted all the way until after the the Plaza Toll Batu 3 Shah Alam, a good 15-20km of it.

Business Networking

MARA invited me for a business matching cum seminar session at Golden Straits Villa Beach Resort, Port Dickson. The timing is a bit off as it coincides with the Malaysian International Food and Beverage Fair but luckily MARA moved it one day later and I was able to attend the opening day of MIFB.

I drove from Subang Jaya on friday, leaving my house at around 7.15am. It was indeed a pleasent drive, safe for the half hours spent just getting out of Subang Jaya ! After registration, we were given our accomodation which is an apartment unit with three rooms. The people I shared my units with are some of the nicest and we had a good time discussing and throwing ideas on how best to improve our business.

I wouldnt want to go deeper on the programme (of course, talks and seminars etc) but all in all, it was a fruitful session and I am looking forward to work more with my fellow MARA entreprenuers.

Ten Years Ago

Watching the TV the other day, it was as if it was ten years ago...

... with the sodomy charges and all.

You just have to admire the timing.

Accountability at GLCs

Taken from the headline of the Business Section, The Star today:

"SIME DARBY SACKS CFO

Sime Darby Berhad on Monday sacked its chief financial officer (CFO) and another senior executive following an in-depth inquiry into RM120mil losses from Crude Palm Oil (CPO) futures trading."

It's not often you read about senior officers of big businesses in Malaysia being dismissed. Normally, they would issue a statement where the officer has opt to "leave the company" due to all sorts of reason (among the famous ones are health or wanting to spend more time with the family) although in the real reasons tend to run abuzz in the grapevine. Therefore it is refreshing to see MNC/GLC such as Sime Darby taking step in upholding transperancy and corporate governance.

Mini Vacation

Courtesy of my mum-in-law, Honey Dearest and I spent the weekend at Holiday Subang (despite the hotel being a 5 minute drive from home, heheh). My mum-in-law has some vouchers expiring at the end of the month and since there is one for a free one night stay with breakfast, we decided to utilize it and treat it as a mini vacation for us.

We checked in promptly at 2.00 pm and were given the room 1507. Correction, it was SUITE 1507 and it was simply marvellous! It was at the corner of the hotel, with two views of us to enjoy. One is the view of the Tasik Subang Jaya and the Kelab Golf Negara Subang (with the federal highway sandwich in between) and the other is the view of Subang Jaya township itself (with the yet-to-be completed elevated road leading into/out of SJ being a prominent landscape now). I guess we didn't do much accept laze around and watch TV.

Then again, sometimes the best of vacations is just that... doing nothing :)

It's RM2.70 per litre, people...

Well, the inevitable just happened. The government just announced that fuel price would be increased by 40% to RM2.7o per litre while diesel is increased by RM1.00 to RM2.58 per litre.

It was just a matter of time before the fuel price has to be increased. The amount of subsidy that the government has to fork out has resulted in the balloning of the deficit.

Yes, everyone is affected by this. I was among the many who queued up at one of the stations near my house and managed to fill up Honey Dearest's and my car (I avoided the obvious popular stations such as Petronas and Shell).

Certainly a lot of things to say about this...

Wow... what a f*%k*d up place we live in

If we were to believe everything we read in the blog lately, then surely this country is the worst country for anyone to live in. You are sometimes put in a quandry; reading the mainstream media will give you the impression that all is right with the BN government and if were to read the blogs (esp the well-known ones, you know who they are), the Pakatan Rakyat is the true saviour of the "people" and everything BN/UMNO/Bumiputera/Malay/Islam is deemed to be "bad". No, don't give me that look. Lets face it, its what's out there now.

It is always good to have two sides of the matter to consider. In terms of governing, its good to have Check and Balances. If you are an ardent follower of certain blogger, you should also not totally boycott the mainstream media, vice versa. After all, it is you who can decide what you wish to believe in.

Some of the articles posted on the blogs are actually well-thought out and provoking piece which makes us ponder on the state of our nation. The arguments presented are not neccesarily emotional in nature but unfortunately, it is the comments from the readers which can sometimes be difficult to fathom. Many times you will come across people who take the opportunity to go into Malay/Islam bashing under the guise of "justice/fairness" for all and make racial/religious comments which frankly is unacceptable. Yes, you can sense that pent up frustration of years of being "discriminated" by the UMNOputras/Bumiputras/Malays, so is this so called "political tsunami" really a change for a better of Malaysia or its just a way to get back at the above ?

Makes you wonder..

Taking Credit

In The Star newspaper, there was a piece of news from Penang where the former political secretary of Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon has chided the Penang Chief Minister Mr Lim Guan Eng for claiming credit for two high profile FDI into Penang.

The new state government took control about 2.5 months ago suddenly they are able to bring in RM1.315 billion in FDI. Hmm.. and the two companies can decide in two months to invest such a huge amount of money, just like that.

Mr Lim, give credit where credit is due.. and this case, to your predecessor who did all the hard work to get the companies to Penang.

Congratulations to the MC Cagers '08

The Malay College Cagers basketball team managed to win the Piala Hamdan Tahir for the fifth time in a row during the recent Hari Kecemerlangan SPB in Jitra, Kedah.

The Wan Zaleha Radzi Encounter !

I was in still in MCKK when I had my major crush on Wan Zaleha Radzi. When everyone else was going ga-ga over singers and actresses (it was the Debbie Gibson-Tiffany-Raja Ema days, mind you), I was smitten by this petite yet stunning lady who read the news on TV3. I mean, its not often that you get an unbelievably stunning lady, who is educated and once represented the country in athletics (I came across the back issue of Dunia Sukan magazine which has a picture of Wan Zaleha during an athletic meet. I was estatic!). Wan Zaleha is truly "beauty and brains" personified and whenever she was on air (whether for Buletin Utama or Majalah Tiga), I would pay extra attention to the TV. Yet, despite all that, never once did I meet Wan Zaleha in the flesh. Sigh.

So, here I was with a friend at Ikea for lunch when I caught a glimpse of a petite lady wearing white jumper and her shoulder length hair tied back. Could it be after all these years? Lo and behold, it was Wan Zaleha having lunch there too.

I would love to rant more but I do remember that my wife reads this blog too, heheh:)

Indiana Jones...

Last friday, Honey Dearest and I made our way to the GSC at One Utama to catch the latest Indiana Jones movie. Honey is a big Harrison Ford fan (heheh, really BIG fan!) and since it's been 20 years from the last Indiana Jones movie, we decided to catch it early.

I remember back then, about 21 years back I was interviewed by Berita Harian (something about my scholastic achievement, which honestly, was not really something to shout about) and when they asked me what was my ambition, I replied "Archeologist" (which they wrote "Ahli Kajipurba"). The article actually appeared on bottom of the front page and made me a "mini-celebrity" at my primary school and "sekolah agama". But why the ahli kajipurba ? Hehehe, coz i wanted to be like Indiana Jones :)

Happy Birthday Sayang :)

Today, the 26th of May, 2008 is Honey Dearest's 30th birthday!

Baby, you dont look a day over 25 years 3 mnths, so here's for more wonderful birthday to come!

I love you so muuuccchhh!

JPA Scholarship : Part Deux

I would like to express the following in mixture of English and Bahasa Malaysia

Hari ni ada sorang lagi dok hantar surat kat The Star pasal tak puas hati tak dapat biasiswa dari JPA. Hish, sorang lagi yang nak main the "racial cards". Really spoil my morning bila aku baca the letter pagi-pagi buta masa aku nak breakfast dengan Honey Dearest.

Aku tak paham betul la bila sesetengah orang tu ingat, bila tak dapat something they want, it all boils down to discrimination (read: racial bias). Tolong la sikit. Hebat sangat ke engkau dengan 10A1 and A2 engkau. Kononnya "getting 10A1 and A2 for my EST has become more of a burden to me. I have become too good to enter matriculation but not good enough for PSD (JPA). Maybe I shouldn't have studied so hard and played more."

Apa yang engkau cakap ni ? According to him, dia rasa cheated sebab he thought "all students with 10A1 would automatically be given scholarship by JPA". Memang JPA akan bagi scholarship, tapi yang JPA gurantee is the scholarship for studying at local institution. Yang engkau minta tu overseas scholarship. Aku ada dua issue yang aku nak raise kat sini. First sekali, yang engkau mintak tu overseas scholarship. Engkau ni ada baca suratkhabar tak ? Engkau takkan tak tahu yang overseas scholarship under JPA ada 2000 tempat aje and engkau tahu tak ada berapa orang dapat straight As ? According to JPA, ada 6,262. Yes, read that again.. SIX THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED SIXTY TWO. Out of that entah berapa ribu yang dapat more than 10A1s, so sah-sah you know where you stand kan ? In fact, yang mintak for the scholarhip ada 15,000 orang and 7,500 made the cut. Congratulations, since you were among the 7,500 but paham le sikit, benda ni gila competitive. Besides, ada ke JPA bagitau engkau your marks for the interview, co-curricular activities etc. ? Mana engkau tahu you did well in the interview? Entah2 apa yang engkau jawab is not what they are looking for. Why do you people (well, some of you at least) assume that just because you get 10A1 and god-knows berapa A1 lagi, you guys are simply the very best? Hey, kalau engkau dapat full mark pun dlm the academic portion (by virtue of your 10As), setakat aktif dalam co-curricular activities, mana cukup ? Mungkin engkau presiden Interact Club but the other guy may have represented the country for some other activities. Sah2 le engkau lose out.

Lagi satu, apasal tak mention pasal applying for local universities ? Tak cukup BAGUS untuk yourself ke ?

"We are still the best. Let us hold our heads up and move on. I believe wherever we are placed, we will still shine because we have overcome the worst rejection and biasness"

HEY, apa yang engkau imply ni ? Granted, you did well by scoring that 10A1 and A2 but siapa yang reject engkau because of biasness ??? Dah tak dapat tu, as you said, move on la. Engkau tak mintak ke scholarship lain ? Engkau tak sudi ke nak belajar kat local U ?

Mr Lee of Kuala Lumpur... please la. Grow Up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good Neigbourliness

I just want to find out.

When we buy a house, what constitute as our property is up to the front gate right? The road is considered as public property and the small patch of land between the drain out of our fence/gate and the road does not constitute as our property right ?

You see.. I had this rather irritating experience of neighbours (not immediate ones but about 5 houses away) who put potted plants or rubbish bins in front of their house so that no one can park in front of theirs. It so happened that there was this one particular night where I was back late and it was the ONLY parking spot available. So, I parked my car there (and its not I intend to leave it there for days or weeks) and whadda you see... a note in the morning "Please dont park your car infront of our house".

... and you park BOTH your cars inside your house!

So, to the SS18/** resident living at that particular house... %*&$&#@## u!

PSD Scholarships

Without fail, we will face this issue every year. 10As, 11As, god-knows how may As will write in the newspaper and complain that they will are being discriminated by some "upper hands" who tends to award overseas scholarship to undeserving "son of the soil". Standard arguments raised would be things like "...he/she only scores 4As, 5As"... " politically-connected family"... "high income parents".

I guess sometimes it just gets to me when these things are being brought up every single year. No, this time I am not going to join the PSD bashing but I think the people who are complaining and the political parties who are riding on the issues should really stop acting like victims.

Come on, its not like there are a handful of these 10As.... I think it comes to about a few thousands! The PSD DG explained it in an interview in one of the sunday papers that while academic score may consist 70% of the total mark for selection, the remainder 30% should not be totally ignored.

Obviously a few thousand will score 70% for the academic marks but with competition so stiff, it will take more than "being active in school activities" to tip the balance. You need to be really outstanding. Period.

Please dont forget about the interview session too. Sometimes you may do well in both the academic and the extra curricular activities but if you cant carry yourself well, then, sorry... other people who are better than you deserve it.

Please, stop making it a racial thing. It has come to an extend where if bumiputras were to obtain scholarship, there are "whispers" that "yea, must be some crony/well connected politician etc...".

Meritocracy is alive and well. Just because a bumiputera managed to secure a PSD scholarship, its automatically "a racial thing" again. Are you saying we are that DUMB ?

May Updates

I guess I am at it again... late in my updates. It has been a month since I last posted, but well.. like what Datin Seri Wan Azizah said in the media (albeit on a totally, totally different issue altogether), its better late than never.

May 6 2008
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Honey Dearest and I went for another checkup at Dr Ani's clinic. We found out that Dr Ani is also pregnant and will be delivering at about the same time as Honey Dearest :) It will be her fifth, if I am not mistaken.

Anyway, this is the fifth month checkup and with a scan to be done, I will find out whether Junior will be a going to koleq or to the school at bandar Enstek :) The scan wasn't very clear as Junior seemed to be good at playing hide and seek, but from what we saw, it will most likely be another Idris House member walking down the hallowed halls, heheh :)

May 7 -12 2008
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It's the MIHAS week, the Malaysian International Halal Showcase. For people in my industry, its THE trade show for the year. I have been attending the show for the past two years, and this year the venue is the Matrade HQ at Jalan Duta. I have requested for Kamol (my Thai partner at our Thai operation) to be in KL for the show and he has arrange for his flight to be on the 8th and returning to Bangkok on the 9th.

The first day of the show usually begins with the Incoming Buying Mission (IBM) meeting where local companies are matched with foreign companies interested to procure goods from Malaysia. This year, I have chosen companies from non-tradionational market such as Eastern Europe and Asean countries as the products I am selling normally will have a hard time to penetrate the stringent EU regulations or the complexity of the US markets (maybe later, when all things are in place). Matrade, sensing that they can make a killing in parking fees, charged RM5 per entry and by 10am, the parking lot was already full! It didnt help that the main exhibition halls are erected at one of the bigger parking lots, thus deprieving visitors more parking space.

The meeting for the two days of IBM went well and I made some good contacts and potential business. Kamol arrived at KL Sentral on thursday and I took him direct to the exhibition. Of course, the majority of the exhibitors are SMEs producing the traditional products such as sauces, spices, seafood etc... but we managed to identify a few products that got Kamol excited about its prospect in Thailand.

As always, Kamol puts up at Holiday Villa Subang and with the voucher from my mother-in-law, the price isnt so exhorbitant. For the night, Honey Dearest and I decided to spare Kamol the usual mall fare and we took him for dinner at SS13, where they have a nice "gerai" that serves tasty food. The problem with our "gerai" is that most of them employ cook from Thailand and serves a lot of Thai dishes, so we were careful to order food which has no resemblance to Thai food :)

On friday, after submitting a tender at Royal Selangor Club, Kamol and I went to MIHAS for one last look. I went for friday prayers at the Masjid Wilayah and after prayers, I sent Kamol to KL Sentral for him to take the shuttle to LCCT, en route to Bangkok.

The weekend
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Arrghh.. I was down with fever and flu.

The Halfway Mark

Honey Dearest is at the halfway mark of her pregnancy. Yes, its her 4 1/2 weeks today and Alhamdulillah, everything is going on fine. We have been going for the doctors visit together and Dr Ani (of Klinik Keluarga, USJ) has been really great!

The next visit which is sometime during the first week of May will be one where we will know (hopefully) the sex of the baby. I told Honey Dearest I'd rather be surprised but I don't think that's at all possible, especially when we start getting things for the baby!

Fatherhood... hmmm.. great!

Feeling Under The Weather

I was down with a mild fever last week. I consider it mild as it was practically curable with a pop of the ever trustwortyh panadol. I thought that was the end of my "under the weather" spell, until I woke yesterday with a sore throat.

Help!

The 9 Months Odyssey: A beginning

The next 9 months would probably be the most amazing journey that Honey Dearest and I will ever go through. After a few false starts and heartbreaks, this is finally it.

Hello 2008

My last posting was on September 5, 2007. A lot of things has happened since then:

1. My bro-in-law, Azlan got married to the lovely Ilyani on the December 8, 2007.

2. I celebrated my FIRST annivessary with Honey Dearest, well.. on Lan's wedding day.. so next year it will be a double annivessary

3. Went for the family trip in PD with the gang. It was so much fun.. if only they know how difficult it was for me to scrape the fees...

4. Went back to Kuala Kangsar for another round of "amal-jariah" with the future student leaders of the school. Year in year out.. I do hope my small contribution makes a difference in their life one day

5. End of financial year for both companies... aarrghh, those headaches and heartaches...