Dis-Organised Train of Thoughts

How incompetent can one get? Work of Sitevision Sdn. Bhd.

2011-11-07T07:11:00.006+08:00

This is some of the example of how incompetent a contractor could get in renovating our house .

I am not afraid of naming and shaming them so that everyone would be aware of who they would be dealing with in the future. Do not in under any circumstances appoint them. if I were to summarise, it would be : shoddy and incompetent quality of work but pricing is among the premium due to so called 5 star projects done previously. They didn't pay their sub contractor as they were suppose to milk more money out of us to do so but the balance due was not even enough to cover even half of what they owed to their subcontractor and they resorted to ask the subcontractors to get from the owner direct the monies owed.

Better change their name to Shitevision.

Long Overdue Updates

2011-11-07T06:58:00.002+08:00

Too much to tell until I don't know where to start.

1. New House Reno

this is one massive project that has gone from bad to worst. The appointed contractor is not competent to do basic work let alone specialise work, up to the point that the so called 'best to their ability' is only fit for a circus
not to mention damages done to the fittings and other parts of the house
Lesson learnt - no matter how good your intention in helping out a friend, don't .. you'll regret it along the way
Naming and shaming - I would to say that Sitevision Sdn Bhd is truly incompetent of doing any work ... good ID drawing, terrible implementation .. charging premium price for what can be done by an amateur builder doing part time work, hope you rot in hell for all the trouble and grief you have caused us ,, better have the monkeys from the circus to do the job
Now sourcing out for a new contractor to redo most of the finishing touches left by the monkeys
and also looking for a temporary place to stay

2. Accident on the VW

A lorry had reversed on to the VW causing damage to the bonnet, headlamp, foglight
now in the process of claiming from the affected party but also causing me grief and undue stress seeing the car in 'cacat' condition until all the police report / insurance claim is settled

3. Work wise

the transfer of a colleague and a new head of section means that I have to carry some extra responsibility for a while, tak kena bayar extra pun ...

Ibarat menunggu buah tak gugur

2011-06-05T20:37:00.002+08:00

Penat ... thats all I can say for now ... this is in relation with our house buying issues ... one excuses after another with the buyer, wanna settle, can't settle, wanna move out, can't move out etc ...

Its hard to maintain momentum to go through this, it like being deflated every time we feel elated about possibilities of moving into it ... as of now, it looks like its gonna be a long process ...

Now I am scouring the net for reno ideas, to add on to what out ID has already done ... also trying to curb the ever ballooning renovation costing ... Help !!!

We might be homeless !!!!

2011-05-10T22:33:00.001+08:00

Long story short, we have been looking for some more space to accommodate the growing kids. The drawback of an intermediate link house was the open outdoor space is limited. Hence we have been on the lookout for either a corner or semi-d within our reach. Although we have a plot of land that can be built onto, but the current situation is not suitable.

So we have been looking around in a few areas but found that we wouldn't want to uproot the kids plus it going to be far away from our familiar support system. Hence when we knew someone in the vicinity is selling at a reasonable price, we grabbed at the chance and put in our offer.

As the process goes on, it was smooth sailing. We have gone through 2/3 of the buying process then we decided to put out our home for sale. Offers came in and we accepted one which was quite reasonable for us.

then we hit a snag, apparently the current owner of the house we bought has debts larger than what our loan repayment would cover, hence the registered owner has to fork out quite a substantial amount to settle the difference. This has been dragging for more than a month up to a point of where the buyer of our house has also reached the point where we were when we sold the house and it looks like they gonna settle their transaction first.

If thats the case, than we might be homeless once the process of us selling the house is complete when the buying process of our new house has been stuck in limbo. even with the owner handing vacant possesion by this month, we still need to do some major touchup on the new property before moving in.

Point to note when buying subsale :-

Don't leave all the search work to your lawyer, they might screw it up as ours did .. this situation would have been detected during the due diligence and we can opt out from the deal
Be wary of houses selling below market price ... quick sale indicates some underlying problem to the owner (especially financial issues with the lender)
The S&P Agreement is more towards protecting the buyer than the seller, the buyer would bear all the costs if the delay is by them but if the seller drags their feet, than they are protected. I wish I could claim the costs of Late Delivery plus the cost of rental in the case of us moving out from our home once the transaction is completed.

At this point of time, all we could do is to leave it up to the guy up there ....

Misery - Part 1

2011-05-01T08:15:00.000+08:00

Murphy’s Law

Its true what they say, that what can go wrong will go wrong and most of the time in one go. Case to point :

Automobile Issues

It started with me driving the mrs black TA, parked at the local night market, upon returning to the car, there was a dent in the bumper by some thoughtless b****rd. Check with the repair shop would cost me around RM 200.

Had a first real fender bender earlier this month. Wasn’t my fault, but it needs some time to be repaired and as it was done by some green leave who might not be paying attention to where he’s going that fateful Friday evening, my car has been officially in an accident. So I cant sell it off claiming its “accident free”

The latest incident happened on 28 April 2011, me going back to KL from Penang after some work. It was raining heavily, as I reached the Ipoh stretch, the car doesn’t seem to turn around the curve as I expected it to. Instead it was heading towards the left divider. As traction control and ABS kicked in, it still headed towards that direction as I’m trying to stay in control keeping the car straight as possible. But when I sensed that I could not help but going to knock head on, I turned the steering to the right, that’s when it got really violent. The car was swerving and I faced the oncoming traffic twice before hitting the middle divider and coming to a halt. Luckily it can still move so I moved it to the side and put the hazard light on. This was the first time I have been in a “violent” accident, apart from the normal fender bender and it felt like the longest duration in my life. Luckily I’m alive and driving the car as any other local cars would have not survived the impact.

Rusty blog

2011-04-24T22:33:00.001+08:00

Dah lama gila tak jengok blog ni ... dah berkarat macam tuan dia juga .... kena dapat mood nak menulis balik nih .... aduhhh

Been quite a while

2011-01-11T07:58:00.002+08:00

It has been quite a while since I dropped a note down here ... matters at work and home have taken the writing 'mood' away from me .... now that's 2011 is in, then maybe I have to spare some time in writing in here ... Hope I can do it again ...

Workplace Hazard

2010-09-02T10:26:00.001+08:00

It has happened again. Fatal accident at work. The post accident procedure has taken place. Loads of info to get, statements, root cause analysis, mitigating action etc ...

At least this time around I'm just in the investigating committee. Part of the job description. Better than being the person in charge dealing with next of kins.

I've experienced that once. The hardest part it to face the family saying that your son/husband/father was involved in an accident. Then the reassurance that they gonna make it thru whereas deep in your heart you know that the chances is slim. The dealing of grief on behalf of the family, colleagues and subordinates. The keeping up morale for all.

The hardest part for me is keeping the memories alive. After the accident, they are bound to be disfigured and I can't stand that. I would rather have the last memory of them as a complete person, not someone who has passed due to some tragedy. Maybe I'm not normal in that respect.

Al-fatihah

Adik Malas

2010-08-18T08:26:00.001+08:00

Adi has hit the terrible two stage. Her favourite phrase now is "Adik Malas!". When she doesn't want to cooperate with anyone. The mrs got a dose of it last night. I think with me she's behaving better,but she'll run all over the mrs. Now thinking of defiance vs defiance method, but boy, she's one tough cookie to crack.

Tried the defiance vs persuasion method, but it has only worked once . At my wits end now...

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The need to be connected

2010-08-16T08:08:00.001+08:00

Technology could be a boon or bane nowadays. Most of my kakis, whether school mates, work or golf are on BB nowadays. In fact, the most non tech savvy among us were the first to embark on the BB platform. The reason? Email & BBM.

BBM is a way BB users could keep in touch with others. Coupled with the fact that its riding on the BB plan and no setup needed except to know the PIN's, it has proved as an effective way to communicate. Coordinating event among kakis are easily done. Everyone can be in touch virtually from anuwhere in the world.

But it do have an ugly side to it. At our last TT, almost everyone was glued to their BB even though all are them are seated next to each other. The real reason to meet up was to get together physically, yet some communication were done through BBM. Maybe something covert, I don't know.

So what would be the best solution? Maybe time will tell.

Ramadhan Kareem

2010-08-16T06:43:00.001+08:00

It was a hectic two weeks prior to Ramadhan for me. Work issues cropped out and all impromptu tasks were assigned to me on top of scheduled tasks. Made me wanna scream on the top of my lungs all day at the office.

The only reprieve was a short break before Ramadhan, sort of stress reliever.

Hope this years Ramadhan will be better than the previous. Aminam

Spring Cleaning

2010-07-25T18:17:00.002+08:00

Its been a while since I did some spring cleaning, stuff accumulated has taken up space in the storage. So I have allocated the weekend to attend to it. Surprisingly, there's a lot of stuff that invokes the memories that have to be cleared off, even though deep down inside I wish that I could keep it forever.

There has been countless of shoes, some bought on impulse, some after long wait to get it at the sales ..Some of it were of the boys, branded but outgrown, not suitable to be handed over to adik. All those which in good working order found their way to the charity drop off bag, whilst those with missing parts or in need of repair were discarded.

Toys are also getting the same treatment. Along with clothes. And a friend dropped off some groceries to be given away too.

I guess that I have been a sort of keep it for life person. My HRC TShirt was decommissioned by the mrs when I was not around. Its kinda hard for me to let go some of my cherished stuff, but when the time comes, I still need to let it go. Maybe it can be of use for someone else.

I even didn't realised that I have certain stuff stored away in good condition. I didn't realised when it was in storage but when it came to giving it away, I kinda *sayang* to do it. Dunno, maybe its just me..

Talking about spring cleaning, I have decided to give black beauty a facial with the seven seater would follow suit, before raya. Just waiting on the results after this.

Enough of my ramblings ...

In the spriit of 1Malaysia

2010-07-25T07:34:00.001+08:00

Work brought me to Penang last Thursday. Upon reaching at the airport, I waited for my pickup. Whilst waiting, a gentlemen of chinese descent approached me and asks whether I'm Jeffrey Tan, as he was supposed to pick him up.

For those who knows me, I don't think that I'm anywhere as Chinese looking as as you would mistake a durian with an orange. OK so maybe my eyes may,
But my complexion is not. I might be Jeffrey Tanbarajah..

So I was a bit perplexed about the matter. Maybe with the mix in Malaysia that rave and creed might be able to be cleared and a true Malaysian will be the norm soon. We could only hope for it. The rest of the day I thought that WOW, I could pass off as a Chinese descent... Hehe

But on the way back, I sat next to a pilot and a foreign student of Indonesian origin. The student asked "Bapak mau pulang ke Jakarta?" Which brought me back to reality. Hmmm....

Take some time off

2010-07-25T07:30:00.001+08:00

Received this through email and wanna share it with friends :

A SCHOOL teacher one day spots a scribbled paper from her son and suddenly gets emotional. Her husband, who had just walked in, saw her crying and asked why. She quickly shows her husband the essay and asks him to read it. The husband reads it, thinking it is a homework assignment of one of her students. The essay goes as follows:

Dear God,

Grant me a favour. Please make me into a television. I want to take the place of the TV in my house and I want to have my family around ME. To be taken seriously when I talk.

I want to be the centre of attention and be heard without interruptions or questions. I want to receive the same special care that the TV receives even when it is not working. I want to have the company of my dad when he arrives home from work, even when he is tired. And I want my mom to want me when she is sad and upset, instead of ignoring me.

I want my brother and sister to fight to be with me. I want the whole family just to spend some time with me. And lastly, I want to make my family all happy and entertain them, just like the TV. Please grant me this wish to be a TV.

At that moment the husband paused and said, “Poor kid! What horrible parents he has!’

The wife looked up at him and said, “That essay is our son’s work!”

With all the going ons in recently, I think the article did struck a chord with me.

3 Idiots

2010-06-20T08:20:00.001+08:00

A rollercoaster ride of emotion...bursting to stitches in laughter...heartfelt moments...

Truth be told, I am not a fan of Hindi movie, somehow I find that their formula too predictable, in fact most of the movies do, except that in Hindi movie they'll break into a song and dance routine at every opportunity they can. Girl meets boy - song & dance, Boy leaves girl - song & dance. They meet up again, song & dance.

Now this 3 Idiots didn't venture away from that formula, but the way its being delivered had me glied to the idiot box. Maybe because it about 'engineering' & that's why it took my interest, but I honestly can watch it again. Even the boy enjoyed itm The mrs cried bucketloads. Hehe..

It certainly wasn't up to cinema paradiso cinematography but it still had me on stitches. A good watch.

Bye Palm, I'm now a Crackberry.

2010-06-13T22:49:00.001+08:00

My dear Centro,

With a heavy heart I have to leave you, even though I'm still in love with you. All the years we spent did have a special place in my heart, and I will cherish those moments. Its hard to find someone like you and every time I wish that I'm still with you. When I'm with the other, I wish that it was you But alas, we have come to a crossroad in our life where we want different things and I know that I can't be what you want me to be.

My dear, even though we are apart I still have a soft spot for you in my heart and I wish that we could be together again sometime in the future. I do hope that you will flourish with your choice and wish you all the best. I will miss you.

Seeking solace in words

2010-06-03T14:49:00.003+08:00

Just gotten my reading spirit revived this week, thanks to the discovery of another the same book for less bookshop near my workplace. As far as I can remember, I have been mesmerized by words that are beautifully strung together to form sentences, sentences forming paragraphs and paragraphs forming a story line.

I would just have myself immersed in the story and as much ad I hate to admit, a good read would keep me awake at night. I can't stand the fact that I need to sleep in order to rest as the next page that I'm missing seems to taunt me, coaxing me to open the next one and the next one and the next one.

I would envy people who could construct a beautiful sentence from normally used words, also for the life of me can't even quote any quotes that I have read. Nonetheless, it never detract me from reading. As for writing, I think I would just stick to reading peoples had wrote whilst imagining that someday I would be able to do the same.

The last of my wisdom

2010-05-31T22:58:00.000+08:00

I went to the dentist today to get my wisdom tooth cavity filled. I don't know why, but all my wisdom teeth have erupted, and three of them have been removed. The last one standing have some cavity issues, as per the other three but as far as I have known, no other tooth have experienced cavity at all.

Could it be due to my oral hygiene or the last all the wisdom teeth are made from different material?

I dunno ..

but I do know, the last one is another 2 day MC waiting to be taken once I feel like it...

There is an end to everything

2010-05-31T06:05:00.002+08:00

"There is an end to everything, even to good things"

One of the article that I read during my Sunday read starts with that. That adage holds true for the situation that we are in today. As what I can see, the news nowadays comes from the government, who have been working hard to wake us up from our slumber that things are not going to be as rosy as what they painted during the process of selecting them into power.

Slowly but surely, things that we have now would be taken away from us, either knowingly or unknowingly. This would almost all the time being followed by the adage. Where are we heading now? Back to the olden but golden days? Does the good old times would be followed by a better future?

It seems to me that at the back of our minds, this adage would ring in any situation that we are in. Are we ready to face it once the end looms near? Do we bite the bullet and just go through the inevitable or we just linger on with the hope that things would be back to what it were, and everyone will be happily ever after?

Its kind of hard to say, I would say go with the flow, but what will happen when the flow ends?

There is an end to everything, even to good things. Cherish them while it lasts.

Its been a while

2010-05-21T08:30:00.003+08:00

It has been a while since this blog been updated.

Work wise it has been hectic, just came back after being away for 2 weeks, Ipoh & JB. Would be away again till the end of the month.

My day trip to JB last Friday was very eventful. Firstly I met my dad, who coincidentally is on his way there on the same flight. We also sat on the same row, albeit across the aisle, shared the same cab in JB and met him during the Friday prayers. Due to the Friday flight arrangement, my dad opted to take the bus back and not the flight, else I would have spent most of the day with him in JB. That's more than I do while we are in KL ... hehehe .. not a sign of a good son ..

Then on the way back, I was assigned the emergency exit seat, than theres this young dude sitting next to me.. I started lamenting about the seat as it couldn't be reclined, then we started talking.. turns out he was on his way to KL to join MENTOR 4. I was puzzled as I recalled, the show had already started... long story short, he was selected to replace Ziana Zain's protege, who for some reason opt to drop out, and his concert was on Sunday, less than 48 hours ... To Izwan, all the best and good luck ...

Goodbye Miss Rumble and Tumble

2010-04-23T06:14:00.002+08:00

After 12 years with us, we have to say goodbye to Miss Rumble and Tumble. Your years of service, without uttering a word when asked for would be remembered. You said nothing when asked to do the same chore again and again and again. Would you continue to be of service in another 12 years to come and your deeds to those who is is dire need of your service would be remembered for eternity.

Farewell. We'll miss you.

April Schedule ..

2010-04-20T06:18:00.000+08:00

April have been with a hectic start for me. It started off with a work trip to Kedah for 3 days, 29-30 March 2010, then a dive trip to Tawau/Semporna/Mabul from 1-6 April 2010, then continuing with work trip in Sabah again , KK/Sandakan/Tawau/Lahad Datu/KK from 12-18 April 2010.

In the past three weeks, I have been home in about 6 days :-(. There would a few more work trip in Semenanjung planned but I'll try to make it a day trip as much as possible even if it means I have to drive or take the early flight in last flight out.

Work is work but what I miss most is time with the family. Time with the kids and the mrs. Things are moving at such a pace that I wish I could clone myself, leaving the original me home to be with my family. Until then, I will try to minimise days away.

Black Beauty is down .. again ..

2010-03-21T23:43:00.002+08:00

For the second time in weeks, the black beauty had experienced a leak in the power steering system. All this while, we had managed to get by using Amiaq's magic potion no 1, but this time it did not help. Need to bite the bullet & get the component changed, but due to limited availability of second hand parts, the progress had been slow. So much so that I had to forego my teaching session in Taiping tomorrow. Else it would be my return trip to Taiping since last Thursday..

Jalan-Jalan Cari Makan

2010-03-20T23:24:00.000+08:00

The March school holidays was spent in the north, with specific food instructions :

1. Kwey Tiau Goreng Doli, Taiping

~ no pics, too busy eating ~

2. Mee Banjir Udang Mak Teh, Kuala Sepetang,

3. Nasi Ketam, Warung Pak Su, Bagan Nyior, Juru, Penang

4. Roti Canai Argyll Street Penang

5. Seafood Dinner at Penang

That was a tall order and to my surprise, we managed to go to all those and had finished everything that we ordered. Officially, I'm above the limit of my cholesterol / uric acid intake for the month, now need to call my reflexologist for some detox session and to keep fit for upcoming dive trip in Sipadan, else I'll end up looking like a dugong in my wetsuit.

ps. Stay at Jana View Condotel in Taiping, room rates are on the cheap site, quite good accommodation unit with a sofa-bed but the breakfast leaves a lot of improvement to be made. RM60/night during the school holidays, what more can I say ...

Micheal Phelps in the making

2010-03-15T23:11:00.000+08:00

My uncle had refurbished his pool (kolam ikan to be exact) because he's trying in a new venture. Previously he had bred patin & keli and when the harvest time came, the fishes were snapped up real quick. But then the pool has some problem, so he drained the water and let it dried for almost two years. During that time he did rear some fish in the surrounding parits, but as usual it became targets for thieves. Imagine almost 1000 fishes of the talapia, baung and patin varieties slowly dwindling due to theft. Not to mention the water pump as well.

The refurbish pool will be housing some udang galah, with maturity and harvesting period around 14 - 16 weeks. Then maybe we could have some udang fiesta ... watch this space ..

Four pools

Eager testers

Ready to set the world record

Berendam sampai kecut

Traffic Offense

2010-02-28T11:43:00.000+08:00

There I was, driving to my alumni dinner in Royale Chulan, KL using Jalan Pekeliling. I took the turn off to Bulatan Kg Pandan and try to cut left to go towards Berjaya Times Square when I was topped by two traffic police doing 'ops' there.

TP : Encik dah belok pada tempat yang salah, minta IC & lesen ...

me : Salah macam mana tu?

TP : Encik sepatutnya buat bulatan baru boleh masuk sini. Encik kena tengok arrow kat jalan tu ..

me : Oh ye ke.. saya tak perasan sebab saya jarang masuk KL.

TP : Encik duduk mana ?

me : Saya duduk Puchong. kerja kat PJ, jarang masuk KL . Hari ini pun sebab ada function and kawan kata suruh belok kiri kat sini.

TP : Takpelah Encik.. kami akan tulis kesalahan seperti begini (shows me the previous summons slip)

me : ok.

The TP then went round the car, so called checking my road tax and other things.. I was ready for him to fill in the book and sign it off ..

TP : macam ni la Encik, kira saya kasi warning kat encik ajelah kali ini, lain kali jangan buat lagi ..

Hmmm... made me wonder whether he's trying to nego something from me or what, the moment he says I'm in the clear, I straight away drove off ...

Close encounter of the slithery kind

2010-02-16T20:36:00.004+08:00

We were back in Pekan for the long CNY hols and also to celebrate Adi's birthday there. On the second day of CNY, about dusk, we heard a commotion coming from the chicken coop. A quick inspection by Peh confirmed that one of the chicken had been attacked by a python and the offending snake serpent is still there trying to swallow the lifeless chicken.

So out Peh went with a parang, torch light and a rope loop. I follow suit with my camera and flash, trying to capture the 'historical' event. I brought the boy along in order to show him how a live snake is being captured.

The snake had nowhere to go as it has exhausted itself in constricting the chicken. The chicken is not the normal ayam kampung, but of another variety, which is about 1.5 times the normal chicken, hence it had difficulty in swallowing the chicken whole. What Peh did was to knock the snake on the head and tie a loop around its neck and carried it away from the coop. The snake is about 2m in length, probably still a juvenile. From Peh's account, this is the third time the chickens had been attacked but as their sizes are a little bigger than your average chicken, it couldn't swallow it, hence the decision to kill the snake before it launches subsequent attacks.

The pics showed it all, plus the boy posing at the lifeless snake after its all done.

Trying to corner the phyton

Success!

Sizing the snake out

Aiman tak takut pun ...

The lifeless serpent

Do we have all the time in the world?

2010-02-05T09:31:00.003+08:00

I'm still trying to achieve balance in my life. At the moment it was not as what I wanted it to be. As usual, new year work schedule is filled with activities and it has been taking me away from home a lot. Even when I'm in the office, the amount of work is SOOOO Much, that right now maybe its like waiting for the last straw to break the camel's back.

In an ideal world, I would like to have all my work during my office hours, with the rest of the time spent at home. I know I haven't been much of a help to the mrs, who's singlehandedly running the home and wish I could do something more to relieve her. Plus my kids are also commenting that I'm always outstation. Hmmm ...

Now even they are calling me to work during the weekends, and with the songel in my HR department, getting an off day for work done during the w.end is like asking for a pot of gold.

Now have to relook on how to reorganise my life with the current situation ...hope it would just be temporary...

KK, KK & KK

2010-01-24T22:47:00.000+08:00

I will be going to KK three times this month.

The first time was last week, from 16-19 Jan 2010. The nest one is this coming Wednesday.

The third one would be 1st Feb 2010, albeit only to Kuala Kangsar. Hehe.... 3 kk trips jugak kan ...

Touch & Gone

2010-01-14T17:37:00.001+08:00

I have been using Touch & Go (TNG) since 1999, back during the days when they haven’t integrated the toll paying system. The only reason I got the TNG is that to use the then PLUS only highways as the other like SPRINT and LDP are using their own KESAS or LDP tag.

In a way, I have found that the reload system of other tags is way more efficient than the Touch & Go. Imagine this, you sign up for an integrated credit card with TNG with the anticipation of hassle free reloading but what you get is not. One case in particular is that I passed through Sungai Besi and upon exiting in Seremban I have been told by the machine that the card is not valid. WTF?

I also have another TNG which was linked to my credit card for reloading and after one reload which have been credited to my TNG, they called me up saying that I haven’t been paying for my top up along with a legalese letter. I told them to shove back the TNG card where the sun doesn’t shine.

My then LDP tag was not giving me any problem at all. At exactly RM 10, it will reload to the preset value and straight away debited to my banking account. No hassle at all. But then the heavy hand of government wanted to streamline all the payment into one and no guesses needed. TNG is the preferred method. So everyone had to migrate. FINE. I got another one to use. Along the years I have also bought an additional TNG & Smart Tags for the mrs.

Then they came up with some press release saying that certain cards form certain years will not be usable any more and the user have to get new cards. I read about it in the news but didn’t expect them follow thorough but I guess the smell of money made them do it.

If we keep on using our old card then they can’t supply new cards right? They must have been going through the numbers and realize that supply of new cards are slowing down and what way to generate more income on top of the % charge to all the operators using TNG. Why deactivate a fine and working car other than to rake in more money from the consumer. Curse you TNG & Rangkaian Segar.

All has been done, now up to divine help

2010-01-13T08:10:00.003+08:00

A friend of mine from school is now experiencing some serious medical condition. His predicament started off with a one day viral like fever, developing into near paralysis of the limbs and eyelids the next day, deteriorating vitals, put in chemically induced coma and life support machine. All this in the span of 3 days.

Whilst the details of his illness couldn't be shared here, suffice to say that his own antibody is attacking his central nervous system, which created all the chaos to his body. What we are told is that the medication given to him is super expensive, bordering to RM40k.

My batch mates are organizing some sort fund raising and solat hajat for him. I just wish that he could recover from this and even though the diagnosis is that he would have to undergo a long recovery period. My prayers goes to him. Get well soon.

Hong Kong Trip

2010-01-11T14:41:00.002+08:00

Sorry for the delay , a lot of pending post not yet published. For the Hong Kong trip, the photos could be viewed here ... Facebook link .. story coming up later ...

Tiredness creeping in

2009-12-28T22:01:00.002+08:00

The last few weeks have been hectic for me... almost every week I have to go away for work and as there's a public holiday every friday in Dec, its like working a 4 day week. It's like every week I'm in a different city and sometimes I forgotten where I am. I even was called to work in JB during Boxing Day, where I'm suppose to be spending it with my family. Sigh ...

My physical activities in Dec have halted to a grind, I only manage to catch 45 mins of swim last Tues in Equatorial Melaka 25m pool. I long for my usual laps in the cold water of Bukit Jalil, the sense of tranquility and peace as I traverse the length of the pool. I also long for my runs.

I need to increase my energy level energy, now forever feeling lethargic. Hope that thing will improve in 2010.

Jual air liur

2009-12-10T22:10:00.000+08:00

Part of my portfolio now is giving presentation to the operation staff and my dept is planning a massive roadshow-cum-meet-and-greet thingy. Three regions have been identified and plans are being made for us to touch on current issues. I think each of us would be given around 2 hours to talk on our expertise.

It will involve travelling to the respective region and spending a 2 day session with them. To the east would mean a balik kampung trip, the south and north would mean travelling alone.

Now is the time to jual air liur and to gauge how the operation staff acceptance towards the issues that we have to talk upon. Now if only my air liur is like the swallow's, selling at RM4-5K/kg, just think how much I can make per session. hehe..

11 months have gone

2009-12-07T15:11:00.002+08:00

I've just realised that 11 months in 2009 have gone, leaving another 3 weeks to go. This time around, December is going to be a busy month for me, with my GM dropped a bombshell last week. Almost all the remaining weeks in December would be filled with outstation trips. Almost all weekends would be occupied with wedding and my lil sis wedding preparation.

As a start, here I am in KB doing a day trip, which is now getting tiring to me. Looking back, I could do day driving trips to JB but now it seems a chore. Age catching up on me I guess. Next week Kuantan, then Melaka then Ipoh.

I still haven't been able to update this blog as frequently as I like, also haven't been downloading stuff as I like. And I felt like even if I sleep straight during the day I still couldn't recover from the state of perpetual sleepiness. And I don't think I'm making any sense typing this.

Farcical Exercise

2009-11-13T01:24:00.002+08:00

No, I didn't mean me doing all sort of funny things to be justified as physical exercise, but rather the annual song and dance routine that we got once an audit is pending. This years theme, Hogwart's Magic Elementary 101 - conjuring non existing documents and backdating them ...

I mena, tahun ni tah apa tah mimpi my SGM yang selected me to be the contact person for one of my dept's processes and procedures, up to the point of freezing all outstation trip & leave. I have a 3 day HV course in UTM next week, so it looks like I may have to forgo that ... or if i could get someone to replace me in the office doing the conjuring thing.

It was supposed to be finished by today, Friday the 13th, but I have came down with quite severe fever ... hmmm..whether or not to come in for the day or get MC ... looks like its gonna be health first as KPI pun memanag dah kena potong kan, so tak payah le beria-ia ...

Quick Updates

2009-11-03T07:31:00.002+08:00

It's been quite a while since I last updated this, the last being the raya pictures. Got a lot on my hand and mind and by the time I want to commit thought to text, something came out.

Work - been travelling a lot nowadays, everyone s set new KPI to meet and all want it to be done before the year end. So in a month, expect to see me all around Peninsula running around meeting someone else's KPI. I was also appointed (finally) tot the position that I have applied and went to interview for three times ...

Personal - celebrated my 35th birthday ... another milestone in my life, thinking of changing the black beauty into a kompressor version without breaking the bank, the boy had someone knocked into his nose at school and bled, haven't had time to muhasabah diri pun lagi .... got a family trip to Hong Kong before AidilAdha ..

On a different note, condolences to Bhumi & family for the passing of his dad. Semoga dia ditempatkan dikalangan orang yang beriman.

On another note, two of my friends are going to perform the haj this year. May you obtain what haji yang mabrur...

Aidilfitri 2009

2009-09-21T17:38:00.007+08:00

Some shots of us taken at Pekan ..

All of us

The mrs, Abang & Lil-miss-chief

Mami. Abang & Adik

Me & The kids

Adik & female cousins - Wawa, Aliya, Afaf & Ain

Birases - menantu Ustaz Mohamed - Me, Sofi, Rizal, Abg Long & Amran

Adik & Aki

Aiman & Pokde Azim

Adik Posing control Ayu

Eid Mubarak

2009-09-17T06:00:00.002+08:00

First and foremost I would like to wish Eid Mubarak to all who knows me. We would be spending the first few days in Pekan this year, to celebrate with our PM on his first raya of PM. To be honest, all this while, we haven't made it to his open house but we might try something different this year.

For me, this raya has lost a little lustre, maybe due to work presure etc, but at least I would try to have a little of it for the kids. I mean, up to now, I still haven't gotten round to change the monies, or getting some of the usual stuff that I would have already done previously. Maybe the last two days might gave a a reprieve in my schedule to do that.

Will be coming back to KL on the third day of raya, so if anyone is around by then, then maybe we could catch up. Till, then and if I wasn't able to meet any of you in person, Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir Batin.

One more week to go

2009-09-11T05:35:00.004+08:00

There's another week to go for Ramadhan. After that it will be back to normal routine f or us. I felt that this year, everything is passing by at the speed of light. Time flies so fast that looking back, it has already been September where events that happen a year ago is still fresh on our minds.

This year, we will be celebrating Eid in Pekan, Pahang. Who knows, we might join the PM's function thus year, :-0. For me, this Eid somewhat seems ordinary, maybe because the mood has not set in yet. Maybe I'm getting too old for this. Normally during this time, most of the shopping's are done, I'll be getting the bunga api & duit raya done, but this year it seems lacklustre. Plus waiting to be appraised for past year's performance at work, which doesn't help a bit in turning on the raya mood.

Maybe I should just be grateful with what I have at the moment and savour whats left of Ramadhan.

ps. today is the 8th anniversary of the WTC incident. I still remember watching the TV thinking what movie they are playing with the burning buildings and plane crashing into it. Aiman was about 2 months then...

It's been a while

2009-09-02T05:40:00.002+08:00

It has been a whike since I updated this blog. Almost a month. After my stint at home quarantine, I found myself wanting to write but couldn't.

I haven't been posting about my Aussie work trip and also my pre Ramadhan dive. Also forgot to write about welsoming the holy month of Ramadhan. Things have been on the hectic side since we are maidless and I for one are still coping with it. Also about Hari Kemerdekaan yang ke 52.

I think all of us have been adjusting to the changes gradually and thing looks to be on the upside. Hope that I will find my writing mood again, before Eid. Till then, Ramadhan Mubarak.

ps.. hopefully you all have been following 15Malaysia, short videosfeaturing real issues faced now.

A(H1N1) flu: Updates on 10 FAQs — Dr David KL Quek

2009-08-08T04:47:00.001+08:00

From the Malaysian Insider

A(H1N1) flu: Updates on 10 FAQs — Dr David KL Quek

AUG 6 — 1) Can we distinguish between regular and H1N1 flu, without a lab test?

No, the flu is the flu, but there are variations in presentation. Some symptoms such as cough, runny nose, fever, body aches, fatigue, vomiting, diarrhoea occur more or less in every flu patient, but may present differently by different people. Some infected people have very mild symptoms, some in between, and a small minority, probably less than 10 per cent, have severe features including the dangerous pneumonia.

However, from sentinel testing and surveillance by the Ministry of Health the last few weeks have shown that almost 95 per cent of all flu-like illness are now caused by the H1N1 virus. Earlier some months ago, seasonal flu variants caused by the B and other A virus were the main causes, the bug causing most flu these few days is the A(H1N1). This appears to be the case also in neighbouring countries, meaning that the new virus is causing more havoc and symptomatic illness than previous types of flu (which are still in the community).

Because almost every flu-like illness (influenza-like illness or ILI) is due to H1N1, the MOH is now recommending that no testing to confirm this H1N1 will now be offered.

Treat as if this is H1N1 for ILI — symptom relief for mild symptoms (paracetamol, hydration, cough medicines, etc) and self-quarantine, social distancing, be alert for complications.

Most (70 per cent) do not need any anti-viral medications such as Tamiflu or Relenza. Only severe cases need to be referred to hospital for further treatment.

2) How should doctors decide if a person be given further specific treatment for H1N1?

If after 2-3 days, fever and cough symptoms do not improve, a recheck with the doctor is recommended, especially if there are features of difficulty breathing, severe weakness and giddiness, or, if the following risk factors are present:

1. obesity (fatter patients seem to have poorer outcome and more complications)

2. those with underlying diabetes, heart disease

3. those with asthma, or chronic lung disease

4. pregnant women

5. those with reduced immunity, cancer patients, etc

6. those with obvious pneumonia features

3) Many anxious people with flu-like symptoms want to be tested or treated for suspected H1N1, but are kept waiting or sent home, without being tested. Is this practice right?

There is no right or wrong practice as this outbreak is extensive and is stretching our resources to the limit. This is also the case not just here in Malaysia, but also elsewhere around the entire world!

The recommendation is now not to spend too much time and effort trying to get tested at designated hospitals or clinics — there is probably no need to do so. I have been informed that as many as 1,000 patients queue anxiously at Sungai Buloh Hospital for testing, due to fear of the H1N1 flu.

So the message must be made clear: Most flu illness do not require confirmatory testing, and are mild and self-limiting. More than 90 per cent will get better on their own, with symptomatic treatment — just watch out for possible complications, and risk factors as mentioned above.

Our resources are limited especially for testing. This is not just for Malaysia, but globally as well. The global demand for test kits and reagents for the H1N1 (PCR) is overextended and are rationed due to this extreme demand.

Some 200 million test kits have been deployed worldwide, but this supply is critically short because of excessive demand, so most countries have to ration testing to confirm only the worst cases, so as to monitor the pandemic better.

4) Are doctors confused as to what to do in this outbreak, especially when they do not have ready access to confirmatory lab tests?

Not really. Earlier on there was some confusion as to what to do next and who to test or who to refer for further testing and admission. Now the rules are clearer.

There is no need to do any testing to confirm the H1N1 virus for any ILI — just assume that this is the case in the majority of cases. Treat symptomatically when symptoms are mild, reassure the patients and ensure that these infected patients practice good personal hygiene, impose self-quarantine and social distancing, wear masks if their coughing or sneezing become troublesome, and keep a watchful eye on whether the infection is getting better or worse.

If there is difficulty breathing and gross weakness, then patients should quickly present themselves for admission. Understandably this phase of worsening is not always clear or easily understood by everyone... But there is not much more that we can do — otherwise we will be admitting too many patients and this will totally overwhelm our health services.

But prudent caution would help to determine which seriously ill patients need more attention and more intensive care. Unfortunately however, there will be that odd patient who will progress unusually quickly and collapse even before anything can be planned — hopefully these will be few and far between.

A more important note is that all doctors and nursing personnel should be very aware that they too have to take precautions, and employ barrier contact practices, if there are patients with cough and cold during this period of H1N1 outbreak, which is expected to last a year or two. Carelessness can result in the physician or nurse or nurse-aide becoming infected!

5) Are there sufficient guidelines from the Ministry of Health to address this situation?

I think there are sufficient guidelines from the MOH. Although some politicians have blamed the MOH and the minister for being inept at handling this pandemic — in truth this is not the case.

It is useful to remember that this is an entirely new or novel virus, which no one previously had encountered before — thus its infectivity and contagiousness is quite high and almost no one is immune to this virus.

Perhaps, there will come a time when all the resources from both public and private sectors can be put to more efficient use. Some logistic problems will invariably occur, because human beings differ in their capacity to understand or follow directives, whatever the source or authority.

Also patient demands have been extraordinarily high and at times very difficult to meet — every patient necessarily feels that his flu is potentially the worst possible type and therefore requires the most stringent measures and testing...

Doctors are also unsure as to the seriousness or severity of this new ailment — and we are only now beginning to understand this better — so our less than reassuring style when encountering this new H1N1 flu is sometimes detected by an equally anxious patient and/or their relatives.

But there is only so much that we can do under such a pressure cooker of an outbreak which is spreading like wildfire! But nevertheless we should not panic, and remember that most (more than 90 per cent) of infected people will recover with very little after-effects. Possibly only one in 10 patients develop more serious problems which necessitate hospitalisation.

6) Is limiting H1N1 testing only to those who have been admitted to hospital justifiable?

I have explained the worldwide shortage of such testing kits and reagents. Also it is near impossible to test everyone, the world over. Besides, knowing now that almost all the flu-like illness in the country is due to H1N1 makes it a moot point to want to test for this, especially when most are mild.

The rationale for testing only those who need hospitalisation is to ensure that we are dealing with the true virus, and also help to isolate possible changes or mutations to this viral strain. The MOH is also constantly doing sentinel surveillance (random spot-testing at various sites around the country to determine more accurately the various virus types and spread that are causing ILI).

7) Are we short of anti-virul drugs (Tamiflu, Relenza)? Should I take Tamiflu?

These antiviral drugs were available to most doctors during the earlier scare of the bird flu virus, but now are severely restricted, although some orders are still entertained from individual doctors, clinics or hospitals. Remember that these have been block-booked by more than 167 countries which have been shown to have been penetrated by the H1N1 flu bug.

Our MOH has actually stockpiled some two million doses of the Tamiflu or its generic form. In the last inter-ministerial pandemic influenza task force meeting, this stockpile will be bumped up to 5.5 million doses to cover some possible 20 per cent of the population.

Right now there is no shortage in the country. It is just that it is not readily available on demand for anyone just yet. The MOH is still of the opinion that this antiviral drug be used prudently and would like to register every patient given this drug.

The private sector on the other hand would like to have a looser control over the use of this drug — but we acknowledge that we should be meticulously prudent in its use. There is a genuine fear that resistant strains to this drug may develop with indiscriminate and unnecessary use — then we will all be in trouble with a drug-resistant H1N1 virus run amok!

Drug-resistant strains have been detected in Mexico, border-towns in the US, Vietnam, Britain, Australia even. So we have to be vigilant and closely monitor the situation. Right now, the very limited usage of Tamiflu gives us good reason to be optimistic.

However, because of some unusual patterns of seemingly well people dying or having very critical infections, some people and doctors are wondering if these new strains have already reached our shores... or have we been too late in instituting proper treatment...?

The rising number of deaths to 14 now is quite worrisome, but our health authorities are watching this development very closely and are also checking the virus strain to see if this has mutated. We can only hope that this is not the case, for now.

8) What are some of the problems faced by doctors in dealing with the H1N1 problem?

It would be good if every medical practitioner keeps a close tab on the H1N1 pandemic, and remain fully aware of the developments and changes, which are evolving daily. Every doctor has to be learning on the trot, so to speak, to keep up with the progress of this outbreak and its management, so that we can serve our patients better.

Logging in to the Internet regularly for more updated information will certainly help, instead of lamenting that not enough is being disseminated via the media thus far... Every doctor has to be more proactive and practice more responsible and cautious medicine during this trying period which is expected to run into at least one to two years. Importantly, look out for lung complications, and the above stated higher risk profiles, and refer these patients quickly for further care.

Easier access to antiviral drugs and their responsible use and monitoring would help allay public fears of delay in treatment, but this should be tempered with care and not over-exuberance to dish out to one and all, the precious antiviral drug, just for prevention — this may be a very bad move which can inadvertently create a worse outcome of drug-resistant bugs.

However, in the light of the very quick deterioration of some young patients who have died, it might be prudent to use antiviral treatment earlier and more aggressively.

We look forward to the specific H1N1 vaccine, when it does come our way, probably towards the end of the year. In the meantime, encouraging those in the front-line, heart or lung patients and frequent travellers to have the seasonal flu vaccination is a useful adjunct to help stem the usual problems from other flu types.

9) Are we doing everything that should or needs to be done?

Yes, if you check what other nations are doing, we are doing relatively well. We are not overstating the dangers and we have been quite transparent on the possibilities of this pandemic. Earlier, many agencies and even the public and doctors have accused us of exaggerating the pandemic, and our response was dismissed as being too much, even over the top! Unfortunately, it was only when some deaths occur that many are now decrying that we have done too little!

Also if you are quite honest about it, just compare with the countries globally, and you will notice that no one health or government authority has got this right, spot on.

We are all learning about this novel flu pandemic, and each country's response is coloured by its past experiences. In Hong Kong, China, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia we have had the SARS outbreak, so we are necessarily more paranoid! Also here the experience is that flu does not usually cause death in our community, unlike the west where seasonal flu kills some hundreds of thousands every year!

So the fear factor for this H1N1 flu is not nearly as great in the West, although it is slowly sinking in that its contagiousness and infectivity is far greater, and fears of its reassortment to a more virulent mutant form are growing, into the so-called second and/or third wave of this pandemic, but we will not know until a year or so down the line.

10) Is the public in general doing enough to help in controlling the outbreak?

I think the public is now reasonably well-informed as to this H1N1 pandemic. Perhaps, they are too well-informed, that they have a fearful approach to this virus. But the proper thing is not too over-react and to panic, although I know this does sound easier said than done.

It is almost a certainty that this flu will spread within the community — in schools, universities, academies, factories, work places, offices, etc. WHO has projected that possibly some 20-30 per cent of the population worldwide will become infected by this novel flu bug, after studying various models of spread of past infections — the huge and very rapid spread worldwide is mainly due to air travel. While older flu pandemics took six months to extend to so many countries, this H1N1 flu did so in less than six weeks!

In the worst-case scenarios of course, this outbreak will be alarming — hospitalisations may be required for 100,000 up to 500,000 Malaysians, with perhaps as many as 5,000 to 27,000 infected patients (depending on the case fatality rate or either 0.1 to 0.5 per cent) succumbing to this illness.

But because we have been monitoring closely and containing the outbreak thus far, with heightened awareness and greater social responsibility, it is possible to ameliorate the infectivity, spread and fatality that will unfortunately accompany this pandemic... Just how successful we will be in limiting these adverse outcomes remains to be seen, but we can be hopeful.

How can the public help? First learn and acquire good personal hygiene. If sick, please be responsible and stay at home, even in your own room where possible, wear a face mask (a cheap three-ply surgical mask will do, because large droplet spread is the main danger). Do not go out, practice what is now known as social distancing (about three metres from anyone), and be socially responsible, don't go to public places and infect others — for young people this would be hard, but absolutely necessary — the spread is most rampant in this age group between 16 and 25 years.

When the illness does not go away after a few days or when you are deteriorating, get to the nearest hospital. Most importantly, be very aware and responsible!

Finally, keep abreast of all new developments, because these are evolving all the time. With keen awareness, prudent care, early detection and social responsibility, correct and prompt use of antiviral and other support medical care, and later mass specific vaccination, we can overcome this novel H1N1 flu! But it will take time, patience, public cooperation, much concerted effort and consume great resources.

Dr David KL Quek is president the Malaysian Medical Association.

Of Flu & Scuppered Dive Plans

2009-08-06T09:10:00.003+08:00

Upon my return from Down Under, people who met me were saying that if I'm feeling unwell, don't bother to look them up as I might be a H1N1 carrier. But the thing is that, I was feeling fit as a fiddle then, minus the expected tiredness due to long haul travel.

I was in the office for 2 days, but felt a little tired by Tuesday afternoon. I dozed off in my car as I was waiting for a meeting to start. Then when I got back home, I managed a 5km run. On Wednesday morning, I was feeling a bit under the weather with my normal flu signs coming about :- body aches, a slight flu and a slight temperature.

I went to the office to look for a colleague who had undergone the H1N1 screening the day before at PPUM as I wanted to ask her direction on where to head and what to expect. She told me that she had spent almost 2 hours there waiting for the screening, only to be told that she wasn't in the risky categories : pregnant, below 12, above 60, obese, with underlying condition such as asthma, heart condition etc. She was brushed off and was given a prescription of PCM, antibiotics and mouth gargle. Similar stories have arisen in the media, and one reader wrote in to tell her experience.

Irregardless, I decided to go for the screening as I have 2 high risk categories at home, below 12 & above 60. Went in to the Trauma & Kecemasan Unit, told them I have the onset of a flu coming and I had been to Australia. I was registered and paid RM20 for consultation. I spent almost an hour waiting for them to call me in, and when they did they taken my temperature, bloop pressure, O2sat & heart beat. Then I was told to wait again until a doctor is available. Once a doctor is available she undertake the checklist and found out that I didn't fit into the chronic condition. She told me at the moment, that they didn't do the throat swab for confirming whether I have H1N1, but considering I was in the high risk category, she decided to give me the antiviral, a medical leave for 3 days and to come back in case I'm getting worse. I was like, wouldn't it be better to test now than later as then it might be too late, but was told that the antiviral should be able to prevent any worsening in case I have the strain. She also prescribed the PCM, antibiotic & throat gargle.

Went back to the office and packed. People were a bit wary of me when I showed up in a mask. Some of them even have the cheek to say to me they returning my souvenirs I got them as they're are afraid they'd be infected as well. On my way back, I got a call from my GM asking me whether what he heard, that I have been tested positive for H1N1 is true. I just told him that, I haven't been tested for anything, hence I wouldn't know what I got plus they've given me some antiviral and 3 days mc just to be safe. Some of them commented that they would want the official confirmation as they want to get the week's quarantine but sorry guys, not confirmed yet.

I asked a mate, as his other half was also confirmed H1N1 about the living arrangement at home, he told me what they did is as per normal flu/fever albeit his wife had to wear the mask as she was having a cough. Other than that, they continued their normal living arrangement, putting the myths that those with the flu stain have to be isolated and live in solitary confiment ... well that's what I felt la when I spoken to some well meaning friends who didn't know any better ..

On anther note, my dive buddy also contracted a viral fever with high temp but not H1N1, hence our plans to go down to Tioman this weekend for a dive have been scuppered. Bugger this flu & virus. Now it looks to me like I have to sign up for another trip to Perhentian next weekend, but the schedule is going to be tight for me but I will see how. I would really want to go as Ramadhan & monsoon would come in, and the next dive season would be next March. We'll see...

Bottom Time

2009-07-25T22:29:00.004+08:00

Manage to get some bottom time today for some refresher for the upcoming island trip on the second week of August. Also manage to get some of the basic gear during the sales the other day and now testing it out before heading for the deep blue. Need to be reminded about some of the required steps on setting up the gear. Luckily not all of it went away, some you would recall when you are doing the it. Memory now more volatile than before. It has been almost two months since my OWD dive and now need to pick up some before the season closes for Ramadhan & the monsoon.

The next trip would be on the hardcore side, since will be travelling in the wee hours of the morning on the Saturday as the mrs has a function the night before hence no one to look after the kids, planning to get 2 dives on the day, rest for the night, if possible getting another 1 or 2 dive sunday before heading back home. Time to see whether 3x guys would tahan, to make the journey, the dives and the journey back. Hopefully.

Week update

2009-07-24T22:19:00.000+08:00

For the past two weeks, I have been seeking approval to join & witness a testing procedure to be done by one of our vendor at their invitation in Australia. The memo kept bouncing back and forth as the content and format deemed not fit. Once the whole process of getting the memo written up was done, there are only a few days left before the supposedly flight date. The approval came last Friday but I haven't been able to get int ouch with the organiser about the travel arrangement for me. SMS's and phone calls to the person in charge went unanswered. Even calls to the office is not helping. Hopefully the effoert would not go in vain.

The return of the purple and green

2009-07-22T22:03:00.000+08:00

Ever since the new chapter in our life started, we have been managing the upkeep of the house to the very best that we can. Granted that the house haven't gone Topsy turvy yet, but IMHO it's better to do minimum effort all the time rather than maximum effort in one go.

Now what concerns us is how to keep Lil miss-chief entertained while we are going about our routine. Sometimes she can be a Little bit clingy or mischievous especially when her brother is doing his homework. A distraction is needed to get her attention. Who better than the one in purple & green....

Initially she was a bit confused as we had not been exposing her to TV all this while and she rather do stuff than sitting still for a minute. But after a while, some of the song routines manages to catch her attention and now every time we pass by the TV she would be demanding to put it on.

There goes the news and prime time TV. I think after this it anytime would be the purple and green dinosaur time...all the time....

~if you're happy and you know it clap your hands~i love you, you love me~i love to fly my kite~

After a while it does get to you and will be getting it until she turns 4..I hope.

A new chapter

2009-07-20T00:05:00.002+08:00

Yesterday, we closed a chapter in our life and start a new one. Hopefully better than before. I know that the coming weeks or months would be tough on us but that is something that we have to go through irregardless. We managed it before but that was when there were only the three of us. Now with the little miss-chief, its gonna be hard.

The new chapter comes with new routines, the boy and little miss-chief would be separated for the day, meaning that me & the mrs would go our separate ways in the morning and me having the task to fetch the boy home from nursery after school, taking care of the kids while the mrs gets dinner ready & also picking up household chores. Not that I haven't been exposed to it but things do get rusty. Also I have to reschedule my activities day to Tuesdays instead of Thursdays, and any other have to be after 930pm ...

The only thing that got me worried is that if I have to be away from home during weekdays, meaning that the mrs would have her hands full at attending 2 full of energy & mischief children along in keeping the household in order. Or worse, it could be me who has to do it in case the mrs has to go away.

But as I have always believe, things would turn for the better. As in whether we could revert back to the old arrangement, only time will tell.

2/2 of bad experience = twice bitten... plus another condition, the bad apple has to be removed or else history would repeat itself...

It's finally here - My OWD Card

2009-07-13T21:50:00.002+08:00

It's finally here..now I can plan my dives with my official PADI OWD card .. hehe .. next stop Tioman..

Kuching Trip - June 2009

2009-07-04T17:57:00.000+08:00

It surely took me a long time to update my blog about this Kuching trip... hehehe..

We took the 1920 flight to Kuching and reached by about 2100. Straight headed to the hotel to check in and rest for the night. The next day have been planned with full activities :

1. Sarawak Cultural Village all the way in Santubong

2. A quick stop to get some some Sarawak layer cakes ( kek lapis)

3. Look around for some Sarawak mat (tikar Sarawak)

4. Semenggoh Wildlife Centre to see orang utan

5. get some ikan terubuk masin

1. Sarawak Cultural Village

The trip to Santubong was about 45 minutes from Kuching. The cultural village is placed at the foor of Gunung Santubong, near the coast. The drive up there with Abg Jai was pleasent, in fact he commented that he rarely goes above 80kmh in Kuching, unlike over at the Peninsular where 80 kmh is considered snails pace.

We stopped by a resort before the SCV as we have been told that it would be easier rather than buying the tickets at the park itself, as its a Saturday and its bound to have a lot of visiotr. The plan was to have ample time to view all the houses there, 7 to be exact. From memory, those houses are, Rumah Cina, Melayu, Melanau, Orang Ulu, Iban, Bidayuh & Pernan Hut.

The idea is that you could explore all of Sarawk in half a day. We started the journey anti closkwise, meaning that we started with the Chinese farmhouse, Melayu, Melanau, Orang hulu, Penan, Bidayuh & Iban. We barely manged to finish all of it before heading to the hall where the cultural show is hels. The cultural show took about 45 mins, and it showcased the different culture within Sarawak. One of the higlights of the show was when the Penan warrior asked a Minah Sallaeh to go ont he stage with him as his 'prey' and asked her to use a blowpipe on a bllon aboot 30 feet away.

At the entrance to the cultural village

Peppercorn plant - no white or black variety - that depends on the processing later on

Aiman trying out the traditional mill

2. Kek Lapis Dayang Salhah

Next on the list is the kek lapis sarawak. Our guide for the day suggested Kek Lapis Dayang Salhah, which is siutated in Kg Gerisik, Petrajaya. The shop is actually opposite where we stayed across the river and we could actually take a sampan across for rm0.50/person..cool or what.. Sample of the cakes were available so that prospective customers couls have a taste & choose what they like....for me all of them are nice..one thing good about them is that the cakes would be paked nicely in a box so that it is easy for you to take on the filght.

Another thing that you shouldnot miss is the longan juice seller outside the kedai, so nice & sweet for a hot sunny day..we all regreted that we only bought one bottle..

Entance to the kedai/factory

After the kek lapis shop, we headed out for lunch at Pasar Satok before heading out for some terubuk masin. Here they also will packe your order for your convenience to take onto the filght. The compelted package looks like a box of laptop..hehe. At the airport, you could suss out which of them had gome to the kek lapis & which had gone to ikan terubuk..

3. Semenggoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre

This is the orang utan rehabilitation centre, where the orang utan could be viewd int heir natural habitat. The feeding rpogram is held at in the jungle, about 250m trek. As the guide said, orang utan ni tak tunggu kita, bila dia nak makan dia makan, lepas dia makan dia masuk hutan balik. There are about 26 orang utans in the centre, and even though they are in close proximity with human, we are not allowed to be near them as they are stilll wild.

After the wildlife centre, we headed back to Kuching for some shoppinh which include searching for tikar sarawk & souvenirs. Then we headed back to the hotelfor a dip in the pool and some time to relax before taking the boat for dinner. Dinner was at the opposite of the river. Food wise, Sarawak is a lot better then Sabah but the transportation cost is quite high.

The next day were spent free & easy...stroll along the Pasar Satok for some pucuk midin & kapur kering, both of which were not found. My 18-55 lens start to act up, hence could only do manual focus hence missing out on a lot ot photo opportunity. I found that this trip is really ok and wouldn't mind visiting Kuching again, except that the transportation cost are quite high. A taxi to Pasar Satok from Hilton costs Rm12/way, whilst from Hilton to Grand Margherita is RM8 (5 mins drive). The cost for us to rent a taxi (15 seater van to be exact) & guide for the day is RM230.

It has been an enjoybale trip apart from the loss of personal belongings - adi lost her catarina at LCCT even before we got on the plane, abang lost his P-qaq and moi left my cleanser there. Hmm, thats the fact of life I guess, u gained memories but left some of you behind...

The wind of change

2009-06-30T22:15:00.002+08:00

Like the song, the wind of change is here again. I always think that when a certain event has occured, the wheels have been set in motion for other events to follow. Things could still change in the future but the future are not mine to see. Hence, I will take a course of action which I think would be right for the current situation which I'm in now. Hopefully it would be bring something good for all of us. The decision is mine, the future I leave it up to the big man above.

Lost : Cat-arina

2009-06-29T22:24:00.003+08:00

Lost Cat

Beige with white/brown stripes

Green eyes

3 whiskers on each side

answers to the call of 'Miam, miam'

Last seen in the vicinity of LCCT

could also be found in IKEA for RM24.90

any kind soul please let us know caz Adi is pining for it

Fathers day celebration

2009-06-22T04:01:00.000+08:00

1. Celebrated Fathers day with the mrs treating me & the clan to lunch at Pizza Uno on Saturday before heading out to do some other chores. Yummy..maybe gained 3 kg due to the hearty lunch...thanks dear

2. Went to the tailor to get the boy & my baju melayu done. This year is golden-ish, as it would double as my sister's wedding theme as well.

3. Can't make it to Ipoh for one of my sidekicks's wedding as I had to be working on Sunday.

4. My parents have gone to Italy (Rome, Venice) before heading to Dublin for yet nother progress visit on my dad's project there.

5. Dip in the pool on Sunday but as usual it was congested, so 1km in 40mins is all that I could manage.

6. Recieved a set of Twilight Quadrilogy from the mrs as father's day present. Somehow I think it was for her to read and for her to justify the purchase. I'm a bit surprised as she's normally not into the horror & gore genre, but the movie must have made an impact on her.

An eventful day - Thursday 18 June 2009

2009-06-19T15:55:00.002+08:00

Yesterday proved to be quite an eventful day for me.

1. As I minding my own business driving my way to work using my normal route in a stop & go peak our traffic, I saw this car behind me not stopping in time. I braced myself for impact, but at the back of my head I was thinking, please don't hit my car. The impact was not severe, and having being involved in similar situation I would think that its not going to be that bad. On first account, my car had some scratches which i think can be polished out with the usage of the right chemical and some elbow grease. The other car was worse off, bumper & plate number smashed in, the bonnet was also a bit dented. Seeing that my car was not damaged physically, I decided to exchange contact numbers & details and head back to office.

2. We had some impromptu visit from out northern neighbours. They were in town for some seminar and decided to drop by to see us. I think the session was a very good session and it involves the working level where ideas and inputs were flowing back and forth. True, we have the asean region conferences et al, but that involves top management and everybody was like trying to look good and not telling the whole truth. This working level discussion were more appropriate, but alas with the current trimming of expenditure then, who knows when the next opportunity will come.

3. The dude who hit me called me up saying that he wanted to claim from his insurance the cost of repair. Now it meant that I have to make a police report wrt to the accident as well. Off to Jalan Bandar I went. The report taking was not that long, but to wait for the investigating officer (IO) is another story. Then he wanted me to sketch how the accident happened, which car was where & when. After all that, I still to have my car round the picture hut, with the ulats in tow. They wanted me to send the car to them to be fixed,"Lu bagi lu punya kereta, 2 hari siap, kita kasi kawtim sama itu adjuster mah". I'm seeing Amiaq later to get his input and where reliable to get the job done. Alang-alang dah buat report polis, claim je la....

4. After affairs at the police station have been dealt with, I headed to BJ pool for some unwinding. I took longer than usual to reach the venue. After changing and hitting the pool, my body felt like lead. But after a while the water feel came back and voila, I'm building up speed & distance. At the final whistle, I was no my way to 1975m, which is 39.5 x 50 m laps. The Total Immersion really works. Now i have to improve on my speed work, to meet 1.5km below 45mins.

The day Adi swings to this ...

2009-06-11T01:52:00.000+08:00

Updates

2009-06-07T18:21:00.003+08:00

Quick updates :

1. School holidays is here but haven't planned anything yet due to a trip away to Kuching at the end of the month. Have to cover for my Unit as 2 members are away for overseas conference. My only overseas trip this year is to Perhentian... huhu ...

2. Went shopping yesterday for the boy's birthday party, managed to get some goodies bag items at quite a reasonable price. Also went shopping for clothes for raya & my sis wedding which should be at the end of the year. Went to KLCC for some more shopping and lunch but couldn't get into Petrosains as they have sold out the tickets.

3. Home PC conked out on me, maybe need new HDD as the current has been quite problematic, anyway its $$$$ flowing out

4. Managed a 1.2 km swim this morning after 3 weeks layoff the pool. First time back in the pool after my open water certification. Now thinking of a dive trip before the season closes. The easiest would be Tioman in July. Any takers?

5. Would be travelling back to Kuantan this weekend for some quite time, missing out on the excitement of the XTerra and photo shoot chances... not in the mind of competing as not in the fit category yet.

6. A step on the scale confirms what I fears the most .. need to loose to additional weight else I wont look good in my next dive trip and would be mistaken for a whale shark?

7. Need to brush up on my short games, driving and iron shots are better now up to a point that my regular kakis suspected me of going for some secret training with a pro. That remarkable improvement ke? If only I could keep up with the 1 up 1 down, & my score would really be reduced.

Open Water Certification - Perhentian 23-25 May 2009A

2009-05-28T10:56:00.000+08:00

After three years of setting the dream, me & jools have finally manage to prepare ourselves mentally & physically for our open water PADI sccuba certification. With the help of Man, a newly certified instructor himself, we went for discover scuba at Cheras pool (refer to prev post) and have set a date with Abg. Mie at Fauna Reef Dive in Perhentian.

We set foot on the island on Sat 23 May 2009 around 2 pm and was told that we couldn't do the skilss due to a storm aprroacing. Hence everything starts on Sunday morning, with open water skills dive 1 & dive two planned. The first one was to test our skills against the required skills and at first it was odd to do thhose thing in the sea due to the waves and current. In the afternoon we were taken to join another group of divers to D'Lagoon where these videos are taken.

Controlled descend to 9m - using rope

Finning - notice that our body is still slanted and not streamlined and were corrected on subsequent dives

Bouyancy & Getting comfortable in the water

The nest thing to do is to get more dive time for me to improve my bouyancy & confidence to get to fishlike. Where to next? Tioman or Redang or the ultimate - Mabul? ...

Mother's Day 2009

2009-05-11T01:37:00.002+08:00

The last week have been quite a hectic week for me especially on the personal front. The boy have been transferred to his new school somewhere nearer to home and we are monitoring his progress. So far, he's progressing OK and the transition of morning to the evening session may have not yet hit him full force. He's on revision as the new school have scheduled exams this coming week, so hopefully he can cope with the change of environment.

I've started to increase my physical activities to at least as per what it was, at least three physical activities in a week. Haven't been doing much due to the dodgy right knee . Managed to see the GP and prescribed anti inflammatory+pain killer+calcium supplement. If thing didn't work out then may need to see a specialist. I have been keeping high impact activity to the minimum though and adding up the low impact ones. Hopefully it can curb the ballooning weight issue and came down to my usual range.

Mother's Day weekend are spent like this :

Dinner with Laili & Wan including the whole brood at Delicious at MVM after crossing out the usual suspect of eateries in the quest for something new and it wasn't disappointed with it. Nice ambiance and food selection along with beverages that hits the spot. Not forgetting the usual BA donuts as appetizer ..

Breakfast in bed with me preparing pancakes for the whole family..initially we thought to have brunch at The Loaf but the boy wanted pancakes as according to him , it was tradition to have breakfast in bed with pancakes on Mothers Day. The Loaf have to be done sometime dear OK..maybe only the two of us...

Went to my mum's for lunch as we have missed out on dinner last night due to the planned dinner out. Had rendang itik (first time trying it as a spicy dish instead of the usual peking duck style). Not bad, the gamey flavour was not that apparent due to the way it was cooked. The only thing about it was my brothers had so much the night before that they only left some tiny portion for me... ;-) hehe ...

Also the mrs gave me a book for me to read. According to her it was quite good coz I saw her reading it, on loan from her friends. The review? Watch this space.

I think it's still not too late to wish all the mums out there Happy Mothers Day. I salute you guys as I think i don't have it in me to do a fraction of what mothers would do and can do ...

Illegal driving..

2009-05-07T10:54:00.004+08:00

When are you at fault at anything you do behind the steering wheel even though you have complied by all the rules, buckled up front and rear, driving below the speed limit, stayed in your lane, stopped when the light is AMBER, no illegal u-turns, not being involved or god-forbid started an accident? In fact, by the time you started driving you are already commtting an offence?

The answer is, when your driving lisence has EXPIRED !!!!!!

Just realised today that my driver's license has expired since the beginning of the month. Have been renewing it two years once, so I might be forgiven by overlooking the fact the its expired on 1 May. So all this while, all the driving I did would be deemed illegal and I would be at fault from the law point of view in case of any automobile accident in invovled with irregardless whether it is my fault or not. Come to think of it, I have done KL-PD without even realising that I'm an illegal driver . All sorted out now..

Thermally irritated

2009-05-03T21:38:00.003+08:00

"Thermally irritated".Borrowing a phrase from a friend..which sums up nicely the weather now.

Last weekend was spent in Pekan, which was a nice and relaxing weekend. Consumed loads of food especially satar and mertabak mengkasar. Was told by an uncle that I looked "berisi" ... so don't know whether its a compilment on my new physique or a subtle way to say that I've gained some kgs...

The boy was having a bit of temperature on the way back from Pekan and true enough when I sent him to school on Monday, he vomitted twice before even reaching the school gate. My initial thinking was that he was faking it to cut school, but then again common sense prevail and I took him back home and got a two days rest. After abang was better, adik showed similar symptoms and the cycle starts again up to the point that the mrs had to take a day off to look after adik.

We are in the midst of changing the boy to a nearer school in BK rather than BJ. This is due to the fact that SKBJ is going ahead with their initial plan of creating a two schooling session in June 09. The last time they tried this was a week before school reopened earlier this year, but the plan didn't go through due to protests from parents at the eleventh hour announcement. We thought that if they going to implement it, it is going to be next year but then they are still gpiong ahead with their plans. So we have to do what we have to do.

The long weekend was spent with family functions and wedding with the customary makan-makan. I think I consumed more than a weeks calorie intake int he past three days, and with no aerobic exercise for the past week, it will all be accumulated in the waist. The biy entered his first sparring karate championship, returning with hadiah saguhati. At least he managed to score some points up to tie match. His opponent went on the be the runners up on his age group.

Hectic days are coming ahead, with work related trip for the next two weeks and a personal fulfillment trip of underwater breathing later on this month. At the end of the month, the school holidays starts with loads of weddings and not forgetting a break for the family on the boys birthday in June. Oh ya...Mothers day coming this next weekend ... traditional breakfast in bed with pancakes or something new this time round?

My first time breathing underwater

2009-04-19T23:25:00.003+08:00

Nope, I haven't develop any ability to breath underwater akin Heroes or have some wizard charm up some thingy-magic-spell on me, but Saturday 18 April 09 was the first time I tried SCUBA diving (albeit in a pool).

Me & my partner in crime have long planned about getting our diving license, but somehow or rather the plan have been at the back burner. Until about a week ago when he told me that he had already arranged a tryout for us.

So when the day came, we met up with Man & his mrs and went for our first ever scuba experience. The session starts with the basics on equipment, diving theories, etiquette, what we should achieve during our first time in the water and exercises and manouvers . After that we hooked up all the equipment and changed and was ready to go.

The first hurdle was to get your water confidence, as breathing totally through your mouth take some time to get use to. After that, we were told to immerse our head in the water just to get the feel of it. When the first immersion takes place, I was having difficulty controlling my breathing, most probably due to the normal practice of swimming, where we inhale through the mouth and exhaling through the nose. Doing this will get water in your mask at no time.

Once we have settled down at 1.8m, we were asked to do some exercises. The weightlessness prove a difficult thing to handle initially what with the feeling of the only was to safety is up. After a while, it kinda felt cool being underwater and once you have relaxed, your breathing will also be more relaxed. After the initial exercise has been completed, we were asked to swim around and I tell you, despite being able to swim freely, I still find it difficult to control my self plus with the gear on my back.

Once I manage to get the hang of it, we were told to descent further to 5 m depth. This is where I felt like I can't do it as I was having problem of regulating the pressure in the inner ears. I think it took me a few tries until I was comfortable being at 5m depth. After a while we realise that our air supply has came close to the limit and was told to ascend. Only then that we realised that we have been underwater for 1 hour 15 minutes. I think it was an achievement for myself.

So the next step for us is to book a date for our open water license, which may take place in June 09. Watch this space.

ps..no photos..my compact was out of commission and d dslr is too bulky. Phone was in d car then...what a waste...

Aiman's Sukaneka 09

2009-04-09T22:12:00.000+08:00

The obstacle course

Farah Iskandar

Tahun 1

March past

Calm before the storm

Smiley feet

When is it my turn?

Nearing the finish line

2nd placing

Extortion & Barbarism?

2009-04-08T08:25:00.003+08:00

Received this from a friend in the ex-school-mates-group.

my nephew first former in SXS

beaten up this morning

some form 4 seniors tried to extort money yesterday but he didnt give

this am around 3, someone covered his face with pillow

then, they whacked him. probably used belts as well

he panicked & almost suffocated to death

as old boys we need to show our displeasure of these events

these cowardly act of barbarism need to be severely punished

Public canning & expel from SXS. Regardless who's sons they are.

Police report should follow if not.

brightest kampungs boys are sent to SXS to make them great men

would we dare to send our kids there only to be called to identify body at mortuary?

Now this is something for us to ponder about. Speaking from the point of view that we have gone through it, the ordeal might prove to be too much for the boy to handle. Granted the ragging and bullying from seniors are the expected norm during our days, extortion and personal vendetta to the point of suffocating and assault during sleep is unheard of. Looking from a parents point of view now, I would not want this to happen to my son or him being the one instigating it.

So what form of punishment should be doled out to the culprits? Eye for an eye? For me, if an assault occurs and it was proven than expulsion from the school is warranted without a doubt. Public canning - could be utilised to get the message across that even though some might view it as medieval. I have personally been publicly canned and suspended from the school and it has in a sense reminded me of the grey area between right and wrong, granted what I did didn't cause any bodily harm to others.

Now I'm having second thoughts about sending the boy away to boarding school if and when the time comes ...

Action filled weekend

2009-03-23T21:41:00.004+08:00

The last weekend of the March school break was filled with activities.

Saturday started with breakfast at the banana leaf place, then there was the wedding run, one near my mum's place and one of the Mrs colleague near Kuala Pilah. On the way back, we made a detour to Bangi to check a place out but it was an unsuccessful venture.Maybe next time with proper info. Next stop was the Putrajaya Hot Air Balloon. The sad thing is that I didn't manage to get any shots of the hot air balloon as : 1. it was hot 2. loads of people 3. improperly dressed 4. it was hot 5. disorganised organisation. We left about an hour later and even then the balloons were not afloat yet. Only after we manage to clear the traffic did we saw the balloons taking flight. Bummer.

Sunday was spent in the pool with 10 x 100 m laps done for me, would be more if not for the distraction. Then a quick trip back before venturing out again for some shopping. We are actually looking for a tricycle for Adi, but didn't find any that suits her. During the browsing at TRUs, someone came to me asking whther the boy would want to be in a competition, saying that 'kalah menang dapat hadiah, just besar atau kecik'. The boy tested his luck and to my surprise he came out top. Congratulations Aiman.

The NERF shoot out competition

First prize winner

Mee & Nasi Ketam Juru

2009-03-19T23:21:00.001+08:00

The venue :-

The dishes :-

Different view :=

Future Ketam Lovers

The one who had the most :-)

I was told that I contributed to the faster rate of extinction of these delicious, juicy, sweet, succulent crusteceans.. ;-)

March school holidays trip

2009-03-14T21:46:00.000+08:00

The March school holidays starts with a KL-Melaka-KL-Penang trip. First off was a visit to Melaka for a wedding and some serious belly filling food time.

First off after the wedding was to the Melaka Zoo. It was a good eye opener for adik as she got to see animals close up. Too bad the elephant ride was not available or else we would have a jumbo of a time on one. We 'cheated' a bit by going on the tram due to the time and energy constraint but neverthe less managed to stop at animal that pique adik's and abang's attention.

After that we headed to Umbai for some ikan bakar. This time around maybe we got the wrong shop as the food was so-so. Couldn't remember which shop was the one visited last time. But I think adik & abang had a great time if not for the food for the kiddy rides.

A beginning of a new routine?

2009-03-13T07:55:00.003+08:00

Yesterday I tried swimming at Pusat Akuatik Bukit Jalil. The last time I was there was during the 98 SUKOM where I waas involved as part of the utility crew stationed there and I don't know how to swim back then. Thinking back, I remembered watching in awe at the size and scale of the pool complex, with three pools in. Also the underwater viewing chamber for the TV crew to capture the diving shots. It was awesome.

Now that I can swim *meaning moving from end to end with great effort no to drown* the pool seem a lil bit smaller than I used to remember. At least there the have separators for serious swimmers whos doing laps and the general public who's learning to swim. At least you could do laps uniteruppted and depending on your own skills rather than knocking about into those cross pool swimmers, which is normally the sace where I normally swims.

The water is quite cold due to the weather, tasted soapy and there was this ringing like crickets underwater, plus the entrance fees is RM4 which to me is exorbitant but on the whole it was OK. Just a point to note that the shower & changing facility could have been better.

Who knows, maybe this could be the start of a new routine for me .. need more of low impact exercise as the right knee is still recuperating... at least I managed 8X100m laps yesterday...trying hard to push it to 10x100m laps soon.

Kerja, kerja, kerja, makan

2009-03-03T18:30:00.000+08:00

My work schedule for the march and April are packed with visits and audits to out of states site, so much so that I have to go away for at least 2 nights once a week. Talk about trying to fulfill someone's KPI and us as pawn were asked to be mobilised at their whim and fancy.

Anyhow, a silver lining is that everywhere where go we are setting up ourself for some new culinary delight. For instance, the recent trip to the east coast, where we were invited to dinner at one of our colleague's house. Mansion by KL standard that was. Built on a 1.5 acre of land, he has a fish pond almost half the size of an olympic pool plus a kebun of similar size to boot. The house is set right at the back of the land, so you got a long drive to the residence. Given that the land and labour is quite cheap there, he managed to save up and do everything bit by bit untuil what he has it what we saw. And if we were to emulate him here, I think it would set us back a 7 figure amount.

And after we finished dinner, we manage to get to White House Coffee for some supper. The toast bread and homemade kaya was good, but thier speciality was the half boiled eggs. Plates after plates of the egges where dished out in perfect consistencies. It was a highly guarded secret so much so that I was told off not to take photographs of the kitchen.

So where next? Kuantan, Pasir Gudang, Alor Setar, Pulau Pinang, Kampar, Manjung, Melaka, Kuala Terengganu etc, etc......

Tipsy at 5pm in the park

2009-02-28T11:06:00.002+08:00

I managed to get back to home early yesterday and took the two kids out to the park. Whilst I was there, I noticed this groups of students, still in their uniforms occupying one of the gazebos there. At first glance it was a normal sight, just a groups of friends hanging about in the park after school. What caught my attention was the fact that some of them are smoking, lying on the bench speaking loudly and that there was puke on the floor in the gazebo and what seem to be an almost empty bottle of liqour in the midst of them.

They were oblivious to the fact that they were drinking and smoking in public, on a public ground where children are around them. I was contemplating of telling them off straight, but i was there holding the girl. I got to talk with some of the parents there and they told me that a call to our friend in blue was made almost 20 minutes ago but none came to disperse the group.

This is a not a shocking revelation to me, where I have witnessed this sort of thing during my stint abroad, but to see it happening here is sad. Maybe they should be exposed to the fact about juvenile smoking and drinking and what it can cause them in health in the long run. I guess that the late tween was a time of discovery to them but it would be a waste to see our youth going to the path of self destruction.

I told the mrs. about it and my intention of telling them off, but was warned that I may not be around as much as her in the taman and she feared the retribution of the group. With all that is happening, we are turning into a scared community, scared at the sight of gangs on motorcycles, loud and drunk youths at parks and scared at the sight of a person on a motorcycle in case it turns out to a a snatcher. Maybe its time someone up above addresses this issue instead of fighting about power and positions.

Third time a charm ?

2009-02-27T10:58:00.000+08:00

I was enrolled in a career development plan at my work place, which entails my competency to be assessed before I could move on to the next stage. This is the third time I'm attending it, with the last two brought unfavorable results to me. The thing with this assessment is that the manner that the assessor quizzed you about things, it going to make u feel at the end of the session that you are so small and insignificant, which make you wander why you bother to join it in the first place.

So the third the charm? I dunno... I wouldn't get my hope high first in case it would be crushed to pieces later....

In recovery (and pain)

2009-02-22T07:35:00.004+08:00

I had a session of kick about with my former schoolmates and their former uni mates in town last Friday. The thing is, I have injured myself by being tackled during the game right on the shin below the right knee. When it happened I can manage to finish the game and start the next one for a few minutes until I resign in being the keeper.

Now I walk like House MD with a noticeable limp. Someone commented at my age I should not take up contact sports anymore but to be content with low impact such as golf full time. The thing is this is not something that I have the craving for, in case anyone needs to know I'm crap in sports especially the ones that involves skills such as dribbling past an opponent etc. I'm more into the running or swimming kinda of person, where you just need yourself to do it but once in a while its nice to join in the camaraderie.

With the 'age factor' taken into account, I think it will be a slow recovery for me this time around. On the plus side, it will give me bragging rights about being injured during a futsal match, instead of say ballroom dancing...hehe

The Big 10

2009-02-16T10:58:00.000+08:00

What’s a 10? It’s a number that came after 9 and before 11. It’s the start of the double digits, famous numbers for footballer, maybe a number that I want my golfing handicap to be and the month I’m born in. But the number is extra special for me this year as it marks the 10^th year anniversary of our marriage.

10 years might be long to some, might be short to some but to me it had held some precious memories. It has its ups and downs, sweet and bitter, happy and sad and I wouldn’t trade it for anything else in the world.

This year, I have planned something special for the mrs, some time away together, a theatre and dinner, a *special* gift that would help the mrs getting out and about if I’m not there. The only thing is that our wedding anniversary coincides with Valentine’s, hence dinner plans would be exorbitant.

Happy 10^th Anniversary My Dear ….

1 x 5 = 5, 2 x 5 = 10…

2009-02-13T10:55:00.001+08:00

The boy surprised us the other day. He called the mrs saying that he had stood up in front of his school assembly and recited the multiplication tables. I was surprised when I heard about it, as I was in the thinking of he has some issues about performing in front of a crowd. He managed to complete the recital and he was so excited about it, telling us that he was one of the few boys in Year 2 who had done that. The rest were students from the upper years.

He said that he wanted to go up again when the opportunity arises again. Hopefully it will be the start of a good thing for him.

Bringing home a stray

2009-02-01T21:51:00.000+08:00

When I was samll, we use to bring back stray cats back home, but my mum will have none of it .. & I always tell the boy not to bring bcak home any animals that he may have found. Until this day .. we were back in Pekan and I was enjoying (suffering more like it) my 6km run when I spy something in the middle of the road. Upon closer inspection I found out that it was this ....

Updates awaiting!

2009-01-19T20:42:00.001+08:00

It has been a while since the blog is updated ... too many things, too short of time.. will do it in the course of the week....now need to sort out my materials...

OMG! Fungus Attack ..

2009-01-15T21:55:00.004+08:00

OMG! The horror of being attacked has finally been validated! The picture tells it all... sedeynye ..

Couldn't imagine that the sepakers could also be infected by fungus. My trusty Mission 73C now dead after more than 13 years.

Now have to consider a dry cabinet for my lenses, well at least the current ones ( The Minolta Sigma 70-210mm f3.5-4.6 is beyond rescue). Now the question is how to replace ?

God Bless The Plasticines

2009-01-12T21:47:00.004+08:00

Sometimes I wonder, what goes on in the mind of a child. How did I react to the same situation when I was small, as I often felt that any instruction would go in one ear and out the other for the boy. Simple instruction would take a few pushes before it being implemented, up to the point of testing our patience.

The latest case in hand, we specifically instructed the boy to order his name tag from his class teacher along with giving him the money to do so. The money has been lying on the dresser for days before he actually took it to school today.

When I got back from work today,I expected him to tell me about him ordering the name tags but what he told me in return astounded me. He told me that he didn't order the name tag but instead of telling me he spent the money on toys or stationeries, he just said that he put in in the 'Kanak-kanak Plasticine' fund.. Initially I was bursting in a fit of laughter bu then I realised, even a child knew what the Palestinians is suffering and willing to part with his money to help them. God bless.....

Blowing bubbles

2009-01-05T22:36:00.000+08:00

Teringat lagu masa kecik2 dulu :-

Saya suka main buih sabun,
gelembung bulat, cantik berkilat,
bila ditiup angin sekawan,
terbang tinggi sampai ke awan.

Sabun taruk air,
kocak-kocak jadi buih,
ambil buluh, celup tiup,
buih terbang sayup.

Abang & Adik enjoying a session of blowing bubbles ...

Please let me out baba

When I grow up, I want to be a model

Bubble blower

Tangkap adik, tangkap bubble tu

Cuti-cuti Malaysia - Langkawi 2008

2009-01-01T23:17:00.004+08:00

This year we have decided to revisit Langkawi. The last visit was in 2006 and we did 'unadventurous' stuff, so this time around we planned a laid back trip. Planning the trip was a task in itself as the accommodation that we have requested was not available and all other were full. Even calls to local travel agents were not well received as that was the peak period on their calendar.

In the end we managed to get accommodation, albeit not the first choice, an overpriced transportation to help us moving around not to mention the level of service and price sucks during the peak season.

So this time, the most adventurous thing that we did was going up the cable car. We actually when there twice, the first time the queue was so long that it almost reached the gate. The ride up as quite scary & windy, and they have built a new suspension bridge spanning across the mountain range range with a spectacular view. Plus they have got some petting animals in the area, hence the kids could play around.

Overall it was an OK trip, but really need a break after the trip..hehe..

Bombshell

2008-12-31T22:55:00.000+08:00

Went to the boy's school on Tuesday to collect his report card & getting to know which class he getting into next year.

Good News :- he's first in his class and 5th overall in standard 1.

Bad News :- all year 2 & 3 would be in the afternoon session starting next year.

I was like WTF!!!? school's opening in a week and now only they are telling us about it?!

A few of our friends have pulled out their children including the boy's best friend from the school to somewhere nearer to home for easier coordination. The neighbours are still staying put, so now we have to decide. Asked the boy about it and he says that he's OK with staying put, albeit without his best friend.

So now we have to decide ... decisions, decisions...

Krants 91 - Reunion 2008 - Part 2

2008-12-24T08:02:00.001+08:00

The reunion this year is by far the most attended to by my batchmates. So far, the average attendees would be around 20 per event, but this year we mange to get around 40. Some I haven't met since leaving school, some I meet on occasionally. Most of us have changed physically (except for Ahpoi) but mentally we were still the kids who left school 17 years ago.

Even though we are at different station in life currently, when we got together especially during the games, there's no barrier. Everything was like when it was years ago, all level all equal. (one thing that most of us has underestimated is our level of fitness, hehe..)

The presence of teachers during dinner also reinforced the nostalgic feeling..plus with Pn Sabariah bringing her daughters, some of us has the cheek to say that if we fared better in physics then some of us might get into her good book ... as if .. looking that she teaches us 17 years ago and her eldest might be ..say 22, which make her 5 yrs old then, then hold that thought cradlesnatchers .... muahahaha

On the whole, even though the reunion organized by amiekids is a little bit 'loose' on organization, their effort has to be lauded for managing to pull it off after defaulting it last year. Hopefully the next one would be as memorable .. Zaaba you have a big shoe to fill ...

ps... too many pics to upload, you could view mine & ijam's here

Krants 91 - Reunion 2008 - Part 1

2008-12-23T08:05:00.002+08:00

First of all, FYI, my schoolmates have this understanding that each year we will have a reunion of our 87--91 batch, just to keep up with the developments. The normal process for it is that a sport-house has to organise one every year. So we keep on pestering the organisers for this year to come out with a plan and it wasn't until the end of the year something materialises.

They were touting it as 'an ingenious plan' as it has never been done before, and the hype building up to the announcement of the event was so that when they finally unveiled the plan, there were two camps :- one with the premature ejaculation looks & the other with multiple orgasm looks. Why? Because their previous plans were like outrageous and the new sound sounds like, a plan. A sleepover in school, boys only, no family.

I have to be honest, at first I was like WTF?, these boys are so very-the-cheapskate one, but I signed on anyway. Slowly yet surely, the responses and reply were encouraging and the plan finally merged into somewhat a blurry-out-of-focus somewhat brittle plan.

So when the day comes, I made my way back there, through the route that I have travelled frequently during 87-91. Even though I have at some point in time passed through the route and by the school, this particular journey felt like it did years ago. You know, sometime you are not all excited to be shipped back to boarding school from home, you felt that every step closer to the school your temperature rises and you would like to turn back and call in sick for the rest of the year, the apprehension, the anxiety etc..

I think I have only been back to the school twice after I left, one is to get my exam results and the other to pick up my brother. After that they have shifted to the new premise in Putrajaya which doesn't hold any memories to us.

This is the main entrance where we were locked in..you have to submit you approved outing card just to be let out. Sometimes we forged the signatures of the wardens, hehe .. The other unofficial entrance is well..for 'flying'. The school was renamed to SM Sains Alam Shah.

First thing that strikes me is that, did someone ran amuk with some paints? The buildings were like some art deco project gone overboard. They were renovating the school, which we thought was a step in the right direction. Closer inspection on walkabout around the school reveals that the have removed all links to the old school but the facilities are still there but in a derelict and pathetic state. Maybe they don't have the budget for the up keeping of the school.

But, most part of the school hold some memories to us, some dear and precious, some downright should be buried in the deep dark part of our brains never to be resurrected back again. - end of part 1

Mobile at last...

2008-12-20T09:12:00.001+08:00

My USB Stick came online today ... now I can internet connectivity whereever I go..(provided i bring my laptop along as well).. hehe.. testing it to the max...

Can you smell it?

2008-12-16T21:47:00.002+08:00

It's the smell of my wallet burning.

My P-I-C and I went to the PC fair last weekend with two things in mind : him to get a printer and me to get my extra-capacity-storage device. We were adamant to stick to our game-plan, hence thats why there's the two of us, to remind ourselves of the objectives.

Well, normally things are easier said than done and in this instance it did happen :To my surprise he kept to his resolution and got the things that he wanted at a good bargain, me.....hmmm..got the things on my wishlist. My only defense is that it was really a good-time-limited-during-pc-fair-only-bargain.

Meet my new communication paraphernalia

Plam Centro in Black & USB Mobile broadband.

These could help me keep in touch with loved ones and overcome my connectivity issues... just a point to note, it's not the fugly egg... hehe...

Next on the wishlist : guidance from the sky ...

Updatez

2008-12-10T10:25:00.000+08:00

It has been a while since I updated my blog. This is due to work commitment which have taken me to the length and breadth of the country in the past 2 weeks.

First and foremost I still think its not too late to wish Eid Mubarak for Aidil Adha. I've applied leave for 2 days after that but was recalled back for duty, lucky near to where I was then. But then again, it was extra work piled onto these shoulders and time off from my time off.

Some big tickets items are pending these coming months, so now need to prioritize. Mostly its about the car (insurance, road tax etc, repairs), IT (bigger storage device, navigation tools, mobile broadband, new phone to replace the dying one), Entertainment ( ICE, better dvd player than the chapalang one I have atm, mp3/4 player, LCD TV), PhotoG ( pending workshop, lightstands & backdrop, accessories) etc which could escalate to a small nation's GDP.

With the global uncertainties I think I would splurge only on the necessary. But then again, there's a very thin line of need/wants, so just watch this space.

Connectionless

2008-12-03T10:45:00.001+08:00

My IT department has decided to play big brother, more akin to big bully. First they capped the access to the internet to 30 hrs/week, which I think is reasonable, else everyone would be less productive but they also blocked access to most highly accessed site, namely social networking & messaging.

This has left me out of touch with my PIC's during working hours. Now the only solution is to sign up with the mobile broadband package. The 'fugly egg' USB modem now looks more pleasing to the eye. Plus it would be a boon to stay connected during my domestic trips. Should I or shouldn't I now? Let's see what the oncoming PC fair has got to offer ...

The day I sneezed too hard

2008-12-01T22:22:00.002+08:00

I have always have a loud sneeze. Lets just face it, if it's not out with full force, the satisfaction is not there. So, everytime I feel like a sneeze is coming, I just let it rip.

Until this. I was upstairs, Adi was downstairs with the mrs and the boy, trying to stand with the support of one of the pillars. I felt one coming, let it out with a full gusto, Adi heard it downstairs, startled, lost her balance and hit her eyes on some fixtures on the pillars, causing her to bleed.

My Sis Engangement

2008-11-20T23:48:00.007+08:00

Lazy to write. Just wanted to post some pics of my sis engagement last Sunday 16 November 08. Small function attended by families and friends. Her fiance works in the same company as me, albeit in a different regional office. Congratulations Lin.

with my mum

with my dad

Lin & Chairel

Her fiance

The Happy couple

A visit to Pusat Sains Negara

2008-11-08T21:00:00.003+08:00

As part of the reward and also activities to fill up the school holidays, we took the boy and kids next door to Pusat Sains Negara in Bukit Kiara. Truth be told, I never set foot in the centre even though it's right adjacent to SPRINT highway on the way to Sri Hartamas. I still remember when we were small when my dad took us to the Science Museum at UTM Jalan Semarak, with the highlight was a robot which greeted every visitor.

First impression of the Science Centre was not that impressive, ticket counter was placed at the entrance gate and not at the Centre itself, which cost me a 5 min walk back. The centre was a typically government ran agency, especially on the upkeep of the centre. A lot of the displays were not working, some were like stuck in a time warp since the opening days of the centre (1996) and contain outdated information. Compared to Petrosains, the Pusat Sains Negara felt like a good 5 yrs behind. Even though the entrance fees to Petrosains is higher, I think I enjoyed myself there than I did in Pusat Sains Negara. ( Hey, there's still a kid in me you know ). Maybe I'm looking at it from my point of view, as the kids said they did enjoyed themselves, but I think things could be better at Pusat Sains Negara.

Hopefully pepole at MOSTI could pick up on this, maybe a little perk up is due to the centre. Please don't let it go down the drain, as it ccould help nture an interest in science in the young ones.

The Day KRANTZ 91 proved their mettle

2008-11-03T05:55:00.000+08:00

It all started with an email in our group. Just a simple note to all of us, we have not been sending a team to the annual old boys futsal tourney but we have regular players who have to join other teams in order to play. Hence the call was made. Target was 10 players to fill in the position. At first glance we had more than enough to set up a team. But only a few answered the call. But we were not despaired. We treat the 'training' as a getting to know each other back session, noting the after training drinks went longer than the actual time on the training pitch.

After a while, some loose formation of a team slowly began to emerge. Maybe the captain was thinking, aiseh, how to setup my team eh? Only 1 je from the school eleven, one from the second eleven, one from the basketball team, most of them are from the hockey team, two from rugby team and most of us haven't been exerting ourself for more than 5 mins in one go since we left school. That was evident from the current state of our physiques and fitness level.

But we march on , with much trepidation.

Before the game - you can feel the fear of being 'kitai-ed' emanating from every pores

Standing L-R : Deen, Moi, Taban, DocAFZ, Shybee, Yazi, Jools, Nik Kecik
Front : Meghe & Co, Adri & Keme

Bola itu bulat?

Atau yg ini lagi bulat - jangan marah ye pakcik

Captain Shybee

Marvelous Keeper

Yurasdeen

El-Hadji Meghe

Taban

Tibai jek kaki dia Doc, nnt ko bius la dia kasi hilang sakit

Keeping the fort

Support Team

Sorry Jools & Yazi, our picture in action not recorded as per the norm, once the cameraman starts to have his on action then the rest kena tinggal la. As for the record, we went 4 games undefeated in the league, then were drawn in the plate semis and went on to win the plate final. We had no individual stars, all of us are working as a team and managed to achieve what we thought were impossible as we only had 4 training sessions beforehand. I think we could do a whole lot better next time if we starts the boot camp early. Ni nak kena cari kasut futsal la plak.

Anyways, congrats to KRANTZ 91, may we continue to send a team each year.

The day I turn 34

2008-10-26T21:16:00.001+08:00

Another year, another birthday... I think as I'm chalking up the numbers, birthdays celebration is like a thing of the past.

So far, once I turn 34 , I realised that:-

I'm no longer a spring chicken
took longer to warm up & longer to cool down
injuries are easily acquired and took longer to heal
increasing appetite but slowing down metabolism
things that were easily done 3-4 years ago seems laborious now
the songs that I could sing to was not in the 'contemporary' stations

but then again, there's no way one could stop from gaining another year to one's life other than being six feet under so I'm grateful and counting my blessings. Especially when your loved ones gave you this for your birthday...both decided to be funny ....

One from the mrs, one from the boy..which one did I got, thats for me to know for you to find out ... wink .. wink ...

The week that started with ....

2008-10-23T07:54:00.000+08:00

A BANG !

Some installation in the southern art of the country sent BANG with some fireworks which puts the TOP managements panties in a knot
everyone was like a headless chicken, spewing out instructions which borders close to be considered brainless
Instruction were given for the investigation to be conducted as quickly & thorough as possible ( note that those two would never come hand in hand)
so off to the south I went, working & cracking my head & I think I managed to figure out the cause of it
Now writing an endless report on how this could be affected

A SPLASH!

Was out and about during the weekend to do all those impending DIY repairs around the house and part of it was replacing a faulty faucet in the bathroom
got a new hose for it, hence did the necessary replacement etc and it was all fine and dandy
until Monday when an SOS was issued that the replacement gave way.. so much for cheap products from China
after returning form my trip down south, I repaired the whole thing , which wasn't easy & almost drenched me

BLINKING!

all those above happened during the first two days of the week and thinking by some cruel twist of fate is not enough, my car seems to be giving me problems
The alarm would turn on by itself and couldn't be reset with the normal mean
so off to Amiaq's I went to diagnose and troubleshoot the problem, which ended up at 2 am but with no possible solution found
Now have to manually lock the car whilst waiting for the appointment to uses the official diagnostic software from MB, which leave me wondering how much its going to hit me ($$$$$$$$$)

These events all happened during the week leading to my birthday & didn't leave me in the mood to celebrate .....

Adriana Doing Some Housekeeping

2008-10-15T22:11:00.006+08:00

Adriana trying to get her hands on some housekeeping ... her style ...

Aidilfitri 2008

2008-10-07T08:02:00.000+08:00

Eid Mubarak to all. This year we celebrated raya at my mum's before proceeding back to kampung on the third day raya. Only my brother Angah and family is not around as it is his turn to go back to Kuala Pilah.

My parents & sisters

All the siblings and DIL's minus Angah & Family

Aiman & Adi

Collect duit raya - boleh isi minyak kereta & tol

Trying to fix Adi's hairband

Adi sayang Syafiq

Aksi poyo form my sisters

My Mum

Ni muka duit raya tak cukup

Makcik Poyo - umur lapan tahun

Collage of us goofing around during the shots

What else did we do this raya? Ohhh.. makan la apa lagi, all those lontong, rendang, lodeh, ketupat pulut, lemang, cookies etc. I think I managed to cover all the weight lost and adding up some more. Efforts to return back to normal eating routine seems futile at the moment what more to go back to some kind of calories burning activities. Now must trim down the flabs ... hehe

Ikan haruan di dalam paya,
Ikan sardin di dalam tin,
Selamat Hari Raya,
Maaf Zahir Batin.

ps. siapa yang tak dapat duit raya lagi tu, sila datang rumah. Permintaan kiriman melalui pos tidak akan dilayan.

Eid Mubarak

2008-09-30T23:18:00.001+08:00

Image from here

Would like to wish all of Muslim friends and family Eid Mubarak and Maaf Zahir Batin. Have an enjoyable festivities and safe journey. From all of us, Sharizal, Rofidah, Aiman Hadi & Adriana Hani.

Low Light Photography

2008-09-28T00:09:00.003+08:00

Kl Nightscape

TNB HQ Building

Fireworks

My lil sis trying to spell her name

My attempt of spelling my name -in reverse as we are facing the camera

Trying to spell Aiman's Name

The aftermath ... hehe.. sepahnya

In the end the grownups had more fun than the kid... reliving the childhood & feeling like a kid again... hehe

Farewell WMJ256

2008-09-27T13:28:00.002+08:00

The car was handed over to the new owner last night. Most of the paperwork wrt the loan and JPJ has been sorted out, now waiting for the buyer's bank to settle with my finance and me. There were a lot of fond memories but as everything in the world, some changes are bound to happen.

The car has served us well and may it continue to serve the new owner as well.

Au revoir, WMJ256 and if any of you happen to see it say hi for me.

Networking & Fast Transition

2008-09-21T05:51:00.002+08:00

The boy had his friends round for iftar yesterday. Actually, he went on to invite them during school and told us that they were coming for iftar on Friday. A quick call to the parents and a new date was set on Saturday. Kids theses days, suka-suka je ajak kawan2 round the house for makan2. At least he has shown some initiative to start networking and the boys did enjoyed themselves.

On another note, eversince I had put up the for sale ad for my car, I have been receiving calls of inquiries. Some of them are from used car traders, which offers a very low sum, some of them from private buyers looking for a good condition car. Yesterday, a gentlemen from Melaka came and viewed/tested the car and he found that the car was to his liking and straightaway put his deposit. Hopefully we can have a smooth and quick transition.

Economics 101 - from a 7 years old perspective

2008-09-17T12:04:00.000+08:00

The Boy : " Dad, how much was the Transformers Toys that you bought for me a while back?"

Me : " Hmmm... about RM40 "

The Boy : " Oh, mahal jugak yea.."

Me : " Why asking?"

The Boy : " Nothing, just that I know how you could save some money "

Me : " How?"

The Boy : " You could buy me the Bidaman at Giant at RM 10, then you would saved from spending RM 40..."

hmm... only a 7 y.o cold come out with this statement. I would evenetually fork out RM50, and no savings to me at all...good try boy, better luck next time

Quick updates

2008-09-13T06:03:00.003+08:00

1. Boys will be boys :-

The boy asked me for a direct translation to "ambik, ambik, pergi, muda" and after doing so only i realised what he's getting at. Cheeky

2. Taken delivery of the new car, now can seat 7 ... old car still not sold yet... refer to previous post ..

3. Had a kerandutz session with some of the gang.. apparently they are having two session at different location nd a day apart, hence will only join one je ...

4. Signed up for a potraiture class, getting some tips on outdoor potraiture plus some PP skill this Sunday, hope it gonna turn up well..

ps - went raya shopping just now, JTAR was jam-packed with people up to the point of suffocation

Tinkering about in CS2

2008-09-11T17:03:00.000+08:00

Spend most of my time last weekend tinkering about in CS2. Quite an experience for me, but managed to pick up some tips on how to effectively use PP for color correction or removing unwanted objects in the background.

Before

After

Before

After

There's still a lot to go in learning how to use CS2/3. Need to pimp my pc as well to run the resource intensive program,