Pages

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.

Related Posts with Thumbnails