Blogging it My Way

Happy Chinese New Year

2012-01-22T05:15:00.000-08:00

Well, it is now less than 3 hours before we welcome in the year of the Water Dragon which is expected to bring the Chinese a great year. It is another celebration which focused on gathering of the family members and friends.

Yesterday I also went to meet with a friend, he's also my sister's friend and the three of us went to Luen Fong Restaurant in Tanjong Tualang. The place is famous for its fresh prawn as well as some other dishes. Then, my family and I also went visiting my grandparents before doing last minute shopping at Ipoh Parade as well have a cup of Starbucks before going home.

This morning, went to church service as usual, before going to my grandma's place for reunion dinner. Now uploading photos to Facebook while watching I Love Hong Kong.

Wished everyone a prosperous and Happy Chinese New Year and Gong Xi Fa Cai!!!

Do You Believe In Feng Shui?

2012-01-19T05:21:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, a renowned feng shui practitioner, Joey Yap comes to my work place to give a talk on what the year of the water dragon will bring us. For those who do not know what feng shui is, Feng Shui is a Chinese system of geomancy believed to use the laws of both Heaven (Chinese astronomy) and Earth to help one improve life by receiving positive qi.

Ok, I am not being superstitious, But, I find myself sort of having confident in his talk, well, not to mention that the fact that the year of the water dragon will bring great things and good luck in my life. Since Chinese New Year is just around the corner, I might as well just listen to what this year will bring me to.

Anyway, there are numerous reason that I believe in what he has thought us in the hall. One of the main reason is his "predictions" for the past 2 years were accurate. Another, of course this so call "consultation" is free, and everyone has their right to believe or not what he said. Then, unlike most of the feng shui practitioner where they will ask you to buy some feng shui related stuff and place it somewhere in the house in order to activate the qi, Joey Yap never asked us to do so. Of course finally, since this year will be better year than last, why not believe it. At least, it gives us some confident to go through the year.

The Chinese has a saying "Feng Shui master will con you years", but come to think of it, they are the one who started practicing this art thousand years ago and there are as many success stories on people who practice Feng Shui as well as not successful. However, I believe everything is due to the individual. Feng Shui might not be favourable for one this year, but there are a lot of things for him or her to do to get the favour - some requires minor change, in which majority individual will be reluctant to do, so, finally the problem still be there and when the Feng Shui favours him or her, it will not do him much favour as the old problem will still persist.

So, do you believe in Feng Shui?

2012....New Year, New Goals, New Hope and New ME

2012-01-15T06:48:00.000-08:00

Well, this is my first post in the year 2012. Every new year represents new beginning, new goals new hope....and of course new ME. Whatever happened in the year 2011 is already over, but we must always remember to look back at what we have achieved over the year, and what was not.

To many of us, a new year is just another day or year - well, mainly because our resolutions and goals were not achieved most of the time, until we sort of give up. This also means that we have started to feel comfortable with our position and feel reluctant to change - and honestly speaking, this is bad.

Looking back, what actually I intended to achieve last year? One of my goals last year was to gain weight. Maybe I did blog about it at first, but finally I stopped blogging about it, well, I think there is not a need as after I gained about 3kg, it kind of stuck there for like forever, until one day I weighed again at the health centre in my office, and it showed additional two kg, but by end of the year, I weighed again, my body gave the 2 kg away. Anyway, three kg gained is better than nothing. I hope to continue with what I am doing now.

Anyway, my other plans for this year including moving out from my comfort zone.......what do I mean by this? I am pretty sure that I have started to feel comfortable with my current lifestyle, so a change to it is a must....which is why new ME. :D Maybe I can start off by reading more getting more inspiration to blog, and maybe to further studies.

Another thing that I intend to do is to expand my network, and have more outings with my friends and going back hometown less to ensure I have sufficient rest, as I have been feeling tired due to driving back and forth like almost every weekends. I believe that sleep earlier every day would also help to restore my energy level.

So, what are your goals this year and how you plan to go around achieving it?

Happy New Year 2012

2011-12-31T07:08:00.000-08:00

We are still less than an hour before usher in 2012. How was the year for everyone? I do hope it was a great year in 2011 and let's make it better in 2012. Happy New Year to everyone. New year means new goals, new hope, new target. Let us all make 2012 a better year than it was in 2011. Again, Happy New Year everyone.

How I spend my Christmas - Part 3

2011-12-31T03:08:00.000-08:00

This post continue from How I Spend my Christmas - Part 2. On the previous post, we stopped at Orchard Road. But that is not how we end this year Christmas eve. After Orchard Road, we took the MRT to the Esplanade station and walk to the Esplanade - Theatres on the bay.

The place is alongside Marina Bay, so we can actually see Marina Bay from here. The Esplanade building itself is beautiful. Then we walk to the Merlion Park where we have some snapshots of the beautiful surroundings and have a cup of coffee at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. That wraps up our Christmas eve.

The next morning, we took the MRT to Vivo City and then took the monorail to Sentosa. There we go to our main purpose of Singapore visit - the Universal Studio. Inside Universal Studio we experienced how movies are made in the Lights, Camera, Action in New York. We also experienced the Transformers ride with Evac.

We have our middle eastern style lunch at the Oasis Spice Cafe in Egypt. Next, we walked to The Lost World, but due to long queue, we did not experience the Canopy Ride that we initially planned. But, we watch the Waterworld show, well, the show is actually awesome with all the effects and loud noise which makes the show real.

Next we move on to Far Far Away before going Madagascar to take a ride, hmm, not sure what is the name of the ride in Madagascar, but it was fun, though. Our final destination in the Universal Studio is back to Hollywood, where we shopped for souvenirs. It was like a whole day in the Universal Studio and we took a bus ride back to Vivo City Mall where we had our dinner there at the Mussels.

Finally, we took the MRT back to the hotel. My younger sister and I left the hotel to take some famous biscuits and cookies from Ipoh to her office, and travel back to her place where I met my friend at the nearest McD. We chatted for hours before finally call it a day.

Well, that sorts of wraps up my Christmas celebration this year - traveling in Singapore with my family, well, except brother. It's an interesting vacation, although everyone is like very tired when we are all back in Malaysia.

How I spend my Christmas - Part 2

2011-12-30T08:09:00.001-08:00

This post continue from How I spend my Christmas - Part 1. Well, once we reached there Singapore at about 4 in the morning, we call my younger sister and parked our car nearby. We all went into the room that she's staying and everyone else is like getting a nap except both of us and finally we drove to nearby for our breakfast. Well, I even posted the Singapore laksa which is the Malaysian curry mee. Anyway, thank God that my breakfast, although not good, but still better as I heard a lot of comment from others that the food in Singapore is a little bit sweet.

Then we checked into Peninsula Excelsior Hotel and go to the nearest MRT station to buy the day ticket as we will be traveling a lot on this Christmas eve. Since my mum requested to go Haw Par Villa, we go there. It seems like we are a bit luckily as according to my friend, the place was undergoing renovation just not long ago. Anyway, we get to visit this place and took some interesting pictures of the place.

Next, we went to Holland Village to meet up with my grand uncle who stayed nearby and we have lunch with him and his wife at the Crystal Jade Restaurant. To my surprise, the "har kao" can match closely with the "har kao" at Foh San Restaurant back in Ipoh. After the lunch and tea break with him, finally, we go back to the hotel where everyone else except me and my younger sister take a 2 hour nap.

I followed her back to her place to take something and then we are back to the hotel to have shower and then move on to a monument place named Chijmes to have our dinner there. After our dinner, we took the MRT to Sommerset and walk to Orchard Road where the road is nicely decorated by Christmas decoration. The place is so crowded but still, we manage to get the feel of Christmas in Singapore.

Ok. Guess that's all for now. Tomorrow will blog the remaining Singapore trip. Now wanna go to sleep already. Nitez guys.

How I spend my Christmas - Part 1

2011-12-28T06:05:00.000-08:00

On the way back to Ipoh

Well, Christmas is over, but to me, I am still having Christmas spirit in me. Hmm....actually not the real Christmas spirit, it is only the holiday mood that is actually with me. Anyway, this year, Christmas has been different for me. Usually on Christmas, our family members will be gathering together and have Christmas meals, be it in the form of course meals or BBQ style.

This year however, my mum intended to visit Singapore and so, everyone of us agree to go to Singapore except, my brother. Well, he told me the reason that he did not want to go is due to budget constraint, so, me and my younger sister will not force him to go with us, although we can sponsor him actually.

Anyway, last Friday, I directly came back from work from Kulim and then pack my stuff. While I was packing, my parents went to reload the Touch and Go card and then we pack our luggage into my car as we will be driving to Singapore from Ipoh. Before we left for Singapore, we had supper at McD with my brother and then finally drive to Singapore.

The journey took us about 6 hours plus. Then we have our car checked into Singapore and finally search for the way to my younger sister's place, Admiralty. Coincidentally, an ex-colleague cum friend also stayed there, so, I am to meet her on our second night in Singapore.

My breakfast in Singapore, Singapore laksa which is Malaysia curry Mee

My sister's place

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T06:54:00.000-08:00

Wishing everyone who celebrate Christmas a Merry Christmas. For others, I wish them happy holiday and hope that each and everyone of us get our Christmas wish. Once again, Merry Christmas.

arizona arizona state cal bears 2

2011-12-23T22:51:00.001-08:00

Ticketamerica.com has ncaa college seats for the following teams like PAC 10 CONFERENCE for the Arizona Wildcats tickets and Arizona State Sun Devils tickets plus the Cal Golden Bears tickets. You can easily buy arizona wildcats football tickets or arizona state sun devils football tickets by just with a click of a mouse.

You can also order california golden bears football tickets from Ticketamerica.com as well.

Christmas Wishes

2011-12-15T05:56:00.000-08:00

I have not been blogging in this blog for about a month, and time really flies. The last post that i blogged here is to wish those who celebrated the festival of light, Deepavali, a Happy Deepavali and now whenever we go out to the shopping malls, we will see the Christmas decorations, signaling Christmas is almost here and it's about time for many of us to start preparing for this holiday season. Not to mention, 2012 will be knocking at our door a week after Christmas.

So, let's talk about Christmas first. For Christians, Christmas is actually to celebrate the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then for many others non-Christians, Christmas is about Santa Claus, gifts and nice decorations, and the best part of it of course is the holiday.

Then, we also have Christmas wishes - not sure where this tradition comes about, but many of the pop Christmas songs use Christmas wishes as the theme. If it is true, what do you wished for this Christmas?

Happy Deepavali

2011-10-25T09:15:00.000-07:00

Happy Deepavali to all the people who celebrated the festivals.

Looking Back and Ahead

2011-10-04T06:39:00.000-07:00

Of late, I have become lazy again and this blog was left idle for like a month while I busy consolidate photos that I took from the Chengdu and Bangkok trip two months back and in fact, I just finish copy those photos from my friends' laptop to mine.

It has been sort of non productive month for me in September, maybe due to the long holiday that we have during the Raya week by the end of August. Over the month, just work and go through the same boring life as always, nothing special except went out for The Smurfs movie with a friend on one of the weekends in Kulim.

Looking ahead, this will be a busy month for me from work or even personal activities. In office, I will need to engage on some software and setup activities which could take some time, or even time consuming to some extend as I do not have any experience with the software.

On personal acitivies.....My brother's convocation ceremony will be held in University of Malaya this weekend, so this week my family members and I are traveling to Kuala Lumpur to attend the convocation ceremony and we will be staying one night - time for siblings gathering to catch up what's happen on our side.

Subsequently I will need to look back what I have achieved this year and then start to plan for 2012 - travel plans, 2012 plans and goals, financial goals and many more.

P/S: I've linked my sister's blog, Doink to this blog as well, finally.

Random News from Ooho Stars

2011-09-26T06:32:00.000-07:00

The Agaram Foundation is an organization working towards helping the under-privileged in attaining their right to knowledge and quality education. This organization is run by a famous Indian Actor named Surya.

Surya was born on the 23rd of June in the year 1975 and has been married to another famous Indian star named Jyothika. Surya, his father Sivakumar, mother, and Jothika have recently visited Jayalalitha's residence at the Poes Garden to deliver the invitation for Karthi's wedding personally. It should be noted to everyone that Jayalalitha is close with Surya family and had attended the wedding of Surya and Jyothika too.

Honolulu Auto Accident Attorney

2011-09-15T09:21:00.000-07:00

I am sure that before most of us plan for a holiday to Honolulu, one thing that will pops up in our mind is the insurance and the Honolulu Auto Accident Attorney, who might be able to assist us in claiming insurance for all type of auto accidents in Hawaii such as car accidents, pedestrian accidents, motorcycle accidents, and moped accidents as well as slip and fall injuries.

Of course, traveling is supposed to be fun, but having ease of mind in claiming insurance, should accident happen is important. Once we are free from all these worry, we will be able to enjoy our holiday to the fullness.

Back in Malaysia on Saturday.....My Sister Flying To Singapore Today

2011-08-31T00:11:00.000-07:00

Well, guess what. I have been back in Malaysia and been doing some stuff with my siblings, mainly because I have been away for like a while and then my younger sister will be starting her work in Singapore tomorrow and she has already flew to Singapore earlier today.

I reached Penang International Airport On Saturday evening and then directly went back to my house in Ipoh, which is about two to three hours drive. Well, I did not unpack my luggage. I just unpack my stuff in the new laptop bag that I bought back in Chengdu, so that my sister could take that laptop bag with her when she go Singapore.

The following day, I just do what I have always been doing during the Sunday, which is to go Sunday for the morning service and then have lunch with my grandmum at her place. However, we have a dinner at the East Ocean Restaurant, treat by my aunt from England as she will be flying back to England on Tuesday midnight. Phew, seems like this year there are many of us flew.

After the dinner, we went to my grandma's place for some "blow water" session and then me and my brother watch Manchester United trashed Arsenal 8-2 at some mamak stall within driving distance from our house.

Next day, I watched Overheard 2 with my siblings, as well as my brother's girlfriend. Before watching Overheard 2, helped out my younger sister packing her stuff to Singapore, well, just giving her some idea how to pack effectively to fully utilize all the space, while at the same time, unpacking some of my stuff from the luggage.

Finally, today, sent my younger sister to the Sultan Azlan Airport as she will be flying off to Singapore and then start work tomorrow. I'm still trying to finish blogging Chengdu trip, but at the moment I will need to consolidate all the photos from different cameras before uploading it to Facebook.

Headache

2011-08-22T15:54:00.000-07:00

Well, guess I will blog a bit while I cannot sleep.

Can't really sleep over the night although suffering from headache (I think could be induce by the Chinese medicine that I drank which makes my body hot and then headache), but I feel happy about not having enough sleep. I do sleep for about an hour or so.

The young Devils has trashed Spurs 3-0 and it is something for me to cheer on while not getting enough sleep. Well, to some, the win might means nothing as we are still in the early stage of the season, but the win is not just another win by Manchester United.

It is a splendid performance by the young Devils which most Manchester United fans are worrying about how the team might perform without getting any new star players - so the win means a lot to the fan and to the club as Spurs is not just another club.

Well, yesterday win means that Fergie was right not to get any new stars to the team but to trust his Devils once again. The road to the EPL title is still long and not easy with the Red Devils still having to play the like of Arsenal and Liverpool, but I'm pretty sure that the young Devils can prove that Manchester United is still as mighty as ever.

Kuanghaixiang Alley - The Forgotten Alley In Chengdu

2011-08-21T07:46:00.000-07:00

Been very sick over the weekends and not able to blog about my trip in other places in Chengdu yesterday. But now I'm getting a little and while watching Scott Pilgrim VS the World now I think maybe I can blog a bit what I did after the visit to the Wuhou Memorial Temple. I missed out something in the visit to the Wuhou Memorial Temple, I did not even realized that I stepped into Jinli Ancient Street until my sister told me. How silly is that.

Our agenda did not stop only at the Wuhou Memorial Temple and Jinli Ancient Street. We also visited the forgotten alley in Chengdu, known as Broad and Narrow Alley or Kuanghaixiang Alley in Jinhe Road.

The alleys were built in the beginning of Qing Dynasty (1644 C 1911). After the Qing troops arrived here, they built some cities and some hutongs to the north of the Tai City become residence, and was forbidden for Han people. Officers lived in those broad alleys, while the Eight Flag members lived in a narrow alley that was parallel to the broad one.

Some might asked, if the alley is with historical value, why the alleys have been descended? The reason is simple, the alleys are so unnoticeable. Anyway, it is a good experience walking around the alleys as the admission is fee unlike visiting Wuhou Memorial Temple.

Guess I want to stop now. Seems like Scott Pilgrim vs The World movie is like game movie only. Is that guy dreaming or sees everything like computer game or what? I have no idea. So, back to watch movie. :D

Photos are uploaded to my facebook profile at Jason Toh.
Direct links to the Broad and Narrow Alley photos that I took.

Visit to the Wuhou Memorial Temple

2011-08-14T08:45:00.000-07:00

I have not been blogging over the past two weeks as I find it a hassle to have to keep logging onto the blogspot or facebook using my office laptop as the China government has blocked the Facebook and blogspot. Anyway, here I am again, blogging what I did last 3 weeks.

I will continue where I stopped last post on Touchdown at Chengdu. On that Saturday, we were planning to go out early in the morning, well not so early, but still early, maybe about 9am to 10am timeframe, but in the end we have to push it out because it was drizzling at that time.

Anyway, we (me and my two colleagues) did actually manage to visit one of the "Must Visit" place in Chengdu - the Wuhou Memorial Temple. Wuhou actually means Martial Marquis and the temple is dedicated to Zhuge Liang, the Martial Marquis of Shu in the Three Kingdoms.

The temple is about 400K square feet and is next to the Temple of Liu Bei. We can see a lot of the statues of the characters and stuff from the Romance of the Three Kingdom like Liu Bei.

Ok, guess that is all for now. Wanna watch the King of Fighters now.

Touchdown at Chengdu

2011-07-30T21:40:00.000-07:00

After a tiring whole day walk in QingChengShan yesterday, I'm having a relaxing Sunday in my hotel room, just watching TV and surf net. While I'm watching Iron Man 2, I'm thinking, maybe I can write the experience once I've touchdown at Chengdu.

As I posted on my previous blog entry - Sightseeing at Hong Kong City Center, I have touched down at Chengdu late night on Thursday. So, the two colleagues of mine and I rushed to get a taxi to the hotel and check in late at night. The ride to the hotel took about thirty plus minutes.

My first impression on Chengdu is that, wow…..everything here looks big; cars, buildings etc.... I mean the buildings that I saw is like huge, malls are connected – you can just walk from one malls to another without having to repark your car or getting a taxi ride. The next thing that I noticed about Chengdu is that it is foggy…..well, not exactly fog, but haze. The air pollution here must be extremely bad. Next, I noticed many people; including those driving very luxury cars like a seven series are driving with open window and not to use the car air-cond, could be for fuel savings.

Next day, we had our breakfast here in the hotel and then we report to work. We grab a taxi from the hotel to Intel. To be honest, the taxi ride here is horrifying and I’m sort of like having a culture shock. Even if we are to get our own car rental, I’m pretty sure that the three of us would still prefer to get a taxi. It seems like there is no rule or just that we are not used to the driving condition here.

Everywhere we go, we can hear the honking sound from cars, and cars are coming in from all over the directions. We are not even sure when the cars are supposed to stop, and sometimes we can see cars from the opposite directions are coming towards us…….eventhough it is our turn to move. However, I really salute the drivers in Chengdu, or it can be in any other place in China as well. They drive so aggressively and dangerously, yet, they give priority to the pedestrians and bicycles and motorbikes. These people drive cars like riding a bike, swaying here and there as if they own the road, yet it is so efficient and effective here.

Ok, guess I better continue watching Iron Man 2. Will blog about some of the places that I have been visiting in Chengdu soon.

Sightseeing at Hong Kong City Center

2011-07-29T08:38:00.000-07:00

I fly from Penang early morning last Thursday, and I only reached Chengdu late at night. The flight actually not long, just 2 hours plus from Penang to Hong Kong, and then another 2 hours plus to Chengdu. However, we got quite a long layover in Hong Kong, so, me and my colleagues decided to go sight seeing in Hong Kong with the 5 hours plus that we have.

After checking out from the Hong Kong International Airport, we took the Airport Express (I think that is what the train is called) to Hong Kong city center, although passenger from the train can stop at Kowloon as well. At the Hong Kong city center, we took the bus ride to explore some of the more popular places around the city center. We stopped by Bowrington Road to have our lunch - which is quite costly, but I knew all along that the food in Hong Kong is not cheap. Well, seriously speaking, the food is not bad and I kinda like it. Before we know it, after the whole sight seeing stuff, few hours gone, and it is time to go check in back to the airport.

It was tiring after the whole sight seeing in Hong Kong city center. We reached Chengdu airport at about nine plus at night and then by the time we checked out from the airport, it is already late at night. We get a taxi to go to the Crowne Plaza hotel and then go to our respective room. I had my shower late late night and then sleep as I need to report to work the next day. The next few posts will be about Chengdu.

Few Hours Before Flying To Chengdu

2011-07-20T07:57:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been quite some time since I've update this blog. The last update was on my gain weight progress and then I got nothing much to share on the gain weight progress due to no progress :p. Seems like I'm stuck at 3kg extra and then no more progress on that. Sigh :(

Anyway, been a hectic week for me as I have to finalized my flight to Chengdu, due to a very last minute request. My actual trip to Chengdu will not happened until the next two weeks, but due to this request, it was pull in to two weeks earlier.

I was kind of excited with the trip actually although I know this trip is to go there and help solve some issues which I still blur about it. But this is what makes our life interesting, we venture into the unknown territory and then conquer it.

Hmm, still about another 6 hours before I can check-in, and then depart from the Penang International Airport at 7.45 in the morning. This will be a whole day trip and by the time I reached Chengdu it would been late in the night.

Gain Weight Progress - Update 1

2011-05-31T07:39:00.000-07:00

It's been more than a month since I posted on my goal this year which is to gain weight. Refer to My Goal This Year Is To Gain Weight.

Since it has been about a month since I posted it and really serious into gaining weight, I believe now is the time to talk a bit on my progress and what are the things that I've done in order to achieve my goal.

So, over the last one month or so, I do some light workout daily, well, maybe just Monday to Thursday. My light workout includes push up, about 100++ daily, which is split into 20-25 times per sets and about 4-6 sets each day, depending on my mood and also how tired I am on that day due to other activities.

I also been going to gym, of course only if a friend of mine push me to go, else, I'll be too lazy to go also. At gym, what I'll do mostly is crunch, about 100++ also, which is also split into 20-25 times per sets. Other activities include taking dumbbell and even run on the treadmill. Gym usually took about an hour or so.

Besides working out, I also have milk and protein drink daily while maintaining my diet previously. Had about 2-3 cups of milk daily and the same goes to protein drink and seriously I have been seeing some gain in my weight lately. I managed to gain about 2kg over the whole one month plus, so I do hope to maintain the lifestyle so that I'll be able to gain about 10-12 kg in another 6 months and periodically update this blog with the progress as well.

My Goal This Year Is To Gain Weight

2011-04-11T07:18:00.000-07:00

I made it a point to actually set a goal for every year. This year it is also the same thing.....I plan to gain few kilos by end of the year and to have a healthier body. Currently I'm underweight and in order to have a normal weight, I need to gain additional ten to fifteen kilogram.

Gaining weight seems to be the hardest thing to do, I am not sure why. I do not skip meals and I eat plenty of meat, to be honest. The only thing I'm lack of is doing workout. I admit that I've been lazy, but at the same time, I feel that if I just sit around doing nothing, I can keep the limited calories that my body can absorb, and guess I was wrong. A lot of my friends, old and new are gaining weight yearly while my weight was like maintaining for the past few years.

In order to do this, I plan out a light workout to build muscle rather than gaining fats which is not healthy. I will do a fifteen minutes workout either at home or at the gym in my office on Monday, Wednesday and Friday/Saturday. While I was taking of just building my body, my brother advice me to do cardio as well. So, in order to do that I might need another 15 minutes to jog....well, guess better to listen to him as he is the more athletic one in the family.

That's all I have for now. In the future I will blog more about it and maybe whether drinking protein and workout helps in gaining weight.

Japan: Hardship, help and hope

2011-03-15T05:38:00.000-07:00

A tsunami smashes vehicles and houses Friday in Kesennuma in northern Japan.

It's been like more than a month since I last write in this blog. A lot of things happened after the Chinese New Year celebration - I wish to blog about it, but does not seems in the mood to do so. I was quite busy over the time, mainly I was supporting production and currently in panic mode, or they usually call it fire-fighting mode here.

It seems to me that the year of Rabbit starts off with disaster and chaos all over the world. We have protesters almost in every countries, especially in the Middle East. These people protest mainly because of jobless, too free to do other things, government not doing enough to help the citizen and various reasons that anyone can think off.

The most recent one is the earthquake and tsunami that happened in Japan. Earthquake was one of the biggest in the history in Japan, follow directly by a strong tsunami. Not only that, damaged nuclear plant in Japan also leads to radiation leak which adds to the misery of the country.

I personally free sorry for the Japanese as they have to endure with so many problems in just less than a week. Whats more, these problems are not small......they are humongous.

I am thinking of how I can contribute to help the Japanese who are in agony, desperate for help from people all over the world, although I am quite sure I won't be there physically to help. I do not even know what I should do, even if I were to go there. Best bet is I will donate some money to the Japan Quake and Tsunami relief. I seriously believe that each of us can contribute something to help the Japanese to go through this hardship. Will update on my next post after I done my part to donate some money to the Japan Quake and Tsunami relief - after I top up my credit first :D

Happy Chinese New Year and Gong Xi Fa Cai

2011-02-02T06:00:00.000-08:00

Fresh Air....
Fresh Idea....
Fresh Talent....
Fresh Energy....
I wish U to have a .....
Sweetest Sunday,
Marvelous Monday,
Tasty Tuesday,
Wonderful Wednesday,
Thankful Thursday,
Friendly Friday,
Successful Saturday.
Have a great Year. HAPPY NEW YEAR

Time Flies.....Chinese New Year Is Just Around the Corner

2011-01-31T05:11:00.000-08:00

This year I have a feeling that time really flies. I mean, we still have our 24 hours a day, each hour is 60 minute and there are 60 seconds every minute. However I do have a feeling that time just really past by me without me realizing. It was not long before I blogged and wished everyone a Happy New Year, and before that it was Christmas and end of the year holiday season.

One of the reason I have this feeling that time is shorter than it used to be is because the Chinese New Year is just around the corner just about six weeks after Christmas, which makes the transition between Christmas and Chinese New Year is way too short.

Imagine this, before Christmas, we were busy preparing for Christmas, setting up the Christmas tree, presents, food etc. Then right after Christmas, we have to take the tree down, which is time consuming, and then started to put on the Chinese New Year decoration.

My mum, I have to say.....is a supermum. I even skipped to blog our Christmas celebration and preparation, as my brother has already blogged about it in his blog as Christmas Reflection, but my mum managed to get almost everything done from taking down the Christmas tree and decorations and jump start Chinese New Year preparation without the help from her kids, well, I do help out with some decorations and preparation, but mostly is done by her alone.

She even managed to make some home cook cookies with my sister for Chinese New Year and some of the Chinese New Year stuff, not sure what those are called. Talking about it, maybe I should blog about this as well, maybe tomorrow, or later tonight.

Testing

2011-01-29T21:21:00.001-08:00

Testing to blog using new app that I have downloaded to iPod.

Happy New Year 2011

2011-01-04T07:01:00.000-08:00

Goodbye 2010 and welcome 2011. This is what I can think of for the first post of the year. So, how was the last year? I hope it's been great for everyone. I was planning to blog and wish everyone a blessed new year, but was quite tie up with some other things like watching The Tourist, by Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie - will blog about the movie in Celebrity and Entertainment World; my blog on movies, musics, celebrities etc.

My brother blogged a bit about our Christmas celebration in his Christmas Reflection post and seriously, I believe his blog is worth to read as well. Not trying to promote his blog or him, but I see that he is quite a writer.

Anyway, although it's been like few days after the first day of the year, it is still not too late to look back on what has happened over the last 12 months, and plan on what we will be trying to achieve the next 12 months.

Financial goals are important as well, this few days will be crucial for us to look back at 2010, and set the financial goals for this year.

Blessed Christmas and Happy Holidays!!

2010-12-24T02:21:00.000-08:00

Wishing every readers and friends a blessed Christmas and Happy Holidays.

My Life So Far

2010-12-17T06:28:00.000-08:00

It's been more than a month since I last update this blog as I do not feel the mood to blog here. I do post some updates on other blogs namely Advantages of Using Credit Cards and inspiring story on Financial Bailout in Money Master blog.

It has been a slow month in November, it is either work or just surf net at home. Somehow, over this whole month, I feel kind of lethargic all the time and sleepy - although I need to admit that sometimes I sleep quite late, maybe later than 1.00 in the midnight. Then I also fell sick the last week of November, and in fact now still having cough.

Well, last weekends, my siblings and I went out for two movies in a row, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part 1 and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader 3D.

Holiday seasons are coming and we are all in Christmas mood. Finished decorating the house Christmas tree with some new deco and the light just hours ago and now watching Indy Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skull as I'm blogging this post.

Think I gotta go already. Will post some pictures on the Christmas setup and some stuff that I got over the past few weeks.

Do You Believe in Horoscope?

2010-11-09T07:05:00.000-08:00

Do you believe in horoscope? I am not sure whether I will want to believe but surprisingly some of the statements are quite true. Below are the quote of statement from a website that I have been following just for fun:-

"You have made a new friend. You might have met this guy or woman in the subway or on a park bench or at a major diplomatic convention in Washington. He or she will become influential in your thinking life. Someone who can assist you in decision-making. An eminence grise - a smart chum who helps you with some of your heaviest thinking. In many ways, this Tiger year has put a huge burden on you. You have spent entire weeks worrying about others, helping them out of scrapes and bailing them out of their own messes. With this new friend, you will do a great deal of venting. Lucky for you, this new friend will clarify some of the more complex issues you have been grappling with. This person's clarity of thinking serves you well because he or she simply doesn't think the same way you do. Keep this person on board in your life. Telephone them often. If they live far away you can always email them once or twice a week. Don't worry, in your own way, you are helping this person too. From now until the clement Cat/Rabbit year which begins on February 2, 2011 you will be in planning mode. There are of course holidays coming up. As you love to receive guests and cook for the whole world, feasts will be at the center of your planning schemes. You will shop and make lists and prepare gifts and meals for family and friends galore. Peripherally, you will be making different plans. You have devoted much time to a family member or a close friend over the past year. Time you spent because you felt duty bound to do so. In so doing you neglected the most crucial person of all - yourself. Instead of thinking about how next year will pan out, you have dedicated yourself to the welfare of someone else. You have known for quite awhile that you wanted out of this situation. Take your need for independence to your new friend for some clear-headed advice on how to wriggle out of the current circumstance gracefully and with dignity."

First few statement regarding a person I met in Washington, how on Earth would the writer know I've been to Washington State?

Then the writer talk about the huge burden in the Tiger year and spend weeks helping someone to clear his or her mess. Well...another statement that really applies to me.

And next, planning mood. Again hitting the bulls eye. I have been planning for some of the stuff, like next year's budget, some of the upcoming events and holidays. It makes the holidays statement correct as well. But then again, we can always argue that December is always a holiday month and people plans a lot during this period of time.

Then, devoting time to family. Again this is quite true. Lazy to elaborate further, though.

So, after reading all the coincidence, if you ask me whether I believe in horoscope or not, I still have doubt with all these craps, but still a good read though.

Some of the things that happened to me in October 2010

2010-11-07T07:21:00.000-08:00

While I could not think of what to blog here, I would like to update a bit on what's happening around me over the last month, so I simply come out with a blog post title "Some of the Things That Happened to Me In October 2010" as my last post in this blog was on the September 21st.

Well, over the last whole month of October, I did blog, but only in the Money Master blog on What Does the Malaysia 2011 Budget Has In Store For Us? and on Malaysia Budget for the Year 2011: Transformation Towards a Developed and High-Income Nation. Kind of busy with stuff like that, I did not come into updating this blog and update much on other blogs as well.

Some of the happenings include received my free Ipod Shuffle from Standard Chartered bank, as well as getting the HSBC credit card after about two months of waiting and hassle with the HSBC customer service. Bad experience from them, I must say, which somehow now relegate the HSBC credit card to become the spare credit card. Anyway, will post about this free Ipod Shuffle next post in this blog as well as blog a bit about the benefit of using the credit card in my Money Master blog.

Signing off for now :D

Stats for Blogger by Google

2010-09-21T06:34:00.000-07:00

It's been quite some time that I log on to my Blogger account to blog. To my surprise, I find there is new function of the Blogger. It is the Stats. At least, I do hope it is something new, as I seriously remembered that I never saw that function in the Dashboard before all the years I have been using Blogger as my blogging platform.

Well, what does this actually mean and why it seems so significant that I want to blog about it? Currently, I relies on third party websites or applications or widgets to get the stats on all my blogs. Then I also depends on Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools to further understand the traffic pattern of my blog.

Well, with this stats, I can actually login to my Blogger account almost every day to check on the traffic trends instead of having to login to multiple websites just to get this information.

It is not a problem actually to login to multiple websites, but currently I am using Maxis Broadband which have the data capped and the service by this Maxis broadband is only good at certain area, and most of the time bad. In fact, just within my house here in Kulim, the connection would be good inside my room, but in the living hall, it switches between GPRS and HSDPA almost all the time which makes my connection not very stable.

Blogging can be more fun with all the statistic as we can see that whether people are really accepting what we blog and like the post. With statistic, we can have continuous improvement on what we blog and how we have our blogs designed.

Guess, I've blogged enough of today. Thinking of blogging on the Internet services that I am using tomorrow on my Connect With Mobility blog.

Paraprosdokian

2010-09-08T09:02:00.000-07:00

Today I got an email and I feels that the content is very good for sharing over here. It is about Paraprosdokian.

A paraprosdokian (from Greek "παρα-", meaning "beyond" and "προσδοκία", meaning "expectation") is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part. It is frequently used for humorous or dramatic effect, sometimes producing an anticlimax. For this reason, it is extremely popular among comedians and satirists. Some paraprosdokians not only change the meaning of an early phrase, but also play on the double meaning of a particular word, creating a syllepsis.

Ø I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn't work that way. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness.

Ø Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

Ø I want to die peacefully in my sleep, like my grandfather. Not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car.

Ø Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.

Ø The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on the list.

Ø Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

Ø If I agreed with you we'd both be wrong.

Ø We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.

Ø War does not determine who is right - only who is left.

Ø Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

Ø The early bird might get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

Ø Evening news is where they begin with 'Good evening', and then proceed to tell you why it isn't.

Ø To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research.

Ø A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station.

Ø How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?

Ø Some people are like Slinkies ... not really good for anything, but you can't help smiling when you see one tumble down the stairs.

Ø Dolphins are so smart that within a few weeks of captivity, they can train people to stand on the very edge of the pool and throw them fish.

Ø I thought I wanted a career, turns out I just wanted pay checks.

Ø A bank is a place that will lend you money, if you can prove that you don't need it.

Ø Whenever I fill out an application, in the part that says "If an emergency, notify:" I put "DOCTOR".

Ø I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.

Ø I saw a woman wearing a sweat shirt with "Guess" on it...so I said "Implants?"

Ø Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?

Ø Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.

Ø Why do Americans choose from just two people to run for president and 50 for Miss America ?

Ø Behind every successful man is his woman. Behind the fall of a successful man is usually another woman.

Ø A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

Ø You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.

Ø The voices in my head may not be real, but they have some good ideas!

Ø Always borrow money from a pessimist. He won't expect it back.

Ø A diplomat is someone who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you will look forward to the trip.

Ø Hospitality: making your guests feel like they're at home, even if you wish they were.

Ø Money can't buy happiness, but it sure makes misery easier to live with.

Ø I discovered I scream the same way whether I'm about to be devoured by a great white shark or if a piece of seaweed touches my foot.

Ø Some cause happiness wherever they go. Others whenever they go.

Ø There's a fine line between cuddling and holding someone down so they can't get away.

Ø I used to be indecisive. Now I'm not sure.

Ø I always take life with a grain of salt, plus a slice of lemon, and a shot of tequila.

Ø When tempted to fight fire with fire, remember that the Fire Department usually uses water.

Ø You're never too old to learn something stupid.

Ø To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.

Ø Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

Ø Some people hear voices. Some see invisible people. Others have no imagination whatsoever.

Ø A bus is a vehicle that runs twice as fast when you are after it as when you are in it.

Ø If you are supposed to learn from your mistakes, why do some people have more than one child?

Ø Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

Blogging Again

2010-09-02T06:40:00.000-07:00

After more than a month not posting anything new in this blog, guess it is the right time to post some updates rather than leaving the blog to idle.

Well, recent days, I was quite busy with my work that sometimes I don't feel like wanting to blog, although I do share some interesting articles like The "Middle Income" Trap and How Rich is Rich in my Money Master blog.

Other updates include learning how to use Wordpress. I got a blog account setup in Wordpress at http://jasontoh.wordpress.com/. However, I still haven't really get the gist on how to use Wordpress, as I just so used to the Blogger layout and everything that is in Blogger compare to Wordpress.

Anyway, I intended to maybe switch this blog to Wordpress after I know how to use it because Wordpress has a lot of customization, although Blogger is catching up soon. One thing that I don't really like Blogger is that it does not have category and only has label to do that where as Wordpress has tags and categories which means blogger can blog a lot more different topics in one blog vs multiple blog in Blogger.

Well, guess enough of updates. Wanna go watch TV now. Will update more next round.

Cannot Upload Photos

2010-07-25T07:43:00.000-07:00

Actually I want to upload some of the photos that I took when I was in Vegas, but the Internet connection here is so slow that it took forever to upload 4 pictures and sometimes it failed to do so. I'm not sure this is because of the Blogger or Streamyx.

It seems like sometimes Blogger by Google are having timeout, again not sure this is related to Streamyx because even when I am using the Internet from the United States, I'm having the same problem.

Nevertheless, I hope that I manage to upload the photos as soon as possible so that I can blog about it.

Vegas Trip

2010-07-25T06:34:00.000-07:00

This post continue from My Visit to Dupont - 4th of July Weekends

One of the place I travel outside the Washington State is Las Vegas Strip, the location of many of the largest hotel, casino and resort properties in the world. In fact, when one travel to the United States, one should not really missed out the opportunity to have a weekends trip to Las Vegas.

Well, I went to Las Vegas on the 17th of July evening. Bryan and I had our dinner at Anthony's in the SEA-TAC airport before boarding for our late evening flight to Vegas.

After we reached Vegas, we took shuttle to the car rental area and get our rental car and set the GPS to the Luxor and this is where we stay.

Luxor indeed a cool and unique hotel because of its pyramid shape and the room is with decent size. Another cool thing about Luxor is that it is connected to Excalibur and Mandalay Bay, so if you happen to reach Excalibur or Mandalay Bay accidentally, don't be surprise.

Vegas is famous for its casinos and besides casinos, there are actually many shows that are available and these shows are not cheap as well. Besides that, the buffet in Vegas is really worth it because people will be spoil with the limitless choices of food.

Anyway, here are some of the photos that I took in Vegas. Will upload everything to my Facebook profile when I have the free time to do so.

My Visit to Dupont - 4th of July Weekends

2010-07-14T22:29:00.000-07:00

This post actually continue from My Visit to Dupont - Gearing up for the 4th of July

It has been 10 days since the July 4th. Well, I did not get to blog on the 4th of July weekends in the US over the weekend as I was on my personal trip to Las Vegas.

Nevertheless, 4th of July week is great. First of all, since it is ID4, there are sales all over the place and shopping can be fun whenever there is sales because everything will seems so affordable and for those who cannot control the temptation of buying stuff, it is better to go out without the credit card.

Centralia Outlets

I went to the Centralia Outlet to get some stuff on the eve of the 4th. Centralia Outlets is kind of cool because the I5 freeway is in between the outlet and some shops are located at the East of the freeway while most of the shops are at the West of the freeway. If someone is planning to go buy Nike and Coach, going to this outlet is a bad idea because the two shops are located at opposite direction and you have to either drive or walk to the other side of the outlet. Nevertheless, there are more choices of food that you can actually get from here compare to the Factory Outlet at North Bend. The whole shopping thing also took the whole day.

Next day in the morning, I drive around my hotel area and went to the Sunnyside Beach at the town of Steilacoom, but the crowd there is crazy. There are just too many people and cars until I can't even find a place to park.

Setting up the GPS to navigate me around

Some random shot I took when I was driving. We see more trees in the States than in Malaysia

Some random shots around Sunnyside Beach area

Sunnyside Beach at Steilacoom

Housing area near DuPont

Some random shots

It seems like there is a parade in the morning, though I don't realized that

Limo

Then in the afternoon, Bryan and I went to the Port of Orchard which is about 30 to 40 minutes drive from DuPont. The place is kind of cool actually and we went there to see the fireworks on a boat owned by the family of his friend. It was a freezing night actually and to see the fireworks outdoor is really no brainer - in fact, I could not even capture a decent shot of the fireworks mainly because of the camera and my hands are shaking furiously due to the weather, but I enjoyed every moment there with his friends.

Port of Orchard Yacht Club entrance

Boathouses

Walking towards the boat

Cabin space of the boat has almost everything from TV to fridge

Some random shots I was taking when my hands are shaking like crazy

If my hands were not shaking that bad, I would have get a decent shot of the fireworks

Well, guess I have to stop here since it is about time for me to go bed. Will blog about Vegas next time.

My Visit to Dupont - Gearing up for the 4th of July

2010-07-03T22:39:00.000-07:00

This post actually continue from My Visit to Dupont - Visit to the Museum of Flight.

Well the day after my visit to the Museum of Flight, I went shopping at the Factory Outlet at North Bend. I woke up pretty late that morning, if I remember correctly it was already about 10 a.m., so I quickly grab my breakfast and search for the GPS inside the car to get the direction from the hotel to the Factory Outlet at North Bend. Man, I have to drive like more than an hour to reach there.

Factory Outlet at North Bend

But, one thing that really blows me off is to see how big the whole outlet area. The whole area was like the housing area back in Malaysia. Yes, you still can walk from one end to the other, but it will still be very tiring especially if you are the kind of people like me who don't have the sense of direction.

All outlets have own shop and there are just too many branded goods that one can really imagine. The price for most products are really cheap compare to that we can get in Malaysia or even the shopping malls in the United States.

The first outlet I went is the Nike Factory Store. In fact, my car was park right besides the Nike Factory Store. I bought few clothes, a pair of shoes and a watch.

Nike Factory Store - where my car was parked right beside it

I also been to the Coach outlet which happens to be not very far from Nike, but spend most of my time browsing through the handbags and wallets and wondering why girls love Coach.

Next outlet where I spend my money is the Gap outlet where I bought clothes, khakis as well as new blazer and a pair of sunglasses. I also went to other outlets to buy new pair of sandals (as I did not bring along).

Man, I spend close to USD400 just shopping around the outlets, this not including my lunch and dinner and some tea break. Nevertheless, the shopping experience was fun and the things that I bought seems to value for money :p

Sawdust - here is where I get my cup of espresso of the day

Mongolian Grill

During one of the weekdays, I went window shopping at the Tacoma Mall, where I find the things over there are crazily expensive compare to the Factory Outlet. I'm not joking here. There are few things that I got at the Factory Outlet that I saw in Tacoma Mall and it is still like two to three times more expensive after their "discount". Too bad I did not bring my camera along as I went there straight after working hour because most of the malls in the area close at 9 p.m. I even have my dinner there - Japanese cuisine and it cost me a bomb. So, the lesson here is never to eat Japanese food in the United States. Don't get too distracted by the pretty waitress until forgot that you still need to pay after you eat + the tips.

It seems to me that everyone is gearing up for the 4th of July, in fact there are people selling fireworks and starting to fire the fireworks. Even as I was blogging this post, I can hear people firing fireworks. Well, it is not surprising as the citizen of the United States will be celebrating ID4 tomorrow.

My Visit to Dupont - Visit to The Museum of Flight

2010-06-27T22:31:00.000-07:00

This post actually continue from My Visit to Dupont - Part 1

Yesterday, I stopped blogging right before the outings in The Museum of Flight as I was a bit tired, plus the Death Race was showing.

Anyway, back to the outings, we started out from my hotel at about 11ish in the morning. First thing that we do is to stop by at the Bikini Baristas to get our cup of coffee of the day, while having a nice view of barista in bikini making our cup of coffee. Too bad, I did not manage to snap the pictures of the barista making coffee, but my plan is to go there some other day after work to grab a cup of coffee instead of having it from Starbucks, since we have Starbucks in Intel everyday and Malaysia also have Starbucks.

Bikini Baristas

Then we head to The Museum of Flight where we get to see a lot of airplanes and the information of each plane and some other cool stuff like Space shuttles, rockets etc. Here, we also get to visit the Red Barn - the workshop where Bill Boeing built his first airplane. Both of us also try out the cockpit of the Mach 3 Blackbird spyplane.

The Museum of Flight

Bryan is trying out the cockpit of the Mach 3 Blackbird spyplane

Red Barn

The coolest thing about the visit to The Museum of Flight is we get to go aboard the original jet Air Force One which is on loan from the National Museum of the United States Air Force. The Flying Oval Office is actually the Boeing VC-137B (707-120/SAM 970). SAM 970 has carried presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon as well as VIPs such as Nikita Khrushchev and Henry Kissinger. It would be nice actually traveling inside such a luxurious jet. Not only that, we also get to go aboard on the one of the supersonic Concorde which is donated by the British Airways. There are only twenty Concordes ever built.

Inside the Air Force One

This is where Mr. President had his conference

The cockpit of the Concorde

We called it a day after having a nice dinner in Red Lobster.

My Visit to Dupont - Part 1

2010-06-26T23:13:00.001-07:00

In the beginning of this week, I do not have the time to blog so much as I was on my way from Penang to the United States.

I depart from Penang on Monday evening in the Penang International Airport to Singapore Changi Airport and have few hours hanging around at the airport before taking the connecting flight to the Narita International Airport in Tokyo, Japan early next morning. The flight was about eight to nine hours and by the time the flight reach the Narita International Airport, it was about 3 in the evening on Tuesday. The next connecting flight to the Sea-Tac Airport is just around the corner and after passing through the airport procedures, I'm ready to fly to the United States and reached Sea-Tac Airport on Tuesday morning. It was quite funny because we actually landed before we even took off.

Here I spend about 2 hours to clear the immigration. At first, the plan is to get a car rental at the airport, but after waiting for quite some time, Bryan Fuchek and I decided that it will be best to take a limo service instead. By the time I reached the Red Lion Hotel in Olympia, it was about 3pm. Got a bit tired, so sleep through the day and have my dinner in the hotel as well.

Red Lion Hotel

Red Lion Hotel - Inside the room

Next day, Bryan Fuchek came to the hotel to pick me up to work before I got my car rental at Tacoma the following day.

My ride in DuPont

By the time I have the car I was already on the way to check out from the Red Lion Hotel on the next day. It was indeed a very short stay at the Red Lion Hotel, but it was not because of the service or room condition that I get back in the Red Lion Hotel. It is mainly because of the distance from the hotel to the workplace. I mean, it does not make any sense to drive like about 30 minutes every day to go office and back to the hotel. Some people might like it, but I prefer stay just about 5 to 8 minutes driving distance. In fact, I like the Red Lion Hotel and the breakfast there is just nice.

This is what I usually had for my breakfast in Red Lion

Anyway, I checked in at the Guesthouse International in DuPont on Friday just before lunch. The place is located just about 6 minutes drive from Intel DuPont, so it is really convenient to me. Funny thing is when I first fire up the GPS to guide me back to the office from this hotel, it took me back to Olympia before going back to the office. Guess, I just make a wrong turn which leads me back to the freeway all the way to Olympia and then head back north to the office.

Guesthouse Intl DuPont

Guesthouse Intl - Inside the room

Funny thing about the United States is that most shopping malls and restaurants closed at 9pm during the weekdays and 6pm on Sunday. Even shopping malls or most restaurants in Malaysia would close at 10pm everyday and if there is special events, they will extend the business hour. But here in the United States, it is just the opposite.

Another thing I find it hard to adjust over here is longer day vs night since now is summer. If I remember correctly, it will be bright after 4am and the sun will only set at about after 9pm.

After about a week in the United States, I like it here actually. Currently, the weather has been real good and the food here is just nice, though the portion would be a bit too big for me - in fact, I almost never finish up my meals over here. There are a lot of neat and cool stuff to be done over here and I've just came back from outings with Bryan Fuchek, however I'm gonna leave that next time as I'm quite tired and since there is cable TV service over here and is now showing Death Race, I might as well enjoy the movie while getting ready to sleep.

World Cup Kick off Today

2010-06-11T09:28:00.000-07:00

The World Cup kick off today and this will be the starting of the football fever all around the world.

The first match of this World Cup between the host, South Africa and Mexico and it was a thrilling match, especially towards the closing minutes. Anyway, the match ended 1-1 and although Mexico is dominating the match, they could not make the most of it.

Just Watched Prince of Persia

2010-05-29T09:05:00.000-07:00

I just came back from watching Prince of Persia at GSC Ipoh Parade. Was quite lucky that the free ticket from HSBC includes the Prince of Persia movie, so I get to watch the movie for free. Overall the movie is good, and believe me, it is not that bad after all.

Set in ancient Persia, Dastan comes to the rescue of another boy who was being unjustly punished, and thus gets the chance (unawares) to display his Parkour skills for the king kindly ruling over the land, King Sharaman (Ronald Pickup). The King already has two boys, Garsiv (Toby Kebbell) and Tus (Richard Coyle), but he decides to adopt Dastan nonetheless, and thus make of him a prince.

The real journey begins 15 years later when the Persians plan to attack the holy city of Alamut, due to some misunderstanding that the holy city is making weapons to the Persian enemies. And the adventure to protect the magic Dagger begins during a celebration when Prince Dastan was betrayed and "killed" the King of Persia - his father and made a run from the Persian troops before getting killed.

Read a whole lot more on the Prince of Persia in my Entertainment blog.

Came Back from KL

2010-05-22T05:50:00.000-07:00

I came back home from KL yesterday evening. It was a tiring but enjoyable 3 days 2 night trip in KL. I went there for my VISA interview and holiday in KL while my sister will be attending a 2 day course and my brother will be attending some briefing on his camp which is supposed to be held next few weeks.

Well, now that VISA stuff is settled, I hope I can blog more.

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-08T00:19:00.000-07:00

My mom has played an important role in my life all these years even until today. I just want to take the opportunity to dedicate this page, wishing her Happy Mother's Day!!

Of course, I will also wanna wish all mothers around the world the same.
Hope that this day will bring special meaning to all mothers!!

Long Absent from Blog

2010-04-12T07:59:00.000-07:00

Been some time since I last update my blog with real content, besides the Pay Per Post post, which I labeled as PPP. A lot has to do with the fact that I was quite busy over the past few weeks, and my mind was quite saturated writing articles. Other reasons include the slow broadband by the Celcom 3G, until I cannot load Blogger.com page. In fact, so long until I even lost my PR3 :(

Anyway, everything should be back to normal and I should be able to start posting, starting from my Money Master blog, and then updating the Celebrity and Entertainment World blog, but all still have to depends on the slow Celcom 3G connection. Hopefully it is getting better so that I can post more :D.

Listening to KARA's Lupin

2010-03-02T06:10:00.000-08:00

Kara - Lupin

Recently the weather was extremely hot in Malaysia until I do not have the mood to blog or write - one of the reason why my blog was not updated. Another reason of not blogging is because of the snail speed of the Celcom 3G Broadband, in which I plan to cancel and move to use TM Streamyx which can at least guarantee me a better connection than Celcom 3G Broadband. But since I have not blog for quite some times, I thought of blogging while at the same time listening to Kara's song, titled Lupin and on and off watching the Lupin MV which I have downloaded.

Kara, with the Umbrella song performance costume

Since last few weeks, I have been listening to songs by Kara. For those who do not know who Kara is, Kara is actually a Korean pop group consisting of 5 beautiful girls, Gyuri, SeungYeon, Hara, Nicole and JiYoung. However, bear in mind that these 5 girls are the new Kara, Kara-1 consisting of 4 girls, Gyuri, Nicole and SeungYeon as well as Sunghee. I really like their songs, especially their songs from latest release of the mini album titled Lupin.

Back to Work

2010-02-21T05:53:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a week off from work for me for this Chinese New Year (2 days public holiday + 3 days annual leave). Guess, it is time for me to warm up my engine to start working tomorrow. Will upload the photos over the weekend when I have nothing much to do. Still haven't upload the photos from the digicam.

Happy Chinese New Year

2010-02-12T22:56:00.000-08:00

I would like to wish every one a very Happy and Prosperous Chinese New Year. Gong Xi Fa Cai!!!

Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year is also celebrated by the Koreans as well.

Some brief information about Chinese New Year. Chinese New Year or the Spring Celebration is the most important traditional Chinese holidays and is celebrated in countries and territories with significant Han Chinese populations, such as Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand; as well as cultures with whom the Chinese have had extensive interaction which include Koreans (Seollal), Tibetans and Bhutanese (Losar), Mongolians (Tsagaan Sar), Vietnamese (Tết), and the Japanese before 1873 (Oshogatsu). Chinese New Year is sometimes called the Lunar New Year.

Preparing For Chinese New Year

2010-02-01T05:17:00.000-08:00

As I was writing this post, Chinese New Year is just two weeks away. Seems like times fly, the last round I blog about this cultural festival was last year. This year, I hope to post more about this cultural festival and the background of it instead of just wishing the readers Happy Chinese New Year.

Nien Gao that my mum made

Chinese New Year this year could cost a lot due to inflation, especially food prices which soar about 20%-30% which makes this festival expensive. Anyway, to start with, my family has been busy preparing for this festival, especially my mum. Over the weekends, me and my brother were busy dusting the house and removed the cobwebs. My mum successfully make sticky rice cake or more commonly known as "Nian Gao" today, which is presentable as well, before this she has been trying to make "Nian Gao" - the taste is ok, but looks a bit crumple. There are a lot more to do list on her hand, which unfortunately I will not be available to help her out.

Back to Chinese New Year, I am really looking forward to it and will be taking a week of from work, so it will be a holiday for me as well. As I have mentioned earlier, this year the Chinese New Year could cost a lot, so it is time for us to start thinking of ways to spend smart for this festival season, but at the same time don't look too stingy. I will try to post some of the ways in my Money Master blog. Till then, I'll keep updating this blog on the preparation.

Spending My First Weekend of 2010 in Kulim

2010-01-08T18:41:00.000-08:00

Will be spending my this weekend in Kulim and I'm sure it will be a bit boring, especially since most of my friends have already moved out of Kulim or at least went back to their hometown. Anyway, the reason I stay over the weekends is because of a friend's wedding dinner which will be held tonight in Sungai Petani.

I woke up early morning, then wash my car while trying out the GPS to see everything is working in order. Also washed my fan as well, and do some spring cleaning since it is a while when my parents was over here to do the spring cleaning with me. Blogging now while taking a break before heading for my shower and then lunch. Hope to continue posting every now and then in this year. In fact, it was one of my new year resolutions. :)

PPP request

2010-01-04T03:49:00.001-08:00

The straight library knocks the analogue. Not sure how it works, but PPP wants me to post over here to claim my blog.

Goodbye 2009 and Hello 2010

2010-01-01T04:11:00.000-08:00

Goodbye 2009 and Hello 2010 is what we have been talking lately. There is a lot of things that happen in the year 2009, starting with the rebounding of the stock markets, some of the famous deaths (MJ - sob sob and more recently Brittany Murphy) and the news of Michael Schumacher returning to the F1, but with different team. All those have little to do with us actually, but at least those are what's happening around. Let us all reflect what the Year 2009 had been to us. Was it good, bad or is there anything that we can do to improve? How was our relationship with our close ones? Or have we move to the next level of relationship and family?

It is too tough for me to summarize what is happening in 2009 in just one post, besides, I'm just plain lazy to blog it as well. For me, it is time to leave the past in the past, while carving the future. Past will always be a reference to me, so that I do not repeat the same mistakes over and over again. It is no point reflecting back what we did over the whole year, but not learning anything.

So, why not take some time to reflect on those while we have our New Year resolutions? What do you want to achieve in this year? Have you set financial goals for the year 2010 to be financially independent? Too many questions and too many things to achieve? Maybe it is really time to take our New Year resolutions seriously and execute what we have plan for the whole year of 2010 and what this year can offer us. Let us make this year a year of change that will transform each and everyone of us to a better person.

Goodbye 2009 and Happy New Year 2010!!!

Christmas 2009 Celebration

2009-12-25T20:49:00.000-08:00

Unlike last 2 years where we have BBQ at home, this year, my family plan to have a simple Christmas 2009 celebration. Simple here is defined by less workload preparing the Christmas dishes and everything at home.

We went to Maria's Cafe to have dinner on the Christmas eve night. The menu on the night was specially made for the Christmas occasion with all the food having fancy names. Overall, I do not like the food, neither do most of my family members, except maybe my father. I am not to say that the food did not taste good, but it just didn't suit me. I would not comment on the overall service as during peak season, we will see staff forgetting about this and that.

Me at Maria's Cafe

All of them

Some of the food that we ordered

Salad

After we dine at Maria's Cafe, we went to Starbucks to have a cup of coffee before heading back home to get and open our presents. Lolz!!

At Starbucks

Well, that sums up what I did with family for Christmas. Overall, it was a tiring day as I just came back to Ipoh on the day itself, and we also need to sleep early that night as we have to wake up real early next day for church service.

Blessed Christmas and Happy Holiday

2009-12-24T16:08:00.000-08:00

Wish you all a blessed and Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday!!!

Some Information on Coffee

2009-12-07T06:44:00.001-08:00

Prevent Alzheimer's disease by drinking five cups of coffee a day.
As remarkable as it may seem, scientists have conducted a study which suggests you can go a long way towards
preventing Alzheimer's disease simply by drinking five cups of coffee a day.

Gary Arendash, a researcher at the Byrd Alzheimer's Institute in Tampa, Florida, says giving mice with Alzheimer's
the human equivalent of five cups of coffee, or 500 grams of caffeine, a day has plaque-busting effects
and reverses symptoms of impaired memory in aging Alzheimer's mice.
The remarkable thing is that a simple cup of coffee appears to have more effect on preventing
Alzheimer's than the expensive pharmaceuticals currently being used to treat the disease.Can
coffee really prevent Alzheimer's? More studies will need to be done. But this early research is very promising.

Fiber in Coffee – there’s more soluble fiber in coffee than there is in orange juice
At first sight, the notion of fiber in coffee may seem like nonsense.
But the fiber found in coffee is soluble fiber. You can’t see it, but it plays a very important function in our health.
In fact, it’s dietary fiber of the soluble kind that helps prevent cholesterol from being absorbed by the intestines.
Recent findings by researchers in Spain suggest that levels of soluble fiber in coffee are higher than anyone expected
- higher than the levels found in either wine or in orange juice.
Interestingly, the highest levels are found in instant coffee, not in fresh ground coffee.

Coffee may protect against oral cancers, according to a new study from Japan.
The study included information about diet, including coffee consumption.
Among more than 38,000 study participants aged 40 to 64 years with no prior history of cancer,
157 cases of cancer of the mouth, pharynx and esophagus occurred during 13 years of follow up.
Compared with people who did not drink coffee, those who drank one or more cups per day had
half the risk of developing these cancers, Naganuma's group reports in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Your risk of developing skin cancer is reduced by taking exercise and drinking coffee.
Drinking coffee appears to lower the risk of developing skin cancer.
A research team at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey,
has shown that a combination of exercise and some caffeine protects against the destructive effects of
the sun’s ultraviolet-B (UVB) radiation, known to induce skin cancer.
The caffeine and exercise seemingly work together in killing off pre-cancerous cells whose DNA has been damaged by UVB-rays.
So if you like coffee and take a little exercise as well, it sounds like you’ll be protected.

Coffee and heart disease – coffee drinking actively reduces your risk of dying from heart disease.

A study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine examined the relationship between coffee and mortality.
The results show that those who drank more coffee had a lower risk of dying of cardiovascular disease [heart attacks].
The association is explained mostly by a decrease in cardiovascular disease deaths, Lopez-Garcia says.
Women who drank two to three cups of coffee a day, for instance,
had a 25% lower risk of dying from heart disease than non-drinkers.
In addition, researchers from the SUNY Downstate Medical Center and
Brooklyn College have discovered that drinking plenty of coffee protects the over-65s from heart disease.

Coffee isn’t a treatment for anything, least of all heart disease.
But it is reassuring to see that as each month goes by, more and more studies are revealing a
broad range of health benefits associated with drinking coffee.
Coffee is not only delicious, and the perfect way to wake up each morning, but it is also good for our health.

Coffee and Diabetes – studies confirm that coffee drinking reduces the risk of the onset of type 2 diabetes.
Medical researchers have been aware of the beneficial connection between coffee and diabetes for many years now.
If you feel that your family medical history or lifestyle put you at risk of getting
Type 2 Diabetes, then drinking coffee can significantly reduce that risk.
Diabetes affects an estimated 18.2 million Americans, and the number rises each year.
Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of the disease, and prevents the body from producing enough insulin.
Increase your brain power with coffee – a natural and effective stimulant.
This is something we all know anyway. You increase your brain power with coffee every morning when you first get up.
And when our concentration and focus begin to flag at work, we take a coffee break and perk ourselves up again with another cup.
We all know that coffee is a mild and natural neural stimulant, and don’t need scientists to tell us this.
That said, it’s reassuring to know that there are studies confirming what we already to know to be true.

NOw this if for all of ur gymers and joggers..
Reduce post-workout muscle pain – by drinking two cups of coffee before you start exercising.
It may sound a little unlikely, but a recent study indicates that drinking coffee can reduce the muscle pain you feel after a workout.
More specifically, the study looked just at women who were not habitual coffee drinkers.
It was in this group that drinking two cups of coffee before a workout seemed to help so much in reducing muscle pain.
(If it worked for the women in the study, we don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t work for men either. Not that we’re medical experts.)
Here’s what researcher Patrick O'Connor of the department of kinesiology at the University of Georgia said...
"A lot of times what people use for muscle pain is drugs like aspirin or ibuprofen,
but caffeine seems to work better than those drugs, at least among women whose daily caffeine consumption is low."
Better than aspirin or ibuprofen? That’s pretty amazing, when you think of the number of people who take
over the counter pain killers to ease their muscle pain after exercise.
The researchers did add one cautionary note, however. Two cups of coffee, for the caffeine,
is about right. But don’t go crazy and have five coffees instead. You may end up having heart palpitations or, at least, a case of the jitters.
Anyway, it’s good to read about yet another study that shows coffee lovers some of the benefits of drinking our favorite brew.

Study affirmed coffee's benefits for its high level of antioxidants
Researchers from the University of Scranton released on August 29, 2005 that coffee is the No. 1 source of antioxidants in the American diet. Antioxidants are substances or nutrients in foods that can prevent or slow oxidative damage to our body.
When our cells utilize oxygen, they naturally produce free radicals (by-products) which can cause damage to other cells.
Antioxidants act as "free radical scavengers" and hence prevent and repair damage inflicted by these free radicals. Fruits and vegetables are hailed as the richest sources of antioxidants, but this study shows that coffee berries actually have a higher amount of antioxidants than tea and it is the main source from which most Americans get their antioxidants.
Both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee appear to provide similar amounts of antioxidants.

Coffee constricts blood vessels
Coffee is also a diuretic - it constricts blood vessels and can dehydrate. So, the known side effect of taking a lot of coffee is dull skin.
However, if you limit your coffee intake and take lots of water after that, there is no reason why you should cut your regular cuppa out of your diet!
However, the properties of coffee and caffeine in constricting blood vessels might prove to be a goldmine yet.
Research has shown that using caffeine topically on the skin can help constrict the blood vessels, helping those with rosacea, and reducing dark eye circles or puffy eyes. Coffee is also a well known ingredient in helping reduce cellulite.
In fact, the Avon cosmetic says that caffeine is crucial in a good cellulite cream! Now who said caffeine was bad again?

Friday Again....and Long Holiday!!!!...... And Selamat Hari Raya!!!!!!

2009-09-17T07:49:00.000-07:00

Well, guess what, tomorrow is Friday and it means weekends is coming. Friday is usually the most relaxing day in the office, while at the same time, it can be tension enough. Why I would feel tension on this day? It is because I will be rushing to go back to Ipoh and sometimes it happened that when I was driving, they will be issues back in the working place. Nevertheless, I also enjoy working on Friday, coupled with the long break and weekends just around the corner. But tomorrow Friday will be a little bit different, because there will be two public holidays on next Monday and Tuesday. With this long break, hopefully I will be re-charged.

One more note though, the long break is because of Hari Raya, a celebration by the Muslims. So, here I would like to wish all the muslims who will be celebrating this Hari Raya - "Selamat Hari Raya!!!"

My Car Got Scratch....ARRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! - Photo edition

2009-09-14T06:26:00.001-07:00

Today I use my handphone to take the pictures of the long scratch. Not sure whether it can be wiped off using wax or polish. If it cannot be fix, most probably have to fork out some money to temporary fix the scratch :(. Reported out the incident, now waiting for them to tackle to culprit.

This post continue from My Car Got Scratch....ARRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

My Car Got Scratch....ARRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

2009-09-12T05:22:00.001-07:00

Yesterday when I was about to take my bag from my car, I was soooooo angry to see a long scratch from the front door till the rear light. Arrrgggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh...........The worst thing is this incident happen at the car park of my work place. I will need for either repaint the whole car, or wax or maybe polish on Monday so that the scratch is not so obvious. Anyway, it still ruin my mood.

The good thing is there are CCTVs around the car park in which one or two of it might have recorded the incident, and if we happen to catch the culprit, most likely I will ask for him or her to repay should I take my car for repainting.

Come on people, we have already been living in the age of civilization, why do we have to act so......"uncivilized". Vandalism is something that I cannot tolerate, not because this round it happens to my car, but because it will create a lot of hardship for others.

Will post the photo on Monday or Tuesday night to show the severity of the scratch.

Happy ID, Malaysia!!!

2009-08-30T21:22:00.000-07:00

Malaysia is celebrating her 52nd independence day today and I just wish the nation to prosper and just hope that the 1Malaysia concept will really be practiced by everyone. Happy Independence Day Malaysia.

Attached together with the post is a clip of the 1Malaysia song:-

Blogging it My Way: I'm back blogging :)

2009-08-24T16:14:00.000-07:00

Blogging it My Way: I'm back blogging :)

I'm back blogging :)

2009-08-23T22:34:00.000-07:00

The last 2 weeks.....I saw a shout from Ria C about me not posting for a while. Indeed I've been missing doing other stuff until I neglected this blog and finally the blog losses the Google Page Rank as well.

In actual fact, I should have a lot of things to blog, starting from Mother's Day, Father's Day, my birthday....Lolz, daddy's birthday and many more things happening around me. It is just the usual shadow of myself - laziness has once propped up and I did not even find the time to upload the photos from the camera as well.

I wanted to blog here last week, but then, was on MC the whole week due to fever and flu and then sore throat, which took me one week for recovery.

So, again, I will try to remind myself to be more discipline and to blog on and off in this blog to avoid my Google PR to be removed. Hope to visit all my blogger friends' blog again. :)

Award from Neno's

2009-03-16T05:59:00.000-07:00

After some time not able to post on this blog and check this blog for all the chat and comments left by others, I was quite surprised to get an award from a blogger friend, Nenoneno.

The aim for the award:-

As a dedication for those who love blogging activity and love to encourage friendships through blogging.
To seek the reasons why we all love blogging!

How the award rules going is as below:-

Put the award in one post as soon as you receive it.
Don’t forget to mention the person who gives you the award.
Answer the award’s question by writing the reason why you love blogging.
Tag and distribute the award to as many people as you like.
Don’t forget to notify the award receivers and put their links in your post.

The reason I love blogging?
The reason I love blogging is because that is where I can share my thoughts with others, at the same time meet other blogger and we can share our thoughts as well. And the one important thing about blogging is it is also fun and relaxing because I can shout our anger, rant over the net whenever I was upset about things that happens in life.

And here I am to share with some of my blogger friend:-

KianHin, Ria, SHY, Carlos, Kal-El.

Thanks Nenoneno.

Tired and Saturated

2009-02-26T06:01:00.000-08:00

This week has been crazy to me. I usually take things very easy at work, as I believe I have all the capability to solve issues within time. But this week is different story. First, when I reach office on Monday morning, suddenly I was told that I will be the owner of MID product. Not that I don't want to own the product, I have so many products in hand and most of the products are still in development stage and some are still seeing issue at the customer's site. I'm not the only one worry about taking the ownership of that product, most of the colleagues also same. I was lucky though, as my manager asked my workload and bandwidth before committing to the other manager regarding the product ownership, hence I rejected it and in the end, another guy will take over the ownership of that product. Then I was requested to do some looping test over one of the board which has ECO (the looping still ongoing now). Next another board also required looping as we are seeing some issue in customer site and the design engineer did some ECO to the board. This is not all. I'm still in the learning phase of developing an executive to run test program and was already assigned to do some of the more advanced development. Well, I do enjoy my work, but at the same time these workloads were enough to almost prevent me from blogging as I'm quite saturated and exhausted. Anyway, just to vent out something that come across my mind. Again, I would like to stress that I enjoy my work, but this week has been real crazy to me :)

Prejudice and Despise

2009-02-24T05:10:00.000-08:00

During the last weekends, I was talking with my brother regarding my attitude towards others and his reply really kept me thinking. To me, there are different classes or ranking for each people, family and friend as well. Taking myself as benchmark.....some will eventually falls to higher rank than me or lower rank than me or just the same rank. Everything is just based on my perception taking into account a lot of things (in which I won't be able to disclose it). What I hated most is that I judge others so harsh and that I judge my family members even harsher. It's like for those not so close to me, their passing marks can be just 20%, and they are like the same rank as me, above the passing marks meaning they have high ranking. For those closer to me especially my family members, I'll set their passing marks higher like maybe 3x or 4x more. Eventually my perception as the Judge leads to some straineous relationship with some others falling under the lower ranking. In actual fact, I will despise those from the lower rank category, if they do not show any initiative to change to better.

This one attitude, which my brother told me, makes me lose respect to those I despises, even family member. His feedback really troubles me, as what he told me was quite true. I have becoming someone I have hated to become.

I will really have to change from becoming the man I despises. Not only it has change me to become an arrogant monster, it also ruin some of my relationship. Well, guess I'm done venting my anger towards others....now it is time for me to change to become better. Remember.....I despises those who do not want to change to become better, especially when they are from lower rank category.

Political Turmoil In Perak

2009-02-11T04:52:00.001-08:00

This post may come in a little bit late, but still I want to post it because it happened to my beloved hometown. While the Chinese were still celebrating Chinese New Year, or at least still in the Chinese New Year, something 'BIG' happened. It's the switch of power from PR to BN. Probably this is one news that is very hard to swallow by some people, but still BN will rule Perak as of now until further changes..........maybe few other by-elections, Sultan suddenly changes his mind, some politicians change mind and jump to PR.

The situation is pretty simple. Perak Sultan couldn't agree with Nizar to dissolve the State Assembly, and give the power to BN to rule Perak. BN and PR both have 28 seats. While dissolvement of the State Assembly is what the Perakians expected, the Sultan proved to them everything is possible. Many Perakians feel that they were robbed of democracy and that they deserve to choose again if there is snap election going.

Probably the biggest mistake is that PR welcome the assemblyman from BN a week before. The way PR choose to welcome those who leave BN is opposite the PR's principle which is for the Rakyat instead of Power. The acceptance of the assemblyman make it looks as if PR is strengthening, or at least still have more seats than BN, even though at that time 2 assemblyman from PKR (PR) were about to leave the coalition. While dissolvement of the State Assembly looks a better choice due to uncertainty, PR choose to just accept the assemblyman though there's discussion on the possibility of getting a by-election if there's defection.

Next, by judging at the situation, the unity among the PR component parties are still in a doubt. It is always more transparent and open if the component parties have their own stand and principles. But, the way Karpal Singh voice out for the president of PR to step down makes them looks like sore loser.

The PR may have lost the battle at the moment, but if PR is to win the heart of the Rakyat, PR has to become an effective opposition and stand up for the injustice and to stand firmly on their principles, for the Rakyat, snstead of wasting time to go politicking. In this way, people will know that PR is for them. The PR government has been doing quite well during their 10 months as the Perak, so it only make sense if they continue their good job as opposition.

BN, on the other hand, force their way to become the Perak Government. Given the way they provoke the anger of the Perakians, this is definitely their last chance to prove their worth. I am quite positive we can see more development happening in Perak as if BN cannot deliver during this 3-5 years, this could spell the end for BN reign in Perak.

With this political turmoil, it gives the Perakians one very valuable lesson, which is we cannot put our trust on some Tom, Dick and Harry politicians just because we do not like the other party. The politician should stand firm by his or her principles. Another lesson we get from the situation is never let one party to have slim win. If they are to win, let them win by a miles, well at least if the defection occurs, then it will not happen so easily. Or the best way is to propose a ruling to prevent defections to occur.

As of now, I do wish all the best for BN in their reign in Perak. As for PR, we all feel for you guys. You all have been a great government during these 10 months stint. But, sometimes you need to lose a battle to win the war. BN might have won the battle this round, but if they cannot deliver, in the next GE, PR will have convincing win, provided PR also do their part in becoming an effective opposition.

Chinese New Year Photos - Part 2

2009-02-10T06:03:00.000-08:00

Yesterday marked the final day of Chinese New Year which has been ongoing for 15 days. It was consider the so-call Chinese "Valentine's Day" where the females will throw mandarin oranges and the males will be fetching the oranges (of their other half) at the other side. But I think this tradition is not practiced anymore.

Anyway, here are the continuous photos from the Chinese New Year.........

Continue from the "tea" session from Part 1

Getting red packet from parents :)

Next day, at my 1st uncle's house visiting them and my grandparents (father side)........

1st uncle and his family (one of his son don't want to take the picture)

My father, 1st uncle and their parents, my grandparents :)

Me (white shirt) and my brother Kian Hin

At night, we go Old Town Kopitiam "tea" session again............

Tai Ka Jie

Kian Hin and Yen Leng
Mum and Dad

Me and Kian Hin

My younger sister and me :)

2nd day.....prawn "Har"(which sounds like laughter) day at Tualang

The place

Har - sounds like laughter

My cousins

With grandma
The Young family

The Hiong family

Busy eating....Kian Hin is the cameraman because he don't eat prawn

The result from me ..... actually this is 1/3 of it

My cousin camwhoring at my house

That's all the 2 days Chinese New Year photos...

The political situation in Perak is in quite a mess since the Chinese New Year, which I think could be a good topic to blog on my next post. Well, I'll see how as I want to stay as neutral as possible.

Chinese New Year Photos - Part 1

2009-02-04T06:59:00.000-08:00

The Chinese New Year celebration reach the 10th day and I have all the photos that were taken during the first two day of the Chinese New Year and the Chinese New Year eve.

Today I will post those taken in the Chinese New Year eve. :)

Having 'Yee Sang' in my grandmother's house. 'Lou Yee Sang' means increasing in abundance.

Still Yee Sang

A closer look at the Yee Sang (鱼生)

The reunion dinner

Have to split in two tables, cause the table is too small :p

Back home, while awaiting for "tea" session, we watch some Chinese New Year specials

Nien Gao for our "tea" session

Helping out in preparation

All the food are ready

Moody To Work

2009-02-02T06:21:00.000-08:00

Well.....today is the official day at work after a week off from job. I woke up 5.45 am and then hv a shower and took my breakfast at home in Ipoh. Then at about 6.30 am, I started my journey from Ipoh to Kulim, the place where I work and stay during the weekdays. The journey to my office took about 2 hours, when I reached office and parked my car, it is already 8.30 am. I have a meeting at 9.00 am, which will be reschedule to 11.00 am next round. Basically this is the only meeting that I have on Monday. So, usually on Monday, I will be kind of moody to work. Maybe because I need to wake up early, so it will be kinda tiring. Next after the meeting....all I do was just check and reply emails.....which is not tough, as most of the people were on leave the whole last week. Then I take online course....and after that surf net. Feel like there's something holding me back from really working, but anyway, this is usually the case after long break. Let me take about 2-3 days to come back to reality where I need to really work things out. Another "bullshitting" post here again. Sigh....when will I regain myself....Lolz.

Signing off here for today. Hopefully the next post won't be this kind of bullshit. But I've already downloaded Chinese New Year photos to my laptop, so I think I can post on what I did during the Chinese New Year next post. :)

Back to Business

2009-01-28T06:10:00.000-08:00

Chinese New Year is now on the third day and I have beginning to feel a little bit bored. Well, with 4 more days of break, I think I'd better be back to business first. I am starting by a bit of blogging, reading others blog and doing some reading on business news. In one way or another, I feel like my mind is blank and having writer's block...or blogger's block. Anyway, it is good to warm up the engine first. When I'm back to work, I will need to do a lot of thinking.....Lolz!!!.

I've been wondering how other bloggers' friends are doing....I know some of them, still in Chinese New Year mode like me, was lazying around or hanging out with other friends and families.....but for us, Inter networking has become part of our life that we will go online from time to time to check on others....maybe to have short post in their blog...etc. Some might already posting their Chinese New Year activities, photos, etc, while some like me, still sitting around doing nothing but to post some craps.

Well, I have running nose since the first day of my long break. Sigh......Maybe I really need to go consult doctor to get some advice. Lolz........I do have enjoyable moment during the 1st two days of Chinese New Year and the Chinese New Year eve. Will be posting some photos of the moment in my next post and in Facebook.

Happy Chinese New Year

2009-01-22T06:21:00.000-08:00

It's been holiday mood and Chinese New Year mood for me this whole week. Well, I'm always in holiday mood, especially when I know I'll be having long break few weeks ahead. Next week, I'll be taking 3 days off from work, so it'll be about 9 days of holiday starting this Saturday. Been looking forward to this from the 1st day of the year. The radio station started to play the Chinese New Year songs, meaning it's coming soon. Real soon. Well, for all the Chinese around the world, this would be a time for gathering, meeting up with family members and celebration. For me, it's time for celebration, meeting ups and also rest. Chinese really likes to word 'Fa' which means rich, prosperity, etc. So, to all Chinese readers, Happy Chinese New Year....and Gong Xi Fa Cai!!!!

Crappy Internet Connection

2009-01-21T05:24:00.000-08:00

While I feel like updating the blog, it seems to me that the service provider is showing me otherwise. You see, whenever I try to login to blogger or gmail, it seems like there are 1/3 of the chance that I won't be able to do so. Even when I try to search using google....there will be time where I won't be able to do so. At first, I thought maybe Google want to cut cost, that's why it shut down some of the sites/servers, but my msn connectivity also sucks to the max. There's chances where my message cannot be delivered, or I cannot receive my friend's message, or even worse the connection drop. Sigh......Can't they provide better service for us? I thought previously TM told us that the connection will be back to normal after New Year? Well, now is 3 weeks after and we are still facing the same crappy connection. Well, I could be wrong, when the actual problem lies with my PC and laptop, but I really don't think so. To TMNet, please, please buck up your service. Any disruption to the service, please tell us, the consumer up front. Do not sweep everything under the carpet. That's all from me for now while still facing the crappy internet connection. :(

Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining

2009-01-15T06:48:00.000-08:00

Know what does "Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining" mean? It actually means that you should things will still work out find in time of difficulty. It is a reminder for us not to feel hopeless or unhappy if we are staring at difficult times as difficult times will always lead to better days ahead.

It's been a rather up and down week for me. First, I was totally disconnected from msn in the office, which makes me rather boring working. I still can use web based msn messenger like web messenger, ebuddy etc, but that is just sooooooo boring. Some will say that it is a norm that we cannot go online chatting with friends when we are at work, but that is just so not me. I feel like, as long as we can deliver our task on time, we should be given our freedom. Freedom to do our own things while we are working. In fact, sometimes idea come in when you are chatting with friends. Ok....back to the up and down. Then, today my laptop hard disk crashed. I wonder whether it hits any of you before....after hibernating Windows XP, when you boot up the next day, your hard disk has a lot of errors until it cannot be accessed directly. You have to scan disk and fixed it first using another PC before it can be accessed. Anyway, it was fixed and I can blog, though I will reschedule for my laptop major repair at IT center in my office. That would take about a day, so I have to rushed my work and upload everything before taking my laptop for repair. I was also busy from like Monday till today, but I've already expected it, especially when Chinese New Year just about 10 days away. So better rush everything so that I can enjoy the holiday. The ups for this week is that I finally finished up all the assignments, which means I will be able to enjoy my Chinese New Year holiday and my msn connection was fixed. Guess, "every cloud has a silver lining" is true. I was very upset when my I cannot login to msn and was feeling worried when I see that the IT technician cannot access to my laptop hard disk content before using Windows XP build in scan disk to repair it, but in the end everything works out fine for me and I get to enjoy my holiday. Imagine what it would be if I did not finish up the task assigned to me.

Another reason I want to blog about this idiom is a reminder to everyone that everything will work out right even though we are staring at the worst recession ever. So, always remind ourselves, "Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining". So be happy always and enjoy every moment in our life, in good times, bad times.

Plans

2009-01-07T07:09:00.000-08:00

Every year, there will be a time where we will be feeling a bit motivated to plan out what we are to expect throughout the year, what are we planning to do etc. Usually this happens at the very beginning of the year...or maybe at the end of the year where we will be planning ahead for the next year.

But.....is planning good for us? I remember there's a quote by the Joker from "The Dark Knight" movie..... "Do I really look like a guy with a plan? You know what I am? I'm a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it. You know, I just... do things. The mob has plans, the cops have plans, Gordon's got plans. You know, they're schemers. Schemers trying to control their little worlds. I'm not a schemer. I try to show the schemers how pathetic their attempts to control things really are." Then we come to a cross road.....do we need to plan or just follow what the Joker says......dog chasing cars?

We should keep in mind.....with plans there are possibilities of failing. But that should not defer us from planning. We should continue to plan and learn from our past mistakes.....and not follow what the Joker has said.

Planning motivates us. It also give us a sense of direction, well, at least it is true to me. I feel that sometimes I forgot where I'm heading when I strayed off my plans. I'm not sure how about others.

Maybe most of my plans worked out right. But, I still remember there was once things do not go according my way. And I was really like what the Joker has said....that how pathetic I attempt to control things, when the fact is most of the things might not go according my way. It's way beyond my control. Well, I learned from it though, and now I still continue to plan and will continue to plan.

So, what are your plans for the year?

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year 2009 to everyone

2009-01-05T05:19:00.000-08:00

It's been 2 weeks since I last update this blog. The reason is pretty simple.....celebration, enjoy, etc until I seldom logon to my PC to even check emails, facebook, play games etc. I just login once in a while to maybe blogwalk, or reply MSN messages. That's all.

It's been kinda long holiday for me, though I still work in between Christmas and New Year 2009 (2 working days as I only take 2 days off). I was like going shopping malls like daily from Christmas day till New Year Day and then fall sick in between the 7 days of "the favourite time of year". Well, it's been like celebration or festives mood inside every one of us in the family. First, the Christmas Day. Then is the New Year Day. Next, my parents' wedding anniversary. And coming soon will be the Chinese New Year. :). I do hope the festives mood or celebration mood will continue to flow, so that everyone of us will be happy, though I'd be happier if I have more money to spend. Some of the pictures taken during this festives/celebration mood:-

Me and my siblings posting with our "head gear"

My parents

My granny and her daughters

Granny taking her presents - she wanna go sleep, but after that we video call her son (my uncle in England) and she woke up just to check on them in England

Yen Leng with her "present" from her boyfriend, my brother as Jovian looks on

Posting with her present??

This is something from Yen Leng....kinda nice

Water baptism in Church but never really go through the church service as I go shopping mall after that, but I can tell you, the hall is fully occupied

Something I make on New Year's eve

Mum and my brother gearing up for the next festival - the Chinese New Year

Still them from different view

The blossom plant with some lightings....trying out the effects

Celebrating parents' wedding anniversary at Yeolde English

Well, it's so coincident that today is the 12th day of Christmas.....well, I know it from my favourite radio station DJ and it has something to do that last day of getting Christmas presents or something like that. Well, even if it is the 12th day or whichever day of Christmas or even though it is not Christmas, it is still ok to give gifts to someone. As the saying goes, "It is better to give than receiving". And I know that GOD will bless those who give.

That's all the updates from me. Will continue to blog....and hopefully I will still have the mood to blog on the Chinese New Year season, where I'll be having a week off from work.

Christmas Preparation - Part 3

2008-12-22T05:20:00.000-08:00

Over the weekends, my family and I were busy getting ready for Christmas. All of us are really in Christmas mood. Even right now, I can still hear the same Christmas songs play over and over in my head.

We re-arranged the house furniture, so that the living hall will look bigger and can cramped more people in it. Then we finish decorating the Christmas tree, "fireplace" and also do some minor cleanup. My mum was marinating chicken wings - we are going to have BBQ that day plus something like potbless/potluck where every guest will contribute to the food as well. We also go shop for more junk food and other food to ensure that everyone will be full that day.

Our house "fireplace" which is 70% done

Mum is busy preparing the chicken wings

The marinated chicken wings - I'm sure it's delicious, well, at least that was what others comment on the wings previous year

Going to the nearby Tesco to buy more food etc

Trying out the new hat with my younger sister

Mum and my elder sister continue to decorate the "fireplace"

Even my younger brother's girlfriend also help out

Trying out the effect.........

Now, it's mum's turn

Well, that's all the preparation that I've been involved with. I'm sure there are other things to do, but I will not be around, as I'm back to work in Kulim.

Anyway, while I was blogging about this, something come to my mind. While we all have in mind, Christmas is like celebration, presents, Santa Claus, Jesus Christ, gathering etc. But do we really know what is the real meaning of Christmas? I'll try to post about it on my next post - and hopefully I get the real meaning of Christmas right......As for now, Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!

Signing off,
Jason Toh

Blogging it From Tags

2008-12-17T05:57:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure how tag works. But recently I got a tag from Ria and now blogging about it while I'm free. I was quite tie up with my work as I've just started to learn some of the coding and I have to do write the code based on the people's style, which makes it more difficult for me. Anyway, finish the coding and now waiting to test the code, though I'm positive it will work the way I want it. Anyway, back to the tags, and thanks Ria for remembering me:-

Places I would like to visit and why

Europe - The fact that I still never get a chance to travel oversea spurs my intention to visit Europe. Europe is very unique in a way that inside Europe itself, there's a lot of nice places such as The Stonehenge and Eiffel Tower. Besides that I can also visit to my favorite football stadium, Old Trafford - as I've been a Manchester United fan all the while.

The Stonehenge

Eiffel Tower

Old Trafford - Home ground of the Red Devils

Japan - Well, this place only come out to my mind all of sudden and it's also because I heard a lot of pretty girls in Japan, and since I'm still single, why not give it a shot. L0lz.

Tokyo Night View

China - Well, no specific reason except The China Great Wall and also this is where my ancestors live before migrating to Malaysia. Anyway, I still have some relatives over there, so it would be very nice to keep in touch with distant relatives as well. Not to mention Hong Kong is nearby China, which means if I go China, then I'll be visiting HK as well.

The Great Wall of China

The United States - When I was still a kid, I really like the States. Why? Apparently I myself also do not know the reason. Anyway, the States have places like Hollywood and Disneyland which I'm sure will be fun to visit.

Disneyland

Hollywood

New York City at night

Blogging it My Way and Awards

2008-12-11T06:00:00.000-08:00

Finally I can post something on awards. I've blog walk to other blogs and I found that some have awards. Then it comes to my mind, is there a way I can have it or anyone can nominate me? Well, one blogger was kind to me and nominate me for 3 awards, well at least it's something. The rules are pretty simple.

1. Put the award logo in your blog

2. Add the link of the person who gave you this award

3. Nominate at least 5 (five) blogs

4. Add links of the nominees

5. Leave a message to the nominees

All three awards were nominated by nenoneno. Thanks, nenoneno.

So, I've fulfilled first two rules. Now for the tough part.........the nominees are:-

1. KianHin

2. Eric

3. Ria

4. Carlos

5. SHY

Third and fourth rules also done. For the fifth rules, I'll just drop them a shout regarding the nomination. That's all for now. Cheers!!

Christmas Preparation - Part 2

2008-12-09T05:12:00.000-08:00

This post is to continue what I stop from the 1st part.

Yesterday was public holiday for some, well, at least for it was public holiday for me. I was still in Ipoh until this morning. Well, I went shopping for more Christmas tree decoration with my brother and his girlfriend at Ipoh Parade while waiting for my sister who was having her ACCA examination at Sunway. There's quite a lot of people doing their Christmas shopping as well, surprisingly, since not everyone was off yesterday. Anyway back to my own Christmas shopping, we just buy additional Christmas tree decoration, but amazingly still chalk up the bill up to more than RM200. Then we can also take a look at the camera fair as my sister was planning to get a new digicam, which is waterproof. Anyway, we have decided not to buy at the moment, partly due to my sister was at the exam hall. We leave the shopping mall at about 5++pm to fetch my sister at Sunway. Then we headed home.

After having my dinner, I started to decorate the tree with the new decorations that we bought at Ipoh Parade with my parents and sister. My brother was at his girlfriend's house at the moment. So, we decided not to wait for him. We decorate the tree ourselves. And the finished project.........

After.....with new "red" decorations

This picture might seems familiar....well it was at the Part 1 post, but just to re-post to compare the before adding in the "red" decorations, just plain gold

Next step, decision on whether to just have potluck or potbless or with BBQ together. Food preparation will be up next.....but I won't be doing that.

Slow Broadband Connection

2008-12-03T06:12:00.000-08:00

I've been facing an extremely slow broadband connection over here. I begin to wonder, is it just me over in Malaysia or all people are having the same problem. If everywhere also the same, then could be google? To be honest, I'm not only facing slow Internet connectivity when I'm back at home. Even in the office the whole network sluggish like "snails". When I try to load gmail....it will stuck like forever, until I refresh. Then when I go to forum, sometimes, totally cannot load. Then come Facebook. When I try to play the Pet Society.....the interface lag like grrrrrr.....dunno how to explain anymore.

Then something come up from my mind. Is it recession that most hosting server reduce their servers? Or my company cutting cost....so cut down on the broadband? Or is it TM which recently releasing the not-so-good financial result that prompt them to cut down oversea connections or reduce the number of connections to oversea servers?? Well, there's no prize for those who manage to guess it correctly. And worst thing is I still need to bear with slow broadband connection. And I thought broadband was supposed to be fast. Lolz.......

Anyway, I do hope that the SNAIL CONNECTION will back to the usual and the supposedly FAST CONNECTION

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

2008-12-02T06:08:00.000-08:00

50% of the Christmas tree at Suria KLCC

The bottom half of the tree.....and the gift boxes are humongous

Commercialized Christmas "feeling" at Sunway Carnival Mall

Just a short post on Christmas. It seems that most shopping malls beginning to decorate the area with Christmas trees, presents and loads of other Christmas decoration. I only attached the decorations from 2 shopping malls, but that was from 2 different states as well. One shopping mall is from Sunway Carnival Mall from Penang, which is the northern region while another is the famous Suria KLCC (famous for expensive things....^^) from KL, which is the central region. Well, from the 2 malls, we can definitely know that the Christmas mood is everywhere....well, at least that is true from central region to northern region in Malaysia. Santa Claus is coming to town. ^^

Counting Down to 2009

2008-12-01T04:57:00.000-08:00

When I look at the calendar at my Windows taskbar, I realize one thing. We are moving forward to 2009. In fact, after another 30 days, we will be in year 2009. It means that there will be start of something new. And also reminds me about the lyrics for High School Musical....Lolz. It seems that time really flies and we won't be able to turn back and re-do or un-do whatever things that do not go according to our way. It's actually better not to do something that we will regret. Anyway, back to 2009....I wonder, how many of us started to plan our Plan 2009? And how success are we in achieving our 2008 plans? How many of us totally forgotten what we have planned in the first place?

Anyway, was not really available over the weekend and was without Internet connection - I mean private connection. I cannot really blog from Starbucks or Coffee Bean or places with Wi-Fi connection. I was attending my friend's wedding. She was actually my course mates back in the Uni days and we were also in the same group for our thesis. Really wanna congratulates her as she already started the new chapter in her life - as a wife and life partner for Max - Max is her husband's name by the way. As for me, still stuck as beings ingle stuck at the same chapter. I wonder when it will be my turn. As for now, I will enjoy my freedom.

Not Connected

2008-11-27T05:27:00.000-08:00

It's been 2 days since I was disconnected from the Internet world. Call me an Internet addict or whatever you can think of, but to me disconnected to the Internet really seems like a big deal. The Internet has brought me closer to family and friends. Imagine, we are more than 100km apart, yet we can talk/chat like no tomorrow, we can continue to share what is happening around our place. Some might argue that we can do that using phone. Yes, it can be done, but at very high cost. To be honest, Internet and telephone has really change the ways people connecting each other. The two media have coverage almost everywhere in the world that we can get connected with each other without having to be at the same place. The faster Internet connection, called broadband is getting cheaper and affordable, thus we can video chat with our family and friends. A lot of chat applications such as MSN and skype are getting more and more popular, and with the webcam integrated to the laptop or the external webcam is getting cheaper, more and more people are using video talk with their family and friends. Web connectivity applications such as Friendster and Facebook make our bond with old old pals closer. We can check on their daily updates (if they ever update their profiles) or continue to message each other. Gone are the days where we email or mail them, and wait for them to respond. Now everything seems to be realtime. The moment we send out our message, they will get it, and can easily respond us (almost realtime). And Facebook also has the laggy chat program that enable us to chat with our pals whenever they are online. So, it will really be tough for me to go through the days without Internet. It has become neccessity instead of luxuries, well at least for me. I cannot speak on behalf of others. But one thing for sure, kids from Gen Y onwards will find it hard NOT CONNECTED.

Christmas Preparation - Part 1

2008-11-24T05:45:00.000-08:00

When you walk about the malls this few days, you will surely see the Christmas decoration around. This is the indicator that Christmas Day is near. And it also means one thing to my family, preparation. It is always a joy thinking that the Christmas is near, always looking ahead of this day. It is a day where all Christian gathers together to celebrate the birth of Christ and at the same time the whole world is partying. It also means 1 week before we "Start of Something New". Anyway, back to my house preparation. My brother and his girlfriend and me setting up our our house Christmas tree with decorations.

Setting up the tree "foundation"

Clueless on what to do next

Great. Tree setup is done. Up next, decoration and lights!!

Still working in progress

Tada!!!!!

We have good news and bad news. Good news is, we are getting more decoration for the tree. Bad news is the tree is only halfway done!!

Family

2008-11-20T05:22:00.000-08:00

Sitting in the living room, watching the TV series about the legendary Bruce Lee, I'm feeling a little bit boring, which is why I blog - Lolz. I mentioned before that I have a lot of after-work entertainments. Well, it seems to me that has no longer valid, mainly due to the fact that I have already finished that TVB series - Moonlight Resonance. Well, the shows stressed on one thing that I have always agreed with. It is the importance of a family and that family should remain the top priority in our life. I might be stressing the importance of wealth and money on other blog - Money Master and it looks like I might be contradicting with myself because I have stressed on the importance of money and then now saying that family should remain the top priority in our life. Well, it's actually not. The way I put the header on the Money Master blog - (Making money is no easy job if you treat it as a burden but once it becomes your friend, that is when cash flows in. Becoming the master to money rather than slave to it helps us redefine the whole idea of earning more - it's more like the money working for us.), I'm stressing on using money to make more money........which is why I will always stressed on investment. Ok....let's not stray from the family topic.

For those youngsters working outstation like me, we will always think that we have freedom to do whatever we want, and our parents are not here to nag us. Well, yeah.....in the beginning, we really enjoy the freedom. Imagine, hanging out till late night with friends without getting nag from our mother or father who will not be having a restless sleep unless all their children are back safely home from an outings. I do understand that most parents really care for their children. I do not really think that there is any parents in the world who would not care for their children. In fact, their care have most of the time become annoyance to most of the youth. Sigh. But nevertheless, I do believe at one point of their life, they will see the importance of family and the gathering with their family members. Imagine....how the environment if eveyrone from grandparents till grandchildren gathers together enjoy their quality time together. Anyway....Youth....I suggest that you really enjoy your time with your family, as not all of us are so lucky to be working and staying so close to family members.

I still remember one part in the Moonlight Resonance series, where the eldest brother telling his younger siblings that everything has change. They cannot always gather together like when they are young. Each of them has their own life and lifestyle to go through. He might be right in one way or another. When all of us grow up, not all of us are working at the same place or area. Some might be working outstation or even oversea....have their family established over there. But he's not right in a way, he sort of exchanging his family for money, though in the end he regretted about it.

I can frankly speaking...spending quality time with family members is priceless. Until now, I still remember our Cameron Highlands trip. It's not the place that is making it so special. It is that I gather together with my siblings and some of my cousins. Some cousins might be annoying or our siblings may argue with us for the sake of arguing....but, I still think that is the fun part. We communicate. We annoyed each other. We beat each other up. We scold each other. We ....well, do a lot of things together.

Well, I think I should stop here. My mind sort of saturated with all the issues in the office and my heart already in hometown....since today is Thursday. I will continue to post.....maybe blogs on what we did in Cameron Highlands trip? Well, see how my laziness level go.

Yahoooo!!! It's Pay Day!!

2008-11-19T05:39:00.001-08:00

18.30 - Feeling restless.....Turn on the wireless router and modem
18.40 - Connect laptop, get the internet connection
18.59 - Open the browser application, in my case I'm using Firefox 3.
19.00 - Login to my Internet banking account. Check the account summary.

Joy...and smile formed on my face. At last, after a long wait, (well, actually just about 30 days or less).....my salary bank-in.

NOW - Recession mode - over!!! (Well, at least over for now)

Hahahaha!!!!

Monday's Blue

2008-11-17T03:57:00.000-08:00

Have you all realize one thing? Time seems to pass slower on Monday compares to other days? And it seems like most people are suffering a thing called Monday's Blue? Compares to other days...I do not really like Monday. Call me lazy bum or whatever, I just don't feel like doing anything on Monday. Could be I've been lazying around during the weekends....thus the effects continue on Monday? Anyway, I've been having a REAL Monday's Blue today, as I was not feeling very well. I left office earlier, just to go back take a nap....and after that (now) I still don't feel so good. Usually.....yea, on Monday, I will not feel like working or doing anything, but today case totally different. It's so REAL to me that at one time I feel like doing nothing at all - not even blogging, though after that I've been getting a bit bored, so decided to blog on this Monday's Blue. Hopefully it will go away.....and will not continue tomorrow. Well, wish another Blue Monday to those that are having a day different time zone with me. LoLz.

Funny Clip from Youtube

2008-11-13T07:38:00.000-08:00

Today is Thursday

2008-11-13T05:56:00.000-08:00

Today is Thursday..............again!!! I've been eagerly waiting for Thursday every week. Although I might be busy over the week.....I will still be looking forward for Thursday. Every Thursday after work, I will have the relieve kind of feeling and say to myself......"Yes!! It's Thursday evening again." And on Friday morning, I'll be gladly to go work whether I have early morning meeting. Some might be wondering why would I be so happy if it's only Thursday and I still have one more working day to go. It's simple only. This is because there will be longer break on Friday lunch, thus can spend some "quality time" with my friends over here. Then, it also means "Balik Kampung" to me. And I missed my family soooooooooooo much. And I miss the food in Ipoh and also my mum's home cook food. I can definitely say that I have home sick feeling every week. From my uni days where I was staying in KL, I actually went back home sweet home every weekends maybe on Thursday or Friday and only go back to KL on Monday. Now it's the same. Going back on Friday after work and then go back to work in Kulim on Monday morning. I'm actually very glad to work in Kulim area - because it is close to my hometown and my family. Just 2++ hours drive, so it's quite convenient and not so tiring if I drive back to Kulim on monday morning. Besides, I only drive once in every fortnight. So, it is not that expensive-total expenses would be about RM100 per trip. The other week when I'm not driving, I will go back with my Dad. I'm actually very thankful to God that my dad actually works in northern region, so we can go back together once in every fortnight. Not only that, sometimes I can go Penang and stay with him. It's still better spending some quality time with family members than doing nothing over in Kulim, except maybe blogging? Lolz!!!!

Exhausted

2008-11-11T06:05:00.000-08:00

Phew!!!.........Sigh!!!.........It's the only thing that I can think of recently. Already not getting enough sleep during the weekdays in Kulim as well as weekends in Ipoh, I was stuck with a lot of stuff from office. I have always wanted to have Work Life Effective, so, I do not think working extra hours will help. But seriously, issues keep on coming in. And I have only managed to solve about 50% of them, and 50% still pending or holding. Then I also need to start learning new things. To sum up.....I will be very very busy until end of the year. Some people might think.....why this guy ranting about on his blog while he can do his things instead. To be honest, after work, I do not want to think about anything related to my job. This is what I call WLE-Work Life Effective. But it seems to me that 8 hours in office really not sufficient to sort all the issues out.....especially the production will continue to run.....thus, issues......and backdated issues unsolve. With holidays creeping up next month, my mind actually switched off and focus on the wrong thing,....which is what to do during the holidays. So my issues will be delayed. Luckily for me, there's not much development running at the moment, even if there is, my buddy will take a look first, since she will be fully owning the product in the future. Anyway, it seems to me that I always feel exhausted.....at work, after work, etc. I can say....I dun really feel like working...or waking up at all. I can't seems to get enough sleep, even though I try to go bed earlier than usual. Is it because age is catching up, like what I usually tell others?? Lolz!!. Or maybe I am overloaded with caffeine? I drink about 4-6 cups of coffee per day, though one cup of the coffee in the office is about 1/2 the cup i drank at home. Could be also right? Though it is normal for me to take few cups of coffee per day. I've been doing that since the uni time. Maybe I should try reduce the coffee intake, while at the same time, think of ways to improve my fitness. I do not want to be exhausted all the time. It just don't feel good.

Blogwalking.....

2008-11-04T07:49:00.000-08:00

Recently I have been blog walking to see how other blogs design and the topic for the blogs. Well, did not really get their idea or steal their idea, but I do notice one thing which is quite obvious. There are several blogs that I visited where the bloggers are mother/wife. Seems to me that gals can write or blog a lot better than guys. Most guys will write on specific topics but ladies seems to be able to express themselves very well on the Net. When guys want to blog something on personal stuff, it will be a disaster, like me. Is it because I cannot really blogs or I will lose the commitment to blogs or I'm not good in expressing myself? Dunno.... anyway this is just a short updates.

P/S: Blogging while watching Forensic Heroes

Not Bored Anymore :).

2008-11-03T04:50:00.000-08:00

I was searching The Star Online for tonight's TV programme as I know I will be very boring after work if I do not have any TV programs to watch or any other form of entertainment like playing PC games, drawing etc. After looking through it for some time, then I realized I will be spoilt with the amount of TV programs that I can choose from. First is the cantonese movie in TV3, Unmatchable Match starring one of my favorite actor, Stephen Chow. It's actually an average cop flick stars Stephen Chow before he go full time comedy. I know a lot of people might say, "It's a repeat. Watch other movies or series better." But I'm a bit different. I always watch Stephen Chow's movie, though the movie might have been repeating for 2-3 times a year. In fact, I do have his movie collections. Next selection for the day is Forensic Heroes............again with my favorite actor and actress in it. Bobby Au Yeung and Linda Chung stars in this TVB series. I did not manage to watch it last time, nor I could not get a copy from my friend, thus, this TVB series is a MUST. Now I'm only stuck at 11pm-12am time frame when both are on air at TV3 and NTV7 respectivesly. Nevertheless, I will keep on switching the channel from that time onwards, so that I will not miss both. Then, I just realized that I need to catch up watching one new TVB series that I had recently. Been watching 12 episodes during the weekends with my family, and the series is soooo excited and I hardly can wait to finish it. Coming up soon will be Heroes Season 3 and then Smallville. Seems like I will be spoilt with these choices from this week onwards. Anyway, watching TV programs might just be one of my entertainment. I still need to practice my FIFA game, as I've been struggling in the World Class difficulty. Well......I can also blogs a bit and also maybe start plotting and drawing comic to past my free time in Kulim. Looks like in the end, I found myself something to do during the weekdays. YES!!! In the end, I found something that I can do to past the time. Hopefully this can last longer before I started to get bored with these activities. :)

Irritating and Annoying Sound

2008-10-29T05:37:00.000-07:00

Just had my bath and feel very annoying with the sound of the firecrackers. This annoying and irritating sound has been bothering me for some day....eh, no....weeks. It has been around since before Hari Raya. I cannot get enough of sleep because of this but I was quite ok in the beginning since I think that people have their right to have festive celebration. But not for them to continue after the celebration. I thought Hari Raya was already over for weeks and Deepavali was also over. I think there are still some fools around my housing area in Kulim playing with this fireworks and the sound is really annoying and irritating. What on earth are these peoples thinking? Don't they know that Hari Raya was over? I don't really remember people celebrate Deepavali by playing fireworks/firecrackers. Besides that, I thought all the while that firecrackers/fireworks are illegal in Malaysia, no? How I wished someone would report to the police and get these people arrested. Or can someone please give me the nearest police station telephone so that I can call and make a report myself. But please, please don't reply with 999 because I seriously do not think this is so urgent until I need to call the 999 hotline. Anyway, after ranting a while, I do feel better :)

Blog reboot

2008-10-28T07:25:00.000-07:00

Did not update this blog for quite some time. In fact it's almost 1/2 a year since I last update the blog. So it is time to reboot and revamp this blog. Sometimes I find it hard to maintain so many blogs. Not that I want to have so many blogs....but I do actually find it more appropriate to have different blogs to blog on different subjects. Like in my case, Money Master is finance + money related postings. I want to commit myself to blog at least one post in one of my blogs, to keep the blog going rather than letting it die off just like what I did previously for this blog.

Time do pass by without us noticing. I really lose track on what I've been doing these 6 months. Every day in my life was blur........day by day just passed by without me realizing. I feel that 6 months were wasted just like that. 6 months just passed in the one eye blink. How I wished I can turn back time and redo the whole thing; spend my time doing more practical stuff, though I really cannot find anything practical to do in Kulim during the weekdays :D, which is why I'm thinking of blogging to express my feelings, and at the same time to pass time. Everyday I worked for 8 about hours in the office, and then sleep for about 6-7 hours max, so I roughly have about at least 9 hours to do my personal stuff like blogging, some house chores etc. If these personal time is well spend, I'm sure that I won't regret it when I look back on what I did throughout the year. Cheers ;)

Been out for some time

2008-04-22T16:29:00.000-07:00

I've not been updating this blog lately. Well, let's just said that sometimes it is difficult to maintain so much blogs. Anyway I was on the mood of reading blogs lately more than to write it at least. And well, I came across this blog which I found very interesting. And I'm going to put it into my links. Anyway it was about the

Microsoft's Imagine Cup

I love the way the author of the blog put it, that this Imagine Cup actually encourages risk taking as well as innovation. The Earth Day activities done by corporate companies have been kinda empty to be honest and to read of this is what that really gives that sort of encouragement.

The Imagine Cup is an annual competition calling on students around the world to create technology applications that make the world a better place. There are video game and digital arts categories, but the one that interested me most was software design -- seven finalists from colleges and universities around the country competing to find ways to improve the environment, reduce carbon footprints, and make smarter use of natural resources.

And one of the participating students actually said it more concisely. "We're trying to do something that hasn't been done before, merging creativity with innovation and technology."

The Imagine Cup was part of a two-day, Microsoft-sponsored event in Los Angeles built around innovation and technology. Writer and PBS personality Tavis Smiley lauded this morning's participants and attendees for their ideas and contributions. "Courage, conviction, and commitment is what it takes to be an innovator," he told the audience, composed largely of local high school students. And most people never summon the courage it takes to risk failure. "The greatest ideas in this country can be found in graveyards," Smiley said, recalling something his grandfather often repeated. "Most people never act on their great ideas and take them to the grave instead."

That courage piece got forgotten later in a sidebar among some panelists over whether China and India are technology's new leaders, and which country is the most competitive. What I appreciate about competitions like this is the encouragement of risk-taking, where failure is a real possibility. It's a place where every country and culture could benefit.

I was really encouraged by the imagination of people and more so, people who dare to risk to succeed. It remind me of the person by the name Thomas Edison. He quoted this "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."

I believe that is what it takes for people to go far not in terms of invention alone, but also in other areas. Everyday a person imagine of something new. But the question is how much risk are we taking for that imagination to become reality.

2008-03-09T05:41:00.000-07:00

My brother has been doing very well with his blogs actually. In fact, I think he is really getting into the mood of "blogging". What does it really mean when we said do it the BLOGGER way?
Probably a name that will help us to connect with many other bloggers, and in the long run, help us to expand our world view and eventually giving us more inspiration to live on in this world that is full of "tragedies" in a way.
What sort of "tragedies" that I am talking about? The kind that neglect the people who are poor. Not to forget the pollution that keeps going on in this world. And the nuclear weapon that destroys the lives of mankind just by a blast. Nothing seems to matter any more. Lately it was the GENERAL ELECTION in Malaysia and we are seeing how people trying to make a change by supporting the Opposition parties. Don't get me wrong...no political agenda in this blog here...nothing about DAP or BN. In fact, I think that the Government has been trying to do what they could to build Malaysia into a better place. Probably just not good enough, which is why the voters are making some changes this year.
But these "tragedies" actually are happening everywhere....in the States, England and many other countries. How many of us would react if other people criticize the "GODS" that we believe in? I just cannot understand the fullness of the "mess" in this world. Yearly production of handphones, batteries, computers and many other goods contribute to the "GLOBAL WARMING". How consumerism is killing the world is unimaginable and as much as I hate to admit it, with me blogging now as well as getting new handphones, I am making this world a more POLLUTED place to live in,
Well, probably we are caught in the "system" of this world and never mind what is being written and said about on "Earth Day", it does not matters the next thing when money becomes the topic. This blog seek to be part of all these mess and learn to live with it, and also to make a difference in all of the "ugliness of this world".
Probably my brother did it a better way to send the message by sharing his personal life, but I believe that it is a matter of time that we need to engage on topics that are more than just "us".

2008-02-26T07:36:00.000-08:00

Been quite busy these few days with my work. Although busy, I am quite satisfy with the jobs and projects given to me. More projects given meaning more learning opportunity. Though I am quite tie-up with all the projects, but I will always ensure I have a balance working life. Which is also another reason why I update this blog. WLE or Work Life Effective is the working culture that I want in my life. I believe no matter how busy we are, we must always ready to leave our jobs after working hour. Of course at times, I do work round the clock, but at times only and not always. I have a feeling that we can actually finished the tasks assigned to us within our working time if we have good time management. Some people might think that I am lazy or not dedicated to my job. But, I'm not. I feel that I'm quite dedicated to my jobs. It is just that I always remind myself to have a balance of working and personal life. As a matter of fact, I am always punctual to work and sometimes I start work earlier so that I can finish my tasks. I'm different compares to a lot of the employees here. Some will always try to abuse the flexibility given to us. Coming late to work, but "cabut" quite early, not coming to work at all without notifying others and take the annual leave given to us, and etc. Is this because we are Asian? I come across a lot of companies giving flexibility to their employees oversea, but not in Asian countries. I wonder whether it is true that Asian will always abuse the system. However, I'm thankful to GOD that he provide me with a job that provide flexibility in Malaysia as well, cause I'm not the kind of guy who would like to stuck with the sign-in, sign-out thing.

2008-02-23T07:42:00.000-08:00

Why do we blog? This is the question that I asked myself when I see my younger brother blogging, who will be the co-author to this blog as well. Few months back, I did not like blogging as I did not like to express my feelings or thoughts to others. But after going thru some of the blogs, I began to realize that blogging is not only expressing ourselves, but at the same time connecting with others and share our knowledge with others. It is sort of another way to socialize with others via the Internet. I used to think bloggers are those lone rangers, geeks and those without anything to do with abundance of free time to blog. But come to think of it, if a blogger has very few activities, what is he or she gonna blog about? Some really blog for the sake of blogging. I do come across intellectual blogs, which really enlighten me. If we are stuck troubleshooting our pc, some blogs might in fact help us out. Some bloggers give step by step instruction on how to do something. Some bloggers give reviews on certain subjects, such as cars, movies, etc. Reading these blogs mean that we are able to see how others perceive on certain products, and not just based on the producer of the products. The producer will be bias, of course. While bloggers can choose to be bias as well, not all blogs will be bias. So in one way or another, when we read these blogs, we can roughly know how others feel for the products. Blogging can be fun, but at the same time it is time consuming, and to some others, blogging can be stressful. No matter how we perceive blogging, I still think it will be a good experience to blog. It can be use as a tool to help think out of box.