**********

I went home early today, my laptop got some blue screen error and I can't boot up my windows this morning. In the afternoon, I drop my laptop to the HP IT staff and let them fix the problem for me. I won't be back to the office until next Monday, so I let them have my laptop so they can work on it on Friday.

The IT staff ask me what is my password. By right I shouldn't tell him. But then I can't sit with him and wait for them the whole day so they can fix my laptop in front of me. I have no choice but to give away my password. Sigh, my little secret has exposed to him after I gave away my password, it was a name that I use for easy remembering, we got too many passwords to remember, so I just make it simple.

You Don't Mess with the Zohan

The recent air strike from Israel on Gaza Strip is way too much. Innocent civilians and UN officials were killed during the air strikes, such action will increase the hatred between two parties from one generation to another.

If the Israelis' retaliation started like what Israel has claimed - Hamas fire rockets to the south of Israel. Then, I would like to ask why the hell Hamas militants provoke such a fight with Israel?

History has showed that the Israeli's style means if you hit me with a RPG, I am going to drop 10 pcs of 500lbs bomb on you, go and watch "Munich" and you will know. So, you don't mess with Zohan! I don't think either party will stop their fight now due to both sides need to save their face, I won't if I am Hamas militants head or Israel government. Someone will need to be the middle man and ask both sides to cease fire!

On the other hand, there were a group of 500 people demonstrated in front of US embassy yesterday. If I am the ambassador, I will be like, "What the hell?" Is like the neighbor on your left and right are fighting with each other, the neighbor who stay opposite of you demonstrated in front of your house. Hahahaha

One of my colleagues think that such attack might be political motivated as some interest groups are behind such attack so they can push the oil price up by creating war. I think he got a point here.

You better buckle up!

I think our one of our ministers has gone crazy again, I started to curse someone when I saw this headline on the news, it states that if you don't buckle up sitting at the back of the vehicle, you will end up in jail!

Common people like us have common senses, even though a person doesn't buckle up doesn't mean that it is a big offense and he or she deserve to go to jail, may be our jail has only 5% occupancy rate, I have no data on that. I am willing to take a bet of RM100 from anyone (with the max of RM200 on total bet). I bet that the flip flop government will revise the going-to-jail policy when you don't buckle up. Personally, I think it is pretty stupid to put someone into jail if he or she doesn't has the intention or forgot not to buckle up.

Okay, let say if they intend to send some scape-goats into jail by scaring the people, I wonder if our prison has enough space to cater all the offenders? Given our lousy government planning. I think we might have some problem with the jail cell. Perhaps, you will need to take a ticket and wait for your turn before they got a space to lock you up. Or may be, you have to share rooms with other 5 persons, when the cell is design for 2 person only. Then I will foresee some "government-linked" companies will be very busy with their new projects, someone will propose that we need a new and bigger prison, then we will end up having the biggest jail in Southeast Asia.

I foresee that the Prison Break TV series new season will be shoot in Malaysia, hopefully I am not the victim under this new policy, or else I will pinpoint to you which jail cell that I stay there before when I watch Prison Break II together with you.

Ok. Now let say our minister scrap the idea of putting someone in jail, they issue a RM300 fine on you when you get caught without wearing seatbelt. What I forsee that our police officers will be damn busy, when they are busy, they become thirsty. As we all know we have a very hot wheather in Malaysia. Coffee is something good which you can quench your thirst, you know what I mean.

In short, buckle up is always good but implementing in Malaysia is a problem, at least for now.

My Cousin's baby full moon party

Just came back from my cousin's baby full moon party, the main reason that I want to go there is because of my auntie's "nasi lemak". The nasi lemak is so good until they get some sort of popularity in the little town called Kuala Selangor. They can make more than five hundred Ringgit in half a day selling nasi lemak in front of their grocery shop, the money is better than a general manager in Malaysia.

Over the party, I also get to try some of the Martell's Gordon Bleu. I can't even call myself a social drinker in real life, that is the reason I am not sure the word, "Martel/Martell", got one "L" or two "L"s. I never like the taste of alcohol. I drank some because I am very curious what is the difference between a RM300-400 whisky compare to a RM100 whisky like JW Black Label? To me, it is the same. I don't understand how can it be 'smooth' when it comes describing the taste of whisky. To me, if you want smooth, try some yogurt drink or Lassi, that is what I called "Smooth!".

Then, another auntie ask me to go and entertain her husband, so I follow her advice and went to sit next to my uncle, our topic begins with Mini cooper, he initiated that. After some sip of Gordon Bleu, he started to whisper to me when his daughter-in-law refuse to change the diaper for her kid, saying that the diaper has finished. My uncle told me when you want to look for a wife, don't look for those who are lazy, blah blah blah... he filed a complain against his daughter-in-law, and told me some stories and how he warned his son and how his daughter-in-law 'potong trip" and got herself pregnant. Well, I just said nothing and sat there and be his good listener, I fine it quite funny but I refrain myself from giving any comments. I try to be neutral when it comes to other people's family matters.

Anyway, for those young guys and young girls out there, if your parents disapprove someone, I would suggest that you listen to your parents or at least keep that in mind. I know some people might argue that you are adult and is over 21 y/o, you have your own thinking and you have the liberty when it comes to doing whatever is good for yourself; you think you also know how and who to choose or not to choose. But after seeing a lot of real life cases, I would say that due to the elders have more real life experience than us, their advice should be taken into consideration, most of them can tell right through their eyes whether the guy or gal you bring home is suitable to you or not. In the party, there is my cousins' cousin who is going to divorce soon, I think she looks quite young and pretty, I guess she is around 26-27 y/o only, I see that soon we are going to have a new member enlisted to the Malaysia's Single Mom list. That is sad fact mixed with stupidity element...

We left around 11:40pm...

Job Hopper Champion

I find it hard to resist not to talk about this guy... a "job hopper champion"who used to work for our vendor. I am not sure if everyone out there you know can break his record. It is not easy to win the 'Champion' title, I came to know it during lunch from my colleagues. Of course, I won't mention his name in my blog, at least you get a hint that it is a guy. :)

My colleague told me that this guy has changed 12 jobs in 6 months! To confirm what I heard is correct, I ask my colleague again, "Do you mean 6 jobs in 12 months OR 12 jobs in 6 months?". And what I got is the confirmed answer of, "12 jobs in 6 months", the shortest job is he worked in a company for only few hours, I repeat, "a few hours", I am not sure if is over half day or not. To me, is like some lights suddenly shines on top of his head, he started to ask himself why I am here? He found out that this job is not for him, and it doesn't meant for him, so he just pack and leave. I am not sure if he officially tender, and I don't think he bother to mention on his resume that he worked in this company before, I almost dropped my jaw listening such thing, I never knew such record does exist.

I still remember that there was a mexican who used to work for a chinese restaurant that I worked there as a waiter during my study in the US, this fella quit his job in one day, I still remember the way he threw his apron after work. He just leave without even a 1 hour notice, he just disappeared after work. I guess he don't care to work for such a shitty job for 1k USD washing dishes. I recall he didn't ask for any pay for that day, may be restaurant business doesn't meant for him.

Anyway, I find such act is uncool, if you ask me if I will hire a job hopper, my answer will be negative even though he or she has the skills that I want. I won't hire such a person as a IT professional or for whatever work. I can't believe it, is like he change his job every bi-weekly in average. What a record!!

One good thing is at least the IT professional got high demand in Malaysia, we have labor and skill shortage, job opportunity is everywhere. Like the message that our government try to pass down to the public, "Recession is coming? Where got?! Semuanya Ok! (Everything is ok)"

Food Price and Petrol Price

Petrol price has gone down to Rm1.80/litre, I can notice a lot of people drive faster recently. I also speed like 110-120km/h every morning when I head to work, for me, it is not because the petrol price drop, it is because my fear on traffic police has gradually disappear after I got my speeding ticket 2-3 months ago. Besides that, speeding also keeps my mind conscious.

On the other hand, the food price doesn't react to the drop of petrol price. The result - You can see a lot of people walk like a zombie in shopping malls, pasar malam, etc.. they walk really slow, I need to 'over take' them most of the time because they are blocking my way, I call it "path-hogging", may be is me, I am walking too fast...or perhaps not enough money for good food?

RM3 Dividend

I received a dividend cheque from a company, I am not going to disclose the name of the company to save its' face. They really have the 'heart' to reward their investors despite the dividend is only RM3!! I wonder why they don't accumulate the dividends so they can send out a RM10 cheque all together later. With the time and money invested to print and mail this cheque, it could be more than the value of the cheque. Or maybe they worry they would have spend away the money if they don't give it to the investor, I don't understand.

Holding a RM3 cheque, I start to think what can I buy with RM3 and how far I can stretch with RM3...

I figure out if I purposely drive a car to the bank and deposit the cheque, I would have received less than RM3 because my rough estimation will be, out of the RM3, RM1 will be allocated as fuel charge for the round trip. So, I only have RM2 on hand.

With RM2 on hand, I can buy a drink at the coffee shop and buy a "barley ice" or without ice, or go for a Milo with or less sugar, with some small changes left. There won't be any other extra cost if I spent it in the coffee shop, because the coffee shop is walking distance from my house. Or with RM2, I can buy one or two slice of bake bread for a 'extra light' breakfast. I still remember that when I was in high school, I can get 1 litre of Dutch Lady full cream milk for 99 cents (Low fat milk at RM1.29). Now it is selling at Rm4.39! At that time, full cream milk is cheaper than low fat milk, but today, both are at the same price, may be the supply for low fat milk has increased due to people are more health conscious nowadays.

So with the RM2, let say you are very lucky... RM2 can get you a maximum of RM7k if you strike 4D, RM30k for 5D, RM200K for 6D if you place a RM2 bet! Now if you look at another perspective, the RM3 can mean something provided you are very very lucky... well, I don't think I have that kind of luck, I deposit it into the bank so it will be used as part of the annual bank maintenance charge, I just let it disappear without me knowing it.

海角七号 (Cape No.7)

“每个人心中都有一封寄不出的情书，不管是寄到天涯，还是。。。”

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

我经常在报章上看到关于“海角七号”的新闻报导。在台湾的朋友也说，最近在报章上主要是写两种新闻，一就是写陈水扁，二就是写海角七号。那天买DVD时，听见一位客户问店里的老板这部戏怎样。在客户把光碟盒放下以后，我马上叫老板给我一片海角七号，好让我满足我的好奇心，看这部电影到底为什么在台湾那么红？

刚开始看“海角七号”时，可能不是很专心的缘故，再加上有许多部分都是讲台语的，所以不知道它在演什么，只能靠下面的中文翻译。不过，慢慢地，也开始跟上电影的节奏了。我看完了以后，还倒回去看前面的片段，重新理解一遍。

故事讲述发生在横春的一些生活点滴，我想台湾人看这部电影会觉得更搞笑，就像星马一带的人看“钱不够用2" 一样。因为它放映了他们的生活，以及人与人之间的沟通与相处，有许多搞笑以及幽默的地方。当然，故事也少不了赚人热泪的爱情情节。内容环绕着几个人物，凶巴巴的代表；叛逆的临时邮差；勤奋的米酒销售员；恋上老板娘的“鼓手”；梦想当模特儿的乐队“监督”；自称“国宝”的老头；日本教师和他的台籍女友等等。唯一遗憾是电影没有交代林晓培和她祖母的关系。

我一向来很少看台湾连续剧或电影（除了小学时看过一些林青霞的旧作，如“旗正飘飘”之类的）, 近几年来看过周杰伦的"不可说的秘密"觉得还不错；“天边一朵云“这种烂片，恕我不会欣赏（难怪有人说纯粹是一部很烂的三级片，但是又不够三级那种，你看了以后你就会明白为什么那么烂！）。下来，我真的要推荐这部"海角七号"了，因为它绝对值得一看!

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

Other blog reading regarding Cape No.7: http://4bluestones.biz/mtblog/2008/08/kuso.html

Cyberjaya = City of Crows?

Look at the black dots on the photos, it is not because of dirt on my phone lens. There are actually birds flying in flocks at Cyberjaya! I am not sure if the birds are actually crows.

Ericsson Party

My fellow colleagues were guessing that the "Ericsson's annual dinner" has replaced with "Ericsson Party"...

Buffet dinner was catered by Sunway hotel, so the food is still okay, we have free flow of beer too, most people might have break some rules in the employee manual - "No drinking of alcohol in office premises" :).

We have some band singing in the office building and also some staffs who show their talent by picking up the mic and sing. I do notice that quite a bunch of Malay staff are quite good at singing. You might not see any of them in Redbox or Newway but I guess they might have secretly practice the skill with a DVD + karaoke player at home. There is a lady Malay staff who sang the song, "My endless love" very well. Me and my colleague actually stops in the middle of a conversation to see her sing... wow!

The party is scheduled to end at 10pm, but I left at 9pm, feeling a bit sleepy after drinking some beer.... (yawn). I gave all my lucky draw tickets to my colleague who is going to stay longer, don't bother to win any great prizes though.

Thanksgiving Dinner with Unimates II

Thanksgiving Dinner with Unimates I

Eng Keong and Mae Gan family

Met up with Eng Keong and Mae's family when they came back for vacation. The little baby is Colven and the elder baby boy is Justen, Mae said that they are still Malaysians, hmmm... I guess it is safer to travel as a Malaysian than American nowdays. :) I called Justen "侧田". Heheheh, just like I call his mom Mae Gan (梅干), I am so bad la... :)
Mae said that she is a loyal fan of my blog. (Sorry la, I didn't bring my pen, so I can't sign your autograph). I thanked her for her support and also for those who are reading this; because of you guys, I manage to write more BS... hahaha. Anyway, I believe quite a number of people will envy Ah Mae's life, a loving husband and two gorgeous kids. When she is free, she just drive her husband's mercedes C Class together with her kids to shopping mall and do some window shopping. No stress at work, and she just have to worry a bit when the cost of the rice went up too high. Sometimes a simple life means happiness.

Carrying Colven is like carrying a 'mini meat bolster'.... "Hey.... there is no sweets or candies inside my mouth, stop digging it!"

"R" and "D" a.k.a Reverse and Drive

That day I went to the petrol station trying to pump like RM25 to my car so that it will last for 2-3 days till the flip-flop government revise the petrol price as promised.

I notice there is a Perodua Viva parking inside the petrol station shop, my first impression is Perodua is having some creative sales promotion. Within seconds, I notice there were glass pieces on the floor. It seems that some idiot can't even differentiate between "R" and "D" crashes his car into the shop.

After I analyze is a bit (not difficult to do so). This idiot steer the steering wheel to the left and stomp the gas pedal real hard when he is ready to go. Instead of engaging "D", he did a "R". Fortunately there are nobody get hurts.

I think this kind of "effing idiot" (please allow me to use the "eff" word), he is either too blur, on drugs or alcohol. They should have barred on getting a license or double their car lesson hours before they even allow to drive, such action is to prevent their do any dmages on human lives.

Nowdays you still can see a lot of people trying to save his or her car's battery power, because they refuse/forget to turn on their lights when is getting dark. I know they still can see the road ahead when it is not completely dark yet, but they miss out the point that turn on the lights is not only for you to see the road ahead of you, the most important thing is, let people see you at the back. A lot of drivers still doesn't catch it.

Last time while I was in Sri Lanka, there is a Chinese driver who also hit someone's car because of engaging the wrong gear. The most piss off part is he refuse to admit his mistake, he claimed that the 3 yrs old Toyota Vios "got problem". It sounds fishy that Toyota has produced so many Vios in Asia, don't tell me that they can't tackle such a major flaw on its' product, I ask him to give me the car keys so I can test out the car. Later on, my friend told me he admitted his mistake to another colleague that he engaged in the wrong gear. This fella doesn't have a driving license some more when he drive on the street, a lot of staff always love to use company's asset to practice his driving skill till the company need to release a notice and tell them to bear the own repair cost if there is any damages to the car. I have heard story that some not so talented driver even spoil the gear box of a brand new Honda City. I am glad that these people are not flying a commercial plane.

An Officer and a "Manager" II

Today I check with my HR manager regarding my job title, it seems that there is some miscommunication between them and my director. So now I got back my "M" title, still a Partner Manager. :p

Case closed...

An Officer and a "Manager"

Sigh... today I feel like I was demoted, I have got my title changed from Partner Manager to "CMO". CMO is not "Chief Management Officer", it is "Contract Management Officer". So I actually feel that the only star on my shoulder was stripped off and was being replaced with three stripes.

I was wondering why my "M" title is replaced with "O" title instead, is it because I didn't manage anyone in the office or is it because the "O" title is more suitable for my job in a corporate setup? Seriously, I don't think an officer is higher rank than a manager. Alas, I just lost my "M" Power.

Thanks to my very caring boss, she gave me a very good adjustment this year, so good that it is over my expectation especially during such a tough time, if I was in my ex company, I think I need to wait for 2 years to get such an increment, but then, this will makes my salary to high for an officer, unless the manager level is making hell lot of money in my company.

Whatever it is, I wrote a short email to the HR director, which I knew her from my ex company. I need to check with her and see why there is such a downgrade on my job title despite my salary was being upgraded on the other hand. Do I have less responsibility now? I also ask her the job description of a CMO. Well, I expect the answer will be, "you can check with your boss." To me, a reasonable officer salary should be around 3-4k/month, unless you are referring to someone that has a title that starts with "Chief" and ends with "Officer". Or may be I am wrong.

If the company put a extra zero at the back of my monthly income or annual income, frankly speaking, I don't mind you give me a title that reads "Asshole". I don't care anymore, you can call me anything you want. Hahahahah

Product Review: G2000

This afternoon I told my friend I want to blog about G2000, I told him that probably this would have be my final G2000 merchandise. Why? This is because I think it is not value for money, the materials are so so only.

Yesterday I spent 2 hours shopping at KLCC Isetan after I finish my basketball game, contributed Rm400+ to boost Malaysia's economy, like I am trying to fill a lake with my piss.

I bought one Van Heusen shirt, an American brand, one of my favourite budget shirt which give away good discount, the shirt regular price is Rm169.00 and they are giving away 70%(one day only), a very tempting offer. I only get one cuz I have enough shirts inside my cabinet.

Then, I saw some shirt on sale at G200o counter too, Rm89 with the discount of 50%, I touch the material but I don't really like it that much, however, the color looks okay to me. So I decided to get one because after 50% off, it is going to be around Rm44.50 only. The shirt was wrapped in plastic, so I didn't check if the shirt is actually 100% cotton. From my first impression, the shirt quality belongs to those that worth Rm20-30 (max)range. The only good thing is the cutting is still okay.

After I went home, my mom saw the stuff that I bought. She said the cloth material is not good, after checking the tag, it reads "55% cotton, 45% Polyester". I was like, "Oh Shit! I am so regret!". Buying a shirt with less than 100% cotton, it means that your sweat will be more likely to trap inside your shirt. It is not a good choice if you wear something with polyester in the country that is hot and humid. On the other hand, she commented that the Van Heusen (VH) shirt is nice, she rather pay Rm20 extra for the VH shirt.

Sometimes I don't know what is so good about G2000 in Malaysia, before that, I didn't even heard about it before I came back to Malaysia. I know quite a lot of guys buy their products. G2000 is a HK brand where the cutting is well fitted for Asians. One thing I found out that G2000 pants got one problem, I am not sure other Asian guys have this problem or not. Perhaps is my problem! I am going to bring up this issue today, I find that I can't wear their pants with a boxer, reason is because their pants are too fit, since it was designed for Asians, they assume those who wear G2000 are skinny and with small butt. To be honest, my scrotum doesn't feel comfortable when I was wearing the tight working pants with a boxer. In terms of pants, I would say Dockers are damn good, nice cutting, and your scrotum gets to breath. The only problem is their pants are quite expensive in Malaysia. Shirt wise, my favourite is Brooks Brothers, a old brand from U.S.. According to Wikipedia, the time when Abraham Lincoln was murdered, he was wearing a Brooks Brothers' jacket. Let's not mixed up "Brooks Brothers" with "Brooks".

So after this experience with G2000 (trying to sell a 45% polyester product at RM89 regular price) I have decided not to buy any of their products anymore until they make me feel that their product is value for money. I will reconsider when it comes to pants. For similar price, why not get a Van Heusen that offer better material and nice cutting too?

Between G2000 and S2000, you better pick something like a S2000 which has better value. Good performance that doesn't burn a hole in your pocket.