Monday, April 28, 2008

Blogging For Money...

I'm impressed. A full time housewife is also a professional blogger. Samantha Yeap, a 36 year old mother of two earns money from advertising through her blog at myorganiclife.blogspot.com. Her story was published in The Star newspaper today http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2008/4/27/sundaymetro/20972501&sec=SundayMetro.

“What gives me so much satisfaction is that I am able to do and say what I want in my blog (within moral and ethical boundaries, of course). I am under nobody’s rule,” said Samantha. This is a good example of self regulation and being a responsible blogger. She can sit in front of the computer until 4 to 5 o'clock in the morning and write about everything from cooking and how to prevent white hair.

What amazes me more is how people can really be a fan of certain blog sites. They are loyal surfers and reading blogs are like food for their soul. See how strong this new media influences our society. The pen is mightier than the sword they said. Now we can say that the keyboard is mightier than the pen! Amazing really.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Flat Battery, Birthday, Leaky Water Pipes, 3 Stiches, Michael Bollocks!.

Absolute Bollocks!... Saturday was a bad day for me. I was supposed to celebrate Raidi's 8th Birthday but too many mishaps occured. It started with my car battery went dead. I got stuck at Menara Telekom and had to wait for my mechanic to come and replace the dead battery. The battery is less than 12 months old, still under warranty. So I'm going to claim from C&C for the replacement cost. Then, at home that evening, the water pipe in the bathtroom suddenly burst! Rushed to the hardware store and came back to do some plumbing work. Raidi and Zidani were running around and I did warned them about the slippery floor. As I was working, MU & Chelsea match was live on Astro and I'm not supposed to miss that game and you know why. Ayu was away in Korea so I had to look after the kids.

Just after I finished with the plumbing work, as I was about to sit infront of the TV, I heard a loud thud near the bathroom followed by Zidani's harrowing scream. He was really in pain. Raidi quickly told me that Zidani slipped and fell backward hitting his head on the floor. I quickly rub my hand on his head trying to ease the pain and I was shocked to see my palm covered with blood! At that time Zidani was still crying and kept on saying sakit, sakit, while pointing his finger to his head. Blood started to run down his left ear and at that point I knew I had to take him to the clinic. I saw a deep gash on the left side of his head and I thought the wound require some stitches. Rightly so, at the clinic, Zidani had 3 stiches on his head. We had to held him down on the bed as he was frantically trying to escape. Zidani has an allergy to doctors due to some traumatic experience when he was still a baby. Alhamdulillah, Dr Suraya managed to stich up his wound. I'm sure this will add to Zidani's list of traumatic experience with doctors. He is only 6 years old but I'm amazed with his strength. Three adults had to held him while the doctor calmly finished her job. We head back home and after putting Zidani to bed, I got to watch the football match.

It was the game where MU needed to win to clinch the premier league title. Things were going well untill the 86th minute. Chelsea was given a penalty kick when the ref spotted Carrick handling the ball inside the penalty box. TV replays didn't clearly show Carrick handled the ball. It wasn't MU's night and they had to concede defeat after two goal line clearance by Chelsea in the dying minutes. So now it's down to the wire and the team has another crucial game this coming Tueday. Please la..don't fumble when it matters. MU's game suddenly dropped couple of notches.

Happy 8th birthday Raidi! Inspite of all this mishaps, We will celebrate your birthday on Sunday after Mama comes back from Korea. And yes, as promised, you will get your Optimus Prime robot.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

KL-Singapore High Speed Train?...What about High Speed Broadband?

The proposed high speed train project between KL-Singapore had been shelved, though not indefinitely I believe. Number of reasons behind this decision. According to the press, it's too deep for the govt's pocket. This new mode of transport could cut railway travelling time between KL and Singapore to just 90 minutes. But it would cost a bomb and it is uncertain whether there will be enough passengers to use it. Plus, I'm sure there's plenty of political reasons behind it.

I wonder how our Bullet Train would look like?

I think instead of building new infrastructure, they could use the Subang Airport as a gateway for the SG-KL route. This is much cheaper and perhaps if we can fly out from Subang, it could match the total travelling time with the bullet train. In other words, the current transport infrastructure is sufficient to serve both country's requirement. Alternatively, I feel we should link up with Indonesia instead. That's where the future market is. With Indonesia's huge population and growth potential, there would be plenty of trade opportunities. We should build bridges and tunnels to connect both countries.

YTL's MD, Francis Yeoh said in the AFP that this new rail link could save government tens of billions of ringgit in fuel subsidies in the long run. This suggest that the track will be electrify and he hopes to capture passengers who are road users. If this is what he stands for, I have a better option for him. He is harping on reducing gov't fuel subsidies. He intend to reduce the number of private vehicles on the road which will lead to lower fuel consumption and carbon emission. My question is why limit to south bound road users? By introducing the train, we will only remove private vehicle that travels between this two destinations. From the total number of South bound commuters, how many are actually directly driving to Singapore?

If he really wants to help gov't to reduce fuel subsidies he could do this via Teleworking. Being a corporate body, YTL can work together with the government and be the champion of Teleworking. YTL is one of the 4 Wimax operators in the country and they can really capitalise on this technology via Teleworking solutions. If they do this properly, we can see drastic reduction of road vehicles as people only meet up at their work place when necessary. They can hold meetings and discussions from their home using broadband. Teleworking is seen as a solution for traffic congestion. Imagine the amount of carbon emission that we can save? People say this is a cultural thing as many don't really fancy the idea of working from home. That is why it is even more important for gov't or corporate figures to take the lead and adopt this concept. It requires strong political and cultural will for this concept to take off.

Fiber strands that connects the world....

So do we really need high speed train to Singapore? Personally, the answer would be yes if I want to go shopping. I'm sure they don't have baggage limit like they have in the airline industry. But for normal or social commuters, current transportation is adequate. As for business travellers, flying seems to be the best choice. But if we really think about it, do we really need to travel when we are so connected in the cyberworld? I think there's alot broadband can offer than just being a place for web browsing. With enough bandwidth, hyper connectivity can make the world truely a global production floor with everyone acting in unison.


p/s: I don't want bullet train to Singapore because people will not stop over at Kluang Station and have kopi and roti bakar...Yumm Yummm

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Thank You Tevez....

Thank you for being at the right place and at the right time. Your leveller against Blackburn could be the decisive goal for MU this season. I knew the game was going to be difficult. That's always the case whenever they are up against teams coached by an ex-player.
Next week will be one of the most challenging period for MU. Semi final game with Barca and the title deciding fixture against Chelsea within the span of 7 days. I know I should believe in the team but sometimes, it can give me the jitters. I guess that's the reality of the game. It's football and players do make mistake. After great performances over the season, I just hope they don't fumble when it matters.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Busy busy busy and busy...

Looking at the number of my blog postings this year, it could only tell one thing. I'm busy with work. Every time I go back home, I got to entertain the household. When the kids are asleep, I watch Astro or read some books.

Things that I want to blog now is quite a heavy topic. Lately, my mind had been thinking. Thinking about things that I can do to change the world (perrgghh..macam bagus). But seriously, until I can let it out, I won't feel satisfied.

I don't know, its just that too many news going around about climate change, security, corruption, world food crisis...etc. I wonder what kind of a world that our kids will live in in the future. What makes me want to do so much is because the industry that I'm working in. Telecommunication is the enabler of information exchange. When you get to see how telecommunication impacts the economy, politics and even climate change, it makes me want to push so much ideas that can slowly but surely change the reality. I believe that the era that we live in is the era of being informed. Anxiety and uncertainty are usually brought about when there is lack of information. Lacking in information only generates risk and there's a high price to pay for the uncertainty. Soaring oil prices are due to speculative outcomes based on current events, food crisis are probably due to booming demand from China and India and the volatile climate adds to the variable. Just to cite some examples.


There should be better coordination among major food producers that could have avoided this crisis. Nobody saw it coming kaa? I'm sure somebody must have seen the warning signs but everybody seems to ignore it. When the world is already so connected, there should be more active engagement between industries, governments and the citizens. It is no longer the time when you just look at yourself and try to fulfill your own country's need. Humanity cannot afford to be selfish if we want to strive to reach the next equilibrium point. What better way to enable equitable and sustainable growth among nations then to continuously engage with each other, exchanging critical information and coordinating efforts based on informed judgement. We can do this efficiently if we embrace the power of ubiquitous communication. People say that two heads are better than one. What if we can connect 6 billion heads?

With prevailing crisis, who benefits from all this? Does the benefit reach the poor? I bet in the case of food crisis, the middle men gets most of the profits! So the rich becomes richer, and the poor becomes poorer. Not equitable at all and definitely unsustainable.

An informed society is a pre-requisite to knowledge based economy. The challenge is how do we differentiate between information based on facts and Hollywood. So many stories came out from the internet during the last GE but nobody could validate or verify them. Even if one can deny the accusations, who can validate that too? Taking this question aside, the value that the internet connectivity can potentially create should be measured beyond the economic boundries. It's about how it enables the speeding up of innovation cycle. When the innovation wheel spins faster, we can get to our desired destination sooner. We just need some check and balance to ensure the destination or vision that our civilisation is heading to is shared and embrace by all humanity. So please, reach out, speak out, collaborate and engage.

Haiya...I found myself a topic to write for my thesis..heheehe.. But first, I got to sign up for a post graduate course laa!

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Sabah Trip..

Last week, I attended a meeting cum workshop in Kota Kinabalu. It was organised by the Costing group from TM. The visit was part of the awareness programme on the service costing approach that TM is adopting. Unlike other network costing methodology, this framework has a direct link to value creation. It could help the company to position it self as a value creator rather than just becoming a sales channel for equipment suppliers to the customers.

The visit was an eye opener. We get to discuss on real operational and strategic issues for the state with HSBB being the focul subject. We had the opportunity to visit some of TM's site equipment. This helps to give greater appreciation towards the business as it provides the substance. Most of the time we only get to model the equipment in the cyber world.
This is where the Customer's Access Network crossed connect with the Core Network...

I came back from KK with running nose and a bad sore throat. Maybe I had too much seafood. The flight back to KL was full with people sneezing and coughing, spreading out viruses. I felt more like being strapped in a sick bay rather than in an aircraft!

Look at the size of those Udang!