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!

Kamcheng Iftar 2008

We had our Kamcheng Iftar at Azad's place this year. It was a good gathering and I certainly enjoyed the company. Food was aplenty and very the delicious I tell you.

I think our future gatherings will get even noisier and more 'kecoh' every year. Not because of Kamcheng's habits but because of the kids. They're all bigger now and getting closer to each other. Kids will always be kids right? Havoc! Let them be. Oh yes, and Kamcheng will always be Kamcheng! Let them be? Mmbbuaaaahhhh

Shareholder's Value Vs Customer's Value...

WARNING: Long blog entry ahead!

I'm currently reading this book written by Clayton M. Christensen from Harvard Business School. It was first published in 2000 but I just bought it last month.

'The Innovator's Dilemma' is a book about how outstanding companies can do everything right and still lose market leadership or worse, disappear completely. The author tells others how to avoid similar fate.

My timing of reading this book couldn't be any better. At the moment, the world is shocked by this latest financial meltdown in the US.

AIG, one of the worlds largest insurance company is being bailed out or took over for $85billion by the Americans while Lehman Brothers, the US investment bank has been declared bankrupt. I'm still in chapter one so this new spate of events would certainly push me to finish up the book.

The question in everyone's mind now is what really happened? What could have triggered this meltdown? It sent shockwaves to the world's stock market and it wiped out billions of dollars of share value overnight.

This latest financial tsunami had also created uncertainty in the investment world while many will be unemployed and many will be out of business (if you think about the SMEs supporting this industry).

More importantly, just think about the end customers. The company is in the business of managing risk and uncertainties. If they can't demonstrate this intrinsically, how can they assure their customers in the first place?

Was it a case of financial mismanagement? Lack of governance? Lack of prudence? Or was it just a case of being too greedy?

My take is simple. It's another fine showcase of capitalism rearing it's ugly face. Creating shareholder value is the main mantra for any public listed companies. The goal is always to create huge profit margin and reward the shareholders with high dividends.

Buy & Sell...I only see shareholder's value here....

Business models are engineered towards this target and KPIs are linked together to create shareholder value. It's true that products & services are developed to satisfy customers but ultimately, for a listed company, annual PBIT, EBITDA etc take precedent.

I ask you know these questions. Does any of these indicator points out to customer's value?? Does it mean all customer's expectations are met? Does high profit margin means customers are happy? Does it mean their standard of living has improved? Has poverty been addressed? Has it helped the needy and the poor? The answer is no.

Today, although we are slowly seeing companies adopting CSR reporting but still it's all done suspiciously for the sake publicity and popularity.

In the next couple of months or years, people will be looking high and low for the root causes. Many books and white papers will be written on this and everyone will be talking about structural failures.

Capitalist will always champion this 'survival of the fittest' model. To me survival of the fittest is the law for those living in the jungle. They don't want to see others to progress as it might eat up their 'territory'. If this continues we might see many more colossal collapses in the future.

So how do you expect this model to sustain when the rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer. The current capitalist model 'robbed' money out of people's misery. Our main motivation is always to create shareholder's value, most of the time, creating more wealth to the wealthy.

I believe that profitability should be a product of something more important which is customer's value. I would treat profitability as a by product. If you can continuously create and grow customer's value, profit will trickle through naturally. From stakeholders down to the lower organisation, meeting customer's needs and their affordability level should be the number one KPI, not profit.

When the customer's value (business of lifestyle) grow, so does yours. It's a logical way to ensure business sustainability. It's not only logical, it's socially viable as well. The aim is to help the customer's achieving their business or personal goals. That's the keyword, help. Not to overburden them with high interest rates when they really need to borrow money for example.

Don't exploit and commoditise their predicaments in the name of higher profitability. Don't just talk about business expansions, dividend policies, restructuring and passing business centric resolutions. What's more important is to discuss on the outcome towards the customers.

Even looking at newspaper report on this financial turmoil, it's all about structural collapses, investor's confidence and economic impact. Basically issues that affects the capitalist themselves. Nobody really reported on consumer's confidence and the impact of this event towards them. This is the problem when everyone cares only about their bottom line. I think everyone from stakeholders down to the line managers is answerable to customer's value first.

Customer value creation is not a new concept. It has been developed and practised for more than a thousand years ago. It's actually what the Islamic financing and business concept is all about. I think people will start to realise the advantages of adopting Syariah principles and Islamic economics. Not only the finance and banking sector should adopt it, but other industries as well.

The timing of this latest event couldn't be any better. Ramadhan is the month in which the Qur'an was revealed. God is telling us something here, especially the business community.

It's time we reflect back at the priorities, evaluate business and economic model as a whole, seek guidance and set new targets. And this new target should include generating equitable wealth and social dividends, a win-win concept that emphasises on honour, just and fair value not just maximising profits. So grow customer's value first, profit will follow suit. As they grow, so does your shareholder's value. It's common sense.

"HSBB - Premium Boradband Service"

Great to read about the signing ceremony between the Gov't and TM today on High Speed Broadband (HSBB) investment for Malaysia. The network will allow citizens to connect to the Internet at 10Mbps to 100Mbps.

You might wonder what can you do with such speed huh? It's like having a Ferrari! But do we have good drivers? People might argue it's a chicken and egg thingy. TM and the government is taking the supply driven approach though. I say we have to work on both the chicken and egg.

the world is spinning in your hands...

It's even interesting how this topic has become political. The opposition had mentioned before that the high speed broadband project would be one of the mega projects to be shelved once they are in power.

Ironic isn't it? It was this 'new' media that helped them to get their political mileage and shelving the project doesn't sound right. Perhaps they realise how powerful this medium is and thinking that bigger bandwidth to the citizens poses a threat to their future position. I don't know, this is my opinion.

I'll blog more about it in the future. There's plenty to talk about really if you think about how we can create value with this new 'Ferrari'.

Gigi Tinggi...

Finally, I got my permanent teeth crowning fixed. It wasn't a long procedure at the clinic. The dentist just needed to ensure proper fitting before he permanently cement it down.

But now, I'm still adjusting to the restored teeth. It feels good really, but the problem is, it altered the shape and size of my teeth.

So as a result, I have to adjust how I chew and grind my food properly! Now I'm like practising eating all my favourite food, just in case they taste any different. But so far so good, chocolates and strawberries are still number one! I hope samprit and sarang semut are way up there as well!

9/11

9/11 gives different meaning to many people. To myself and Ayu, it's actually our wedding annivesary date. Alhamdulillah..It was 10 years ago on this day that we went through our Nikah ceremony.

Marriage feels like a marathon and patience is your stamina. No matter how good your preparation is for the race, it's all in your heart & soul.

Hhhmm, 10 years huh? I'd be lying if I say that it was all blissful and smooth sailing. Sure we had our problems and issues but hey, who's perfect right? Thanks to Allah, we've made it so far!

Happy 10th anniversary to us!

Proton MPV...

Read about the upcoming new edition to Proton's current stable. This time it's an MPV. It's a new segment for them to venture into, so I hope it will be good.

They're having a naming contest for the new MPV. The grand prize winner will get a unit of the latest model. Read more about it here.

It's so funny to read some of the suggestions that I decided to blog about it. These are some of the good ones:

1) Proton MPV Trinity (Matrix Family) - hahahaa

2) Proton Leewat - Oooppss

3) Proton Middle age men who has lost fun in driving cars

4) Proton Muatan

5) Proton Bunting

6) Proton Juara SE - hahahah..this so funny

7) Proton Harap - WISH in malay

8) Proton Sumo

9) Proton Fuyoh

10) Proton Abang Savvy

And many more creative answers, just check out the link above. I wonder how foreign manufacturer name their cars and I think it's much easier if we just use digits or simple alphabets. These however would be some of my suggestions for Proton:

1) Proton Banjir - just like roti canai banjir. The car would be 'flooded' with more people right?...hahaha

2) Proton XL

3) Proton Murahno

4) Proton Carrier

5) Proton Ceria

6) Proton RaMy - Ramai

Let's hope Proton will give a name that matches the MPV's styling theme and function.

Candy Bar Vs Box Of Chocolate Vs Lollipop Vs...

It's interesting to look at how Celcos put up their proposition on post paid plans. Whether on billboards, television or printing ads, we can see different approaches undertaken to....read more at..

http://xconnectpoint.blogspot.com/2008/08/candy-bar-vs-box-of-chocolate-vs.html

A Retreat...coming soon!

I'm planning to take the family to this place after Syawal. Cool place for a weekend holiday and it's located not far from KL. I'll blog more about it in October/November!

Gila-gila adventure...

I have to admit. I've been bitten by the adventure race bug! Hahaha..as if I seriously go out and race! Takpe, niat sudah ada...

But reflecting back how I've been browsing the internet, day dreaming about being part of the elite Trans Titiwangsa-Eco Challenge race finishers. Dreaming about taking part in the 21 km Mount Kinabalu International climbathon , scaling up and down the mountain under 4 hours and 30 minutes...perghhh.. I could only imagine! hahaha..dream on Mafiz!

Aiyooo...what has gotten into me? And I've been shopping too! Thanks to the upcoming genting race, I bought myself this new pair of Salomon trail running shoe! huaaaaa....kasut dah ada, back pack dah ada...I'm all geared up. Next is to justify these purchases! Run Forest run! Lari kat mana eehh??

Takpe, niat sudah ada, style kena jaga! hehehhe

p/s: lucky I'm not a women, if not I'll be blogging about every new pair of shoes, handbags, make -up.. perrrghhh

Salomon Trail Comp 2 specs here

"The lightweight trail running shoe for fast training and competition.

Innovative SCS cushioning to ease the suffering"

"Hello? What happened to you laa?"

Caller: "Hello, I got a missed call on my mobile, may I know who's on the line?"..

Receiver: "This is Dr Maha...what happened to you laa?"..

Caller: "Oooohhh Dr, how are you?"...funny how the patient ask this question to his Dr yeah? hehehe

Receiver: "You are so busy aahh? Outstation ka?"

Caller: "Yaa laa Dr, but I'm still around, and your temporary teeth crowning is still around too!"...trying to be innocent..hehehe

Receiver: *laughing* "So when are you coming? Fasting month the clinic is open until 8.30"

Caller: "Ok la Dr, how about this Friday?"

So the Dr set a schedule for me this Friday. Hmm...I was supposed to see my dentist about a month ago to fix my crowning. But I skipped the appointment for some reasons.

My temporary crowning is long overdue for a permanent replacement. But the cost of that thing is soooo expensive!! So I was quite reluctant to see him so soon after the last visit.

I never felt this disappointed replying a miss call before. Tapi takpelah..This coming Raya, saya ada gigi baru! Gigi raya! Hahaha

If they can bring in Robinho...

What a shocker! All the spotlights were on big name players movement between big european clubs. Suddenly Man City, just minutes before the transfer window was closed, they made one of the most startling footballing news announcement.

They bought Robinho from Real Madrid! And they even did it in style; by breaking the British transfer record!

And if they could bring in Robinho, Man City, with the new Arab owner backing them up, one would wonder what they could do next. Now the question is, can his team mates try to match with his trickery and skills.

an added dimension to Man U's attacking line up.... the Manchester derby will be taken to a new level...

We know football is not a one men sports, unless the player is really really talented. A player of this calibre usually wants to be in a team that can win major honours. They want to be there if you know what I mean. If the club seriously wants to mount a major assault, they need to make more changes.

I think history would repeat itself with Robinho. Remember the Tevez and Mascherano saga with West Ham? Perhaps Robinho would join Scolari's squad ultimately.

Still, he's the player to watch. He has to justify the hefty price tag. Of all the teams, he will be facing Chelsea in his first ever premier league match. Pity him really.

Hmm..but seriously, if they could bring in Robinho...who's next? Kaka? Messi? peeerrgghhhh...Bringing in those players are like winning trophies already!

Ramadhan Mubarak...

The holy month of Ramadhan is here again. It's already the 2nd day of fasting for many Muslims around the world. How long will it be this time before Syawal reach upon us? Hhmm..we know how time flies and the 'cleansing' semester seems to get shorter year after year.

Time might be going faster, but the Ramadhan challenge are getting tougher really. The act of fasting is supposed to re-direct the heart away from worldly activities and Muslims are expected to put more effort into following the teaching of Islam.

Today, it's not just a matter of fasting from dawn until sunset. Although fasting is the prominent act in this month, the challenge has shifted in this information age I think. See no evil and hear no evil; it has become more daunting for anyone to do this. It's easy to tell lies and it's easy for people to read or hear lies. Evil is just a mouse click away....

our prayers 'bandwidth' to Allah should be much bigger this month...the bigger the better!

I guess it boils down to the individual. Refraining from eating and drinking can be physiologically trained. And so does critical thinking. I feel our susceptibility to believing in rumours has its roots to our upbringing and education system i.e. spoon feeding. You feed us 'X' we'll always believe it's 'X'.

Just like fasting, we got to train our minds to do self-censorship and critical thinking. If the society is mature enough, maybe state censorship is not really necessary at all. Unfortunately, for this to happen, the spoon feeding system has got to go first.

But still, the month of Ramadhan provides the opportunity for Muslim to practise self-constraint. As much emphasis given to fasting, other teaching of Islam has to be highlighted and practised too, including to avoid obscene and irreligious sights and sounds. It is a form of self-censorship and I believe this value needs to be strongly inculcated in all Muslim hearts.

In this connected world, our faith to Allah is constantly being challenged. Fitnah has an effective vehicle or platform to penetrate and corrupt Muslim minds. It's the internet. We've seen so many efforts by people who wants to tarnish the religion in the eyes of the world. That's why we need be a strong believer. It has become more challenging for a Muslim to live in this interconnected world. But I would rather die in starvation, not in disbelief... this is my constant hope and prayers to Allah...

Selamat menyambut Ramadhan everyone.....

Bukit Cahaya Seri Alam...

The last time I came here was more than 15 years ago. At that time, we cycled (BMX mind you) all the way from TTDI via the NKVE and it resulted in me not coming back ever since.

Me and Azad sort of launched our prepatory effort for the genting race last Saturday. Hehehe. But what supposed to be a 2 hours trail, we spend 4 hours of our Saturday morning at the park! There's so much to see! You should visit this place. More pictures here.

no wonder it took us 4 hours, Azad was busy with his new toy!..hehehe

an amphitheatre....but where are the people?

It was a great outing combining X-training (ok la more like walking), sightseeing and best of all, we ate roti canai at the top of Bukit Sapu Tangan! hahaha...can't live without it!

they do sport fishing here btw..

Bkt Cahaya Seri Alam is alive and kicking!

Genting Trailblazer 2008...coming soon!

Are we crazy or what? Me and my friends decided to enter this trail running race in November. We thought about the Genting Trailblazer quite a bit, but I guess until you do it, you'll never know right? Come 2nd November, we'll see if we would be cursing each other for registering! hehehe

It's a 14km trail and we will be navigating through muddy terrain and rugged rainforest. I personally like this kind of race. Going through the jungle requires not just stamina and endurance, but alot of thinking too.

Unlike running on the street, you really need to be alert and always thinking about where to plant your next step. Under dynamic conditions, you need extra focus to finish the race. Furthermore, it's a team event, so teamwork and race strategy is equally important.

We're all quite pumped up for this event. So we're preparing ourselves through the fasting month and somehow try to control our "festive feast" during Syawal. We have two 10km races planned in October as a build up for the 2nd November showdown. Mental preparations are done via reading blogsites and looking at pictures posted from previous year's races.

My hope is to enjoy and finish the race without getting injured. Sweat, mud and ultimate glory, I'm sure it'll be an incredible experience. The Genting Trailblazer feels more like a 'gamble' to me. But as a result, we now dare to dream about something bigger... the Taman Negara Eco-Challenge 2009!!

I foresee we'll be running similar races in the future, so I bought this lafuma bladder back pack...

"Digi to halve carbon emissions"

I've shifted this blog entry to a different blogging address. This new site is dedicated to issues related to telecommunication and information industry.

So I've created http://www.xconnectpoint.blogspot.com/ for me to put up my personal opinions on telecommunication's commercial, technology, political and regulatory aspects.

I want to keep this current blog for family and social matters. Diversificationla kata kan. Catering for different reader segments..cewaahh. I hope this is doable!

Penat Gile...

I just came back from a Futsal game. I think the last time I played was about a year ago. So it was really difficult to catch up with the pace. Every 5 minutes intervals, I had to substitute myself. The game was too fast for me. I need at least 2 to 3 games before I can get a bit closer to their pace.

Tonight I played at Section 15 Shah Alam. This is the first time I saw a sports centre that has a karaoke lounge at the same premise. Besides Futsal, there were people playing Takraw, Badminton and even Ping Pong. Netball court pun ada! Boleh organise mini Olympic.

My brother in-law Rizal (Linda's husband) invited me to play tonight. Thank you for doing so. It made me realised that I'm 32 not 23! Reality check!

From 2.70 to 2.55 a litre..

Good news! Yes!! Starting tomorrow, the RON97 price will go down by 15 sen a litre! Yahoooo.. I got to know this after reading about PM's announcement here. Of course this is good news...

I thought this price adjustment would be announced 1st September. But I guess..for whatever reasons, they just had to bring it forward...hmm..flip flopping...

Actually, I just filled up my tank tonight. That's a full tank paid at 2.70 a litre. !@#$%&%!! I feel so good!! If I knew the price is dropping tomorrow, I could have waited for a couple of hours more....it's strange when people don't SMS this kind of thing yeah?

Since the gov't is implementing this corridor pricing based on world's price movement, consumers just have to be prepared for surprises. Hopefully, this wouldn't create so much of uncertainty. It's better to have a flexi budget now to cater for this movement. The question is, would other price of essential items adjust accordingly? I don't think so. They'll remain on the high side.

So it shouldn't have been 2.70 in the first place should it? If it was staggeredly increase, perhaps other industries could have rationally adjusted to it. Would anybody want to drop their service and product prices based on today's announcement? Hhmm...I hope relevant ministries could look into this.

Digitisation...

Scottish Highlands...

I'm in the process of digitising photos taken using my old Pentax SLR camera or some other cheap compact flash cameras. Pictures kept in photo albums can't last that long and the signs of 'aging' will appear sooner or later.

I think this is Loch Ness....

I have a paid flickr account so might as well upload all these pictures there. In this blog entry, I'm posting some of the photos captured during my student times in Scotland. I love landscape photography and I took these pictures using a cheap compact flash camera.

disembarkation jetty to Isle Of Skye..

Isle of sky...that's Ayu in the foreground...

Unlike today, a 10megapixel DSLR camera can make these pictures even more lively. But I guess, if you can't crop or frame the subject properly, even gigapixels camera can't create a good picture right? But who cares! I still want a DSLR!!

The Forth Road Bridge, Edinburgh..

10Km Merdeka Unity Run 2008...

10km? I think it was slightly more. Could be just above 11km. Last Sunday, Dataran Merdeka was filled with participants and fun seekers. It was like a carnival and according to the Press, more than 7,000 took part in the race.

As usual, before the race, the geng convened at our meeting point next to the Methodist Girl School. I realised that this is more of a 'social' run organised by the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry and the PM was there to flag us off. So much of fan fare and activities for everyone. But once we were flagged off, it was down to serious business..hehehe

Sharp 7.30am, we started running, almost the same route from our last 7km run. But this time it's further. By the time we exited Bukit Tunku near the Jln Duta tennis sports complex, it was all mental to me. From that exit, I know exactly how far Dataran Merdeka is. That was a mental killer for me. The last 3-4km undulating stretch was a real physco.

picture courtesy of Dr M...taken minutes after I crossed the finishing line...

I mentioned to Azad later that we've ran through this route before during our schooling days. Those days, when we were young, we would be sprinting and walking. Nowadays, my objective in any run is try not to stop or walk. Once if I start walking, it's difficult for me to start running again. Either my legs would collapse or I would have stomach cramps. So lari macam ayam ke itik ke tak kisah, asalkan jangan berhenti.

Azad, Dr. M, Ruslan, Halim and about 7,000 others ran for Merdeka Unity on that day. But honestly, I didn't see or feel much of unity spirit. Everybody was just leisurely soaking in the carnival atmosphere. We went back home with many goodies and gifts though. Still, I don't know why we like to torture ourselves this way. We could be sitting in a mamak stall enjoying 10 roti canai together instead of running for 10km! Kenapa ya??

Zidani is mini me...

Left side is Zidani's picture taken recently. On the right is my photo when I was 3-4 years old. Compare us both. Don't you think we're like twin brothers??

A confession...

Atuk Cha helping me with the sampin...picture taken duing one of the Lebaran gatherings in Kluang..

This is a confession: In one of the many school breaks at my grandparent's place in Kluang, Johor, I almost drowned in an unused pool nearby the surau. I must have been 7 or 8 years old at that time.

About 25 years ago, I followed my Tmn Kasih friends to this abandoned pool. One of them jumped in and I followed without knowing how deep the water was. I struggled to keep afloat as I couldn't swim! My friends didn't realised that I was in trouble until they saw me going down under.

One of them jumped into the pool (I can't remember his name) and pulled me out of the deep water and dragged me to the side. I owed my life to this fellow that day. After that we continued playing in the pool, but me of course just watching them from the side...

From that day on, I kept silence about this incident. Takut Atuk marah.. Only me and 3 other old friends knows about this. We were kids and I will never forget what happened that day. So today, after looking at the photo above (uploaded by AB on Facebook), I decided to share this story with everybody...

From muskmelon to harrison grey...

Finally, I took the initiatives to repaint the house. Our living hall and the family area were previously painted in flat muskmelon colour. It wasn't to my liking and I've been telling myself to do something about it for a long time.

the living hall area with 'muskmellon' painted wall.. the sofa set has to go!

Last weekend, finally I've achieved what I wanted to do for the past 5 years. Imagine waking up every morning of your life and saying "I've got to change this colour"...

We removed the steel railing that seperates the living hall and the family area...

Initially, I thought the biggest challenge was selecting the new colour. But it took me less than an hour to decide actually. As long as it's not muskmelon! The toughest part was the painting job itself.

Family area with the new refreshing look...

Yes, we repaint the whole place ourselves and this saved us at least Rm500. So Ayu painted the borders and I had the whole wall surfaces to cover. It took us a day to coat the walls with primer paint and another day to apply the finish paint.

I'm in the hunt for a new sofa set...I like this design and colour combination

Harrison grey for the feature wall and it's lavender green and lilac white for the rest. I'm personally satisfied with the outcome. The kids like it too. Ayu initially was skeptical on my colour selection but in the end, it turned out to be ok.

However, I got a rude shock of my life when I got back to my office. I was sitting at my workstation, looked up at the wall right in front of me and saw something very familiar. "Oh my God!" I said to myself in disbelieve. I had subconsciously applied the office colour scheme for the house!! Hahahaha

One down...many more to go!

Here we go again...MU started this season's campaign from where they left off, by winning more silverware. This time it's the FA Community Shield.

It marked the beginning of 2008/09 Barclays Premier League and I'm sure this season is going to be even more exciting. MU wasn't really active in the transfer market however, which indicates that they are relying on a maturing squad to go through the season as defending double winners.

The strikers department is a bit thin though and the club is in pursuit for a 4th striker. Today I read that Thiery Henry could be a possible candidate! Hmm...very interesting.

Catch me if you can!..

Other big names like Kaka is poised to join Chelsea. If this comes true, it will increase BPL's profile in the footballing world. Money can buy success some people think.

Well, they may acquire Kaka or maybe even Messi, but history speaks for itself. No amount of money can buy the coveted league title. Only team with strong blend of english pedigree and experience has the chance of finishing top.

We'll see how it goes this season. As a defending champion, at both domestic and the continent front, MU is the team to beat. It's the time of the year again. The time when husbands take control of Astro's remote because weekends equals live football. Wait until May 2009 before we hand over the remote. hehehe Glory glory Manchester United!!

I am Pak Long...

More pictures at http://www.envyeyes.net/

Alhamdulillah. 6th August 2008. The date when I was promoted to be an Uncle aka Pak Long. My sister Tasha gave birth to a healthy baby boy at Pantai Hospital. Both mother and son are doing well and they are now serving their 'pantang' at my parent's place.

Congratulations to Iyadzree and Tasha. At blogging date, my nephew's name is Iyad Iskandar Alfy. Raidi was particularly excited about his new born cousin, so both the boys spent their weekend at Mak's place.

Meanwhile, while the boys were away, we had this project going on at home....

Memories of Atuk Cha..part 2

Arwah atuk (L) melepak...

When I was a baby, with Tok Nyang and Aunty Oyah

Thank you AB, for scanning and uploading all these photos on facebook.

Memories of arwah Atuk Cha...

This entry below is actually taken from my uncle's facebook wall postings. Angkel Yoh wrote them right after he became a facebooker. He shared his memories about Arwah Atuk Cha with all my relatives on facebook.

Some of my friends have met my late grandfather before. He likes to wear his songkok so I think many of you might recall meeting him personally. I wish to write about my own memories about Arwah Atuk. I will do it one day. For now, you can read these stories first....

"I've read Aunty Alok's and Aunty Oyah's post about Arwah Atuk Cha and have felt his sudden presence as if he's still with us. What follows are random memories of arwah Atuk Cha which some of his cucus and cicits might not know, but may be interested to know. These tattles are mere snippets of arwah as a husband, a father, a grandfather, a great-grandfather, a man, and above all ... a FRIEND.

Did you know ...

* He once went for a singing talent audition (Talentime) at Radio Singapore? This was the early 1960s version of the Akademi Fantasia or Malaysian Idol that we have nowadays. Imagine, if there was AF then, and Atuk was selected ... Anyway, to prepare for the audition, he would practise after he reached home after office. The song was Cliff Richard's "How Wonderful to Know" (see if you guys can d/load it from the Net). So when the time came, he joined the Wadi Hana singer wannabees to S'pore, but didn't make it. But at least he tried. So all you Atuk Cha's cucus ... you know where your singing talent comes from!

*He was a Guru Silat? The gelanggang was the living room of the quarters at Jln. Sekolah, Kluang. One night a week, the furniture and carpet would be cleared, and Atuk Cha would perform the "silat buka gelanggang" before he conducted the silat lessons. Among his students were the TNB people (arwah Mat Lamdin among them), some Kluang taxi drivers, and other government clerks. After the silat sessions, he would sometimes turn on the hi-fi, and force them to listen to Deep Purple and the Beatles! Pasang kuat pulak tu. Tok Chik could only geleng kepala ... haha ... typical!

*He used to perform the "silat pengantin" at weddings in JB? This was when he started learning the silat Sunting in JB. What made it more impressive was that he started it late - in his mid-40s. Being one of the better students, he was taught the moves and asked to perform by his gurus. Now you all know where Afik gets his moves from ...

*He was a Johor junior badminton champion? This was in his early 20s. If he was a little bit taller, he would have been the Malayan champion! Haha. I think there is still a black and white photo of him posing with his Johor teamates somewhere in Tok Chik's house.

*He once wore a wig to his office in Kluang? This was in the early 1970s when I was at Technical College in KL. I bought the wig because I was forced to cut my hair by the principal. When I brought it back to Kluang, he wore it just for a lark. That time he was serving the public at the land revenue collection counter. Imagine the public's reactions at his prank! Just shows his inexhaustible sense of humor, which many of us inherited!

*He never, never, ever said a single bad word about anyone, and I mean ANYONE, even if he didn't like them! He was always gracious about other people. That's why he was well-loved by everyone who knew him. It's something we all should emulate.

Alamak, penat menaip. To be continued ...

Did you know ... (Part 2)

*He drove around the Jln Pahang roundabout (near Tawakkal Hospital) 3 or 4 times? At peak hour! This was during one of his visits to KL when Pak Long, Uncle Seth and I were at Technical College. If Aunty Oyah can remember, he did that to amuse her (she must have been about 4 or 5). Oyah would put out her face out of the window to get the feel of the breeze. Just one of his many "unusual" acts to amuse his children. Of course that wasn't the only roundabout to get the multiple roundabout treatment by arwah Atok Cha. There were a few others in KL.

*He was the master wedding pelamin designer/maker in JB? Most if not all of Tok Nyang's children's (your atuks lah) wedding pelamins were designed by him. I remember particularly (I must have been about 7 y.o.) Tok Pah's wedding in Wadi Hana; he cut down a 3-foot tall cherry tree from Tok Nyang's garden and used it on the pelamin, in between the seats, complete with red cherries! Wahhh ... very original, very glamour!

Usually when he had to do a pelamin, the house at 28 Wadi Hana would be a mess. There would be cut-out cardboards, ribbons, pieces of shiny cloth, the silvery stardusts, etc. all over the floor. But his best work was when a wealthy Malabari businessman (a Datuk Majeed) commissioned him to design/make the wedding dias for his daughter. He was so proud of his handiwork ... like something from the kayangan! The pix might be lying somewhere around in Kluang. Just shows the multi-dimensional creative and skillful side of him that we all know so well.

There are many more snippets of Atuk Cha's talents. I'll put them down when I have the time. Like the time (the early 1960s) when he conducted Accounts classes (under the Wadi Hana house) for some young dudes to prepare them for the LCC (London Chamber of Commerce) Accounts exam. If you don't know, he was very good in Bookeeping and Accounting,being one of the stalwarts of the Johor State Treasury. He was also a speed typist. Whenever he had to do office work at home, he'd show off his fast typing skills, and we'd all (me, Uncle Seth, Pak Long) ternganga tengok dia. Fuyohhh ... terer!

Atok Cha was also very good in architectural drafting (he worked as a government draftsman just after the Japanese Occupation). He would show us how to draw 3-dimensional perspective drawings of buildings and houses. Very good with his hands, as some of us who have been given his paintings and picture puzzles can attest.

What I've posted simply reveals Tok Cha's multi-faceted skills and talent, which everyone of us have inherited one way or another. Accounts, finance, public relations, human resource (for his management and inter-personal skills) architecture, engineering, interior design, art, even comedy (haha) ... he would have excelled in any of them if he had had the opportunity that all of you have today.So before you go off, pls sedekah Al-Fatihah to arwah Atok Cha, not least for bringing us all so much happiness in his lifetime. Al-Fatihah."

40 Degrees Celsius...

We were down and out. Me and my boys sufferred from high fever. Zidani was the first victim. I had to fetch him from school after the teacher called me about his worsening condition. This was last Monday. We tried to to go the clinic that evening, but the queue was just too long. I guess the season is here brought by the hot and dry weather. So we took him to DSH instead.

The next day (Tuesday), it was my turn to catch a fever. I'm sure I got this from Zidani. I had important meetings and presentations with the client this week so I couldn't afford to be on MC. I went back home that day earlier as usual, took my medicine, and slept the whole night, without turning on the fan. It was like sleeping in a sauna! Next morning I felt better and went ahead with the meetings with my sweater on.

On Thursday morning, Raidi started to have headaches and sore throats. Here we go again. Zidani is fully recovered by this time, but I guess, considering that they sleep together in the same room, life would be too unfair if the brother doesn't contract fever as well. So today he stayed at home and rested.

Question is when is the mother's turn?? Ohh yes..she was not in KL! Yesterday she just got back from Singapore...She was actually having a different sort of fever....Sounds like Chikungunya fever...or more like Takashimaya fever?? Best yeee??? Lucky she brought back plenty of chocolates.