World Cup 2006

Okay, since almost everyone has done a post on the World Cup recently, I thought I would do one as well, haha. As usual, I prefer a trip down nostalgia lane, as enough have been said about this year's edition anyway.

1986 was the first time I got to know about World Cup. I was in Form 3 then, and Benson & Hedges with its CGI gold tigers and flutists ads (remember them?) was the kind sponsor who brought us the broadcasts. The match that stuck in my mind to this day was Brazil vs Fance in the quarterfinals. Both teams played brilliantly that day, but it ended in a 1-1 draw and had to be decided on penalties. The World Cup was hosted in Mexico that year, so the 12 hour time difference meant getting up at 3 am, 4 am in the morning to catch the matches.

1990, I was in college, and had no access to the tv as I was renting a room. So, I caught some matches on BBC radio (caught the infamous Cameroon-Argentina opening match), at a friend's house in Melaka (Italy vs I can't remember who), and another friend's landlady's son's (who kept swearing every few minutes) tv. 1990 was a really forgettable year, everyone played very negatively, and all the goalies have at least 50% of the possession in the matches (back pass rules were different in those days). Thank goodness they changed the back pass rules after that year.

1994, I was in uni in UK. My mind wasn't really on the matches, it was on a girl, and as a result, to this day I just can't recall a single thing about that year's world cup, except that Brazil won it. Oh, just in case you're curious, I didn't get the girl. Should've paid attention to the football after all :)

1998, I was working in PJ. Matches were caught at a friend's boss' house (who had Astro). I supported Holland, and was frustrated when they fell to an obviously inferior Brazil on penalties in the semis. That was the era of Marc Overmars and a young Dennis Bergkamp, both of whom, of course, played for a gentleman called Arsene Wenger at Arsenal :)

2002, I was struggling to finish a project (which in the end never got finished). Matches were caught on the web (thank goodness for minute by minute reports), at Fraser's Hill, and at home (yeah, finally got the Astro installed). I remember going for dinner in SS2, andsaw people just standing mesmerised at the sidewalks, taking in matches that for the first time, are all not after 12 midnight, as they were held in Korea and Japan. Sadly, 2002 was also the year too many people I knew got caught in the web of football betting and lost fortunes.

2006, so far I've only followed the Japan (all heart but no stamina) matches and the England (all ego but no heart) matches. Too early for me to predict the winner now, but I can guarantee 100% it will not be England (sorry England fans out there). They have looked very ordinary so far.

Medical Costs

Was visiting a church member who's suffering from leukemia last week at UMMC, and somehow the conversation turned to the costs of the treatment. The family confided that previously the treatment was at SJMC, but later moved to UMMC due to costs.

Guess how much were the charges at SJMC?

RM 40,000 for the first chemotherapy session and RM 100,000 for the second one.

Wow.

If that's not motivation to get medical insurance, I don't know what is.

And don't expect that your company can cover you. Except for big companies like banks, no one's gonna give unlimited medical coverage.

So, while it may seem like an additional burden in these days of higher petrol and electricity prices, a medical insurance policy can be a life saver.

And no, I've not signed up to be an insurance agent :)

Taken For Granted

Since young, I've observed a love hate relationship between the urban folks in Sarawak and the political establishment.

Once in a while, things boil over and one or two seats in the Sarawak Assembly would end up in the DAP's hands, albeit with a small majority.

But Saturday, something seems to have tipped over for them, for they sent not one, not two but nine seats to the opposition in the state elections.

The size of the majority in those seats indicate that it is no fluke. It shows that the people are angry. Very angry.

Angry at years of neglect. Angry at years of their problems falling on deaf ears (land lease issues in Sibu seemed to drag on and on). Angry at years of empty promises. Angry at not getting their fair share (Sarawak only receives 5% of oil royalties collected, the rest goes to the federal coffers). Angry at being taken for granted.

For the good people of Sarawak worked hard and eked out a living with their own bare hands. All they asked for are good roads. Proper infrastructure. A fair share of the state's prosperity.

But apparently all that were too much to ask. And now the people have spoken. Loudly.

I salute their courage. For make no mistake, there will be recriminations.

But my sincere hope and wish is that the powers that be can see beyond the shallow issues, and look deep into the heart of these people. And hear what they are saying.

Credit Card

I paid my credit bill this month. Nothing special in that, except for the fact its the first time in 10 years that I do not have any outstanding balances on any of the cards that I own.

When I first accepted the offer of a Citibank telesales girl in 1996, little did I realize that it'll be another 10 years before I could claim myself debt free, car and housing loans aside.

The first month itself, I owed about 2000 bucks, and things went downhill since. Somehow many things happened along the way that conspired to make sure that I kept a balance.

First I owed large sums of money due to making cash advances to pay stock market losses during the Asian economic crisis. I then overspent on various vices for a few years before deciding to clean up my act when I met my wife .

When we got married four years ago, we made steady progress in paying the debt down, before house moving again forced us to pile up.

Each time when the end seemed near, something always seem to crop up and we left a balance.

We did have some other savings, but the card debt was something we wanted to get rid off using our monthly cashflow.

Finally, last month, by divine providence some extra cash came unexpectedly, and now, I'm finally able to say, truly, yes, its paid. Phew.

My good friend Egg never had a credit card and was planning to finally get one a few months ago. To him, my sincere advice is - make sure you pay it off every month! If you leave it hanging once, it'll hang on to you like a leech. I've been there :)

The CSI Effect

Was reading The Star comics this morning, and was surprised to find not one, but two cartoons alluding to CSI (on was BC, the other Hi and Lois).

This led me to an article on CNN, about how the popular series has led to juries having unrealistic expectations in terms forensic proof. A lot of people have forgotten that it is fact possible to convict someone based on circumstancial evidence and are instead demanding hard physical evidence.

Even in Malaysia there were some grumblings about how the local police is sorely lacking in the know how of collecting and analysing forensic evidence. The frustration is especially great for the relatives of victims of violent crimes such as rape and murder, where some such cases remain open for years due to lack of leads.

While it is exhilarating to see the good guys in CSI use their ingenuity to infer facts from the flimsiest of items, the more probable reality is a lot of detective grunt work, with some help from forensics.

In an ideal world, we should all be so lucky to have a bunch of dedicated scientists with all possible resources at their disposal to help us find those who caused us grief and sleepless nights.

Rest In Peace, FatAl

FatAl passed away on last Friday morning. I heard the news from his auntie who happened to be my HR manager at my new company.

I last saw him a month ago. He was very thin then, and the lump on his head has grown to the size of a tennis ball. He looked really weak. The family had decided to try traditional medicine from a Chinese doctor in Singapore.

Although I only knew him for 9 months, we became friends from the time we used to spend in the car when we car-pooled from Nov to Dec last year. I knew he desperately wanted to be well again for the sake of his family, and up until March he was still optimistic of his chances.

FatAl is the fourth friend I knew who passed away from cancer in the last 10 years. He was 41.

We all know that life is precious and our time here on earth is precious, but do we really use that knowledge to change the way we look at our lives.

When we get very annoyed with the rude driver who cut us off, do we stop and tell ourselves its not worth it.

Do we remember to express our love and appreciation to those who mean the most to us every single day.

Do we forgive those who have hurt us instead of continuing to carry bitterness in our heart.

Do we get too wrapped up in our own problems and not appreciate what we have in front of us.

Got a Sony Ericsson J300i (don't laugh!)

Went to Sg Wang over the weekend to get a new phone and ended up with a Sony Ericsson J300i :)

I take back what I said about Nokia previously, they also sported an impressive array of models, from the el-cheapo 1600 to the ultra cool N series. In fact, all the major manufacturers had very, very impressive line-ups. Which goes to show how out of date I was :P Although I've noticed the newer phones on and off, last Sunday was the first time I had a look at the new models up close. And boy, do they impress.

First off, the screens for almost all except the most basic models are hi-res and very easy on the eye. Second, the cameras for the newer models are not just a curio to impress anymore. They actually take very clear pictures (those with 2 mp cameras and above). And I'm amazed at the various shapes and sizes the phones came in.

Tempted as I was (in fact, VERY, VERY tempted) to get an O2 mini or Dopod 818 Pro, I just couldn't justify to my other half why I need a 2-in-1 device, apart from the convenience factor. It was even harder to justify getting a middle of the range device with camera. So, I opted for something which had similar functions as my Nokia 3530.

So having heard good comments about the J300i, I plonked down RM 320 of my hard earned cash for it.

The Dallab DX8 or the Dopod 818 Pro will have to wait another year :P

Searching for a new phone

My current mobile is dying on me after more than 3 years of faithful service, so I decided it was time to hunt for a replacement. When I looked back, I realized that its been five years since I last bought a phone (my current one being a gift from my younger brother. Thanks Paul!)

During the days when all phones looked like a brick and could serve as a weapon against angry stray dogs, I got a really slim Siemens phone as my first mobile. Of course, that came at a price - poor battery life. But it worked quite well and I was sad to lose it in Bentong while on a treasure hunt back in '98.

Not wanting to be bugged anymore by a low battery beep after only a few calls, I then decided to go for a good ol' Motorola brick. Trying to carry it around in my trouser pocket was a real pain, not to mention looking very uncool :P

1999 and 2000 marked the debut of the 3210, one of Nokia's all time best sellers. I gave in to temptation and got one in the summer of 2000. The 3210 was a true classic. It was hardy, the battery life was good, and the form factor truly pocketable. The keys remained smooth and easy to use even after many years. I gave it to my mother in law, who in turn traded it for a Nokia 1600 recently.

My current phone is a Nokia 3530, and despite its age, it too has proven its usefulness. Being able to access the Net via GPRS has saved my skin on quite a few occasions, not to mention keeping me updated on football scores whenever I had to attend weekend wedding dinners. The Organiser, though basic, proved to be much more usable than my PocketPC PDA which tend to drain out its battery and leave me stranded with a wiped out memory.

I dropped the phone a year ago, and despite a repair job, it was never the same since and slowly degraded.

I've been eyeing the O2 Mini for a while, but not being to easily dial while in the car (using hands free lah) is quite off putting. The PocketPC Smartphones look to be good value, but I feel like I'm getting a device that was neither here nor there.

The Sony Ericsson P900 series is a very compelling proposition, I'm only put off by the use of the proprietary Memory Stick for storage. The flipover keypad was an inspired solution to the keypad vs screen space issue.

Apart from that, the Samsung range boasts a very impressive lineup with 3.2 MP cameras and what not. But I was told the software is buggy and, well, are usually carried by girls rather than guys. Which, come to think of it, is quite true!

Surprisingly, no Nokia phone is on my list this time. Nothing in the current lineup moved me in any way, whereas the sight of the latest Sony Ericsson or Samsung usually quickened my pulse. I'm disappointed that they decided to concentrate on making their phone sexy rather than useful and elegant. I mean, for example, the Sony Ericsson K750i not only looks good but are also packed with useful functions and a good amount of memory.

Dallab launched the DX8 recently which seems to fit my requirements perfectly, but at a suggested RRP of 2.5k, my Finance minister will surely disagree :P

Light n Easy

Usually when I drive to and fro work I prefer to tune in to Light n Easy, because it was the least annoying of all the radio stations. The soothing oldies music (50's, 60's and 70's) helps me to get through just about anything the KL traffic cares to throw at me.

But lately, I began to realize that more often than not, it was 80's music that was on. One day, it was Total Eclipse of The Heart. The next day, Turn Back The Clock. Then suddenly, every other song was an 80's song.

I still remember when discos and pubs use to play 80's music in the 1990's to cater to the young and trendy crowd (i.e. twentysomethings). The "in" radio station then for my generation was Mix FM, which also played contemporary music in addition to the 80's, thus occupying a nice spot between the young (who listen to Hitz) and the old (who listen to Light n Easy).

But I never thought they would migrate 80's music from Mix to Light n Easy so quickly. Heck, I'm only in my mid-thirties, for goodness sakes! Its quite off-putting when the the music of your generation is turning up on an oldies station.

And another thing - what about those in their 40's to 60's? Maybe there's a market for another oldies station that plays even older songs :)

LRT Ride

I was a bit annoyed with the young tudung-clad Malay girl who stood at the window at the head of the LRT train. She was occupying my favourite spot on the train on my way home. She looked to be in deep thought.

At Bangsar station a young Malay chap boarded and proceeded to make his way to the head of the train as well. I was even more annoyed as he tried to squeeze his way through to get to the window as well. The girl moved aside to make way for him.

Both of them starred out into the night, not a word passing between them.

Suddenly just after Universiti the guy turned around and remarked to the girl what a beautiful night it was.

It was a corny pickup line, but the girl did not seem to mind :)

They spoke softly to each other. He told her he was meeting a friend at Taman Bahagia. They chit chatted about general things. The conversation flowed easily, as if they knew each other well. After Asia Jaya the guy picked up the courage to ask for her name. She told him, and they looked at each other for a second.

It was a beautiful privilege witnessing two strangers connecting with one another, on a rainy Wednesday night, on the LRT.

The other side .....

Firstly, a word of thanks to Eric and Poh Nee, who rightly pointed out that the job of a retail consultant (haha, that's they call them nowadays) is far from easy and entails long hours of standing and facing difficult customers.

I originally wrote the post to illustrate how impersonal big mall shopping is, but somehow it came out as a criticism of the people who work there.

But I do agree with both of my friends. Sometimes we forget that while we expect people to be kind and considerate to us, we often need to be the same, too, first.

The next time you pay for your stuff at the mall, the kopitiam, wherever, pause for a while and look at the person in front of you.

He or she is also a human being just like you and me, irregardless of whether he or she looks indifferent, fierce, or just plain blank.

Without any expectations, smile and say thank you sincerely. More often than not, you will gain something unexpected back.

I often forget this myself, and that's why I love the movie Groundhog Day so much.

In the movie, Phil (Bill Murray) was stuck in the same day in the same town, in which he has to relive the same things happening around him over and over again. At first, he was totally indiferrent to the people around him. But as the day repeats itself over and over again, he began to notice things - the boy who fell off a tree, the quarreling engaged couple, the lonely school teacher, the sickly old beggar, the ladies who had a flat tire.

Since Phil knew what was going to happen the next day (because its the same day all over again), he began to use this knowledge to make a difference in everyone's lives.

Unlike Phil, when a moment passes us, we lose it forever. I think it is worth it for us to just take a risk, to just stop and make a difference in a person's life ,no matter how small it is.

So, the next time you are at the mall paying for some stuff, remember to smile :)

Of shoppers and shopkeepers ...

Was at 1 U on Saturday to catch Ice Age 2 (which was funny, but a bit aimless). Pre and post movie, I was wandering around the shops and it struck me that with a few exceptions, none of the shops were manned by the original owners.

Everywhere I go, I see only hired people, the same bored look on their faces, and the same unhelpfulness when you try to do your shopping. They are just there to : make sure no one steals the goods, grab the goods and pack them, and of course, collect money. And from what I heard from friends, turnover of these hired folks are very high.

As a result, shopping in the big malls becomes a very impersonal experience - you just go in and grab what you want with minimal human interaction. I might as well be shopping online.

My wife shops at a boutique in Puchong Jaya, and the owner, who looks after the shop herself, takes the trouble to advise her on what's suitable and what's not, and SMS her whenever new stuff comes in. Needless to say, the amount my wife spends there far exceeds what she usually spends at malls.

Which leads me to this question - why do investors, after spending considerable amounts of money setting up the most cutting edge stores at the malls, and paying sky high rents to boot, decides to just hire any Jane, Tom, Dick and Ah Moi to man them? Why not hire people with nice personalities and good attitude, and train them properly in serving and advising the customer? Do they realise that they are losing tons of revenue when potential customers walk by and decide not to buy due to the sour look on the staff's face?

A place like 1 U may be wonderful to wander around in, but in terms of real shopping (as opposed to window shopping), it leaves me cold with the staff's indifferent attitude.

Streamyx seems to be behaving again ...

Finally, after almost two weeks of crawling, my Streamyx seems to be back to normal again.

Apparently, this problem is happening everywhere - PJ, Puchong, Putra Heights, Sarawak ....

My new office is not very private, so not really able to blog when the Streamyx was down :)

Offline at the new workplace (double arggh!)

Found out that my new workplace completely banned Yahoo Messenger and MSN Messenger.

But I'm starting to think it might not be such a bad thing after all :)

Streamyx down (arrgh!!)

Streamyx has slowed down to a crawl in the past week, its been really difficult to get online and get anything done.

Saw an announcement on the TMNet website that they were conducting some trials. Hopefully, they will fix the problem soon.

Car prices

The hot news these few weeks has been the reduction in car prices due to the NAP. After the initial round of reductions, the government hinted that prices should be even lower.

Of course, this is all not so good news for those who just bought their wheels or those thinking of selling. In fact, I noticed a significant shrinking of car for sale ads in The Star Metro nowadays. I guess everyone is waiting for the dust to settle before deciding how to pitch their cars.

Lunch time yesterday, I went to the Toyota and Honda websites to see if they have posted up the new prices. Well, the answer is that they haven't, but one thing caught my eye. In the price list they also have prices for Labuan and Langkawi. Yes, those two tax free havens where you get cheap booze and smokes galore.

I was astounded to find out that a brand new Camry or Accord will set you back all of 80 to 85k in these two places.

And here we are, paying 85k to squeeze into a teeny City or Vios (no offence to owners of these cars, I think they're damn fine cars :) ) in all other parts of Malaysia.

Anyway, after taking out my calculators, I decided it is not worth it to change for at least the next four years. It just doesn''t make financial sense to keep upgrading something that depreciates all the time. Not to mention the fact that I'm way behind schedule in my savings and investment plans. As long as my current ride doesn't hit me with enormous repair bills (which my old Wira did), I guess I'll keep the car for as long as I can.

For those of you who are in the market for a new car, congratulations! When the dust settles in the next few months, you'll be spoilt for choice.

My recommendation of the current crop - Nissan Sentra. This one was selling for less than 100k pre-NAP, and with another 5% reduction, its the best value Japanese saloon at the moment. For not much more than a Vios or City (again, apologies to owners of these :) ), you get a 1.6 with plenty of space. Not bad.

Power of 4

I was tagged by my good pal Simon 3 weeks ago to do a meme, but I kept putting it off. Well, here goes :-

4 jobs you've had in your life

• English teacher - teaching a bunch of fourth formers who still didn't know their verbs from their nouns. Only 1 girl in the class knew what I was on about
  

• Cleaner - scrubbing 10 floors of stairways at my uni hostel during the holidays
  
• Waiter at Chinese Restaurant - where I picked up "proper" Cantonese, ahem
• Industrial Trainee - my first ever IT job, deploying programs on DEC mainframes

4 movies you could watch over and over
These are the ones I could count on to cheer me up every time :)

• Before Sunrise - a sweet little love story
  
• Working Girl - corny, but gets me every time!
  
• Groundhog Day - probably Bill Murray's finest hour
  
• Lost In Translation - the movie that made me fall in love with Scarlett
  

4 TV shows you love(d) to watch

• CSI Miami - Horatio Caine is one cool dude
  
• X Files - like Simon, only the first few seasons
  
• Amazing Race
  
• The Simpsons
  

4 places you've lived

• rented room in Section 6, PJ - with an Indian family with a fierce dog
• 1st floor dorm above a Chinese Restaurant in Portadown, Northern Ireland
• rented room, SS2, PJ - a place that has everything within walking distance
• rented room, Subang Jaya - back when SJ was still a quiet little town

4 places you've been to vacation to

• Hong Kong - not as great as I thought, coz everything was so expensive
• Singapore - one of my fav, its so easy to get around
• Guang Xi, China - amazing scenery, and a world away from HK
• Brunei - ermm, actually, there were nothing to see

4 places you would rather be

• New Zealand - LOTR country, my dream home
  
• Sibu - my hometown, where things are much simpler and there's good food everywhere
• Kuching - where everything works and the council is doing its job!
• Redang

4 of your favourite food

• char koay teow - the one from Chow Yang SS2 (now Lim Mee Yoke)
• bak kut teh
• sushi
• Teochew duck rice

4 websites you visit daily

• The Edge Daily
• All my friends' blogs (sorry have to cheat a bit, there's too many of you)
  
• torrentspy
• lelong.com.my - always on the lookout for cheap tech gear, hehe
  

4 tagged

• Media Queen
• Forestfyre
• Sexy Siren
• Egg
  

Doggy Shows For the year of the Dog

Whether by design or by coincidence, the local cinemas will be releasing two movies about dogs this year. Incidentally, both movies were released by Disney.

The first one is called "Shaggy Dog" starring Tim Allen and no doubt will be a hit among those who love cute fluffy dogs:



The second one is called "Eight Below" and is more of a tale of man's friendship with this most faithful and loyal of animals:-

Good bye and God bless, FatAl .....

It started with some of the colleagues whispering to one another, "FatAl's back, FatAl's back". I quickly went to FatAl's cubicle.

He was in the room with the big boss. For more than half a year now FatAl has been sick. He only came into the office when he felt well enough, and that was rarely.

The last time I saw him in December, he was well enough to start using a walker instead of a wheelchair. But he didn't turn up at all in January and February.

Half an hour later a frantic MSN message popped up, "FatAl has resigned! Today's his last day!" I quickly ran over again. He was in the wheelchair again. When he turned around I saw how sick he was. He's now just skin and bones and his voice was a hoarse whisper. Tears were flowing freely among some of the staff who came to say their goodbyes. FatAl was one of the second-in-command at our office and half the office reported to him.

FatAl didn't really like talking about what was ailing him, so there were a lot of speculation about his condition. Finally, I found out from one of the senior staff.

FatAl is at the final stage of leukemia. He had suffered a relapse recently and it looks unlikely that he'll recover. He wants to spend whatever time he has left with his wife and two litttle daughters.

The rest of the afternoon the whole office was sombre. Most people left early for the day, the things that happened in the afternoon weighing heavily on their minds.

Customer Service (Mamak Style)

I rarely encounter good customer service in this good ol' country of ours, so it was a pleasant surprise to encounter good service at, of all places, the humble mamak stall.

Recently, I decided to try out the mamak stall I pass by every day on my way to work. Its one of those open air ones situated beside a car park.

After going there once, I was pleasantly surprised that the mamak guy memorised my order! On my second visit he repeated what I ordered the last time (coffee, 2 half boiled eggs, nasi lemak) and asked me whether I wanted the same. I think this guy must have hundreds of customers every day, so it was a great feeling to tell him to get me "the usual" on my second visit :)

In case you want to know, the mamak stall is located behind the Menara Getah Asli at Jalan Ampang.