Happy New Year 2007

A year-round
wish
for
you

12
months

HAPPINESS

52
weeks

FUN

365
days

SUCCESS

8,760
hours

GOOD HEALTH

525,600
minutes

GOOD LUCK

31,536,000
seconds

JOY!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2007!!!

Now You See, Now You Don't

During the company X'mas Party, Jason had to work on a marathon project and was not able to join the party. He complained that he was not in the photo we took. So, have to photoshop him in...

Now you see...

















now you don't

Theory Of Constraints

I first heard about the Theory of Constraints (TOC) when I studied Operation Management a few years ago. At that time I didn't focus much on it as it was just one of the many theories introduced to us.

Until recently a friend of mine who is so passionate about this theory mentioned it to me again. TOC was first proposed in 1986 by Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt in his widely read book The Goal (Not the movie!!!). It was written as a novel instead of textbook so that the readers will be able to understand the theory better. The story is about a production manager facing severe problems in his manufacturing plant and met a consultant who helped him to break out of conventional ways of thinking.





















TOC focuses on 'how to think' and a lot of examples in the book are just common sense. Yet, people often don't see it or ignore it because common sense is normally masked by common practice.

In the recent TOC conference held in Taiwan, Goldratt told the participants that for years he refused the book to be translated into Japanese. The reason behind it was that the Japanese was already far more ahead of the American and the gap will be wider if the Japanese apply TOC into their industries. Now the book is available in many languages and it is a must read for all Toyota plant managers. If you think this guy talks big about his theory, his Viable Vision Program even claims that the program will help a company turns its current revenue to net profit in 4 years time, of course with some requirements the company has to meet.

The Goal is an interesting book and really worth reading even if you are not working in manufacturing environment. It may help you in improving the processes at work. : )

X'mas Party

We had our company X'mas Party at the lifestyle center on Thursday. There were elves to be auctioned for charity, including the GM himself. It was quite a fun evening.

I would like to thank my secret Santa for the gift.


Merry X'mas to everyone!!!

Happy 冬至

Happy Winter Solstice Festival (冬至) !!!





















Anyone wants some 湯圓 (Tāng Yuán)?

Tạm Biệt Hà Nội

After 2 nights on trains, 1 full day on a junk, 9 hours of trekking, some kayaking, countless hours of walking/sightseeing/shopping/bargaining...























I don't really feel like going back to work... :(

TV Life

I watch quite a lot of movies until some of my friends think I am a movie freak (I don't think I am actually). But when they know that I don't subscribe to Astro Movie Package, they are quite surprised.

Usually I don't check TV guide when I watch TV. I like to keep changing the channel until I found a programme I want to watch. So it is quite difficult for me to stick to the movie channel when I watch movie. Not only that I don't subscribe to movie package, I also don't have Wah Lai Toi. Otherwise my life will to be controlled by Astro programmes, I don't want that. I prefer to watch DVD when I am free and in the mood to watch it.

How about you? Are you controlled or in control?

Uncle Ho

A lot of people especially the young ones don't know who Uncle Ho is, I am so surprised! You watch so many DVDs yet you don't know Uncle Ho?

Please check out
http://www.tvsmith.net.my/duasen/080503_uncleho.html

This is a classic posting and was widely forwarded in 2003. I still find it funny when I read it again.

Btw, are you related to Uncle Ho, Jason?

Top 10 Annoying Drivers

Driving in KL (or Malaysia??) can be quite torturing and frustrating. Sometimes we blame stupid road planning for causing traffic jam, such as the flyover at Pandan Indah. Vehicles coming from Tasik Selatan turning to Pandan Jaya and vehicles coming out from Pandan Indah going to Ampang are fighting to change lanes. For this, I don't think we can do much but to hope that there won't be too many idiots becoming road or city planner in the future.

On the other hand, driving can be frustrating due to many annoying drivers. Here are my top 10:

1. Illegal Parking double parking and blocking others. I hope they don't cry if their car is scratched or knocked by others.

2. Didn't signal Some people do not give signal before changing lane, especially aunties. One side of their wheels will be on the line, trying to get into your lane but hesitate if it is safe to do so. There are also some who do not give signal before turning at junction, causing others who want to cross the road waiting.

3. Signal and turn While some don't give signal, some scary aunties thought they can just turn right away after giving signal, assuming that others will just give way.

4. Cut queue Cutting queue actually causes more jam as vehicles are fighting for lanes. But I guess those selfish drivers won't care about others who have been queuing.

5. No Headlights especially when it is raining. It's time to switch on the headlights when you can't see the car behind, or other cars have turned on their headlights.

6. Emergency lane It is for emergency use but a lot of idiots use it to skip the traffic jam, which could be dangerous to vehicles which parked there during emergency.

7. Slow down to watch accident It's very common that a mishap causing long traffic jam because people slowing down to see what happened. The worse part is it also causes jam to the opposite direction. I really cannot understand!!!

8. Throw rubbish from vehicles A lot of people do this in front of their children, and the children will do the same when they grow up...sigh...

9. Ignoring solid line and turn while it is not permitted.

10. Hazard light Some people switch on hazard light during heavy rain. Hello, non-commercial vehicles should use hazard lights only for safety purposes to indicate a temporary hazard to traffic, for example, when your vehicle has broken-down and you are awaiting assistance, or on a vehicle that’s being towed.

I think I will be under some pressure not to do any of the above when I drive some of you around next time. Actually I am not a Saint and I can't guarantee that I won't make any mistake, e.g. I might have to cut queue if I am not familiar with the road and went into the wrong lane. I believe some of you might also do the same mistake. But at least it is important to try our best and be considerate of others when we drive next time.

Movie Time

I watched 2 movies back 2 back last night, DVDs from Uncle Ho of course. That's the good thing about working night shift from home, you get more time to do your own stuff and watch some movies.


















The Devil Wears Prada is about a naive young woman comes to New York and scores a job as the assistant to one of the city's biggest magazine editors, the ruthless and cynical Miranda Priestly. I find it quite funny and entertaining. I didn't know Jimmy Choo is so famous that they keep mentioning his shoes in the movie, might as well change the name to 'The Devil Wears Jimmy Choo' (sounds a bit weird). I should have taken a photo with him when I saw him in the toilet at KL Convention Centre last month. :p

Babel is a completely different movie. I watched it because of Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett and the 7.8 rating in IMDB. It is about a married couple on vacation being stuck by tragedy in the Moroccan desert, touching off an interlocking story involving six different families. The story happens in 3 locations and seems independent of each other yet they are loosely connected. It is quite similar to Crash or Syriana. It's quite 'real' but a bit boring. But as usual, non commercial movie normally stands a bigger chance in winning awards.

I am sure not many people will appreciate it. But if you like Crash or Syriana, you may like this too.

Teh Tarik From Space, Anyone?

Read this article with mixed feelings...

Sad that I have to agree with him...

Why Blog?

I would like to share an interesting story I read quite some time ago...

Somewhere on this planet, there was a village where its people practice a religion that prohibits them from going out during holiday. There was a guy called Ah Beng who felt bored on a holiday and decided to play some golf. He thought no one would see him after all. So, he went out and played 9 holes.

Although he felt a bit guilty, it was so fun that he couldn't help himself to play for another 9 holes. Unfortunately what he did was observed by the guardian and the guardian told God about it. God said, 'It is ok, I will punish him'. Without knowing he had been observed, Ah Beng continued to play another 9 holes. This time he shot 9 hole in one!!! He was so so excited.

The guardian was puzzled and couldn't believe why Ah Beng was not punished but even got 9 hole in one. So he went and asked God again. God replied, 'I have already punished him. What punishment is better than not able to share his happiness with others?'

The moral of the story is to share your happiness with others, otherwise you are punishing yourself.
I guess this is why most people blog, to share.

But I think besides that bloggers also hope to get some feedback too, it's fun to read other people's comments. Blogs with no comment is like telling someone you hit a hole in one but getting a feedback like 'ok...'

So, feel free to comment ya?

Clogged Brain

I went to my company treasure hunt in Langkawi last weekend. We travelled by bus on Friday night and the hunt started the next morning. My team members and I were sitting close to the back of the bus, may be because we felt safer as travelling in bus at night is always dangerous. Knowing that the next day would be tiring most people try to get some sleep on the bus. Unfortunately there were a few guys who were a bit drunk and started to have concert at the back and spoke loudly thinking that they own the bus. They even played music that the rest of the passengers don't listen. It was really torturing.

I am not sure what's wrong with these people. They are educated, good at their work certainly not stupid but yet something wrong with their brains. May be a vein is clogged or something that makes them become inconsiderate of others. What do you call this kind of people?

Assume that you and me dropped into an endless hole?

Conquest of Time

I like good watches. I always think that watches can show a man's taste. The design that I like is always simple and elegant. For a modern watch, I always fancy a Bell & Ross or an IWC Schaffhausen chrono. For a classical one, I would go for a Patek Philippe, Jaeger-LeCoultre or Girard-Perregaux. Of course the latter three are the jewel in the crown of watches. I can only see and dream...

Actually I am not really a watch aficionado, my knowledge about watch is only limited to some famous brands and mechanical complication of chronograph and perpetual calendar. Yesterday I had a chance to improve my knowledge about horology.

















The Conquest of Time exhibition was held at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre from 22 -26 Nov 2006. The exhibition featured 23 of the world's most renowned watchmaking houses.





































Not only a large collection of fine timepieces was on display, the exhibition also incorporated guided tours, watch making class, watch talks and watch appraisal. For the rich, this was a good place to add a few more watches to their collections or to have their Patek appraised by professional valuators and watch experts from Christie's auction house.

A watch making class was provided by Jaeger-LeCoultre for watch collectors and enthusiasts to explore and learn about watchmaking. In the class, attendees was guided by a watchmaker from Swiss and got to learn the various technique in watch assembly, first on a computer simulation software, then hands-on. I wanted to attend but the next class was already fully booked with a long waiting list.

















For the public, the Girard Perregaux's atelier was the best place to learn something about watches.






















It offered a guided tour which explained the four distinguished dimensions of complications in watchmaking - Chronograph, Perpetual Calendar, Minute Repeater and Tourbillon. I learned from here that a perpetual calendar watch knows when to add a day in a leap year by having a 48-tooth wheel (each tooth represents a month), with a tooth slightly different from the rest.

Girard Perregaux is famous for its Tourbillon, designed to counter the effects of gravity and other perturbing forces that can affect the accuracy of a chronometer. At the atelier, I also got a chance to polish one side of the Tourbillon bridge. I tell you, it requires a lot of patience and passion.

















This lady's day-to-day work is to polish watch components. It takes her 3 days for to finish polishing a Tourbillon bridge.

Similar to cars, watches are expensive toys for men. Some watches are more expensive than cars. A watch comprises 600 over pieces of component, each of them needs to be made to perfection. It is not hard to imagine why some of these watches are so expensive.

This Jaeger-LeCoultre is one of the most expensive watches I saw at the exhibition. Enlarge to see how much it costs...

Silent Mode

Damn! Bad mood because not enough sleep this week due to some external system issues. I am going to put my handphone on silent mode when I sleep... >:(

Team Dinner

Last night we had our another team dinner at La Bodega, Bangsar. Check out the posting at our team blog. : )

Gonbei Japanese Restaurant

Last Friday I joined 6 of my ex-colleagues and went for a big makan makan at Gonbei Japanese Restaurant in Starhill Gallery.





















The restaurant is designed by Yuhkichi Kawai, the man who created Starhill Gallery's Feast Village. It offers an authentic Japanese cuisine which is based on time-honored Japanese customs and traditions.

We were sitting at the counter on which is displayed a fresh selection of seafood on ice, meat and vegetables. Right in the center was the yakikata or grillmaster.

This is quite an up-market restaurant but we didn't bother much because our budget was RM4000...heheh...

Here is the story, 3 years ago my ex company wanted us to write some papers to be filed for patent. 3 years later, 4 of the documents submitted by our department were selected for public disclosure and the one I wrote will be filed for patent. We were given RM4200 in total as a token of encouragement. As I already left the company, my share of RM1650 goes to the department. So our target was to spend all the money.

We ordered some of the expensive dishes, including 2 kinki (rock fish) and 2 plates of omakase tokujo sushi (chef's special assorted nigiri sushi with premium toro, premium uni). The kinki fish was just about palm size and cost RM150, and the 10 pieces sushi cost RM180.

Kink (rock fish) - RM 150

This 10 pieces of sushi cost RM180

We also had wagyu kushiyaki (wagyu skewer), taraba kani tempura (king crab mud tempura), imo sochu and many more. I seldom eat beef but the wagyu kushiyaki was the best beef I have ever had.

Wagyu Kushiyaki (RM 28 per skewer)

Taraba Kani Tempura (RM 85)















Yakitori (RM 5 per skewer)

Imo sochu

Aspara (RM 10)

Ika Ichiiyaboshi (RM 18)

Tebasaki (RM 5 per piece)

Check out the bill for what else we ate. We will spend the remaining money soon...

Scoop

I just watched Scoop. I watched it because of Scarlett Johansson and Woody Allen.

I first noticed Scarlett Johansson in 'Lost In Translation' (didn't realise she was the little girl in 'The Horse Whisperer' many years ago) and then 'Girl with aPearl Earring' (I got to know Johannes Vermeer, the famous Dutch painter because of this movie). I like her not only because she is gorgeous but also because she is a very good actress. In Scoop, she wore glasses and loose shirt, not as hot as she was in 'Match Point'. I was wondering if she was pregnant.

As for Woody Allen, I only started to notice his movie after I watched 'The Curse of The Jade Scorpion'. His comedy has its own style with wacky humor, very different from those Hollywood no brainer comedies. It may not make you laugh as hard but you would appreciate his sense of humor. Besides comedy, he is also good in directing drama. His previous movie 'Match Point' was a really good one.

Scoop is about an American journalism student (Johansson) in London scooping a big story, and begins an affair with an aristocrat (Jackman) as the incident unfurls. It is very British like 'Match Point' with similar style of 'The Curse of The Jade Scorpion'. For those who are a bit tired of Hollywood no brainer comedies, 'Scoop' is something different for you.

World Vision

Today I received a mail with a child photo. She is a 12 year-old girl from Hebei PingQuan, China. I have never seen this child before but somehow there is a special feeling. I feel happy because I hope I will be able to make a difference to her life.

She is a child I sponsor via World Vision Malaysia recently, I just need to contribute RM50 per month.

How much can you do with RM50 a month these days?

RM50 is not even enough to pump a full tank of petrol, may be an OK dinner for 2? How about investing it in long-term development programmes that will give a child, his/her family and community a brighter future? Your contribution will be pooled together to provide clean water, health care, food & agriculture, education and economic development of the community where your sponsored child lives.

Check out the flash demo here.

You will be able to see the progress of your sponsored child and know how your contribution is being used. I think this is a good way to contribute.

A lot of people don't want to let others know when they contribute to charity. But nowadays many have changed their thinking, a lot of celebrities are involved in charity work to create some awareness and to influence others to do the same. I am no celebrity and can't influence many people. But if by sharing this can create some awareness to some who read this blog, I think it is good enough.






















If you sponsor a child after you read this blog, please let me know, I will be very happy. : )

Bad Cop

I have a friend who has his own principles in doing many things and I quite salute him for holding on to his principles. For example he never bribe. He just told me a story.

Below is the conversation between him and a traffic police after he was blocked for speeding.

Friend: 'Encik, apa salah saya?' (Sir, what did I offend?)
Police: 'Speeding'
Friend: 'Ya ke? Berapa kelajuan saya?' (Really? How fast did I go?)
Police: 'Melebihi had kelajuan' (Exceeded the speed limit)
Friend: 'Kalau begini macam mana?' (So how?)
Police: 'Saman 300 ratus' (300 Summon)
Friend: 'Macam tu encik bagi saman lah.' (Like that summon me then)
Police: 'Encik betul ke? Encik tak mau kawan?' (Are you sure sir? Sir you don't want to be friend?)
Friend: 'Kalau I salah, kasih saya saman' (If I am wrong, just summon me)
Police: 'Encik nak saman, tak mau kawan?' (Sir you want summon, don't want to be friend?)
Friend: 'I salah, I patut kena saman' (I am wrong, I should get the summon)
Police: 'Betul ke? (Are you sure?)
Friend: 'Betul...' (Sure...)
Police: 'Err....macam tu...tak apa lah.' (Err...like that...nevermind lah)
Friend: 'Tak apa? Tak boleh, I salah encik patut bagi saman pada saya' (Nevermind? Cannot, I am wrong you must summon me)
Police: 'Tak apa lah, I tau encik orang berbudi bahasa' (Nevermind lah, I know you are a good guy')
Friend: 'Betul ke? Tak perlu saman?' (Are you sure? Not summon?)
Police: 'Tak perlu' (No need)

Like this also can...wanna try next time?

The Departed

I just watched 'The Departed'. May be the original version has indoctinated in my mind, I prefer 'Infernal Affairs' more. The cops also speak too much foul languages, too much until I feel disgusted.






















Which version do you like?

Hectic Week

This blog has been silent for more than a week because I was too busy at work to update it. There was a big issue last week and then our ass were on fire for the following few days. Then there was a UAT and 2-day Zone Meeting followed by a Gala Dinner, it just messed up our already tight duty roster. :(

This is going to continue for quite sometime as Muraly is going to South Africa, Jason, Eric and me will be on vacation in December. Cheng's head will definitely grow bigger and bigger!!!

Yahoo! Mail Beta

I think a lot of people have switched to Gmail, including myself. I still have some mails being sent to my Yahoo! Mail but I haven't checked it for quite a while. I just found out that Yahoo! had launched a beta mail version which resembles your local mail application, just like MS Outlook. It supports drag and drop, shift and ctrl selection, as well as search function. The speed is very fast too. It's pretty cool...

Check out the screen shot...














Oops, you saw all my mails...but nevermind lah, since most of them are junk mails actually. This is the thing I don't like about this new version, I think Yahoo! Mail still haven't found an effective way to filter junk mails...

Anyway, if you still use Yahoo! Mail, you should switch to this new version. ; )

Fattest Me

The Kuantan trip was quite boring. My mom and I were flipping through some old photo albums and I saw a picture. My mom said that was the fattest period in my whole life...

Fattest leh...want to see?

Nine Emperor Gods Festival 九皇爺

Today is the 8th day of the 9th lunar month.

Nine Emperor Gods Festival (九皇爺) is held over the first 9 days of the 9th lunar month to celebrate the return from heaven to earth of the Nine Emperor spirits.

I remember I used to follow my mom or grandma to the temple for prayer when I was small and was still staying in Kuantan. I always came back home with a yellow colour strap on our wrist and a red stamp on our T-shirt. I have not done this for a long long time.

After I came to KL, I have been to the Nan Thien Kwang in Ampang with friends during the festival twice. I was just there to look around but didn't pray. The most suffering things to go to the temple during this festival period especially at night are the crowd, the parking and the smoke of joss-stick.















During the Raya holiday I went back to Kuantan with parents and happened to go to Tow Boo Keong again after so many years. We went in the morning, so there was plenty of parking, not so crowded and joss-stick smoke was endurable. Not a devotee myself, I don't really know how to pray. But I did perfom some prayer there with my mom's instructions.

I went back with a yellow colour strap on my wrist.

PLUCK

I am not a classical music lover but do enjoy it sometimes.

I was at Bangsar Shopping Centre yesterday and there were 3 classical musicians 'PLUCK' playing classical music (violin, viola and cello) at the concourse. Cheekily describing themselves as 'what happens when great music falls into the hands of talented idiots', these 3 crazy classical musicians play fantastic music with unique comedy style. They played 4 songs and it was entertaining.





















The trio will be performing at The Actors Studio from 24th Oct to 12th Nov. If you are classical music lover, or are interested to listen to some classical music but not the too formal orchestra performance, check out more details at www.gardnerANDwife.com.


Btw, this is not an advertorial and I don't get paid for it.

My Life in Sydney - Final Part

Some of you who have been reading my blog might feel a bit tired of my Sydney series already. This is going to be the last, just let me finish what I want to say, ok?

Australia is truly a multi-national country. You can see so many people from different countries. Just in the project I was involved, I had worked with Australian, Malaysian, Indian, Vietnamese, New Zealander, Singaporean, Irish, South African, Russian, Thai and Greek etc.

Many said if you migrate to Australia, you will be treated like a 2nd-class citizen. I actually asked a few of my colleagues who migrated there. They didn’t really answer me whether they feel like 2nd class citizen but they all think that Australia is a lovely country, much better than the country they came from. I guess it really doesn’t matter to them whether they are being treated equally as long as life is better in Australia.

So, after reading My Life in Sydney series sure you think I must be enjoying my time there. Well, not entirely…

Like other tourists, it was really fun for the first 2-3 weeks. When I first got there, I wanted to go here go there, do this do that. But after 2-3 weeks, I started to feel bored. Don’t forget I was there for work…

It was winter, and I really didn’t like it. The sky became dark at 5pm, it was cold and it rained very often. With the stress of work, no one to talk to, sometimes it was quite depressing.

The 2 biggest sports in Australia are Rugby and Cricket. They say Rugby is a men sport and Cricket is a gentlemen sport. Too bad I don’t like both, although I consider myself a sport lover. There are 5 free TV channels in Australia but sometimes there could be 2 channels showing 2 Rugby games at the same time. : (
F1 was only shown delay in the midnight. Luckily there was World Cup to make my day.

Anyway I still think Sydney is a nice city but I hope I can travel to more places in Australia next time.

My Life in Sydney - Part V

I always wanted to visit other cities in Australia but didn't have much chance due to my work. In one weekend my colleague got a car from her sister and we decided to go to Canberra. Australia is really a big continent. It looks so near in the map but actually takes more than 3 hours drive from Sydney to Canberra.


It was a rainy day and Canberra was colder than Sydney. We visited the new and old Parliament House, and the War Memorial Museum. I took a picture at the House of Representatives but unfortunately my memory card spoiled and I lost all the pictures. The pictures you see here are from my colleague's camera.

House of Representatives of New Parliament House

The War Memorial Museum is a nice museum but too bad I don't know much about the history of WWI. The only hall that I could make a connection was the invasion of Malaya by the Japanese during WWII.

War Memorial Museum

We stayed in a motel that night. That was the first time I stayed in a motel. After a heavy breakfast in the next morning, we went to Old Bus Depot Market.

Old Bus Depot Market

Before we left Canberra, we stopped by Lake Burley Griffin to take some photos.

New and Old Parliament house, seen from the northeast across Lake Burley Griffin

On our way back, we went into a small town called Goulburn and then the third largest city in New South Wales, Wollongong.

Goulburn town

A lighthouse at Wollongong

Many people said Canberra is just like our Putrajaya, nothing much to see except the government buildings. Well, I have to agree... May be because it was winter and raining, we didn't enjoy much. Anyway, at least I have been to Canberra, Goulburn and Wollongong. :)