Technology....

I actually wrote a lengthy blog, just to compensate for my 20 days absence due to work and health reasons, but when I wanted to post it, lo and behold, it just disappeared.. aaarrghh!

The Flu Bug

It's been almost 20 days since I last updated my blog. I was down with the flu and this time it hit me pretty bad. No, I was not bedridden for twenty days... just that a combination of the flu and heavy workload sort of kept me away from my blog. My apologies for that.


By the way, I have discovered another alternative to my current WiFi hangout at Starbucks Carrefour Subang Jaya. Although by now almost the entire staff knows my name and what I like to drink, in this days of rising oil price and the likes, this java coffee can be quite hurtful on the wallet. Next to the Starbucks is a La Manila outlet and guess what, I could still get the WiFi signal here! Well, its not very strong but enough for me surf the net and reply my emails. For the same amount of price I pay for a cup of coffee at Starbucks, I can get a tall glass of Ice Lemon tea and a brownie. OK, the immediate affect would definitely be my waistline, hehehe, but at least it's friendlier to my wallet. The waiter (or is he aspiring to be a waitress, if you catch my drift!) is friendly so I guess it's not such a bad place after all. However, there is some ethical issue of course since technically Starbucks offers the free WiFi to its paying customer. Hmmm... have to ponder upon that for a while....


Anyway, I am recovering from my flu. I remembered when I was much younger it took me only a day to recover from a fever but not anymore. Its the sign of ageing, eh ? :)

Doa Selamat

Just had the doa selamat and tahlil for the new office today. It was a simple affair, with about 15 guest, mostly friends. Originally it was supposed to be after the maghrib prayers, with the reading of surah Yaasin but unfortunately the ustadz can only make it after asar, so thats why we had it earlier.


In business, maximizing the profit is always the ultimate goal.... but "keberkatan" of the "rezeki" is also what we should aim for.

Customer is always right.... right ?

I was on my way to work today when I received a phone call from one of my customer for the golf equipment. Apparently there was a slight problen while he was playing his customary nine hole at the club and requested me to have a look at it. I was about 50 meters away from the office, but decided to make a u-turn and went to the golf club. I detected the problem right away and gave him my equipment for him to use while I rectify the problem. He was really appreciative of that and promised to help me to promote my product among his friends. Anyway, three of his friends already bought the same thing from me and I did promise him "teh tarik" one of these days!



I guess that's how it works.... take care of your customer and they will take care of you. No amount of fancy advertising can beat the word of mouth of a satisfied user.

CIMB+BCB=BCIMB or CICMB

Aha, so we are going to have another bank that will rival that of Maybank. Or more importantly, we are going to have our first global bank!

(OK, I am a bit a distracted when writing this as my favourite Barista at this particular Starbuck just entered. Aha... she's off duty today. Probably here just to hang out... oh wait, she has a a laptop too.... ah, probably finishing up her assignment. Hmmm, wonder what class she is taking... is it too late to do another degree ka ?Hehehehe... if you ask, its definitely the eyes, no.. the hair... perhaps she would want to work at BCIMB or CICMB upon graduation....or perhaps become Mrs Corporate Raider, heheheh......eh, enough of that la.... back to the entry)

Anyway, back to CIMB and BCB.... I guess it was a good move...... synergysing their strength would definitely mean we would be hearing more of them. I have always followed CIMB's progress and with the youthful Dato' Nazir Razak at the helm, I know that they are poised for bigger things to come. Hmmm, perhaps CIMB would do my listing when I am ready to do so in a few years time! Hehehehe, gotto think big and ahead right ?

AGM, BOD and all sort of acronyms...

I actually posted something yesterday but due to some faulty connection of the WiFi at Starbucks KLCC, somehow it never got published online. I was in KLCC for a meeting and well, I was writing about how suprisingly efficient the public transportation system in KL is that I actually arrived at KLCC early, hence the almost-made it blog entry of the wonders of KL public transport.


I am actually start to get worried about the funding issue. I am running out of time and the people I met so far are non-commital. Well, I am after all, asking them to part with their hard-earned half million ringgit and getting them to put their faith in me. If things continue this way, I'll take some drastic measure.... just can't let the company go under without a fight.


Ah, Boldy and Tommy.... I haven't been mentioning them enough of late. The company they are "ruining" (for simplicity's sake, lets just call it Tyrant Bhd (TB) ) is had their annual general meeting and board of directors meeting in the morning. I could only imagine the kind of crap Boldy and Tommy had presented to the board, their so-called "growth plan". Growth, my foot! With the staff being demoralized and resentment growing from top to bottom, I would call whatever plan they present a "grave plan"... yeah, that kind of grave where you bury the dead. I am honestly worried on the survival of TB. Although I no longer have any significant shareholding in the company, I guess I have some soft spot for it due to reasons only to be known by me :) Anyway, I do have my plans.... so, in due course we will see how long Boldy and Tommy will be able to practice their "tyrannical" management skills!


The AGM is a mere formality... out of the 200+ shareholders, barely 20 would turn up. That's the typical scenario in Malaysia, unless its held at a hotel and includes lunch! TB usually had theirs at the conference and it would be over in ten minutes. Refreshment would be served, of course, but no one wants to travel all the way to the state capital of Selangor just for two pieces of curry puff and a cup of lukewarm coffee, right ? I remembered attending an AGM of a large PLC and buffet lunch was served at the hotel's coffee house. Of course, all shareholders voted yes to all the motions, knowing that delaying the meeting would be delaying lunch!

Three Weddings and a headache...

Today, I have made a personal record of some sort. I attended three weddings back to back, and in the process actually travel a complete circle... Subang Jaya-LDP-Kelana Jaya-LDP-Putra Jaya-MRR2-Gombak-MRR2-LDP-Subang Jaya.


Obviuosly, to be able to attend all three weddings within the stipulated time, planning and timing is of the most importance! People do state on the invitation card "dari jam 12.00pm hingga 4pm, so you wouldn't want to be arriving later than that and had to contend with the caterers packing up their stuff right ?

The first wedding was at a hall in Kelana Jaya. I arrived there at approximately three minutes to twelve, so my timing looks good so far. Lucky for me, there were other guest who were already there, so I won't look too akward waiting for the buffet line "officially" commence! (by the way, I miss those weddings where they have people who brings you the tray of "lauk pauk" instead of you lining up at the buffet line. Blame it on the high labour cost!). Had my food (the acar buah is par excellent!) and after chit chatting with the family of the groom, I excused myself and made my way towards the second wedding.


The second wedding was at another hall in Putra Jaya, Dewan Serbaguna Precint 8 to be exact. It's actually a double wedding where the brother and sister decided to have a joint reception . I did not have any problem locating the hall as I am quite familiar with Putra Jaya. I arrived there slightly after one pm, therefore coinciding with the arrrival of the "pengantins". I met many of my family friends and relatives there and though already full from the food I ate, I couldn't resist the grilled chicken served with the"nasi briani". Stayed for another 20 minutes or so, and made my way for the third and final wedding of the day.


The third wedding was in Gombak, and it is held at the groom's house. The drive from Putra Jaya to Gombak was quite smooth sailing, owing to the light traffic on the road. I arrived there around 2.45pm. Spoke to the groom, the family and some friends and of course, had to "jamah" some food. 20 minutes later, I excused myself and made my way home.


Oh, the headache that I mentioned in the title? Well, I guess when you ate three servings of kenduri food, that is the typical result, heheh!

The printed ad and word of mouth

I have this particular product that I am currently selling (golfers would love this, provided they enjoy walking on the course instead of zipping around in the buggy. Oh, I carry THAT too:) ) and I am happy that it is selling quite well. I have complete confidence in the product but I was a bit sceptical at first about the selling part of it. I approached one of the major pro-shop operator and they told me, " OK, we are willing to carry your product provided we take a 50% margin". 50%??? Definitely not the way to go, as I can't position it at the price that I want. Obviously, anything not exceeding the RM1k mark would be attractive to customers who are used to buying it at RM1.5k-Rm2k.

So, I decided to take up an advertisement in one of the golf club's newsletter (which happens to be my home club, though I am not seen there a lot on the golf course!). It was a simple ad, with the picture of the product, the price and of course your truly's handphone number. I received the first of the many calls even before I received the copy of the newsletter! My handphone started to ring a lot and whenever I see any of the numbers that I don't recognize, I know that the call is for the product! But the amazing thing that happened is that people who called me for the products now are those who are recommended by their friends who were early buyers. Even members from other clubs started to contact me for the product and this is all from word of mouth of satisfied users. At the end of the day, you just to make sure that you have a reliable product that is reasonably priced.

Not bad for a RM1k investment in advertising eh ?

CHAMPIONS ONCE AGAIN....

Today I decided to take some time off from work in the morning and relive the "student" day experience of watching a basketball game. So, instead of heading to Shah Alam, I took the opposite direction and made my way to Putra Jaya... Sekolah Alam Shah to be exact. Yes, its the Piala Tun Hamdan Inter-Residential School Basketball tournament (it's called PHT now, as opposed to PPM when I was still in school).

I do not wish to go into details of the game. Yeah, MCKK won the game against STMFP, 50-51. Honestly, it wasn't a beautiful game but as mentioned by one of my friend (former captain of the '92 winning team), doesn't matte how they win... what matters is that they did bring back the trophy.


I guess that sort of kept me thinking about a lot of things. Sometimes it doesn't matter how you do things, what matters is that it gets done. Of course, it applies to work too, but it may not be the case. Sometimes, its not the destinatation that gives us the most rewarding feeling but its the journey itself. Seeing MCKK pulled off that win, despite the opponents having better shooters on the court sort of made me realized that there are times where we can have both.


I wish I arrived earlier there as the TKC vs SSP finals were on before the MCKK-STFMP game. Never have I seen so many ex-TKCian in one place, hehehe... and after all these year, I have to admit that I have a soft spot for those far maiden from the south. The game reminded me of the '92 finals where TKC played SSP and they won (of course, MCKK also won, against RMC) but this year, SSP totally outclass TKC. What a pity.. I would have enjoyed seeing MCKK and TKC taking pictures side by side as Champions :-)


Bung Wak Bung Wek Wek Bung Kak Bung Kek Kek
Who are we Malay College, can you see... YA!