Spreading the Joy of Christmas

As Christmas is just around the corner, I suddenly feel like giving something back to the. I've came up with this idea to spread the love and joy of Christmas to the less fortunate. A quick decision was made to visit the Taman Megah Handicapped and Disabled Children’s Home (PPKKCTM), an orphanage cum disabled home.

It was an impromptu idea just one week before the actually event takes, which simply means I only have one week to put my thought into action. So immediately I send out smses to everyone on my phonebook, create a event page on facebook and also send out mass email within my company. With just less than a week notice, I must say that the respond was consider quite good, as there are at least 20 people who volunteer to sacrifice their Sunday Morning earlier this morning.

My friends and the kids.

There are about 130+ kids at this home and they stay in 4 houses within the same vicinity. This idea of this visit is not just to give them presents but also to spend some quality time playing and talking to the kids.

The kids loves attention and do all kinds of funny act to attract your attention.

I've also bought some reindeer hairband and santa's hat which I intent to let all the volunteers in this event to wear. However all of it end up with the kids wearing them.

A group photo with the kids.

Well not all the kids and volunteer are in the picture as it was rather hard to coordinate such a large number of kids an volunteers. You see the girls in the santarina costumes? well they are sponsored by Sabrina, who owns a Event Management company. She manages some of my company event, and i casually talk to her about this event just 3 days ago. To my surprise she says she will send 2 santarina to help out and bring some smile to the kids.

This are the presents sponsored by all my friends & colleague.

I'm rather surprise that I've managed to collect more than 150 presents, thanks to all my friends and colleague who sponsored.

The kids queuing up to collect their Christmas Pressie.


Santarina asking the kids to choose a present.


With so much presents, the kids are simply spoiled with choice.

You guys know what? There was a generous couple who sponsored a remote control Helicopter for the kids but I eventually advise them to sponsor it to the home instead so that the kids doesn't fight over it.

The Remote Control Helicopter

You know what? its not just one, but 2 unit of remote control helicopter.

Think this is gonna inspire the kids to be a pilot

So... guess who is the generous sponsor for the helicopter?

Well, its non other than the infamous Timothy Tiah & Audrey(aka fourfeetnine). For those who do not know who Timothy Tiah is, he is the owner and co-founder of Nuffnang, Asia's Largest Blog Advertising Agency.

Tim and Audrey.

We spend close to 3 hours of quality time with the kids and I'm pretty sure it brings lots of joy for the kids. To those who could not make it this time around due to the short notice, don't worry, cause I will have it plan properly the next time.

If you are in the mood of giving and would like to do your part in contributing to the society you may visit the home and offer your assistance, be it in monetary, in kind or part time assistant.

Contact details of the home:
Taman Megah Handicapped and Disabled Children’s Home (PPKKCTM)
No. 2, Jalan SS24/10, Taman Megah, Petaling Jaya, 47301 Selangor.
Tel: 603 - 7806 1143
Fax: 603 - 7805 1484

*Note: All monetary donation are tax-exempted by the Inland Revenue Board.

Taiping & the Charcoal Factory

Earlier this week I went for a team building trip with a group of at least almost 200 people in 7 bus. Our destination was a little town call Taiping, in Perak. It's about 60 minutes away from Ipoh, Taiping is famous for its lake garden. It's in fact the country first lake garden. The town started off as a mining town during Long Jaafar's time. Apart from the having the first lake garden, Taiping has many first like the first rail way station at Port Weld, now known as Kuala Sepetang.

Took this when the bus was entering the town.

Anyway lets go back to my story before I side track even more and behind writing about history instead.

The shady trees along the lake garden.

This scene gives me a serene and tranquil feel.

Flemington Hotel, this is where we stayed. This is the newest and biggest hotel in Taiping

Our first stop in Taiping was a Charcoal Factory located at Matang about 5KM from Kuala Sepetang town and 14km away from Taiping Town. This is where we get a little insight on how charcoal is made.

Charlie & the Charcoal Factory.

Upon reaching, we were greeted by an post war area factory building and a strong smell of charcoal in the air. There were no grand welcome unlike most of the official visit I've made previously .

Anyway, Charcoal production began deep inside the mangrove forest where trees that are at least 30 years of age will be harvested, turn into logs and subsequently transported to the factory with a boat when the tide is high.

This little boat is use to transport all the logs from the mangrove forest.

Logs that are transported back to the factory are properly arrange in one area to keep the place organised and safe.

Workers will then clean the logs by removing the bark with a long shover like tool.

The bark can also be remove by using a special wooden hammer.

After removing the bark, the logs are then carefully arrange in an igloo like oven known as Kiln. The logs have to be arrange so that the heat in the igloo can spread evenly. The logs will be heated for the next 30 days in the Kiln to produce high grade charcoal.

For the first 10 days, there will be a small opening for air to flow in the Kiln. There will be lots of steam coming out from the top of the Kiln. After the first 10 days, the fire opening will be completely seal off and the logs will be left inside heating for the next 12 days or so after which the cooling off period will take over. The cooling off period will usually take 8 days and the seal will then be open.

By now, the logs that were arrange in Kiln would have already turn into charcoal due to the intense heat in the Kiln.

During the entire process, there will be lots of smokes and steams coming out from the top of the Kiln. To experience Charcoal Factory operator or worker both the smokes and steam will actually function as a indication as to the condition of the logs inside the igloo like Kiln.

This is how the igloo like Kiln look like.

The Kiln is handmade with brick and mud only. there are no drawing plans or cements involved in the whole process. It is said to cost at least RM25K to get one Kiln build by the master.

The charcoal are then removed from the Kiln and re size before its manually packed into a pack of 5kg and transported to its buyer.

A worker manually packed the charcoal.

Stacks of Charcoal in 5Kg pack.

Every single process in a charcoal factory is manually done by human power. Charcoal production is a long process and involved lots of man power or as the Chinese would say it, it takes a lot of sweat for workers to earn a living. After this visit, I'm beginning to appreciate my job even more.

SK3?

Remember i was saying about the steam that comes out of the Kiln during the heating process? Well the steam are actually being collected by placing a long aluminium pipe at the top of the Kiln. Steam will be collected in the pipe and allow to cool down as it flows along the long pipe. The water are then collected on the other end of the pipe.

The factory owner regard the steam collected as miracle water which is said to be good for the skin as it has the ability to make one's skin silky smooth. It can also heal any injury on the skin such as cut or burn mark. According to the owner, a Japanese Cosmetic firm has recently engage his factory for a research to be conducted to prove that the steam water can actually be use in cosmetic product. If successfully, this miracle water will most probably be known at SK3.

What even it is, the owner is hoping for the best as if the result is positive, the owner will able to generate extra income and also make Malaysia famous in the cosmetic industry.

My New Toy

December is often associated with the lots of joy simply because its the holiday season and Christmas fall on December as well. This year, I decided to reward myself with an early Christmas Present. I bought myself a new laptop.

My old Asus Notebook which cost my parents RM3,200++ 5 years back is began to show sign of aging and has somehow become quite unreliable. While my current company do provide me with a HP notebook, its also aging and rather slow. Besides that, I've purchase a DELL Studio 15 for my brother early last year and its still in tip top condition. This time around I decided to give other brand a try, as the saying goes, never put all your money in one basket.

Notebook has become relatively cheap these days as manufacturer push for volume and higher sales target to make profit, thanks to the economy crisis. Since the PC Fair 2009 @ Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre was just around the corner, I decide to drop by on the very last day, which was last Sunday together with my cousin Justin and my brother Andrew. And this is what I got.

I gotten myself a Acer Notebook, I decided to give Acer a try as the offers seem really good, as it was one of the cheapest with the notebook specification given. Thought I've had some bad experience with Acer more than 10 years ago, they seems to have improve a lot and i have a number of friends who have been happily using an Acer notebook for the past few year.

• Intel Centrino® Processor Technology
  Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T6600
  (2.2GHz., 2MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
• 4GB DDR3 1066MHz SDRAM
• 500GB SATA Harddisk
• Windows 7 Home Premium(64 bit)
• DVD Supermulti Double layer Drive
• NVIDIA Geforce G105M with up to 2303MB of TurboCache Technology (512MB of dedicated DDR2 VRAM, up to 1751MB of shared system memory)
• 14″HD 1366X768 pixel resolution, high brightness (200-nit) Acer CineCrystal LED-backlit TFT LCD
• Dolby-optimised surround sound system with 2 built-in stereo speakers
• Integrated Acer Crystal Eye High-Def Webcam
• 3 Years Local Limited Warranty
• Weight: 2.4kg

All this power pack specification is going for only RM2299. Which work out to be only RM199 when I opt for the Zero %, 12 Month Installment payment scheme.

If KennySia can have a new girlfriend called Soni. I can have a girlfriend called Acer too.

My new Naval Blue baby.

The Standard Guide Book, honestly I never bother reading it.


Battery Pack & Charger

Though this Notebook maybe powerful in term of specification, I realise that its not so user friendly after a few day using it simply because of its smaller than regular keyboard layout. The keyboard is at least 10% smaller compare to standard size. Thus making it's a little tough to type for new user. Maybe its a matter of getting use to it, but still its creates lots of inconvenience. Anyway guess this is the price I've to pay, hopefully I will get use to it soon.

A closer look on the Keyboard.

One good thing Acer did was, they bundle a free notebook bag pack, which will come in handy when I need to travel with the notebook.

Like what most notebook manufacturer practice, Acer also through in some freebies to make the deal sweeter during PC Fair. Here's what I got:

Sonic Gear Earpump 2 Headphone, which is basically a Headphone la although Acer claim that its worth RM69.

Acer Notebook Mouse

Acer USB Hub which comes with 4 port and 7 rotating glowing colour light.

All these while I was never a fan of USB Hub thus I never own any. However after using this cool gadget for the past few days, I'm beginning to love it. Maybe its also because of the 7 rotating colour light which glows and look pretty cool in a dark room.

Since Acer cost me an investment of RM2299. I'm planning to make it worth while by playing games on it(as if i still play games), watch movies(with HD LED screen, its like carrying a mini cinema wherever I go), do some work as this is certainly faster thus saving me some precious time. I'll also begin blogging with this new baby from 2010 onward.

Thought I've had some bad experience with Acer 10 years ago, I'm hoping that this notebook will be able to last for at least 3 years. If it fail me, I sweat I will never buy an Acer again. So people at Acer, cross your finger and make sure this product of yours last for at least 3 years.

First Property Fair Experience

Since the economy crisis began in the late 2008, I've been constantly brainwash by people around me as well as the media saying that if one were to invest in property, there is no better time than now because its relatively cheap and the interest rates are low. After more than a year, I decided to check it out myself, so I pop by at The Star Property Fair @ Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre over the weekend.

This is my first visit to a property fair and it was a real disappointment, especially for first time investor like me. Why ? Well most of the property marketed there are either high end development with price tag of no less than a million ringgit or something affordable but take almost 90 minutes drive to KL (without traffic jam that is). Mind you that when I said affordable its still cost between RM300K to RM400K price range. So in short there wasn't really anything interesting, for poor people like me.

The only interesting part was the ICI Dulux Paint booth which was rather interactive as they have beautiful girls positioned in 6 different location. Visitor are given a passport and are required to visiting all the 6 girls at their respective booth where there will be a presentation on Dulux range of Paints and how colours affect one's mood. After listening to the girls presentation, visitor will be given a stamp on the passport. After collecting all 6 stamp, we can then redeem a goody bag.

They even hired Eric Leong, the infamous interior designer, to give a presentation to visitor on how paint can affect people's mood, what colour will be suitable for young kids room, colours for young professionals and etc... Meeting Eric for the first time after seeing him on TV as well as magazine all these while is truly amazing. This guy is just so down to earth, and have got a strong sense a humour. He made most of the visitor laugh with his advise on what colours should be use so that children will be so smart that they can go straight to University after Kindergarten.

Eric Leong & Myself.

Hopefully the next Property Fair will not be such a disappointment, and offer more attractive properties for first timer like myself..

*If your family are rich or a self made multimillionaire, then you will find this property fair to be interesting as they have lots of nice luxurious property up for grab. If only I'm a multimillionaire.

A night out with Jimmy Choo and Lewre Lew

If someone were you ask me the one thing I like most about my job, its the opportunity to meet successful personalities in their respective fields. Recently I've got the chance to meet up with Dato' Lewre Lew and the legendary Dato Jimmy Choo, both of which found fame in the international fashion industry with their respective brand name, Lewre and Jimmy Choo.

These 2 personalities made Malaysia proud as they carve their both the name as well as Malaysia across the Globe with their shoe making skill. In fact the Jimmy Choo brand is on par with fashion brand name such as Louis Vuitton, Guess, Zara, Armani, Prada and the list can goes on.

People always have the perception that successful people are always serious, and are friendly only to those of the same status. However these 2 personalities prove critic wrong when they join me and my colleague at CoCo Banana @ Sunway not to long ago. It's was a pure entertainment session without a word about business, and that where the fun is. Although they carry the title Dato, they are very friendly and own to earth.

Dato' Lewre Lew the founder or Lewre footware.

Dato' Jimmy Choo, the founder of Jimmy Choo Fashion

Being able to drink and party who 2 well groom gentlemen who is known international for their strong designs, it's definitely a night to be remember.

What should I do to marry a rich guy?

Was surfing around and found this interesting jokes which I think hold some truth and send a good message. Hope you guys enjoy if you have not read it before:

A young and pretty lady posted this on a popular forum:
Title: What should I do to marry a rich guy?

I’m going to be honest of what I’m going to say here. I’m 25 this year.
I’m very pretty, have style and good taste. I wish to marry a guy with $500k annual salary or above. You might say that I’m greedy, but an annual salary of $1M is considered only as middle class in New York . My requirement is not high. Is there anyone in this forum who has an income of $500k annual salary? Are you all married? I wanted to ask: what should I do to marry rich persons like you?

Among those I’ve dated, the richest is $250k annual income, and it seems that this is my upper limit. If someone is going to move into high cost residential area on the west of New York City Garden ( ? ) , $250k annual income is not enough.

I’m here humbly to ask a few questions:
1) Where do most rich bachelors hang out?
(Please list down the names and addresses of bars, restaurant, gym)
2) Which age group should I target?
3) Why most wives of the riches is only average-looking? I’ve met a few girls who doesn’t have looks and are not interesting, but they are able to marry rich guys
4) How do you decide who can be your wife, and w ho can only be your girlfriend? (my target now is to get married)
Ms. Pretty
—————————————————————————-

The Amazing reply:
Dear Ms. Pretty,
I have read your post with great interest. Guess there are lots of girls out there who have similar questions like yours. Please allow me to analyse your situation as a professional investor. My annual income is more than $500k, which meets your requirement, so I hope everyone believes that I’m not wasting time here.!

From the standpoint of a business person, it is a bad decision to marry you.. The answer is very simple, so let me explain. Put the details aside, what you’re trying to do is an exchange of ‘beauty’ and ‘money’:

Person A provides beauty, and Person B pays for it, fair and square. However, there’s a deadly problem here, your beauty will fade, but my money will not be gone without any good reason.
The fact is, my income might increase from year to year, but you can’t be prettier year after year. Hence from the viewpoint of economics, I am an appreciation asset, and you are a depreciation asset.

It’s not just normal depreciation, but exponential depreciation. If that is your only asset, your value will be much worried 10 years later. By the terms we use in Wall Street, every trading has a position, dating with you is also a ‘trading position’.

If the trade value dropped we will sell it and it is not a good idea to keep it for long term – same goes with the marriage that you wanted. It might be cruel to say this, but in order to make a wiser decision any assets with great depreciation value will be sold or ‘leased’. Anyone with over $500k annual income is not a fool; we would only date you, but will not marry you.

I would advice that you forget looking for any clues to marry a rich guy. And by the way, you could make yourself to become a rich person with $500k annual income. This has better chance than finding a rich fool. Hope this reply helps … If you are interested in ‘leasing’ services, do contact me …
signed,
CEO J.P. Morgan

Coca Cola Limited Edition Glass, The Full Collection

I've always wanted to have my very own collection of limited edition collectible, but it's often easier said than done. Last year when McDonald's come up with the limited edition Beijing Olympic Coca Cola Contour Glass, I only managed to collect 2 out of 5 design.

This year I was determined to collect all 7 designs and I'm rather proud that I've finally managed to collect all the McDonald's - Coca Cola Limited Edition Glass 2009. The 2009 collection has 7 unique vibrant colours, ranging from Clear, Gray, Lime, Purple, Green, Blue and Pink. .

My Coca Cola Limited Edition Glasses (Top View)

There has been several offer by individual to buy the collection at a higher value but I'm not letting it go anytime soon. Maybe if the right offer comes along, I might reconsider the deal, but definitely not anytime soon. If you would like to proposed an offer, please message me on FaceBook.

The Terry Fox Run KL 09

Well as I've mentioned in my previous post, I've participated in the Terry Fox Run KL 09. for more details on the history please refer to the previous post by clicking here.

Anyway, let me share more on the race, its scheduled to start at 8.45am which I am proud to say that I arrived rather early. Even then the whole Lake Garden was packed with cars, with Malaysian Drivers doing the double parking and triple parking trick. I bet you don't see these magic anywhere else.

This year's race involved a huge list of contributor in the name of Cancer Research

I was surprise to see the huge crowd, especially the corporate participants, company like Shell, Pfizer, Rentokil, Petronas were there in full force ranging for 60 up to 250 representatives. There were no official figures as to the total number of participants involved as there we no formal registration or tracking in place. However judging from the numbers of people that turn up, there is at least 2000 people on that day, which make running rather difficult as the path in the park were too small to accommodate such a huge crowd at the same time.

The crowd at the starting point, its impossible to run in such a crowd.

I took the 5KM route which was rather easy compare to the Frost and Suvillien Frost the Trail run for Corporate Social Responsibility. Completed the race in less than 50 minutes despite the huge crowd which made it almost impossible to run at the start of the race.

The satisfaction of completing the race is just priceless and so I rewarded myself with Dim Sum @ Damansara Jaya which my bro and colleague who participated in the race as well.

Will definitely join again next year.

Let's Frost the Trail KL 09

Early this month(9th Oct), my company participate in Frost the Trail KL 09, run for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) organised by Frost & Sullivan. The event is a 8.1KM run across jungle trail @ the Forest Reserve Institute Malaysia (FRIM).

The race was schedule to began at 8am and I was there with my colleague 5 minutes late. As some of the VIP as well as participants were late, the race was eventually flagged off at 8.30am about 30 minutes delay which is rather early for Malaysian standard. Late is better than never right.

Upon arriving, the first thing we are required to do is register and sign the indemnity form.

After registration, we collected goody bag at the goodies collection point.

The goody bag includes some very interesting gifts which I will share with you later.

One of the beneficiaries giving their thank you speech.

To participate in this race, which is open to all corporate Malaysian, each team of 4 runners will require a contribution of RM5000. The company I was representing had 4 teams of energetic young professionals which of cause include myself. The money raised from the race will be given to 3 beneficiaries, namely Pusat Kasih Sayang YWCA, Pusat Jagaan Kanak-Kanak Kurang Upaya KIRTASH and Yayasan Anak Warisan Alam (YAWA).

All in all there were a total of a total of 14 companies, 25 teams and 100 runners. This is my first time running such a distance, first time doing it on a jungle track and first time doing so without a single training before hand. I'm glad I was able to complete the entire run in 75 minutes despite not practicing at all

The freebies in the goody bag include a Frost the Trail T Shirt, M&N Chocolates, A notepad from Proton and a BMW.

Frost the Trail 09 T-shirt

My brand new BMW, not from Auto Bavaria but Intel.

The front view of my BMW which actually function as a pc mouse. Pretty cool mouse to own eh.

Will certainly return next year, if my company continue to sponsor this race. Hope to see you guys there next year.

Terry Fox Run @ Kuala Lumpur

At the young age of 18, Terry Fox a young Canadian man could have had a bright and promising future ahead of him, but unfortunately he was diagnose with Bone Cancer which causes his right leg to be amputated. While he was being treated in the hospital, he witness all the pain and suffering suffered by Cancer Patients, he had the thought of making a difference in people's life, especially those who are suffering from cancer.

When he was discharged, he decided to run across Canada in a bid to raise awareness and fund for Cancer Research. With his prosthetic leg, he ran across Canada with the hope of collecting a dollar from each Canadian. It was called the Marathon of Hope. Terry was determine to run a marathon everyday for 143 days consecutively, that's 42km a day (the distant of a typical marathon)and a whooping 6006km in total. However, he only manage to complete 5373Km(37.5KM a day) when he discovered that his cancer has spread to his lungs which force him to stop running . Terry Fox pass away at the young age of 22 on 21st June 1981(1month before his 23rd birthday). Though he left us all at a tender age of 22, his legacy lives on till today as millions of people around the globe come together for the Terry Fox Run annually to raised fund for Cancer Research.

This year, the Terry Fox Run KL 2009 will take place on the 1st of November 2009. Details are as per below:

Venue: Jalan Keun Bunga, Taman Tasik Perdana, KL (KL Lake Garden)

Date: 1st November 2009
Time: 8.45am (Participants are advice to be there early and gather at 8.00am. The race starts at 8.45am)

Remarks: There is no participation fees or registration required. If you would like to donate, get yourself a Terry Fox Run KL 2009 T-Shirt for RM25. All proceed goes to the Cancer Research Initiative Foundation (CARIF). There is 2 route, one 3.5KM and the second at 5KM. Everyone is encourage to bring your family, relatives, girlfriend, boyfriend, friends, colleague and neighbour along.

I will be join this race for the first time and have gotten myself a Terry Fox T-Shirt for the race. If are free this Sunday, please feel free to join me for a good cause.

The Beneficiary of the Terry Fox Run KL is CARIF. CARIF can be contacted at: 2nd Floor, Outpatient Centre, Subang Jaya Medical Centre, 47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor. Contact No: +603-5630 6774.