The reason behind the fuel price reduction

The Prime Minister, Abdullah Badawi has just announce today that effective 12am, the retail price for Petrol and diesel by between eight sen and 22 sen a litre. The price of RON97 petrol will be reduced by 15 sen to RM2.55 a litre from RM2.70, while RON92 would be 22 sen less at RM2.40, from RM2.62. Retail diesel on the other hand would drop by eight sen to RM2.50 a litre.

I remember very clearly that the PM says that the government would only review and make necessary announcement by 31 August 2008. The only reason that I could think of that causes this sudden change would be the upcoming Permatang Pauh by-election which would see Barisan Nasional candidate Datuk Arif Shah Omar Shah contesting against PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Government move to announce the reduction of retail fuel price is now being seen as Barisan Strategy to win the rakyat's heart.

On the other hand why on earth would he want to go on the public transport yesterday? why cant he do that 4 years ago when he took over as PM. I personally think that the highly publicises news about the PM getting on the public transport is also a politically motivated in its bid to win the Permatang Pauh's by-election.

Pak Lah, we the rakyat cannot tolerate with your indecisiveness any longer, please be more decisive and do what you have been entrusted to do or else please make way for people who are more capable. You only have 2 years left and time is definatelly running against you.

D'House: A Company Affair

DiGi was closed last Friday to make way for an extraordinary event, called "Dare IT, Do IT, DG2IT" which requires all its staffs to report to work as usual but leaving all work behind. Basically the event was a company wide affair and everyone is required to take part, unless they need to play an urgent role in maintaining DiGi's day to day business. Its more of a team building activity, where the whole of DIGI's workforce was divided into 4 big group and various games and challenges took place through out the day starting from 9am till almost 5pm.

Shall not talk much about the activities which took place the whole day and focus on the dinner instead which took place at DiGi's D'House at Shah Alam. We had outdoor dinner, specially prepared by Tony Roma's. Roughly there were about 200o plus people at the dinner, which mainly consist of the company's employees.

Tony Roma's: Our caterer for the day

Company like DiGi don't just feed their staff well, but they also make sure they are well entertained. Local celebrities were hire to emcee the entire dinner and a number of performances were arranged .

Han's Percussion


Akashia


The 2000 odd people having dinner in front of the Stage.

People from my department, shouting Yum Seng as they toss everyone toward better work performance.

In this company, you will always get free flow of liquor in company event such as this which is organised several times a year because they believe in the work hard, play even harder concept.

Posing with Ong Mei Mei, one of the admin staff from my department.

Pinky and I, she is half drunk I guess.

Among the emcee of the day was Elaine Daly, Joanna Bessie, Mel and another 2 other local celebrity which I don't really know.

Elaine Daly & I: Isn't she lovely?

Johan, why aren't you smiling at the camera?

FYI, Johan Dennelind the new CEO of DiGi Telecommunication who took over from Morten Lundal since April 2008.

The event was pumped up with the appearance of this 4 hot chics, dancing to the beat.


The Magician who amazed the crowd with his illustration skills

Yes another hottie on the stage

If they hire girls like that to work, I'm pretty sure the guys will have a hard time concentrating on work.

Elaine, Dunno his name, Mel, Tom(Head of Commercial Division) and Joanna (slightly out of the picture)

Prize giving ceremony to recognise the winning team after a day long of activity.

The rather lousy Deejay showing off his stuff at the end of the dinner.

The dance floor is finally open at about 10.20pm

I party alittle while and call it a day at 11pm. Phew, what a long day...

Rat Race 2008: Time To Run

Time is running out, tomorrow is D' Day, the Day where corporate Malaysian join forces by participating in the Bursa Malaysia Rat Race which will see 700 executives and 54 CEO's from 74 Companies competing agaisnt each other in the name of Corporate Social Responsibilty(CSR). In layman term, CSR simply mean an act of an organisatin giving back to the society.

This year's race collected RM1.7 million with DiGi being the biggest contributor of RM75K. DiGi is this years biggest contributor and has the largest delegation of 10 teams of runner(including myself.). This Charity Event will see 20 charitable organisation benefiting from RM1.7 million collected from corporate Malaysian.

Facts & Figures........

My Team

If you have the free time, be sure you come down to KL and support me before the race began at 5pm @ Bursa Malaysia HQ. For more info, kindly visit Rat Race 2008

Royal Selangor - My Visit to One of the World Largest Factory.

Here's a full review on the Royal Selangor Preview which I was invited to attend: (Warning, this post is loaded with photo's). Since picture says a thousand word, I shall keep it less wordy and put more picture instead, So enjoy.

The Model of the Tin Mining Ship


Pewter is also a precious metal.


The periodic table, this reminds me of my high school days.


This is what pewter is made of.

Some facts

Guess how much this weigh?

Its approximately the combine weight of us 3. Simon, Me and Michael.


Bet you didn't know that the Oscar statuette is actually made of pewter.


This pewter medal actually been to space.


The Solar Eclipse Viewer

Before we began the factory tour, we were served 7up in pewter cup. Apparently the tour guide told us that it taste better, however I fail to taste the difference.

7-Up served in pewter cups


Bird eye view of the production line

The worker dipping a pewter handle into a hot boiling liquid @ more than 250 degrees.

This worker polishing the pewter cup




Soldering sohpicated design onto a pewter vast

This lady is actually casting this pewter with 600 neatly aligned stamp mark

This is not an easy job, as Simon, Michael and I have personally tried and fail miserably. We were told that it takes at least 3 to 6 months to master this skill. And the lady in the picture has been doing it for more than a decade.

Michael trying to stamp on the pewter tankard


This is where the fine jewellery is being produced.


Here a closer look. Can you see the small little diamond there?


The final product on display

The Lord of the Rings Collection

LOTR Pewter Crafted Plate

Grandoff in action



Lets play chess the LOTR way....





The Lord of The Rings Wine Mug

Royal Selangor School of Knocks - This is where visitor can learn how to make its own pewter.


This room can easily accommodate more than 20 apprentice at any one time

This are the tools needed. A metal edge hammer, a wooden hammer, a wooden block mold, an apron, and also the alphabet mold for casting alphabets onto the pewter.


A pewter disc wrap with paper.


We are each given a pewter disc to work on


Getting ready to cast the pewter disc into a bowl like shape with a wooden hammer

The alphabet mold that I use to cast my name on to the pewter disc.


Taking time off to pose while Simon looking to god knows where


The finish product, a pewter bowl with my name engraved on it


Here's closer look: arggh there was some defect with the letter 'H'

The session at the School of Knocks cost about RM50 which include the raw material and a certificate at the end of the day. You can also keep the apron after the lesson. As for us, we got the lesson for free, all because we are bloggers.Now who says you have got to be like Kenny Sia or Xia Xua to enjoy VVIP Status.

Hand prints of Royal Selangor's Staff who serves for at least 5 years.

Much have been said about White House Ceramic Tiles, Have you seen Royal Selangor Pewter Tiles? Here it is:

Pewter Tiles. It cost about RMXXX a piece.


A replica of Tunku Shouting MERDEKA!, MERDEKA!, MERDEKA!


Pewter Plaque depicting the Malaya's Proclamation of Independence


Metalesce: Making pewter tiles look for attractive

The ever famous Melon Pot which was first produced by the founder of Royal Selangor, Till today, its design is still maintain, and it is still very much sought after by collectors.

Wah Gold Rice Bowl and Chopstick which cost RM638 & RM150 respectively. Truly fits for the rich & famous.


This limited edition master piece is the 303th piece out of 500.

Its really meaningful(I was told), though i don't read Chinese

The Winnie the Pooh Collection, Honey anyone?

Kuan Gung, the god of

Beautifully crafted dragon head actually hold a wine glass on at the bottom


Me posing with a giant gold bowl. Take a guess how much this cost?

Its a whooping RM600,000.00. Damn I can buy a nice Bungalow with that money.


Royal Collection, 24K gold ingot of Malaysia Postage Stamps

The crowd for invited guests and VVIP like Simon, Michael and Me. LOL

Simon, Datin Chen and Me. She is really friendly, keep asking us to buy those Selberan's diamond.

Datin Chen, I don't print money lah. Thanks for your warm hospitality though.

If you want to experience what ever we did(except for the sale because they don't have sale every other day), head on to Royal Selangor International Visitor Gallery and they will have a tour guide ready to show you around.

Head Office & Visitor Centre
Royal Selangor International Sdn Bhd
4 Jalan Usahawan 6, Setapak Jaya,
53300 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Telephone: +60 3 41456000
Fax: +60 3 40251389
E-mail: info@royalselangor.com

You could also visit http://www.royalselangor.com.my/ for more info.

Media Invite to Royal Selangor Sale Preview 2008

If you've been reading this blog, you would notice my post entitled Royal Selangor Warehouse Preview - By invitation only. I got invited to Royal Selangor Pewter's Sale Preview on the 15th August 2008, which is exclusive event for bloggers and their affiliates. The actual sale start today, 16 and 17th of August 2008.

This simply means we get VVIP entitlement to see it first before the general public does. Anyway, my schedule for the day was packed and I'm dead tired now, So I will just give you an overall preview first follow by the details tomorrow.

The Guiness World Record: The World Largest Tankard @ the Main Entrance of Royal Selangor's HQ

Its 6.16 feet tall, 1.53 ton in weight and 613 gal in capacity.

Michael, Simon and I were the only bloggers there. According to my friend Quan Ming who works with Royal Selangor, he initially tried to get Nuffnang.com to send out the invites to fellow blogger. Unfortunately Nuffnang was too busy with their schedule they don't have time to invite its members to the event. Anyway the preview we had started with an Educational Tour around Royal Selangor Office.

We were accompany by Quan Ming, his colleague Electra Pang and a tour guide which led us to through the whole tour, explaining every bit about the company with full of passion.

We began with the History of Royal Selangor

Then the Factory Tour

And then we went to the School of Knock to learn how to make our own pewter

Follow by the Sale


Finally ended up spending RM300 plus during the sale.

Overall, it was an educational trip and I've learned how to appreciate pewter product and also understand why it can be so costly sometimes. However the whole trip would have been a memorable trip if it weren't for the bad experience buying the Kuan Gung Pewter. While I was at the counter, the lady told me that RM105 each and the price is before a 50% discount. So I decided to get 2 unit of it and the lady confidently wrote RM105 for 2 unit(after discount). Quan Ming and Electra can be my witness.

However to my surprise, when I check out at the cashier, I was told that it was a mistake and I had to pay RM210 for the 2 unit which I took. Dam I've already plan who to give it to and now they tell me this. Sigh so disappointed that they rob me off another RM105.00. Why cant the sales person at the counter be more professional and don't give customer the wrong information?

If any of you from Royal Selangor are reading this, you've got a serious problem to solved cause this will eventually affect consumers confident.

The people in the production line work with their blood and sweat to come up with the finest product to maintain the company reputation only to be spoilt by some useless sales person who doest even shed blood nor sweat.

Oh well, enough being said, its time for me to get some rest.

My New Gadget: Garmin GPS System

Was at PC Fair 2 weeks ago, to check out on the latest gadget available in market. Being a avid fan of PC Fair since late 90's, I usually go early in the morning on the first day. However this time around, I was too busy with work that I've no choice but to go on the second day. As usual laptops/notebook was one of the hottest gadget on most people's list. Initially I planned to get a laptop, but since my 3 years old laptop is still working, I decided not to waste my money just yet.

While window shopping at the fair one hot beauty caught my attention. So I decided to take a closer look ask about her specifications and even tried on her. Found it to be very user friendly, but because it involved a investment of about RM1499, I tried to hold myself back from making a hasty purchase which I often regret soon after. So I collected some brochures, got home and conducted some research through Google. After reading through some forum, I decided to get my self this:

Garmin GPS(Global Positioning System) System

For your info, Garmin System is one of the most used GPS system and it originated from the State

My new gadget and it's accesories.


This is Nuvi 255W which runs on Garmin System. The map you see is just a sticker.


Bought this AC Adapter together with the set for RM130


And I got this leather casing for free. Apparently its selling for RM150.


Clock wise from top center: AC Adapter, leather casing, user manual, windscreen holder, car charger, disc sticker, warranty card, and lastly Nuvi 255w - Garmin System at the center

This system also come with voice notification, which tells you when you are about to reach a junction or when its time to turn. I tried using it, and its like having someone sitting beside you and telling you when to make a turn. That's so cool.

The actual reason why I got this is not just because its cool but because I can type a address in it and it will actually locate the place and show me the shortest way. This system can be set to find the shortest way or the fastest way(shortest doesn't mean faster). It can also be set avoid highway, or toll road. So if you save money by avoiding toll's, this function will come in handy. While driving I can also locate the nearest petrol station, nearest transit station, nearest hotels, nearest shopping(range from convenience store to Shopping Malls), and nearest F&B outlet(according to categories, Chinese food , Italian food, fast food and etc).

3D Map: Tried running a simulation by setting 1Utama as the destination.

2D Map

The other reason is because its portable, and its about the size on an I-Phone. Thus I can bring it along with me even when I'm not driving my car. I can also update the map online for free and there are now month subscription unlike some products available in the market.