Life Journal

2009-01-21T18:31:00.002+08:00

CREATE TABLE users (ID MEDIUMINT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY, username VARCHAR(60), password VARCHAR(60))

2009-01-21T18:02:00.003+08:00

General Election 2008

2008-02-24T19:43:00.004+08:00

Election is back. And this is the time you get to see the incumbent YB. What a pity. They still have this kind of culture in this millenium. Then, better have election as frequent as possible, just for the sake of getting the potholes covered and gravel roads turned into tarmac, in fact I saw one short small path in front of somebody's house was also coated??? The YB must be so desperate...

The PAS has FAILED to keep their 40 years old promise this time! Wind change, direction also change maaaaa...I think its going to back fire badly. You imagine the ulamaks who have been devoting their lives toward this cause for the last 40 years, they have put in everything, time, wealth, position, everything. And suddenly they say we need is a welfare state, not Islamic state. It sounds like welfare is better than Islamic. What a narrow minded leadership. Yeah, it's going to back fire and it's going to be like never before!!!

To me with this kind of politiking, they are not going to contribute anything to the country. Forget about who will win.They should have played their roles better. They really have wasted a lot of resources.

I am not going to elaborate on what and how they should do things, but definely they are not growing up!!!

Blog updates...

2008-02-17T11:22:00.001+08:00

With this transmission, my blog will always be updated!!!

Enjoy.

Vacation 101

2008-02-10T23:40:00.000+08:00

It has been a long time since the last time I mingled at this site. Life has been very very very busy lately, but, finally I managed to steal sometime for a vacation.
I went to Sabah last week. What wonderful vacation it was!
We went to the islands, we went to the city, we went to the valley as well as the mountain!That summed up it all. But the best place to me was the islands, the Tuanku Abdul Rahman Park which consists of 5 islands.We went to the Manukan Island and in a nut shell, it was wonderful. Langkawi or Redang could be better, but Manukan is just wonderful.
For 3 days 2 nights vacation in KK, I am happy with the outcome.I have seen beautiful beaches, mountains, cultures, faces and many new things that have never came accross my mind before in my entire life. The best part of this in-exclusive vacation is that you get to see the real faces and cultures first hand.
Kedai Mamak is really a phenomenon in Malaysia, the same thing happens in KK. Kedai Mamak is everywhere in KK, what a rescue!The last lunch before we got into the airplane, we had it in KK town, at the rear part of Le Meridien Hotel. The restaurant is called Happy Muslim. What a unique name.Business was so good that we have to wait for the table!The best part is that the waitresses were moving so swift and cheerful, that I thought having a roller skate just will make the scenery as good as in movies. If I were the owner, I'd pay her more than my own salary!
In Blue Ocean Strategy, they stressed on creating a niche of your own for your product, using the strategy canvas blablabla...But you can see that the formula simply doesnt work everywhere if you go to Pasar Kraftangan KK near the waterfront.
Everybody was selling the same thing, T-shirts and crystal accessories. When I enter the market I asked myself, how are they going to sell all these similar accessories, I got the answer some 4 hours later.We have to buy another bag just to fill in the souvenirs!
To wrap it up, 3D2N trip to Sabah is just too short as the venues are distance apart.But with what we've gone through, it was an action packed vacation, from sunrise to dinner, I am looking forward for another trip perhaps to other continent next time!

F1 is back!

2008-01-03T21:42:00.001+08:00

Last season I was almost lost hope on Raikonen, before he started winning his way to the top of the table. I've been his fan since he was with Sauber, and the most unforgettable one was when he won 3rd place in Sepang, in a Sauber Petronas!
He is a good driver, most analyst claimed that he lost in the McLaren because the car cant suit his robust driving. But Ferrari, with undying fighting spirit, kept struggling to improve the car and fnally, voila! the car that stood him completed.
He won the 07 F1 Championship with a mere 1 point!!! I have never seen such a close championship before.
And this year with so many changes and the most worrying Ferrari fans is the fact that the technical director Ross Brawn has changed camp to Honda.I believe he is the key man that had made Ferrari so competitive that they can overcome literally whatever challenge.
Go Raikkonen!

Welcome 2008!

2007-12-31T22:52:00.000+08:00

We are just an hour away from the new year. Looking back at 07, all I can say about it, is that, what a fantastic year it was!!!I expected it to be excellent about this same time a year ago, but didnt expect it to be this superb. A promotion which was very long over due, taking charge of a planning group in a multinational high tech corp, completed the first delivery of the project which I started exactly a year ago, what else can I ask for. I always believe that every time you have to go through trials & tribulations, there is a reward waiting for you up there. The harder the trial is, the greater the reward will be. And it never fails me. Because in the Quran it said, Allah tries you with the burden that you can take, never will he burden you with something that you cant.
For 2008, I have a lot of role to play, targets to achieve, need to keep myself solemn as the pressure is getting higher. Target no.1 go back to 70kg at the end of the year.Realign that spare tyres!Healthier life with more excercises, need to recover this cervical spondilosys.
Spiritually, need to control the pressure as work load is increasing these days. Hope Ustaz Ahmad Mustafa can do some help.Need to strengthen the spiritual aspect of me.
No.3, now the mental aspect. Need to read more, this time I will buy the book about planning which I saw at Narita Airport last June, just buy it this time.Like the book said, you have to work like 60 men!Dont ask me why 60, I havent finish reading it.I am thinking of doing an MBA, but time is just not on my side, may be a book on Corporate Finance can help.

Finally, praise Allah, The God of the whole existance for all his blessings to me and my family, amin!

Another Bhutto is gone...

2007-12-29T15:47:00.000+08:00

People riot in the street to this tragic news. I still wonder why people support her with their lives. Seing our Malaysian leader developing this beautiful country, I dont see the value of her struggle, beside being the puppet for America.
For the people of Pakistan, perhaps they love her for the idealism of democracy that she is fighting for. But emotion aside, democracy is not the ultimate goal, it is just a tool to achieve a greater goal.More than democracy, they need development.
People might say that without democracy you cant develop. Lets take Singapore for an example.They dont practice democracy, but they can develop the country.Education is more important than democracy. Cut the riot and you can put education into action.
And people will grow from there on...

Happy New Year!

Capello to the helm!

2007-12-21T21:32:00.000+08:00

Either he is a German or an Italian, only be he the manager to her majesty's soccer team. What an excellent call. The coach who was fired after u-turning Real from the brink of catastrophe to winning the La Liga last season in just less than 4 months!
What the English need is "passion". This is the ingredient that they dont have. A German coach, Hitzfelt or Otto, will be to stiff for the tea lover. Voeller or Klinsman will be lack of the tradition that they require. A Dutch will be to technical, which they are not so in need.
An Italian is a perfect choice, because they can win the world cup just with passion. Imagine a team that won the world cup, 6 matches, with 10 players scoring goals. Canavaro, Materazi, Zambrotta & Grosso, all 4 defenders scored during the final stage, needless to say about their strikers.Only their goal keeper didnt score, but only let in 2 goals. Still remember how much I hate Rossi for scoring 2 goals for Italy to beat Mighty Brazil, in the last 8 of WC 1982. 2 "curi ayam" goals that wasted the talent of players like Zico, Socrates, Eder, Falcao and gang. But that's the quality of a world champion, you dont need skill, style, whatever! All you need is only the passion to win!

Injury time...

2007-12-15T00:24:00.000+08:00

I just got back from a dinner with the state government, where I witnessed a lot of "cultural show". First, we culturally dont respect time! Culturally refers to a rampant practice of disrespect of time. The guest of honor was late by 15 minutes and dare to make the " time is money" statement in his speech.
I told my Japanese friends that if politicians got hold to the mic, till lightning strike do they part. I told him, the shortest politician speech will take 30 minutes and bingo, the CM speech took exactly 30 minutes. My friend must have thought that I am some sort of a clairvoyance?!
The first 10 min, everything was according to the Shakespearly written text, and the next 20 was turbulence melodramatic grandmother story. No direction, he just didnt want to stop!
From where I came from, they can have a convocation for a university faculty with 6 departments consists of more than 600 students in 30 minutes! And that was Japan. They built their civilization just with that one resource, time! Time to think, action, analyze and improve. They dont have gold to mine, tin, silver, needless to think of oil. They have got nothing. The soil is not fertile enough for commercial plants except for rice or corn. They have literally nothing! But they have time, that's why they treasure it so much. Their trains timetable book is as thick as your pocket size dictionary and you wont find any single late train anywhere, any time!
Once a support Japanese member from our sister factory was already turning red, because after 5 minutes late, there was still no sign of anybody coming? He was almost screaming. Perhaps because we have all other resources that have made us ignoring this unrecreatable resource.
When I was on my first trip to Japan, a Malaysian told me that he perceived Japanese as an economic animal, as they work very hard for this worldly satisfaction. I tend to think the same way when I was a student. But after years of working in Japanese company, that perspective has changed. How do you feel owning or driving a Japanese car, electrical goods etc? I can say they are reliable. Would you change them for any other origin? For me, a definite no!Thats is the price we have to pay for a satisfied customer. It takes a lot of work to make customers happy with your products. They are not economic animal, they work hard for their sense of resposibility to their customers and their company. We are the so called religious, but are we responsible enough with our products/services?
Some might say, if you work smart, perhaps you could solve it in a shorter time. But to them, if you can solve it in a shorter time, then you should be able to find some other things to solve with your spare time. Time is precious!

Liverpool vs MU

2007-12-04T23:58:00.000+08:00

Back to soccer again. I think I like very much about Liverpool, is that they can always come back from the edge for a dramatic win, just like what they did in Turkey 2 years ago, they are coming back strongly into European Club Championship.
Since Benitez has voiced his confident of challenging Arsenal for the League title, and they have shown that they can defend well this season, my confident level of Liverpool taking the League title also increase to somewhere around 70%. To go beyond that, they have to convince me by beating MU this month. With Torres and Crouch exploding, and the defence showing no sign of clumsiness, beating MU will be the clearest sign of them winning the league title this season.

What say you? Poll corner on your left hand side.

There's another cruncher on the 16th. Dec, later game of the day, Arsenal vs Chelsea!!!

England is OUT!

2007-11-23T19:39:00.000+08:00

This is very late, anyhow, I just wanna make sure this material be apart of my life journal. 2 days before the game, Astro was talking about this particular game so much, and the commentators especially Merson & McMahon was talking about the talents and poor decision by Macca that drove the team into such a lousy performance ever in the English football history.
I am not an English fan, I would prefer to cheer for the Germans as they have the quality of a champion. To me there are 3 factors that differentiate English team to the like of Germans or the Italians.

1)Passionate football, the fighting spirit that the Italians and the Germans have are something uncomparable in Europe. English have only 40% of what these 2 teams have. The British Bulldogs character are no longer with the players. They cracked and demotivated under pressure. The Germans and the Italians were conquerer, they play with confident against any team on the planet. Passionate football underline superb self confident and excellent fighting spirit.

2)Goalkeeper, this is the department that was not obvious until they lost like a school children to Croatia. Macca was dumb enough not to do something about this, just do away with what they
have. He could have hired Italian or German goalkeeping coach to scout and develop talents. As long as they dont have the solution to this, the nearest they can get to the trophy perhaps, the last 8!

3)Organize, they are badly not organize. Look at the second goal. Italians & Germans are so good at this! They need to build up the game, solidly, no loop holes, fast and sharp in creating opportunity, and agile in defending and attacking.

To sum it up, the coach is terribly sub standard. If he had recognized these factors, he must could have done something about this as they have been around since the 80s.

Year End Sales Called Off?

2007-11-20T20:57:00.000+08:00

Last August I wrote in an egroup that the best Merdeka gift Proton can bestow us, is to call off the share sales and turn the ship around on their own. The news is out, the year end sales has been called off. The only sales call-off that I am happy about. Congratulations to the management team who had turned the flag bearer around.

Well its not that difficult after all, not the technical issues that have been dragging the mother ship sloppy all these years. We dont need another Ghosn or Stringer to the rescue, a local boy can do the job. But what I regret most is that the challenge is not the competitors, not an external one. To change the mindset of the people in the organization was the biggest hurdle!

At below RM5, that is a bigger sale to grab!

Injury time score, Liverpool 2 Arsenal 2.

Art, a matter of preference?

2007-11-16T08:10:00.000+08:00

What draw my attention to this issue is the fact that last fortnight Carta Era's winner Anuar Zain with the legend-to-be "Lelaki ini" was dethrone by a comedic song by Apek, yes that not so Apek, Apek. Anuar, having put all his resources to put together all the best musicians, arranger, back up vocals, being dethrone by 5 minutes-one-take recorded song! That is what art is all about, nothing to do with quality, nothing to do with techniques, looks etc. People like what people like. And most importantly is that, never measure arts with scientific gauges!

Arsenal is leading next door!

EPL, Tighter than ever...

2007-11-14T08:18:00.000+08:00

The competition is getting tighter with top 5 teams are separated by less than 5 points. Arsenal is leading the pack but they havent go through the down turn yet, while others, Chelsea, Man U, and Liverpool all have gone through the bad times and still within striking distance to the league leader.
Chelsea, despite the departure of Maurinho, still leathal and having a jolly good time winning. MU, eventhough they are not as sharp as last year, but they are still winning and their back line is still solid as ever. Liverpool, better than last time, but the variations between the players, is the cause to the unsolid organization.
Who do you think will emerge champion this time? Cast your vote at the poll!

Where will the monies go?

2007-11-12T12:16:00.000+08:00

US$ is sliding further as more investors lacking confident in the greenback. Many called for further interest rate cuts but the question is will the money goes into buying US$ to keep equity market as well as the currency stable?

What will happen if the interest rate goes down? Fix income instrument in the US$ denomination will be less attractive, at the same time equity which already taking a beating due to subprime uncertainities will be further deteriorate as the currency is dwindling. This all-bad cycle, the currency, equities and fix income instruments, cant be stopped just by adjusting the interest rate alone. What Malaysia did last time was examplary, get out of the system!!!

The more liquidity in the system is, the worse it's going to be for the greenback as more monies will be rushing out!

2nd Meeting

2007-11-10T10:51:00.000+08:00

Wokay friends,
I've got the clearance from Sipot. Tonite's start at 8PM. Calling2 all reachables.

If anything, contact me at 012 679 4656.

Marketing

2007-11-10T09:28:00.000+08:00

Saturday morning, is the time for marketing, or to be precise, "wet marketing". If you love good food, then wet marketing is something that will motivate you (beside getting the newspaper) to get out of your house in the early morning. Pasar Tani in Andalas is good spot for this event.
Lot of fresh fishes, meats & vegetables that will make your lunch menu proposal list longer than the grocery bills!

Wokay, tonight see you all at Sipot's house. Anyway I'll confirm the venue by lunch time at this blog. Dont miss it. If the spot is not available then, our first choice will be at Shoru. Our special guest tonight will be Kodiang and Sam K! Ko'diang will be here until Sunday, and Sam K has been here, since I dont know when!

Need to go out for some sweatin!

Inferential Statistics

2007-11-09T17:16:00.000+08:00

What is this statistics thing? This is the things that I've picked up in my life time education program. This is interesting as it helps me understanding events scientifically. It helps me doing research to understand phenomenon that I observed and put them into numbers and equations so that we can improve the outcome of the events for our benefit.
It involves process capability analysis, measurement system analysis, hypothesis testing, design of experiment, statistical process control etc. Perhaps I'll be writing about it bit by bit in my blog.

Till then...

Cervical Spondylosis

2007-11-09T11:59:00.000+08:00

I got this one in early 05, a sudden big sting on my left arm while I was sitting watching TV with my family. I thought "what vodoo is this?". I went to Darul Syifa' to get verification, and they advised me to see the specialist. What an accurate prescription.

Later the MRI verified that I have few cervical bones crushed and one dislocated into my spinal cord. Life has been different since then. I've been hospitalized for many other reasons, but this one is the worst one, in terms of recovery. I dont think it will. It is there, and so far it is still in that condition.Lately, things have improved. I am running but of course with pain. But at least I can run.

With all these baggages, and life is getting fuller! Age is catching up, that's why I have to run!

A journey of a thousand miles...

2007-11-09T08:51:00.000+08:00

Bagan Tambang is my birth place. A beautiful place where you can see the facade of Penang Island from the peninsular, vast and vivid, from the beach where we used to play beach soccer some 25 years ago.

I spent my childhood years there, later moved on to Tiger Lane, Lembah Pantai, Hikone, Telok Panglima Garang and finally I am settling down in Andalas. What a nomadic life!

Life at Tiger Lane was a colorful one, this is the place that had molded me to be what I am right now. Lembah Pantai was quite a serious one, no time and money for fun, only for passing exams! Hikone, well, if I've passed away in the fall, if somebody were to notice it perhaps in the next summer, some 9 months away! TPG, was a culture shock, I cycled to my work place on the first month, in the sharp edged white shirt and shiny leather shoes to the laughs of my subordinates.Andalas, I am happy to call this place "home". Good enough for me & my family.

The schools are within walking distance even though they are not safe enough for my children to walk to, Bomba, Surau, Masjid, Gunting Rambut, Potong Rumput, Kedai Grocery, Kedai Basikal, Clinics (a fantastic one), Taman Rakyat, Car Accessories and the latest one, Jusco is opening up at Bukit Tinggi next month, yezzza! You turn left, you turn right, all roads lead to Jusco from Andalas!

Currently life has been very busy, with work in a mutinational, at the same time establishing my own business, in-charge of my society and taking care of my family and not to forget my parents and my siblings in the lovely Bagan Tambang. Perhaps Pluto can give me more hours in between sunsets!