Moving to New Office - Innoplex

Just finish moving to new office last Friday, 8th August 2014. The new building is a 7 storey red and white building that now houses employees from all three previously separate buildings in separate location. The new building name is Innoplex.

Everything is new, so it's good. But the desk place is smaller than the old one. The old cubicle is with an 'L' shaped desk, which the new cubicle is with a straight desk only... though I am able to create a fake 'L' by using the space on top of the drawer.

My old cubicle had an overhanging cabinet to put stuff. New one none. Now, if I stretch my head just a little bit, can see other people already.

 

Old cubicle

 New cubicle

However, I do like the position of my new place. My back is windows, so no people can peek at me over my should to see what I'm doing. On my left hand side is a great view of Penang Second Bridge. Total privacy... now can view webpage in full size instead of minimized size!!! :P

New view

I am totally thankful for my place seating arrangement... privacy, nice view, near enough to pantry and washroom and yet far enough so I won't be distracted by the people walking in and out of the place.

The lights in the office are equipped with motion sensors. So, when I arrived in the office (I'm usually the first), it will turn on automatically along the path that I am walking. Of course, later during the day, all lights will turn on irrespective of motion.

The new phone is very complicated, though informative. I will have incoming number, can record miss calls, do group talk, connect to computer, etc. Haven't really have the opportunity to fully utilize the myriad of functions the new phone has. The phone in my old cubicle cannot even mute call or put calls on speaker. Now, we are given headsets too.

The meeting rooms are nice too look at, but the walls are all glass... so you'll have everyone outside looking in and people inside looking out everytime someone pass by. There are some "special" meeting rooms with themes as well.

Oil rig theme meeting room

Wind zone theme meeting room

The cafeteria food price is slightly more expensive. The utensils are new, so that's a good point (no more broken trays!)... and they even serve brown rice! The seating is unfortunately limited. Totally not enough places to sit if 100% of people in the building eat in the cafeteria at the same time. Also, the new cafeteria does not serve dinner anymore. Had to walk back to the old building to have dinner, which I'm currently not doing because the link bridge between the old building and new building is not ready.

Well, as always I never look at only the good points of something. I just have to find some fault with something and keep on harping on it... I just can't stop thinking how many flight of stairs I have to descend during a fire drill, which happens twice a year here!!!

A Glass Half Full or Half Empty

I have always try my utmost to live a normal, boring and peaceful life. I avoid any exciting activities in my life and I have always maintain a low profile in my life and work. If I am a really rich person, I would have been a kidnapper's dream come true. You can basically chart my activities after one week's observation. My activities repeat in the same cycle every week.

And Mistress of Fate has been kind to me in allowing me to life in a low profile, normal life. No one pulled me directly or indirectly in office politics (maybe they know how useless I am?), no exciting event has ever happened to me in my daily life and all is good... until now.

Well, to be frank it isn't really an event... it's just a narrow miss which if you really look at it, has nothing to do with me.

On 8th March 2014, a MAS airplane went missing during its trip from KLIA to Beijing. And I could have been one of those in the plane. My family, relatives and I were planning on going to a trip to Beijing. And with our usual practice, we would have taken that exact plane to Beijing. Usually, we try to start our holiday as early in the weekend as possible and the 8th March (Saturday) 12.35am flight is totally in line with our normal practice.

As fate has it, my aunt had to celebrate her grandson's birthday, and being the coordinator of the whole trip, she decided that we should take the plane to Beijing on 9th March 12.35am. With that singular decision, we have narrowly escaped what could be the most exciting (not in a good way) time in my life. Taking a step back, come to think of it, if my family were on that plane, that would have been the end of our line. All my other relatives have at least one family member who did not plan to join in our trip to Beijing. Only my family decided to go to Beijing in full force. Our full family would have been gone (though at the time of writing it is not confirmed that there are fatalities in the missing plane).

After hearing the news, the first reaction would be the feeling of relief, but then came the depression. Due to this event, my aunt decided the cancel our trip to Beijing. Understandable, but still a gloomy feeling enveloped me when she called me in the morning to tell me about the decision. 

Yes, of course, my condition is nothing compared to the relatives of those who did board the plane, but as with a normal selfish human being, all I can think of is just myself, how it inconveniences me, how embarrassing it would be when I have to tell my boss to cancel my leave, how to face my colleagues when I have redirected them to deal with my "stand-in" during my absence next week.

Yes, I am thankful that I narrowly averted a disaster, but I am really down that the trip that I had planned on going had to be cancelled... so, half empty or half full. I mean, as I mentioned earlier, if one were to take a step back to view on the whole, my trip to Beijing on Sunday morning had nothing to do with the missing flight on Saturday morning, so why am I being punished?

Ah, well... it's just a ramblings of a bored out of mind, useless, selfish human being... don't mind me...

I supposed it is customary to post the check received from Nuffnang in the blog.

The money I got is nothing to scream about, but I'm posting it just the same :P

The great thing about this is that not much effort need to be given to get money from Nuffnang. Okay, maybe a lot more effort is needed if one wanted to get over a thousand a month. But I quite content with the slow and steady once in a while bonus... though with the recent rise in prices, the money from this cheque is gonna be like a drop of water in the ocean :P

This blog has been dormant for a very long time... might want to start up again... though I think I have mentioned this multiple times. Anyway, might have an overseas trip coming soon... so if I'm not too lazy and if I got my hands on a camera (I'm still using feature phone, so no good phone camera to take pictures) I might post the pictures up here again.

Just booked plane tickets from Penang to KL. Did you know that MAS plane tickets are actually cheaper than Air Asia? Luckily I did check MAS ticket price else I'll be paying extra for nothing! I'm connecting a flight out of the country from KLIA... so taking MAS to KL is more convenient than taking Air Asia which would land in LCCT where I have to take a bus to get to KLIA. So, taking MAS is actually more convenient and cheaper!!!

Super Bored...

Nope, I'm not dead yet, even though this had been the longest time ever since I updated my blog. Well, a blog is about sharing new experiences and stuff... but these past few months, things have been having a robotic feeling to it.

Almost nothing ever changes... if I discounted the major problems I've been having with a project I've been working for two years and is on the verge of being a total failure. People have been hinting here and there why I'm the one designing for such a complicated project... sigh...

Anyhow, I don't think it is prudent to complain about work online... who know's who's out there watching. So, if I take work out of the equation, my life has been pretty stagnant. Monday to Friday, I'll have the same breakfast, have lunch at the same place and buy dinner from the same stall. Saturday and Sunday, I'll be at the shopping complex and even though I told myself to try new things, I always fall back on the safe and tried food before.

So, nothing new about food. And I have been playing the same games over and over again, and watching the same tv series again and again... since the previous season of tv series have all ended and is starting all over again only in August and September. I didn't even feel like watching movies, which I did for almost every week previously... so, no movie reviews.

Sigh... so I have nothing to write about... but I supposed things will be picking up again soon as the wedding season is in again... so there'll be lots of pictures!

Efficiency of LHDN

This is just unbelievable! I submitted my income tax forms last month... beginning of April, and three weeks later, I actually got the check for my extra payment of income tax due to the monthly scheduled tax deduction!

If this is not called efficiency, I don't know what it is! And that is one more reason why one should submit early... and also using the online submission forms. I still don't know why people like to submit as late as possible. Is it because of the interest rates? Or is it just out of spite?

I really don't think the government should specially extend their working hours into the midnight at the last day just so that all people can submit on time. Instead, they should just work regular time and for anyone who is a second late, they should be fined.

After that, no one would ever try to submit the income tax forms the last minute! Although an iron fist government is not the most popular thing and I don't really like that kind of government, sometimes, people are just like children. They need to be smacked and punished to behave.

We are always teaching our children to be punctual and follow house rules but the adult themselves can't even follow a simple deadline that was given a two months grace period. Something is really very wrong with our people!

KFC & McD Going Green... with different strategies

I'm not sure if this is happening in other states as well, but I found out recently that McD and KFC have been participating in the "No Plastic Bags" campaign. It has started for quite some time, but since I haven't visited these two restaurants for the past few months, I was not aware of this.

Apparently, McD and KFC are not giving out plastic bags for Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. While I'm neutral towards these kind of campaigns, it is the differences on how these two restaurants tackle this matter that fascinates me.

For KFC, it's simple... they automatically charge you an extra RM0.20 every time you make an order on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. They did not even bother to ask if one would want the plastic bag. They just add in 20 cents when they punch in the order.

For McDonald's instead of charging their customers, they replaced their plastic bags with paper bags. And if you order two or more drinks, they'll give you a cardboard coaster.

It is in my opinion that McDonald's strategy is of a better one. It reduces the use of plastics while not inconveniencing customers. While it is true that we can use shopping bags while shopping in supermarkets, I don't think that it is a viable option when shopping for food. 

KFC's strategy is does not really help much in conserving plastics as they assume that each customer need plastic bags by automatically charging them.

So, conclusion? Support McDonald's! :P

Night at Malacca

So, after attending my friend's wedding luncheon in Malacca, and dumping my super drunk friend in the toilet of our hotel room, my other university friends met up at night to relive the memories of our stay in Malacca 5 years ago.

First stop, is of course, the super famous... Sate Celup!

The price of these "Sate" has markedly increased... no thanks to the super rich university students spending like crazy!

Super thick and delicious gravy that we cooked our "Sate"in....

Next stop, is a shop that we haven't heard of during our uni life... however it is quite famous these few years... what is it famous for? Mille Crepe!

Strawberry Mille Crepe...

Cheese Mille Crepe... well, it's safe to say that this is not like any cake that you ever had before... the "thousand" layered cake feels really different when you put it in your mouth... a must try if you're in Malacca... near Mahkota Parade...

Then, we went and visit something new... the Menara Taming Sari... basically, it's just a circular tram that moves slowly up, enabling you to enjoy the night scenery of Malacca... RM12 per ride, I think... really not worth it :P

The other people who rode with me...

A photo of night scenery... yeah, it's not very clear... I'm taking picture in a moving vehicle at night... okay... maybe even SLR is not able to take good pictures in this situation... and I realized with horror that the street below us is super jammed! Apparently it happens every weekend from morning till night!

Our next trip is to eat dim sum which opens at night... however, after got caught in heavy traffic and frantic search, we found that it was closed... so, we just sit down in a nearby food stall and had a burger... the burger   ayam special... nice!

After that, we stop by at another stall that opens late into the night... it's already midnight! This time, it's a stall famous for duck meat noodles... though the one in the picture is not a duck meat noodles... no idea what it is :P

Mango sago...

Chicken feet noodles...

It was about this time that my drunk friend woke up and calling me to asked what happened! We had a really fun time spinning tall tales about his drunken behaviour...

Unfortunately, I had to wash the hotel bathroom floor before I sleep and it was around 2am before I can finally rest!

The next morning, I realized something really nice in the bathroom...

The various flavours of body showers and even moisturizer! And they smelled really nice!

Well, staying in Malacca brought back some really fond memories... a life without worries and a life that the day began at night and ends when the sun comes up! 

The Good Side of the Bank?

I never thought I would say this, but I was pleasantly surprise in an encounter with my credit card bank... Direct Access. I received a phone call that day and I was thinking that it was another telemarketer from some insurance company saying that I'm the lucky few to be picked to get this really good policy.

 I was tempted to say I was busy and never to call me ever again :P. But the good side of me managed to get a rein of my temper. This girl was actually from the Direct Access credit card center (not the "I got your info from the bank but actually work for insurance company") and she said that she noticed I have several credit cards with them and she was asking if I would like to cancel some of my credit cards!!!

I was stunned for a moment. I mean, these people are usually asking why I want to cancel the credit card... instead, she asked if I would like to cancel my credit card! Of course, it might be some hoax/fraud run by some really terrible people who want to siphon info of my credit card from me. But the questions she asked me while are confidential, should not be enough to do any permanent damage since they did not ask for password or access number... so I gave her the info she needed to "verify my status".

And the next day, my credit card was gone from the online bank account! This incident really showed me that there is goodness even in the devil's heart :P

Super Terrible Services at Kam Ling

On the fourth day of CNY, I decided to give Kam Ling restaurant another try despite my really terrible experience a week ago. I wasn't really expecting top notch service and food since it's CNY and everyone is fine with eating terrible food, with cut throat price and dismal services.

One thing to take note of is that Kam Ling is willing to serve normal dishes during the CNY, unlike Jia Restaurant who demanded all its customers to select only the set lunch/dinner. However, the first hiccup of the day was the one writing down our orders said that we would have to wait for an hour for the dish to be served!

Resisting my urge to just walk away there and then, we continued our orders. The next thing was when our jug of tea was empty, we hailed down one of the Indian servers to refill our jug... and that was the last we heard of our jug. Throughout the whole meal, we were unable to locate our jug of tea and no one gave us any new jug of tea despite my numerous complaints.

And looking at the end of the restaurant, a group of servers would huddle together doing God knows what despite some tables do not have tea or utensils (chopsticks/bowls/plate) prepared.

Celery with camel meat...

Mini version of "bak choy"

Pork ribs...

I just had to take the photo of this bowl of rice. Notice anything wrong with it? I was annoyed by the grotesque looking shape of the rice. It was evident that the rice was slapped into the bowl with no regards to it's presentations... yes, I know, I know, I'm a perfectionist :P

Well, despite my complaints about the terrible service, the food this time was acceptable and the price was actually quite low (during CNY season)... the celery with camel meat was RM16, pork ribs was RM15 and "bak choy" was just RM6! However, the "yee sang" was sold at RM35 for half size! That is daylight robbery... Jia Restaurant was selling at RM25 and even the cafe we had our reunion lunch is selling "yee sang" at only RM28 for half size!

However, I still think that Kam Ling had better train their servers so as not to embarrass Kampar to outsiders. The level of service there was really unimaginably terrible.

The Jia Restaurant, despite it's highly priced dishes during the CNY season, is able to give top notch level of service and their serving speed has markedly improved since last year. I hope that Kam Ling will receive lots of complaints this year as Jia restaurant did last year so that Kam Ling can improve itself in the future. If they continue to provide this level of service, people would go to their restaurant only because there are no place at other restaurants and not because the customers want to!

CNY 2010 5Sc1 Gathering

Well, the year 2010 is officially the most unsuccessful gathering since its inception in 2000. Most are either married or not free or overseas. However, it is strange to note that while I managed to get only 5 people to say yes to a gathering in a restaurant, when we decided to hold a small scale gathering in a cafe, the amount increased and later, when we continue the gathering at my house, it actually reached the magical number 10!

So, what went wrong? Is it that the others think it is a waste of money to eat at restaurants? Or our gathering lunch menu's price is too steep?

Anyhow, here are some pictures taken on that day... to lazy to do detailed introductions...

The 11am gang in the cafe...

The 12 noon gang in the cafe...

The gathering at my house... this picture did not show the whole gang lah :P...

Siew Ling mixing the "yee sang" with the looks of a profession... I just got the info from my parents that in the olden days (don't know how old), the mixing of "yee sang" is done by professionals with monthly salary over RM4k! Now, it's just some Indo or Indian mixing them :P... cut cost?

The "yee sang" ready to be mixed...

Our lunch... the prosperity pizza from Pizza Hut... the cheese at the sides are quite nice, but I don't think that the prawns are really mixing well with the pizza...

After lunch, we basically just laze around in the living room blasting with a/c... it wasn't really that cool since my mum forgot to put on the door curtain... but it still beats the sweltering heat outside...

Summary of 2010 gathering:-

1. People don't like to eat in restaurants (too expensive??)

2. People like to decide to come to gathering in the last minute

3. People don't read e-mails and all invitations to gathering must be done through phone

4. Married people don't go to gatherings the girls would be at their husband's house and the guys will be at their wife's house

Ling Siew's Wedding (night)

My aunt made the declaration that the wedding dinner shall start on time... and she actually made it! Right at 7.30pm, which is the time stated in the invitation card, the bride and groom started their marching in procession! How I wish all wedding dinners are like that. But I guess my aunt has all the advantages. My cousin's house is in the housing estate next to the Grand Kampar Hotel (which is where the dinner is at) and the bride's family is staying right in the Grand Kampar Hotel... so, there is no reason for it to be late due to waiting for VIPs!

My mum has been really enthusiastic about this dinner. Mainly because she's meeting up with lots and lots of relatives on her side. She never really like my father's side family and vice versa :P Anyway, I am unsure how accurate her info is, since aunties' gossips are never reliable, but I was told that my aunt actually invited another chef from KL to prepare the wedding dinner... which is actually believable since my previous experience with Kampar Grand Hotel was not particularly enthusiastic. And here are the dishes... I think the guest chef only cook a few dishes lah...

Five Combination Platter... I'm glad this dish is not the one I tasted last time... this time, the dishes are of higher quality albeit still not really up to my standards :P

Oh yeah, this is the bride and groom's table... never seen such a big table!

The deco are quite lovely... the ceiling was filled with multicoloured helium filled balloons... the downside is that the balloons tend to get sucked into the air vents causing the atmosphere to be rather stuffy.

Ballerinas...

This is supposed to be the star dish of the night cause the guest chef is famous for making shark fin's soup!

This is the share of shark fins I got! So little but it's all just ingredients without the starch soup... but honestly I can't see/taste what the fuss is all about...

Steamed Pomfret fish.... quite nice, but it's just an ordinary dish...

The emcees for the night... as usual, the woman's voice overpowers that of the man... :P but their singing are quite nice without those ear jarring noise...

Drinking... aren't they afraid that they are drinking the soap bubbles? :P

The guess who's hand is your wife's game... sadly, my cousin failed miserably at this...

Sigh... how many times do I have to shout and complain that this herbal dish is more suitable by using duck instead of chicken!

Normal prawns...

Mushroom and broccoli...

Sticky rice...

Longan and kaya pau...

My nephew Shauun... the couples were not the happiest person that night :P

Basically, the food was so-so only loh... better than previous food served in the same hotel, but it's nothing to shout about. The only thing worth mentioning is the decoration. I think that it really is quite nice and it made a lot of children happy that night... all of them were clamoring for the balloons when the dinner ended... and since they were not tall enough, their parents have to take them up to get the balloons... it was really a sight to see!

Ling Siew's wedding (morning)

This post is a little bit overdue as this event happened over three weeks ago. Anyhow, this time, it's about my cousin's wedding and I think this is the first time I have to go with the groom to get the bride... something that I did not look forward to :P. However, my cousin has a lot of other "brothers"... so it won't really affect me :P.

The groom having his breakfast...

My nephew Shaunn exercising after the breakfast in the gym room...

Groom ready to storm the bastille...

The groom's "brothers"...

The initial price demanded by the bridesmaid was extreme... but they would cross out one digit for every task that was completed successfully...

First one is to write "I Love (bride's name) forever" in Chinese and the guys can write one stroke for each sit-up... not as easy as it looks...

Then, the guys have to make a human sedan for the groom to sit on...

To hang up the words he had written... First task completed...

Then, it a test of knowledge as the guys were presented with papers containing incomplete Chinese idioms... and the guys were supposed to complete them... no challenge there... Second task completed...

The third task is a multiple choice quiz where the groom has to guess which eye/lips/face/fingers/toes belong to the bride...

Finally, they have to extract the key to the room from a huge block of ice...

And after the "big" ang pow, the two lovebirds are together...

Is the groom crying for help? :P

Can't resist taking the picture of my other nephew, Aiden who is Shaunn's little brother... so cute... and fat :P

Tea ceremony...

After a busy morning, my aunt, sister, cousin sister and baby nephew take a quick nap in my living room before continuing the dinner at night! My other cousin John, still have the energy to do his office work!