How Many?

Somehow, no one understood the purpose of having multiple blogs. So, no one has asked me, how many blogs do I have? I actually have 5 blogs!!! (Wow!) - two is stagnant, one is for my dad but he never wrote.

Extreme Leadership - My leadership series which I am beginning to enjoy writing a lot more

This blog - My personal blog which I've started way back in 2003

My photo blog - The photo blog which was intended to parallel one I saw in a friend's post, but ran out of gas on photos.. may be reactivated in future

Wireless Trends - A defunct (and one day I may activate it again) blog also started in 2003

Sow a Seed of Greatness - Seriously, this was my birthday present to my dad, to setup a blogsite for him, but he never did write anything. The phrase is indeed the tagline of his work - at that time he was creating motivational quotes for people.

In the course of the five years of on and off blogging, it has been a pleasure to surf and view others' writings - blogging is indeed a phenomenon of the modern internet world!

With much thanks to all who has given feedback here and there, and to Michele for asking to put my leadership series up for view within the corporation whereby I have politely declined. My thoughts are that if I write for others to read, I report, but if I write for pleasure and with good intent, I blog.

Pre-Treasure Hunt Photo Trivia

The brain has not been working well lately. I love it when I think that going for a treasure hunt will help it work faster... but well, one has got to try all sorts... Am definitely looking forward to jogging the brain cells a bit this Saturday.

I am a photography fanatic in a distance. What this means is that I have no patience to learn, but I do love good photos. Thus to bind together photography and treasure hunting, what else, here you go, photo-treasure guessing, well if it works I will do a series of ten, ok :

1. What is this? It is pictured next to my running watch for size purposes.



Hint : It has to do with the recent silence from a famous boy band from Taiwan who lost three members.

Answer when I feel like it, submit please

SMART Tunnel is not so smart after all

Caught this in the Star, after my short cut from TPM to KLCC was found BLOCKED off this afternoon. What? I thought the SMART Tunnel was for rain? I smell a big fiasco cooking up ...

SMART tunnel closed until further notice
PETALING JAYA: The SMART Tunnel has been closed since 6pm Saturday for flood-mitigation works because of heavy rains, and its management is unsure when it will be re-opened.
Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel Sdn Bhd experts will meet Monday to determine when the tunnel can be reopened, a spokesman told The Star.
The company is a joint venture between Gamuda Bhd and Malaysian Mining Corporation Bhd.

We are First Among Equals

Watch this space for more...

Blood Donation Restrictions

Can you read it? Spotted... at TPM

Anda dinasihatkan JANGAN MENDERMA DARAH jika anda PERNAH...

- Melakukan hubungan seks :

> seks sejenis (homoseks)

> kedua-dua jantina (biseksual)

> bertukar-tukar pasangan

- Menjadi pelacur & melanggani pelacur

- Menghidap penyakit kelamin

- Menagih dadah & berkongsi jarum

WOW!!!!! (get it translated if you do not understand malay- this is really blunt!)

Encounter with an ADUN

The housing area where my parents stay at recently has had a spate of petty thefts which is bordering on daring and also risky. The thieves uses a fishing style - they prey on open windows (even on upper floors of a double story house!), and also unlocked windows to pry open and use hooks to "fish" for valuable stuff. This has been ongoing nearly everyday or every other day for the last two weeks.

Last week there was a "steering committee" meeting for the representatives of the street. The steering comm was called to discuss actions to curb this. Surprisingly, the meeting was attended by the new ADUN from DAP (hey, everybody's ADUN now is opposition if you stay in the city!).

Guess what? One of the ADUN's suggestion to to rear a dog as an interim measure! Huh? What? (Even my dad was shaking his head when he related this to me!) - what kind of interim proposal is this!? I am beginning to wonder how "skilled" these newly voted ADUNs are ...

But, the message is still clear - we still need better security.

Class Act

Never been so proud of the guys.

No ocean too deep, no mountain too high, no distance too far. We can take on anything you throw at us.

This is my young team who has proven, they can take on the challenges.

Convergence and Divergence

At some point in time, some of the things converges and then one realises whether this is it. Whether this is a focal point, a beginning or a convergence before the end or the end of a beginning. Or whatever.

I have been feeling a throbbing headache for the last few days since Thursday. My body is starting to reject me! After a 10.8km run on Sunday, I felt my body broke down finally in protest - the week which I left behind on Thursday finally caught up with me and it told me I was not ok. I had a terrible Sunday, threw up my lunch, had a throbbing headache and the headache never stopped even up till now as I am writing.

I have tons of unfinished business, a few dozens of half done stuff and a lot on my mind.

My mind needs to take a vacation. It has gone beyond what my body can cope!

7 years @ TPM and still hungry...

As a consulting professional, I've always been mostly at clients site for work.

On and off, I have been at Technology Park Malaysia for about 7 years with some breaks in between (3 clients!).

This morning, this guy just really made me laugh - i was rushing off for a 2pm appointment without my lunch and he stopped me at the car park (do I look very friendly to young chaps - I thought everyone really thinks I look too snappily fierce recently?)

Young Malay Guy : Nak tanya, di mana ada tempat makan? Saya baru pindah office!
Me : Huh, err.... then I started staring at direction of APIIT - hesitated as it was quite far to point, then said - Disini tak ada tempat makan
Young Malay Guy : Huh, tak ada?
Me : Ya, tak ada, langsung tak ada - and started to point towards APIIT, muttered something like sana, turn right.
Young Malay Guy : (Very confused with the langsung tak ada and repeated) Saya baru pindah sini
Malay Man walking past : Makan? Di sana, kanan, ada kolej...
Me : (Nodding) Ya, APIIT... (Thinking, Ok, I can go now...)
Young Malay Guy : Jauh kah?
Malay Man walking past : Ya, 10 mins?
Young Malay Guy : Huh?
Me : (Started to LEAVE...!!!!)

Poor guy. Technology Park even after 7 years there on and off still has NO place to EAT on walking distance except APIIT (which serves paltry college kid food).

And why do strangers ask me questions like that? Just the same as the KLCC guy manning the scanner machine - sometimes he likes to practice his english on me "Good morning, how are you?" These guys do it only to specific people, and trust me, I know I do not have a "wish me a good morning face" - maybe I have a blank face and they want to see if I'm brain dead?

And I'd write more on 7 years @ TPM later...

Stress Kills

I was happily watching TV at home after work yesterday when I was informed by my mum that the notorious Klang municipal councillor Zakaria who built a mansion and had a satay house without a permit had passed away (apparently even this made it to the SMS alert from Star so many knew about it).

Me : Died?
Mum : Yes, die already (in chinese - "sei chor") !
Me : What? How? What do you mean die already?
Mum : Yes, just passed away after dinner
Me : Huh? You mean heart attack?
Mum : Dunno, must be....
Me : Wah, like "po ying" (chinese, meaning - paying for sins)
Mum : Ya, got big house also cannot enjoy... must go enjoy more la...

And at that moment, I turned on to Berjaya TV channel 502 on Astro (24 hour news), hoping to catch some of this gossip, when the TV turned to a special Bahasa talk show segment on "How to Handle Stress" - and I was watching it for 5 mins, and they mention hypertension causing heart attack, blah blah...

My heart felt a bit funny for a second. I recalled one occasion running the treadmill at a frantic pace just to get some of those overflow of info off my head... and I wonder, how come now I don't feel so stressed anymore? Or has hypertension set in within my low blood pressure?

Stress Kills...

And I am getting old too... systems stress level not good already...

(Post script - I was told that "po ying" means die a terrible death, but this guy really died away peacefully... so I wonder how many nasty SMS he received before his heart give up...)

With sincere apologies that I do not intend to make humor out of people's death, just the coincidence and realisation is that we should all live with less stress and also with every moment fulfilled always.....

Malaysia Decides - Tsunami of Change

The "rakyat" has spoken. I am shocked but really proud to be in a democratic country yesterday. The 12th election just saw a tsunami of shock defeats and a wave of change sweeping across the nation, with heavy casualties amongst top politicians, handing over the coalition its worst performance since our independence.

As predicted in the last blog, the winds of change, coupled with a long list of undeniable dissatisfaction points of the existing government had brought huge wins for the opposition, and to my surprise, the coalition lost the 2/3 majority although maintained a simple majority.

The tsunami effect had been totally unexpected even by the politicians themselves. The people carried the sentiment of problems and voted out many incumbents instead choosing for the opposition, sending a strong message to the government for a need for change.

Selangor, my home state, and Kuala Lumpur where I work, will be ruled by opposition.

A PAS MB (Chief Minister) will rule Kelantan and Kedah, whilst Keadilan MB will rule Selangor and DAP MB will rule Penang.

We will have a bunch of lesser experienced, young, enthusiastic, parlimentarians in the opposition party, whose consensus needs to be agreed to change the constitution.

We will have three strong opposition parties in the parliament.

Meanwhile, the Barisan Nasional alliance will be required to do serious soul searching on the brand of race based politics and examine the need for stronger leadership across the various component parties.

What does the future brings after the tsunami has cleared and everybody realises they need to get back to their regular life?

The optimist in me sees that the Barisan Nasional team needs to examine itself closely, because they need to do a thorough post-mortem, understand the real reasons for the dissent, give up self denial, cut off the cancerous bits, bring in fresh blood, transparency and socio-economic progress for all, and reinvent themselves - because they can only get better in the next 2013 elections. Be man enough to accept defeat and rebuild for the future. Whilst the opposition will be stronger after given a chance, they could also be weaker if they are not effective.

The people have spoken, have you heard them?

Now... get to work please, all you Yang Berhormats...

Election Fever

Pic - SS2 Ceramah on 7 Mar - it was raining.

The winds of change are blowing. It is a question of change with new or change with old, but I am convinced that this Election Day for Malaysia, on March 3rd 2008 will be carried through with a gust of the winds of change.

I am truly convinced the national coalition, Barisan Nasional will still win the elections and retain a 2/3 majority, hence achieving a mandate for the next 4 years. However, the elections fever has really caught on with the nation, and with strong challengers, new, young blood, unsolved mysteries, allegations of corrupt practices, the governments coalition front should brace itself for a tough fight, and surprise wins and loses will be in store for the rakyat and the government.

I am not advocating directly the opposition's vote, but this is my first elections which I have truly felt the need to exercise my vote, and I whilst I have not made up my mind, I am determined to exercise it responsibly.

This elections, for the very first time, I have attended two lively ceramahs thus far. Although I did not sit through (or rather stand through) the entire ceramah, it was very interesting listening to the speakers, and last Saturday, the first time I attended the ceramah, I went with my parents!!! And yet, old and young turned up, and I saw a friend also bringing his parents. And this is when I know the winds of change is blowing. Very much like Obama vs Clinton, see where Obama is - he is a fiercely strong and motivating speaker. And this is where I see the opposition has changed since the last elections. No longer a paltry 50-60 people last time I saw the ceramah in 2004 elections outside a restaurant we frequented, now the opposition draws a 2000-5000 crowd nightly and with a concerted effort, driven by information.

If you are a strong patriotic citizen, I urge you to listen to and be informed, to seek knowledge and make a responsible choice.