Why dude, why?

At a Shell station tonight.

I was queuing behind this Iswara dude filling up his tank. There's another Waja at the pump just behind him, but the Waja's driver was still at the cashier. All other pumps are occupied. So I decided to wait behind the Iswara since the dude is already filling up. A few minutes passed by. The Waja driver has since then returned, fille up his tank and left. The Iswara due is still there, filling-up his tank...

A motorcycle took to the pump after the Waja. He also finished filling up his tank. So I then took that pump. The Iswara dude? Still filling his bloody tank! And now wildly shaking his car and trying all his might to squeeze that last few drops of RON97 into his tank. Even when I have done filling up my tank (all 51.8L of it and also cleaned my rear windscreen at it), left the station, the dude is still at the station. Nwo queuing at the cashier.

That made me thinking, WHY IN THE WORLD DUDE? Why do you need to squeeze that very last few drops into your bloody tank? Is the fuel price going up by 1,000,000% tomorrow? Last time, I check the news, no. In fact it went down. Even if it is going up, it's still not worth that 10 minutes or so pumping that last few drops in. Is he going outstation that he needs that very last few drops to be able to make it to the next station? Dude, if you actually gamble up to that extend, I think you'll do very, very well at Genting. And the last time I check also, petrol stations in Malaysia are quite widely available. And he can always schedule another stop on the way to re-fill if he really needs to. It just left me perplexed. I just can't find a reason for it. If any of you can think of a reason, please tell me why.

If you ask me, dude, you better use that few minutes of your life to pick up and read a non-fictional book or article. At least that'll enrich your knowledge and may be useful to you in the future, much more than you can save by trying to fill your petrol tank to the brim anyway.

Check your facts please!

I absolutely, ABSOLUTELY HATE when people publicly and openly criticize others when they themselves are not sure of what is actually going on. it just shows that

1. the person is not actually that smart, but want to be seen smarter than the person he's criticizing
2. the person just do not care to actually check the facts
3. the person is a WHINER and just blame the authority for his hardship

i saw this is thestar's blog section on their online page.
http://blog.thestar.com.my/permalink.asp?id=18189

>>Bank Negara Why Increase Interest Rate? Posted by: vijaysvk1 Dear Bank Negara
I always believe economic indicator cannot be real indicator....Economic indicator is based on certain formula and it will never represent the real situation on the ground.For example income per capita....
Ok....now lets go to the real issue?Hi Bank Negara Why you increase the interest rate when it will defintely burden the people and make the commercial banks richer...you have increased the interest rate for cars and we can see how it will burden the new buyer...soon you will increase the BLR and again people will suffer....
Dear educated governer..can you explain your action...or you cant as you are the guardian of commercial banks?
We need to fight this...........<<

Bro, Bank Negara DO NOT set the interest rate! The banks are running a BUSINESS, lending people THEIR MONEY. They have a say of how much interest rate they want to set. We, the central bank, regulates them making sure they're doing business in proper conduct, but we do not control how do they spend their money or how much profit they wanna make. We're not a communist country, in case you forgot.

We, more or less, determine the BLR. It's the overnight policy rate that we determine and from the last committee meeting, it was decided that it's NOT CHANGED. we only determine the high level rates, and not for each and every product the bank is offering.

your credit worthiness affects your loan interest rate. the amount, the car you're buying, all contributes to it. there is ASBOLUTELY NO WAY for bank negara to set all that. the change in the car loan interest rate is purely by the bank. if you don't like a bank's offer, find another one! that's why it's called shopping for a loan offer. u don't like one shop's price, find another lah.

so, before publicly blasting people like that, it'll be good to make sure that you have all the facts rather than simply blaming other people. it makes you look bad (and stupid)

Buka puasa

To me, the follwing are why buka puasa buffet is not practical and should be avoided:

1. Bad traffic jam
2. Everybody will be rushing for food at the very same time
3. Difficult time to coordinate your timing for Maghrib prayers
4. You can't eat much anyway (for the price you paid)

But today no.1 is the main reason why I don't like buka puasa buffet. From my house in Setapak, took MRR2 to get to The Curve Damansara. Only get to 1U area like 6:30PM. That's 70 minutes my friend!

Since I've already planned to go to the bike shop @ Taman Megah, still went there first. And trying to get back from Taman Megah to The Curve, took like almost 1 hour via LDP! And that's seems like less than 5 km away.

And when I actually get to the buffet, all I had was a small portion of rice with 2 pieces of chicken, a can of Diet Coke & 3 scoops of ice-cream. Not worth the effort just for that. Luckily I decided to still go to the bike shop, even that meant I had to break fast an hour late.

Will try to avoid next year.

Anyway, thanx to Bulat for the buffet at Marche. Semoga murah rezeki! Amin.

Good Deal!

Malam tadi, boring² lepas terawikh, terasa nak pegi midvalley. So pegi la kejap. Sampai MV pun dah kul 10:00PM, kedai pun dah tutup. Tapi sempat la lagi jalan² kat Jusco yg tgh sale raya skrg

Pegi sports section jumpa pulak running tee mizuno. Murah plak tu! Biasa RM56.90 tapi sale 50% jadi RM28.45 jek. Apa lagik, angkat 3 terussss... hehehe

Yg gelap tu actually navy colour, bukan hitam. Design pun OK. Material pun cun, lembut, lightweight & sweat wicking type. Kira mmg technical running tee lah. Byk lagi stock tergantung kat situ. Design lain pun ada, just one catch, semua size L. Memula ingat nak carik M, tapi ambik jugak L sbb dah murah. Bila test kat rumah, apparently L mmg ngam-ngam, just nice utk aku. Sib baik tak jumpa size M. Kalau tak dah macam sarung nangka... hehehe

So to fellow runners yg carik running tee, check out jusco midvalley sementara stock masih ada.

Ramadan buffet, with a view

Yesterday, a few of us from the office were invited for a Ramadan buffet at The 39 Restaurant, PNB Darby Park.

To cut things short, the food was so and so, but the view from the top was amazing! Especially during sunset. Just see for yourself!

I know KL Tower gives a nice view as well, but this one is breathtaking due to it's proximity to the twin tower and other buildings around it. Trust me, it is much closer in real-life than they appear in the photos above. And the view can be enjoyed from the open-air deck around the restaurant. Can even dine outside if you wish to.

So if you want to dine (a romantic dinner maybe) with a great view of KLCC and it's vicinity, this is a recommended place.

A short video of the view. Wait till the end of the video to get an idea of how high I shot this from.

Black Water (movie)

Watched this yesterday. Wanted to watch Zohan, but last minute changed to this. The poster and site seemed impressive. http://www.blackwatermovie.com/index2.html

If you have any plan or even any twitch in your heart to think of watching this, I'll say, please don't. I can give you a full summary in a single paragraph. Read below:

"It's about a couple, Grace and Adam, and Grace's youngest sister, Lee, going on a trip. Adam suggested a fishing trip. They met Jim, who guided the trip in a small metal boat. When they stopped for fishing at a swamp area, their boat was overturned by a big croc and it took Jim. Grace, Adam & Lee climbed over a tree. Grace tried to traverse the trees to safety, but failed. Adam tried to salvage the overturned boat, but was eaten by the croc. Grace & Lee, tried to find way out to the river when Grace was attacked by the croc, but she survived. Lee then tried to get the boat but also taken by the croc. She was placed at where Jim was 'stored', but she was still alive. When she woke up, she took the gun from Jim and then get to shoot through the head of the croc, killing it. Grace however died from her injury. Lee took her sister's body out on the metal boat. End of story."

Actually, at the start of the movie, when it showed it's produced in Australia, already felt it was not gonna be an interesting movie. Then when it mentioned based on true story, just sealed it. And the movie itself was the proof. I saw people leaving after just 15 minutes into the movie.

The story line was so direct and predictable. And it was super damn slow as well. If we minus the shots of the trees and the empty water, it'll be way less than an hour. I had more suspense riding my motorbike to work everyday than watching this 90 minutes 'thriller' movie. In fact, I've watched 'school holiday special' on TV which are wayyyyy interesting that this. In fact, any of Steve Irwin's show seems like a 5-star movie beside this one. At least, much more informative.

I know, if I'm in that situation, it'll be a very scary and thrilling moment as well. But watching it on the screen? Nope. Maybe because I expected like a group of super-mega big crocs that can jump 10m high, or swallow a metal boat whole, or can chow down a tree, something like that. And then, the crocs started to attack the rescue team and it became a massive battle between man and crocs. Something along that line lah... hahaha

So pleaseeeee, I beg you all, save your money and skip this one. Just watch the school holiday special on Sunday morning.

Global Crisis

I think many are unaware of this situation. For those who read the papers & watch the news, probably have known about the Lehman Brothers & Merril Lynch issue. Those are two big names in the financial industry, and they've failed recently stemming from the credit turmoil in US. And even AIG, which I guess people know as the name printed on MU's jersey, is also in big trouble.

And today in our internal portal, we have the news that almost everywhere in the world, central banks are scrambling to pour money into their financial system to avoid deeper problem. Read the full article here: http://www.reuters.com/article/innovationNews/idUSSP26879920080916?sp=true

To be frank, I'm not an economist and in fact, never studied Economy. I have only just the slightest idea of what teh article is all about. But even by the tone of it, one can feel it doesn't sound good. It points of a big trouble ahead.

But we Malaysians are more concerned about 16/9? I guess we all have our attention at the wrong issue. Because if we have a financial system breakdown, no matter who is in charge in Putrajaya, we'll all be in trouble. Well, unless the person himself has a cash reserve as deep as Bill Gates and contribute big time to the economy. If not, it'll all be just empty promises again.

But I'm sure my colleagues over at the Economics department are focused on their job. Please do.

16 Sep 2008

Hope is a big thing. Hope can make or break a person. Hope can make people believe something that may never become a reality. But playing with people's hope is something else...

Now it's close to 6:00PM and as of writing, the same Govt is still ruling the country. And AAB is still the PM. As much as I don't like him (I much prefer Dr.M), I hate people giving false hope and empty promise, more than anything else.

I know, the believers will say, it will happen, just a bit later. But it was promised to happen 'by' today, and not a single day later. Even claimed to have the names, but refused to announce. So what should we call that? A LIE maybe?

BTW, I'm sick of these constant tussle for power in the country recently. One group should be concentrating on governing and the other group to provide the check and balance. Not to see two sides trying to pull the other side down. If I want to see that, I'll just watch sumo, or judo, or wrestling. Much more entertaining too.

I don't really like to write about politics, but I just can't stand this anymore. Move on people!

Hari ni

1. Iklan TV2

Semalam masa delayed 'live telecast' Monza F1 kat TV2. nak wat camne, dah terlepas live kat astro. layan je lah.

tapi tgh² race byk pulak iklan. kalau iklan komersial tu takpe, boleh la paham sbb itu income tapi, byk pulak iklan utk rancangan TV2 sendiri? kenapa nak siarkan iklan² tu masa live telecast? kalau time rancangan lain takpe la sbb sambung balik. sbb somehow, live telecast tu still berjalan masa iklan. so dah terlepas action race tu, apa daaaa....

dah la tu, iklan utk salam lebaran yg meleret tu & iklan drama indonesia ulang sampai dua kali! hampehssss...


2. Handphone dalam meeting
Masuk meeting pagi ni, ada 6 orang. Lepas sorang, sorang lagi phone berbunyi. Lagu dah le meriah & kuat plak tu... Tak reti nak silent ke? Karang sound karang ada yg ambik hati pulak...

Some people...

Buang masa je la!

Jumaat malam, Putrajaya, dah janji nak kayuh ngan member kitorang 5-6 orang. Janji start kul 10:30PM, macam biasa lah. Around 10:45PM dah cukup korum 5 orang, sampai pulak sorang lagi. Jarang kayuh dgn kitorang, tapi kenal la. Dia pulak mintak tunggu kengkawan dia lagi on-the-way, nak kayuh sekali katanya. OK tunggu la kejap. Lepas 20 minit, sampai la kengkawan diorang tu. Dah ready nak start kayuh dah, group yg baru sampai tu pulak kata ada lagi group yg nak dtg, on-the-way jugak katanya. Tunggu lagi 20 minit.

Finally, dekat kul 11:30PM baru la nak start kayuh. Bad luck, ada sorang member kitorang group asal yg 5 orang tu from original group, tayar ada problem sikit. Pasang tak betul kot, tayar terkeluar daripada rim. Kene check kejap. Kitorang mintak tunggu, yg geng reramai baru sampai tu sikit pun tak heran? Terus je jalan. Macam si*l. Tinggal kitorang 3 orang je yg tadi tunggu kengkawan diorang sampai nak dekat sejam, skrg buat tak tau je. Nasib baik kitorang ada floor pump, so cepat dpt repair tayar tu. Tapi still around 5 minit dah lewat. Dan nasib baik jugak kitorang 3 orang ni, kira yg boleh kayuh la. So kene speed sikit sbb nak kejar balik group yg tinggalkan kitorang tu. Dapat la kejar balik kat next stop point. OK, fine.

Then start kayuh balik. Ada la baru dalam 10 km kot (or less) group dah berpecah pulak. Berenti pulak tepi jalan tunggu kengkawan yang tertinggal. Group yg ramai² tadi tu sampai sikit² sbb diorang kayuh style santai punya. Badan dah start sejuk dah. Kitorang suggest pecah 2 group, diorang mintak tunggu jugak kengkawan semua sampai. OK tunggu lagi. Lepas about 20 minit, baru la semua sampai kat simpang tempat kitorang tunggu. Sampai aku kene patah balik tgk diroang ok ke tak.

Dah re-group, discuss nak ikut route mana lepas tu. Aku dah bagitau route, dah semua sibuk nak balik pulak. Padahal baru je kayuh kejap. In the end, diroang ikut jalan diorang, kitorang ikut jalan kitorang. Kitorang tinggal original group yg 5 orang tu je. Yg tunggu kengkawan diorang sampai sejam tu? Buang masa je.

Lain kali, nak kayuh, kayuh la bebetul. Then jgn la mintak org tunggu kalau actually takde plan nak ikut group tu. Buang masa org lain la...
Tobat aku tak nak kayuh ngan group tu dah. Baik aku kayuh ngan group aku je. Kalau mintak tunggu pun, pegi m*mp*s la...

Memang berbaloi

berbaloi turunkan berat badan 10kg. june 08 = 78kg, skrg = 68kg. mmg teruk tahan lapar & training tgh hari & petang.

semalam gi kayuh rasa ringan je badan. takde rasa teruk nak kayuh. ye la, 10kg tu lebih kurang kayuh basikal sambil bawak kampit beras atas belakang. bila buang kampit beras sure la rasa ringan kan. best, best.

pace lari pun dah improve, dulu 5km = 33-34 mins, skrg dah around 28-29 mins. shin pain pun dah takde. rasa comfortable bila lari.

target nak turun lagi jadi 65kg or less by powerman lumut november ni.

so sesapa yg rasa nak turunkan berat badan, apa tunggu lagi? cepat turunkan. mmg berbaloi!

Brrrr....

lately ni sejuk giler kat ofis.... biasa nya aku kene pasang kipas kat ofis, tapi 2-3 hari ni siap kene pakai sweater. tu pun sejuk jugak lagi tu... abis semua org tegur & tanya apsal plak aku kesejukan. biasanya mcm beruang kutub, tak tau sejuk heh heh

sbb puasa kot? tu la berkat puasa ni. kene puasa selalu nih, baru la rasa sejuk & nyaman je tiap² hari. hehehe

Silence

First of all, Selamat Berpuasa to all Muslims

This pic was taken on 1 Sept 08

This is the Eye on Malaysia. It's service finally came to an end the night before, after an 8 months extension from the original schedule. Usually this ride is brightly ligthed up with flood lights and bright neons, but not tonight.

Feels like something 'missing' when I was there. And I just can't imagine the feelings of the staff running the ride. To wake up and realize their workplace is no longer there...

Goodbye to a landmark