Larian Malakoff 12km

selesai sudah....

It was the last run for the year. What's more interesting, the event was held in our own 'backyard'. Initial plan was to run from Taman Rimba TTDI to Sri Hartamas via the KLGCC route, run through the Penchala link tunnel and back to the finishing line in TTDI. Unfortunately, there was a last minute change. Instead, we had to run the TTDI-Sime Darby convention centre route in 2 laps. Quite a 'boring' route, at least on paper.

But it turned out to be fun! Azad and Ruslan had this challenge between them to finish ahead of each other. They've been having secret training and they wanted to end the year with a high note. Adrenalin were pumping but Azad had a bad start. When he was at the parking lot, he realised that he accidentally left his running shoes at home! The vision of Azad running with his slippers, is just too ridiculous. So I loaned him my Crocs! At least it's not slipper jepun! Actually, the Crocs is more expensive than some of the running shoes that we were wearing! hahahaha

Crocs at 1 o'clock!!

The run itself was satisfying. With 2 laps to complete, we get to see how far back we were from the pros. By the time I finished the 1st lap, the African runners had already lapped me heading for the finishing line. I don't think they were running, they were sprinting! It did have a physco effect on me, pushing me to be a bit more competitive..macam bagus..hahaha

I didn't properly clocked my run so I'm depending on the organiser to do this (I'm gonna get myself a proper runner's watch). We used the timing chip provided by them so the timing should be accurate. I felt good running this time despite the lack of preparation. Perhaps it's the final run for the year so I tried pushing my self towards the end. The downhill section really helped me to pace faster than usual.

After the run, we head to the Mohsein restaurant and had roti canai for breakfast. What a way to close this year's 'account'. Fun run, great friends and good food. I'm looking forward for 2009. We've targeted to participate in at least one run every month. Next stop, January's Great Eastern 20km!

kumpul banyak-banyak, boleh jual besi kati nanti! hahahaha

Maid dah balik..

Hhhmm...we just can't live without them can we? Our maid decided to quit last weekend (she gave us a 7 days notice). After working for us for 11 months, we send her back to her relatives house in Pandan Jaya. If they want to leave, just let them leave. No point trying to persuade her to stay in any longer. Wiwi was our 3rd maid for the past 7 years.

Fortunately, we managed to get a new helper quickly. Just a day after Wiwi left, Ayu picked up this new maid from the agent introduced earlier by my aunty. It's her second day now and I hope she can handle the boys especially Zidani. As long as she can get along and understand his condition, I'm ok with her. I'm also thinking of sending her to Zidani's school so that she can learn how the teacher's there cope with him.

Personally, if I have a choice, I wouldn't want to hire a maid. I think you understand why. In my case, we've been lucky so far that no unwanted incident occurred with our maids. Even so, the thought of having a 'stranger' in the house makes me somewhat uncomfortable. I feel more freedom when only us the family is in the house. Besides, I love to see the family doing the house chores together.

But we just can't live without them can we? Me and Ayu, we both have a hectic schedule and we do alot of travelling too. We can't be bothering our parents too often when both of us are on our working trips. So hiring a helper eases our already heavy burden, especially with the house chores. I just hope that they value the trust that we put to them and realise the responsibility that they're carrying.

Transformers outing...

Raidi's favourite music...

I was helping Raidi to setup his blog. Yes, I'm teaching him how to blog (both the kids spend too much time on YouTube). He's really excited about it. I filled up his profile details, his favourite movies, cartoon and so on...

Then it came to his favourite music. In the past, I've not seen or heard him listening to any kind of music as he always watches cartoon on Astro. He's only 8 years old, so who would expect him to have any musical orientation. Even if he does have preference, I would think it's from his favourite cartoons or movies.

So I asked him about his favourite music. What he said later really made me numbed and speechless. For the first time, I didn't really know how to react to this. He said, "Emmmm....Black Sabath". Hahhahahahahahaha

Raidi told me that he got hooked on Black Sabbath after watching Iron Man movie repeatedly. He loves playing his favourite super hero on PlayStation (which plays Black Sabbath tune in the background).

Washing my car..

It's either you wash the car yourself or you send it to the car wash. I try to wash the car myself once a month. By putting some labour into it, it strengthen this 'bonding' we have between car and driver. Not only that, I usually let the kids join in the fun for some quality time (although they're more interested in water play). Remember the movie Karate Kid? Wax in...wax out?? Character building I tell you...

Anyway, we all have our own favourite car wash centres. My personal favourite is located at the Caltex petrol station in Tmn Tun. I go there almost every week. Here are the reasons why:

1. Location - Very close to where we live. I'd leave the car there in the morning and pick it up in the afternoon after I finished doing my weekend chores.

2. Service - The main reason why I like this place. The wash itself is very good. Sometimes, they put 6-7 people attending to the car and each one of them has specific job to do. It speeds up the whole process, but with more manpower, they have smaller area to clean. This allows them to be more thorough and detail inside out.

Before they hand over the keys, the boss would circle the car for final inspection. I like this part. He does it as if he owns the car. Only after the car is squeaky clean, he'll pass the keys to you. By the way, only the boss has the authority to carry the keys and drive the cars. That gives me a piece of mind knowing that the car is in trusted hands.

Once, I was picking up all the rubbish from the car, the bos quickly came and offered to throw them away for me. I was surprised to say the least. Most other car wash centres are 'operated' by foreigners and they couldn't care less. They don't go the extra mile. This place at Caltex, the business is run by passionate people. It's no wonder why you get to see Ferrari owners send their cars here for a little TLC.

3. Price - Wash and vacuum for a sedan will cost you RM14. I know it's a bit pricey, but I got nothing to complain really.

The best part of all is when you drive out of the car wash. Every time, the feeling is fantastic, your car look fantastic. I would drive back slowly, letting others to have a good view of my car..hehehe..kasi jeless sikit...hahaha. To me it's not just a car wash. You don't believe me? Send the car there this weekend.

Closer...and closer...and closer...

MMBBUAAAHHHHH.... J.CO DONUTS IS NOW IN KOTA DAMANSARA!!!!! ....SSLLLUURRRRRP...YUM YUMMMMMM YUMMYYYYY..... HOHOHOHO .....HAHAHAHAA...DAH GILA NI!!!

Servicing my car

Sending the car for service is something that I always look forward to. I'm not really a grease monkey, but maybe it's a habit that I picked up when i was still schooling. Back when I was in secondary school I love dismantling my BMX bike, wash, clean and polishing the parts, grease them and put them back together. It's something that I would do on a weekly basis. That's why I always go to the carwash center every Sunday, come rain or shine (I'll blog about this carwash experience one day).

I get excited every time I had to bring the car for service. I love to drive and making sure the car is in tip-top condition, gives me the confidence that the car is safe and perform well to expectation. When there's a major trouble shooting to be done, I'm willing to stay at the workshop the whole day and just watch them doing their thing.

pantry with bottomless kopi and milo

I'm actually blogging this entry at Mazda service centre in PJ. They provide free wifi service and individual workstations. The waiting lounge is huge and very comfortable equipped with a 50 inch TV. That's not all, I get free flow milo, coffee and biscuits as well! Unfortunately, here, the service bay is a restricted area. I'm not allowed to 'disturb' the mechanics which is a major letdown for me.

It's already 11am..dah 2 jam! Haiyaa...bila nak siap keta ni!! perut dah kembong dengan milo!!

"What to do with RM10k?"

Nor asked me this question one day through google chat. I said I would like to clear off my credit card bills! Hehehehe..

It turns out that she was actually writing a cover feature for the December08 Personal Money magazine. She inquired whether I would like to be interviewed and I said no problem.

To me it takes some guts to make public that you are debt-ridden. But to Ayu, this is one heck of way to perli her spending habits!!

p/s: Nor, maybe you can feature the rest of the geng for future issues..hehehe..boleh buat magazine friends and family! mmbuuuaahhh

Sub-Woofer - more than meets the eye..

This entry is to let you know that if you ever lost your handphone at home, you might find it in the most unexpected places.

In my case, I lost my CDMA phone. For a month, I've looked for it high and low and still couldn't find it.

Hmm...I know Zidani loves to play with the handset. So I imagined myself being him...Where would I place or hide the handset...

Tadaaaaa... As suspected..looking through the hi-fi subwoofer's cone, I saw not only the missing CDMA phone, but plenty other things inside the subwoofer's enclosure!

I unscrew and remove the woofer's cover. I took out the handset, a fork, a spoon, a toy car, plenty of sweet wrappings, a plastic bag and a chop stick.

There you go, if you have kids at home, if you can't find something, you might want to check the inside of the sub-woofer's enclosure! You might find more than what you're looking for!

Genting Trailblazer 2008

Lord Of The Ring: Battle of Arwarna

This is a story of an epic journey by a company of brave men, elve, hobbits and dwarfs. My name is Frodo. Yet again, this journey took us through the oldest terrain of middle-earth, putting our adrenaline for adventure to the ultimate test. We were forced to travel through 14,000 metres of muddy and rugged terrain, daunting obstacles and gruelling forest trail. At the end of the adventure, each one of us are to be rewarded with the impervious Medal of power, forged with mystical elements by the elves.

The adventure began at the shire of Arwarna. Legolas picked me up and Gandalf from the land of Ta'gh Tun Ta'smail in the early morning and flew together to Arwarna. For us, the adventure had already began when our dragon Avanzaghul flew through dark, cold and foggy sky. At times, we only depended on Legolas elves instinct, steering the blinded Avanzaghul through the clouds. We reached our destination safely greeted by rain and chilling winds.

the geng before the epic journey...

At Arwarna, the three of us joined Aragorn, Mary and Pippin whom arrived together after travelling from Shahwerlam. The lands of Arwarna that morning was filled with men and other humanoid races. They were not the only fellowship in this quest for the Medal of power. The rumour about this medal spreaded quickly across the land and so there we were, finding ourselves standing in the middle of the muddy plain, among orcs, dwarfs, elves and humans, all hunting for the same glory.

The morning was cold, slightly windy and it was raining. The rain made the terrain even more difficult to traverse. But this is the adventure that we have been anticipating for since before the holy month of Ramadhan. Our spirits were high and we couldn't wait to start the journey. It was 8.30am, and my stomach was already hungry! We were about to start the race and my hobbit stomach started to think about honey-cake and Lembas ! How am I going to survive the journey when my stomach was already growling....Yes we can!

L to R : Pippin, Aragorn, Gandalf, Legolas, Frodo..p/s Marry took this photo..

We were flagged off from Arwarna by the Council of Elron. The trek to Mordor is narrow and dangerous. There were too many human and humanoid at the beginning that we got separated. Myself and the white wizard Gandalf led the company, Aragorn the king ran behind us together with Legolas, looking after our back, while Marry and Pippin not too far behind the pack.

The journey initially took us through the beautiful countryside of Arwarna. We ran through the land of 9 Holes famous for creatures firing white balls into the hole from far. The route was relatively easy but some of the uphill stretch was a killer. It's strange though as we did not see any Balgol'fer that morning.

Hobbits, elves, orcs and men...all running!

After passing Arwarna, we began the journey through the forest. From the forest entrance, we tasted some samples of what the whole forest trail had to offer. It was really slippery and muddy. Mostly downhill, we needed to balance our way and be mindful of where we were stepping. We also had to be aware of other competitive orcs, elves and humans as we made way for them to run by.

The jungle trail was tough. At certain stretches, we literally slided down the hill as the slope offered no grip at all. We grabbed on to anything that we could, roots, ropes and people, just to keep us properly balanced as we climbed up and down the muddy and steep slopes. Our shoes were caked with mud and it made it difficult to even walk! Luckily we wore this glove of Jakhsema to protect our hands from getting cuts and bruises.

The river crossings allowed us to wash down our soiled and muddied shoes. The waters of Arwarna certainly had a cooling effect to our feet although it made our shoes and socks waterlogged. We carried our own water back pack so we didn't have to drink water from the stream. I pity those who didn't carry their own water supply. Trail running under humid condition can be very dehydrating.

at one of the river crossings...

Before reaching the long house, we had to excruciatingly trek uphill for about 30 minutes. They call this "the long stairway and you might get leg cramps before the water station"..heheehe. It felt like forever until we finally reached the long house where the only water station was located. By then, we have travelled about 11k-12k metres. So myself and Gandalf took our time, washing down our thirst and prepared ourselves for the final assault to Mordor. We knew that the final section of the journey would be daunting. So we walked all the way, reserving energy to face our final obstacles.

Aragorn and Legolas, climbing the gates of Mordor...haahahaa

As we reached the gates of Mordor, the sight of the finishing line gave me a mixed feeling of relief and agony. I had to battle through the obstacle course to prove my worthiness for the medal of power. So we waded through muddy waters, climbed an almost vertical wall and conquered some speed bumps (at this point, I was really tired, so climbing the small hill was like conquering a mountain). Only the Dark Lord Sauron could put up this kind of tortures obstacles.

The sequence when Smeagol got ahead of us....hahahaha

hehehh eeeh....sukenye smeagol (L)

Yes, we finally did it! Yes we did! We crossed the finishing line in about 2 hours and 45 minutes. We finished at 58th placing out of 139 pairs. Yes we did! Not bad at all! I was so glad that we finished the race.

Medal of power...tulen bang!

Gandalf started taking pictures straight away while I was looking forward to go the caterer's tent. The bananas never looked so delicious in my life before! I never felt so dirty and hungry at the same time. So Gandalf headed to the shower room first and I helped myself with the food.

L to R: Gandalf, Frodo, Legolas and Aragorn..at the finishing line...

While eating, we waited for the others to arrive. Legolas and Aragorn had a tough journey and they did well covering our back, battling Saruman's orcs. We re-grouped and rested and hoping to see Merry and Pippin soon.

Apparently, Marry and Pippin were still negotiating with the Ents, the humanoid tree...hehehe

Unfortunately, by the time we left Arwarna, we still didn't get to see them. We were quite worried actually, so Aragorn decided to stay behind and waited for them at Mordor, while Legolas took us back home to Ta'gh Tun Ta'smail. I telepathically talked to Aragorn later in the afternoon and I was glad to know that Marry and Pippin are safe.

It was an unforgettable journey. Definitely will sign up again next year. To me it was even tougher than the Gasing Hill challenge. Maybe it's because the race started quite late at 8.45am. Usually by this time, I'm usually about to finish a race or enjoying my hefty breakfast. Instead, I was standing at the starting line of a 14km rainforest race!! hahaahha

Cast

Frodo Baggins.....Mafiz Seth

Gandalf.......Dr. Mafeitzeral Mamat

Aragorn....Wan Azrizul Azad

Legolas......Wan Edrin Wan Abd Rahman

Merry....Halim

Pippin.....Ruslan

Photography

Various Sources..I didn't have a camera with me

Studio / Location

Awana Genting Highlands Golf & Country Resort

"Our dreams and hopes are with you.."

That was the message given out to us by the client's Board members today. They've set a very high expectation for us to deliver, and it's going to be very very challenging. I would say it's more of an organisational transformational project rather than just delivering frameworks and support system capabilities.

The client is the biggest Telco group in Indonesia and we are working together as a partner to take the company up the value chain in a customer/demand driven way. The CEO himself directly oversees the project and he shares our vision of positioning the company as an accelerator to the country's economic development.

It's going to be tough but yet exciting. There's alot to absorb and learn in a short time period. We're going to be busy getting our hands really 'dirty'. But nevertheless, it would be an enriching experience working together with the other team members. I'm personally glad to be part of the project.

it's in the detail...good example of customer centricity in the hospitality industry...

On your mark...get set...GO!!

In less than 48 hours, I'll be taking part in the Genting Trailblazer adventure race. I haven't trained as much as I wanted too, partly due to the flu and cough that I contracted from my kids. I'm still having this chesty cough and I hope it will clear off before the race.

I'll be partnering with Dr M while Azad is pairing with Edrin. Our spirits are high and I just can't wait to start the race. Actually, I already have a story line to blog about the GT race later! So I'm very anxious to finish racing and blog about it! hehehehe

Check out the challenging 14km rain forest course below:

Klang New Balance 12km Run..

The Klang 12km run is meant to be a prep run for the upcoming Genting adventure race. Unfortunately, we had to skipped another prep race, which is the 10km Mizuno run due to some technical mishap. So we participated in one full race event and followed through with our own training regime before D-day (which includes attending open houses and makan kambing panggang yang lazat lagi berkrim).

Nevertheless, we enjoyed this Klang race. I would say it was refreshing as we ran through an unfamiliar territory. The route was relatively flat and not that torturing compared to the hilly Bukit Tunku course. Borriiingggg...(macam bagus..heehheeh).

gambar pose skema...future shot would be different..i promise...

I felt quite comfortable running at a consistent pace, although I did try to speed up half way through. But I didn't know the actual distance to the finishing line (organisers should think of putting up more informative markers; like distance, not just direction). So I conserved energy instead of me'rempit' tak tentu hala. Kalau nak rempit mesti kena tempat sebab lepas tu confirm terus pancit macam samprit.

I improved on my timing. By my standard, to cover 12km in about 1hr 20min is quite good. It tells me that I'm just 6 minutes away from breaking the sub 1 hour mark for a 10km race. I share Dr. M's target of finishing 10km in under 60 mins. Maybe we could achieve this in about 2 more races, InsyaAllah.

the one with the lucky draw prize...a gym ball

I got lucky that day. I brought back home more than just the finishing medal and certificate. My number was called up for the lucky draw! hahaha...haiya..sini pun boleh 'kena' ka?

To top it all, before going back home, we stopped by a restaurant in Shah Alam and had a hefty breakfast! Just like old time...roti canai banzai!

after the roti canai session...hungry for more!!

MNP is finally here...

I'm sure many of you have seen some if not all of the marketing campaign by Celcos on Mobile Number Portability (MNP). From this month, MNP basically allows you to switch to other cellular operators without loosing your current number with a maximum fee of RM25.

For the celcos, it's definitely a new competitive landscape where they try to entice and win over competitor's customers. It's certainly more challenging for them to ensure customer's loyalty. I'm really interested to see which Celco's are suffering the most from this MNP.

Source: ACNielsen

Many predicts that Maxis will loose most customers by virtue that they hold the biggest market share. Digi might gain as they are clearly the most innovative in their offerings. For the customers, we are definitely the biggest winner as the industry is getting even more competitive.

I, as a customer would like to ask this question though. Why am I still being identified using digits? With MNP, it seems that they want us to be known as 012/013/016/018-xxxxxxx until forever. Don't you feel like you're being bar coded and you have to carry it for the rest of your life? I don't want my operator to know me by the number. They should know me by name.

If you look at the Internet, when you register to an email service, instant messaging or community portal like Facebook, do they give you a prefix number to identify yourself? No. You are being identified by a name given by you. You can be known as Cicakman, Ironman, Max Payne or whatever, just like instant messaging.

With IP network or NGN, we will no longer be known by the number. It will be like the Internet but in a more secured environment. I personally feel the introduction of MNP service is 2-3 years late in Malaysia. Because, with prevailing technology, the IP network promises so much that makes MNP somehow looked trivial.

Perhaps its a case of better late then never. By having MNP, the regulators expects competition to strive. Hence, prices should go down and the citizen will be happy about it. I just hope the operators will start looking at other value added services and not just engaging in price war on minutes and sms.

Price war is good for the customers only in the short run. In the long run, with lower revenue income, it reduces the operator's capability to re-invest in new technology which ultimately reduces the country's global competitiveness.

MNP shouldn't be use to further commodities the industry and this spirit has to be shared by all players. If commoditisation continues, we will devalue the industry far into the future. And this is not good for operators as they are being squeezed by customers, demanding for lower price.

As for me, until an operator can truly identify me as Mafiz Seth, I'm not switching sides. And believe me, it's not far away for this to happen. It's closer than you think. If only the 'Truly Mobile', 'Truly Malaysian' operator awakens....

New Belkin wireless modem router in the house...

Bought a new modem router during the weekend for the house. Belkin's modem comes with a lifetime warranty.

According to the sales guy, if you have a technical problem with the modem and it's verified by their call centre support, you can straight away get a replacement.

That's good I think. My previous Aztech router modem only has a limited 2 years warranty. We'll see how long this new modem can last this time.

Ground Floor...

I was in the lift going back home from the office. I was tired and felt so sleepy. The lift stopped at one level and a young Malay guy came in. He was looking up and down at the control panel to look for his floor number.

Me: En nak pergi tingkat mana?

Malay Guy: Tak ada butang 'G' sini. Tingkat Paras Bumi dekat mana??

Me: Oohh... tekan Tingkat 1

The cab stopped at his floor and he went off.

After that, all the way to my car at the basement, I was laughing like mad..hahahaha...'Tingkat Paras Bumi'..hahahaha.. skema.

I don't know why, It's uncommon to say it that way kan?..I find it very funny..hahahaha..

Roasted Lamb, Chicken, Modem?

I've not been blogging for a month. My modem at home is roasted. Ingatkan orang bakar lemang je Raya2 ni.... Modem pun hangus...

The only way to update my blog is from the office. But I haven't got time to do it! Tak tau bila nak beli modem baru...

Syawal 2008

Salam Aidilfitri everyone! I hope everybody's back from their hometown feeling happy and satisfied. I know everyone's tired but I guess it's part of the Syawal 'ritual' isn't it? It may drain you physically but spiritually, we get to strengthen our family ties.

This year, we celebrated Aidilfitri in KL, Muar, Kluang and JB. Until yesterday, we still haven't visited some of our close relatives. We have been visiting about 2-4 houses per day. The boys didn't actually followed us all the way. Most of the time, they were with their grandparents.

Traffic wasn't bad at all when I was driving south. I guess many had travelled back much earlier before Raya. But I can see there's a growing trend where people celebrate the 1st raya in the city and travel back to their hometown the 2nd day.

It's a unique celebration for us this year. Ayu's mother tagged along with us to celebrate in Johor. So I guess she had her 1st taste of Hari Raya celebration the Ismail clan's way. Unfortunately we didn't get to see the fireworks 'organised' by my relatives in Kluang. I heard they spent close to RM700 on fireworks! And I miss the sound of meriam buluh in Muar!

There's another 1st for me actually. I climbed Gunung Lambak in Kluang on the 3rd Raya! Hahaha. We stayed at this eco-resort in Kluang everytime we went there to visit my grandmother. This is the 1st year I decided to hike up the mountain and it gave me a different perspective of Kluang town from the top. I just never thought I would do this during Syawal.

At least I get to test my Solomon running shoes and it felt really good. I ran down through the jungle trail and it felt like I was riding a mountain bike! The shoe gave me the stability and grip the moment I needed it. I think future trip back to Kluang will include Gunung Lambak trail running. Manyak syok wooo. After the good workout, we went to Kluang station for breakfast!

Tired? Yes. Bloated from ketupat rendang? Of course. Poket kempis? Pasti. But there's nothing to complain really. It's all an investment to inculcate this Raya tradition for the sake of our future generation. So invest banyak-banyak! Selamat beraya everyone!