Driving On Snow/Icy Road

Tips on driving on snow, based on my experience:

1. Drive slow (20mph or less).

2. Always give a few hundred yards of anticipation before stopping a car. Means, when you see a red light few hundred yards ahead, begin to slow down the car.

3. To slow down car, use lower gear, and then brake (ABS). Brake is just to help drivers behind know you're stopping. Non-ABS brake will cause car to skid.

4. Never ever rely on hand brakes. It will cause the car to skid for sure.

5. Never ever engage hand brakes while parking. It will be frozen and stuck at wheel.

6. Use chains to help the tire grip onto the snow.

7. If chain links are broken, stop at emergency lane, and find something to cut off / keep the dangling chain links from swinging free. It will damage the axle / mudguard / crucial parts to the live wheels (like, brake fluid cable).

8. Keep one or two spare chains.

9. Never ever park a compact car on a free lot before checking on the heap of ice left on that parking lot. If it is solid ice (normally left by a SUV or truck), it will freeze the compact car to the ground. You will need other vehicles to pull your car free.

10. Automobile Association membership will come in handy.

11. Be alert, vigilant, and calm.

12. Pray.

'Au Revoir': To our Super Admin

Today is our Super Admin's last day of working in al-Terror. Super Admin - yes, indeed - as she is the Administrative Assistant to our Penang big boss. She used to handle all the company-wide administrative works. Her name is Liza.


Liza and I, taken in Altera ICE room
My first impression of her was that, she's quite a fierce- and strict-looking lady. I thought, of course ler. Working under Chris (Vice President and Managing Director of Penang Research Facility) would not be easy; must show superiority one. Indeed yes, she is the second employee of Altera Penang, after Chris. What freaked me more was that I heard she had reprimanded some department admins until they cried.

However, when I got the opportunity to travel to San Jose, I dealt with her more often, mostly related to the trip procedures. From Visa application, to flight booking, and even to credit card limit boost, I relied very much on her. After dealing with her, I found that she's a nice and friendly person to talk with - not forgetting being very helpful as well. I still remembered that she taught me to sneak out (of course in a legal way) to Hong Kong during my flight transit from Kuala Lumpur to San Francisco! I heard that it was possible, but I did not expect her to actually encourage me to do so! If she were really strict, she would have barked at my idea first before doing anything else.

I still remembered that, somehow, one personal comment from her struck me. When I decided to have a more committed life towards Christ, particularly in Shalom Youth, she asked me if I were to become a missionary. Well, to answer her question, that was not quite true - but from what happened towards my private life 2 years ago, it brought some resemblance. Could that be a prophecy, or could there be someone else gossiping... Ahh, never mind.

She is indeed a very capable admin. As her boss our MD said: she was a one-lady band wearing many different hats... [having] nurtured our young organization as we took our first small baby steps.

I'm gonna miss Liza, and I'm sure loads of terrorists in the al-Terror compound would miss her too. I am only in Altera for 8 years, and she's been here for almost 15 years. I am sure she has left tons of memorable footprints within Altera Penang. I don't know what else to say already.

All the best, Liza.
May God bless you in everything you do and every way you go.
Till we meet again.
Au revoir.
后会有期.

BLR Avalanche - Aftermath

Following my previous blogpost: BLR Avalanche, I realized that the financial institution (the one that belonged to the tycoon with the same first name as one of our famous badminton player in the 90s) is not that stupid after all. In order to re-extend my loan term back to 30 years, they reduced my monthly payment amount to RM592. After the readjustment, the graph looks like below. Which means, I still have to pay for 30 years.



DUH!!! On one hand they want us to spend so as to boost the economy, and hence lower down all interest rates (FD, BLR, etc...). On the other hand they reduce our spending by reducing the monthly payment amount. Please la... MAKE UP YOUR MIND!!

Tsk! Screw it! I'm gonna make more partial payments. Hahaha!!!

On a positive note, I can save up additional RM102 per month for other 'investment'!

P.S. In case you all are still guessing which bank I borrowed money from, know that the smasher is called Rashid Sidek. :-P

Sick of McD?

About two months ago, McDonald's Malaysia launched McValue Lunch™, where all the McValue Meal sets will be priced at RM5.95++ per set, everyday, between 12noon to 3pm. When I first heard of it, I was like - WOW! For lunch, I could now pay RM5.95++ (comes up to RM6.25 la) Double Cheeseburger set rather than pay RM9.45++ (that's RM9.90). After much thought, I started to recall my college era, where Big Mac McValue Medium set used to cost only RM6.20++ (that's RM6.51 - that time 1 sen still counts). Hmm... a case of economic inflation. For lunch, it's deflation! :-D

Anyway, after about a week after it was first launched, I went out with my colleagues for lunch at McD. We arrived at McD Sunshine at 11:55am. So, we went to the counter, and the cashier told me this, "Lima minit lagi." Cool! She allowed us to wait by the counter, since we were the first customers there. And, later on, as we were waiting, people started rolling in. At noon sharp, we placed our first order of McValues, and that time the restaurant was full! It was so crowded - thank God we were early!

Today, I went to Tesco to buy some stuff. After failing to buy what I want, I decided to have McValue Lunch inside Tesco building. I reached the NcD outlet, and, guess what - almost like no customers! I thought the offer was over, but then, I noticed that the McValue Lunch offer was still posted up! Well...

Dah dua bulan makan kat McD tiap-tiap hari, mestilah jelak!

LOL!

BLR Avalanche

When I first came to aware of the term Base Lending Rate (BLR), it was at 6.00%, which was way back in year 2004. I was oblivious of the fact that 6.00% was the lowest BLR at all times 5 years ago, and that the BLR used to be as high as 10.50%.

I bought an apartment in Mewah Court in June last year, when the BLR was at 6.75%. Details as follows:

Price: RM145,000
Loan financing: RM130,500 (up to 90%) for 30 years from RHB Bank
MRTA: RM959
Interest rate: BLR - 1.90% (equivalent to 4.85% that time)
Monthly repayment: RM694

Although having two separate lawyer firms handing my Sale & Purchase Agreement and Loan Agreement (which I would advise against, for it caused me much delay, inconvenience, and of course double-charged legal fees), I am quite happy with the home loan plan. I was actually looking forward to top up at least RM1,000 every month for partial payment to speed up the reduction of the outstanding loan every month, so that I could shorten my term by a few years.

And, as we all know, it happen that the time for my first loan repayment (November 2008) coincide with the dawn of the coming great recession. Still, RM694 does not cost much damage since I have no dependents :-)

On the other hand, the recession caused the BLR to gradually plunge in the following manner:

November 7, 2008: 6.75%
December 1, 2008: 6.50%
February 5, 2009: 5.95%
March 3, 2009: 5.55%

Now, my effective interest rate is 3.65% p.a.! With the reduced BLR and fixed monthly repayment, Bank Negara Malaysia has helped me reduce my term to 23 years! Yahoo!!



I could only wish either the BLR is maintained at its current level for a longer time, or the BLR is reduced some more. :-)

For information:

Latest Malaysia BLR

History of Malaysia BLR (1989 - Jan 2009)

A Day Of Ups And Downs

Saturday, March 29, 2009

It had been a series of low-stamina-high-fatigue for me. I have had an average of 5 hours sleep every night for 2 weeks, and Saturday became one of my moodiest day. Well, moodiest in terms of mood swing, from euphoric to dejected.

I went out for a bread-and-half-boiled-egg breakfast with BK at 8:45am in the morning. Nothing much other than fellowshiping with BK and filling my stomach. Knowing that I need to get back to the office to get some stuff done and to collect something, I went back home and get prepared to head to office. However, looking at the bright sunlight, I changed my mind to have my laundry settled first, hence delaying my trip back to office. While waiting for my washing to complete, I dozed off, and by the time I woke up, it is already half past 11! Darn, I'll be late!

So, in a rushing mood, I hung my laundry, and quickly drove off to office. By the time I settled everything, it was already 1pm. And, as I promised earlier, I went from Bayan Lepas to Farlim to fetch a friend, and rushed to church for the Shalom Psalmistry Musicians meeting at 2pm. I hit right into the jam at Green Lane and Batu Lanchang Highway, delaying my trip by 15 minutes. Duh!

Due to the Psalmistry meeting, I had to skip the Junior Youth meeting (sorry guys!). I was nevertheless enthusiastic to learn to play a new song (Your Grace Is Enough) with other musicians. I was doing well when I started playing on the church's Clavinova. However, soon enough I realized that I was actually banging my fingers so hard until I eventually felt a slight cramp on my left wrist. And, as a result, all my timings went haywire (I was bad at timing, but the wrist-fatigue made it worse)! I was a bit frustrated and also disappointed at myself for causing so much mistake and at the same time screwing up other musicians' practice session. Sigh...

Then, I had to leave the session early (4:15pm) in order to prepare for the Form 2 Catechism in the classroom where they have the JY meeting. By the time I reached there, they were cleaning up stuff, and I found my usual space to setup the projector and laptop.

In the next classroom, all the Form 1 through 3 students were gathered for a short Praise session led by Pedro. When I eventually get my setup ready and joined them in the Praise session, what made me appalled was when some of the girls within my vicinity were oblivious of what's going on (c'mon, it has been 4 times we had such Praise session). While the guys on the other side of the room were jumping and praising God, those girls were doing nothing. So, I tried to lead them by jumping and yelling at them "Let us praise our Almighty God!!!". Guess what... still no response! I was like - praising God and screaming at their indifference at the same time! What a rojak feeling I had.

The Catechism went well. As usual, I liked Andre's session of having one or some of the students involved in the story telling (this time, is the story of God calling Abraham to sacrifice Isaac - Genesis 22).


Andre as Abraham. Bryan as Isaac. Hahaha!!
And then, after the class, I was like super tired, thinking of just drop on the floor and doze off. Anyways, I got to get something to be printed in the church office. Thus, after loitering around in the classroom, I went to the office. There, I told Andre that I felt bad during the practice, and Andre simply just said, "You are just not used to it yet." I don't know why, but it was so much consoling, and of course, at much peace. So much peace that I was not really feeling angry when I was told of a mis-behavior of one of the youth.

And, soon enough, it was 8pm. Andre, Boris, Kevin, and I rushed to Sing Kah Poh for a quick dinner, so that Andre and I would be back to church for Shalom Psalmistry official meeting at 8:30pm. Well, at 8:30pm we were still in Sing Kah Poh, because we were watching live telecast of the Earth Hour event in KL. 8:30pm - all lights off! That was on the TV screen. The restaurant was still filled with light! Anyway, I understood - they need to continue their business what...

The church was almost dark, except for a few flourescent lights still being switched on. As for our Psalmistry meeting, we were having a short worship session with candlelight - with 6 pieces of white tiles arranged to the shape of a cross, with candles lit on them. Beautiful.


Christ be our Light, amid the darkness lurking around during Earth Hour. :-)
Later that night, I went to participate the Keep Hope Alive Street Walk, where we are supposed to give the homeless food and drinks. We were briefed by Fr Fabian not to judge at a person's outlook or physique in order to justify whether we should give or not. So, we went out and reached Prangin Mall at 11:30pm. Although it was raining a bit, it was okay, considering the rain was nothing to me compared to the suffering of the homeless.

While I was serving the street-bound loiterers, something struck me - the words of Fr Fabian. I truly understood what it means by "judge not".

1. Not all homeless wanted food. Catherine shared to me, that, instead of having the food, they were also considerate to look at the needs of others who did really need the food.

2. Trishaw riders are homeless. Most of the time, I tend to overlook them, until that night. Rather, I never thought that they were I would see trishaw riders in a different way now, not as a nuisance of someone blocking my way while driving, but someone who's striving for two meals (and not even a place to stay).

3. They are honest people. When they already have food given to them, they would refuse additional food instead of having us give them more. There was also one old lady who at first refused additional food, but when I asked her if she wants more, she nodded. She only accepted when I was willing to offer. That was touching!

4. They are also like us, craving for junk food. Most of the time, the people who received a pack of rice, a bottle of water, and a packet of junk food, will first rip open the packet of junk food first. That is quite funny yet poignant.

Such an experience had indeed uplifted my mood for the day. After all, whatever I experienced throughout the day was nothing compared to those who strive so hard and yet ending their day on the streets.

While I was participating in the street walk, the rest who went for Psalmistry meeting and did not participate in the walk were already having supper in McDonald's Green Lane. When I was done with the street walk, it was already 1:30am. So, after reaching McDonald's to join the Psalmistry gang (who was already done with their food), I went to order one burger. As I sat down, the gang pretended that they were leaving the place. Although I was slightly shocked, I didn't bother much, partially because I was slightly aware of their tricks, and partially because I was too famished and struck with emotional ups and downs to respond. So I just said, "Don't be like that la...".

No offense - I did enjoy my day. Rather, I decided to enjoy my day!

P.S. I have effectively taken only 2 photos amongst all that happened in a day. Too bad, no mood to take. Also, it is not nice to take pictures during the street walk. We are instead supposed to help.

Liberation

Just found out one crucial information today, an information related to one of my deepest corner of my senses. And, of course this information is very personal (means, DON'T ASK ME WHAT IT IS!).

I felt liberated. Truly liberated.

And, praise God for having inspired and strengthen me in making tough decision. Although the decision might lead to severe consequences and damage, those many years of doubts and worries were eventually answered. Today, a real breakthrough has happened.

Amen!

:,-)

Spring in Penang

One of the seasons that truly uplifts my mood is spring, where I can actually see blooming and beautiful flowers amid green fields and above trees. I first witnessed (not via pictures, but with my very own eyes) such a beautiful view when I was on my business trip to San Jose exactly two years ago. Come March, the dull green field by McCarthy Blvd became filled with bright yellow flowers. Sadly, I did not take any pictures of those beautiful scenery there.

[ And I totally missed visiting Lombard St, San Francisco in spring! ]

I used to think that, as long as I am in the hot and humid rain-forest country of Malaysia, I would never ever experience truly the four-seasonal scenery. I was wrong. I was shocked to see MPPP people sweeping fallen petals from the trees by Medan Bayan Lepas while on my way to work yesterday!




Strange, eh... 迎春花 in hot-and-humid Penang!

Kee Hsiao Part 2

Another round of kee-hsiao-ness... :-P

This time, it started with my own Facebook shoutout.



And, while chatting with BK, he mentioned the "pizza dissection". And so, it went on... Quite a disgusting conversation though. LOL!

Kee Hsiao

It means gone crazy.

It all started with Wilson's Facebook shoutout:



Then, having stuck at work, I simply replied as above. As if the response was not fast enough, I used al-Terror's in-house messaging system to ask. And, somehow, our conversation went haywire.



A tiring day at work indeed. Sigh... I pray it'll be over soon.

WRK

I just came back from a free lunch :-), and after parking the car, I walked past one of my colleague's car with registration number WRK xxxx. Three thoughts popped up in my mind:

1. There are so many demands for KL car. Wonder if the demand is still the same amid the coming recession.

2. When will it reach WYY? And, what happened to the next KL car after WYY 9999? WAAA 1, or perhaps WAA 1 A?

3. Cit!!! Buy car also must think of work... even the number plate also consists of WoRK... Haihz...

[ No offense to my colleague... :-P ]

Still, I would prefer buying KL car compared to Penang car. Less depreciation, and less volatile (I am not a Penang local... see my number plate... wakakakakak!!!)

A Day Out With The Form 3's

After 1.5-month long preparation and a week of Lower Secondary Evaluation (Penilaian Menengah Rendah, PMR) exam, it was over (on Friday, October 17, 2008). For us the tutors (Andre, Sharon, Aaron, and I), we have promised to bring the PMR teens (consisting of Adrian Oyog, Ashleigh Dibble, Benjamin Han, John Stanley, Joshua Joseph, Nicholas Chin, Nicholas Choong, Jaslyn DeWitt, Li Ann Tan, and Rachel Lim) for a day out for picnic on the Sunday after their end of exam (October 19). And, so be it!

All of us attended Mass either on Saturday evening or Sunday 7am, so that we could leave early for the picnic. We met in church at around 9:30am. As I arrived, I was shocked to see the amount of food they brought. Each of the teens brought food worth for 10 people. Yes.... sandwiches, lots of sandwiches, plus fried chicken, fried rice, and I-dunno-what-else...

We left church at about 10-ish. Since we went with different cars, all of us reached Miami Beach at around 11am. Helena and Adeline joined us as well.

The boys were extremely excited. After about 10 minutes of loitering they were in the water!


Next were the girls... dunking each other at around 11:30am.


I guess they enjoyed getting wet so much that they gathered in a circle... hmm... perhaps having some secret discussion.


Well... with the teens in the water and adults by the beach, at once you would have guessed what would have happened next. Helena became the first victim! She got carried by the teens, and into to the water she was thrown!!


With captions...


Next, they tried the trick on Andre, but it was proven that 10 of them would not be able to lift Andre by an inch. Wait... they did! As a result, (I think) Andre lost some armpit hair... Hahaha!!!


I was then not in a proper attire - was wearing khakis shorts that time. And, I did not like the idea of getting wet with such an uncomfortable attire. So, I changed into my swimming shorts. And, as I was spotted then, I was approached by the teens. So, being sporting, instead of fighting back, I carried Adrian back into the water!!! Hahahah!!! Yeah, I finally got myself wet with the not-so-clean Miami Beach seawater!


We spotted a couple of sea otters resting on a rock about 100 feet from the shore. So, Aaron and I took a couple of shots. Since Aaron's camera is a SLR, of course his picture quality is far much better la. So, here is the photo of the sea otters with Aaron's camera.


We also managed to 'bury' Benjamin and Jaslyn.




After the 'burial' and lunch, Benjamin, Adrian, Choong and I swam towards the rock. Upon arriving at the rock, there was a great stench of fishy smell (I guess from either dead fish or the sea otter itself). And, on the rock, we spotted a pile of droppings. So, the sea otters were not simply sunbathing after all. The rock was filled with dead corals which made the rock surface quite rough. We all were cut while holding on to the rock. Nevertheless, Benjamin and Adrian managed to get onto the dry part of the rock and posed for some pictures!!


There were much fun by the seaside despite the dirty waters.

Next, we went to Tropical Spice Garden, where the teens were invited by UnoQuest lady boss Christine Ho (Chin's mom) for some teamwork-based games. They were "Code Silence", "Nine Inch Nails", "10 Grams", and "Handcuff". The explanation is as follows (I hope I won't get condemned by UnoQuest for leaking their games - they were pretty basic games anyway).

Code Silence - Each member of a group is required to line up. The person at the end of the line must pass a code comprised of a series of numbers by drawing/tapping on the back of the person in front of him. After the last in line completed the passing of message, the next person need to continue the step towards the person in front of him, and this goes on till the first in line returns the correct message to the facilitator.

Nine Inch Nails - An set comprised of 9 pieces of nails and a styrofoam base (with a nail hole) was given to each team. The team needs to balance 8 nails on the 9th nail which is to be affixed on the styrofoam base.

10 Grams - A set of 2D geometric cards (of different shapes and sizes) is given to each team. Each team has to use ALL the cards to form specific complex shapes provided by the facilitator.

Handcuff - Team members need to arrange themselves in a circle, and each member is handcuffed by tying a piece of string around both wrists. The string of each member needs to be intertwined with the string of the persons next to him. The task - unlock themselves from the intertwined strings. The cuffs must not leave the wrists.

The fun was to watch them struggle while trying to accomplish all tasks and solve problems given to them. It is indeed great to see them work as a team. Although they were having though and frustrating 2 hours to finish all the tasks, they were having a lot of fun and enjoyment from the teamwork activities.

And lastly, the debriefing by Christine...

During our time in Tropical Spice Garden, we met the lovey-dovey couple - Benignus and Patrice. They were there to help out the teambuilding with UnoQuest customer earlier that day.


At about 5pm, we left Tropical Spice Garden, and at the exit gate, we managed to snap a group photo (Helena left early, even before the teambuilding, so she was not there).


We had an early dinner at KFC, before we headed for Batu Feringghi night market for DVD, games, and clothes shopping. It was indeed a tiring day (can see from some faces in the following picture), but it was also a great gettogether activity amongst the teens - far much better than spending the day on the Internet, or worse, in the Internet cafe.



Some of the fun photos captured.