1 size fit all...is this right for us?

Came across this video early in the morning by Prince Ea and find it very interesting...so what's your say?

Nothing better than self managed blog

I have stopped adding entries here on my travel experience for years. Few years back I stumbled into www.backpackmojo.com and find it cool since they promise to provide a hard-copy free to the its author. So then I decided to document my travel experience there.
When I wrote my first travel guide covering Laos, I was disappointed with all the restriction they have imposed in place like number of characters in each fields, currency quote, photo orientation and lousy Bing as the map provider.

Photobook review

I always prefer my photos in hardcopy as compared to softcopy. They just give me the thought of being physically attached with the past. The past is what made me today. I treasure them dearly. So I used to develop on average of 40 to 100 photos for a 7 days trip. With this limit, I could only develop selective ones and especially those with me in them.

time to change cc provider

I am one who is relatively aware of my spending and charges on credit card. But with the over spent incurred from recent trips, my senses just got blunt. I was charged RM165 for annual membership on my CTB credit card on July and I am only aware today in October. I'm going to cut this lousy card for making me call them annually to get the fee waived. Nowadays many Bank is offering free for life, so make sure you get one of such or else expect to pay fees which may end up higher than your entitled cash back saving.

New Platform To Learn And To Teach

I am still committed to volunteerism despite in my busy schedule.

In my new working environment, I am still passionate to give back to the community. With this passion and eagerness to learn more, I have volunteered to run the demo for our product in a family day event organized by our employees women council. 

It was challenging to prepare myself in such a short time to face the public and share with them on our product. I have to know the product in detail yet to put in the simplest manner that was less confusing to the public, especially those kids. We started off with a little dull but quickly adjusted ourselves and finally won the attention of our audiences. It was really satisfying to get positive feedback from them and I am really proud to be part of the organizing team. 

There will be another demo tomorrow at the Penang Science Fair at PISA. 

Friends, do drop by at the event and especially at Motorola booth to show your support :-)

Volunteers rock!

Another piece for friends over the ocean

Ujrah Scheme for my PTPTN loan

I have received the contract via email from the PTPTN authority for close to 2 months already. I kept procrastinating on effort to read through the 21 pages document and to decide on whether to revise the agreement or not. Now that the dateline is approaching, I am forced to decide.

The 21 pages document comprised of 1 page of checklist, 5 pages of authorization and payment forms, 9 pages of loan agreement and 6 pages of guarantor agreement.

As I wasn't that familiar with the Islamic scheme, I decided to google for it. This was an interesting article I got from the search.

http://blog.limkitsiang.com/2009/07/06/ptptn-issues-1-interest-rate/

It was interesting not because of some fancy terms or the site that hosted it but it was due to those comments received on the post. I wasn't much aware of the poor language used until I scanned through the comments. I agreed with most on SS's average English(*average considering that I detected some incorrect tenses) but thanked him for spelling out our concerns bravely.

I would consider myself as an active internet user. I read and write a lot here. But I do not see how one can improve their grammar by reading online. Reading online can sometime bring more cons than pros if you are not selective about the pages you browse. Generally people tend to use broken English and abbreviations on the cyber space. Our command of the language are mold over the years in school and in our daily conversation. Things do not happen overnight.

So I would blame this on our education system. Our system has failed us over the years. We, the Generation Y are relatively poorer than our predecessor. Now that we are behind track, we should seriously do something to improve this phenomenon. Let me start off myself by reading more news articles online and cut down those status updates on Facebook. The cyber social network is killing the beauty of the language.

Back on my earlier discussion for this post, my analysis shows that the scheme is a gift but the terms and conditions are rights violator empowerment medium. Agreeing to the 1% charges would means that I grant the agency all rights to access my private details as well as my guarantors (*both my parents) details on all agencies they deemed necessary. Why would the agency need so much details? It would be less harmful if they are only granted access to our financial report through the Bank Negara. Why does the clause say 'mana-mana agensi'? Which agencies do they meant here?

I have concerns and worries but I am just an ordinary Malaysian. I ask myself 'Which is the correct channel for us to raise our concern?, What is the correct procedure?, Would our concern be heard?'. Finally 'Am I flogging a dead horse?'.

Online photo printing service by eoe Online : Part II

This is my follow up review for eoe Online photo printing service.

Software : After my last review I continued to explore on the other order method. Their Photo Express Software was great. The uploading feature was pretty similar to its online version but in a better manner. It did the printing size checking prior to upload. Alerting you on the poor quality prior to your upload and so you can avoid wasting time on those photos which you would end up not developing them. Besides, it was also cool to resize all the photos to the sufficient size prior to the upload. With this, you can actually save some time avoiding oversize image upload. As a whole this is a user friendly application, easy to install and simple to use. Score : 5/5 (*this scoring does not take the editing capability into consideration)

The assessment page prior to upload...all my downloaded photos from FB is red out ever for 4R. I am cool with the poor quality as I was only fond of the memories.

I received my 1st order and thanks eoe Online for the kind give away :D. Here is my after printing review.

Timely : I sent in my order on 23 Nov under their Blogger Review Program. The order was confirmed and processed on that very same day. My photos arrived on 25 Nov. That was very fast. Bravo to the proactive response team. Score: 5/5

Packaging : It was delivered on the SkyNet courier system. It arrived overnight. The packaging was handled with care with double seal plastic Skynet bags, no worries about damaged by water. The 4 R photos were nicely placed into the albums. I usually prefered the developer not to insert my photos into their albums as the glossy finish is very prone to fingerprints and smudges but they have managed this well. Perhaps they did the insertion with the help of photo cloth or some fine gloves. The 8R packaging was ok. They have placed the 2 photos into a big transparent bag with a hard paper board in between and finishing it with neatly taped side to keep the photo in place. Score: 4.5/5 (I suggest they offer an option to pack the large photo into a card folder for those who didn't intend to transfer them into albums. This give a more professional appearance compared to a plastic bag with a hardboard. Anyway this is an extra. If they are to offer that, then I will definitely say they are more than 5...perfetto!)

Value for money : You don't have to wait till 31st of every month or specific time of the year for such a promo price. In fact they are one of the lowest I can get in town and best that you don't have to run to the stall twice to get them develop. Score : 5/5

Printing quality : I was a little disappointing with some of the printings. It seemed like they did some contrast adjustment to my photos. Those lovely outdoor photos turned out worse of the whole album. The bright blue sky looked like overexposed white while the earth tone skin was nearer to overshadowed spot. I strongly suggest them to give an option to user on whether auto colour adjustment are needed or not on their photos. I understand that general user need to have their photo to be fine tuned to look more appealing but it is definitely not for photography lover. Please make an option for this. Make it default in your application to auto adjustment and I believe many photo lover out there like myself will know to disable it by our own choice and this will save your time too. Score : 3.5/5

some photos look ok...this is one of the best due to the original colour contrast was not so much different. Tuning the contrast would not give such a huge impact. They did change the WB a bit and it turned out fine. I didn't mind having the original colour too as it tells my story...the sun just set and it will be dark in minutes

this is the worse. It was very lively but turned out that I was like in a bush with some dying roses...so dead! The bright green and striking yellow turned out to be in dirty green and brownish yellow

thanks to the contrast adjustment, my skin was full of blemishes. The earth brown barrel turned out to be plain brown. The blue scarf under lime light became very white.

I love the photo but not the print. The green early summer leaves appeared to be early autumn and worse that I lost all the blue sky and cloud details.

I am upset with this. I love this very much which is why I got this printed out in 8R. I hate the print out. First is that they cropped my photo and second was the auto contrast. Needless to comment more :S

Conclusion : I will give them 4/5. They are good for general use. To tackle my photo kakis, they need to enable the non auto adjustment for us.

I still have 183 more photos in my folder waiting to be printed and I am looking forward to their non auto adjustment option before I proceed. I will just drop them my suggestion and hope that I do not offend them...this is nothing personal.

Withdrawn Raya Advertisement

I was not aware of this advertisement until recent forwarded email with this clip attached and titled Iklan Raya TV3 yang ditarik balik. I didn't bother to read the content of the email and went straight to the video. When I first watched it, I was marveled. The advertisement was a breakthrough. It was fantasy like and different from all the previous ads.

I have to admit that the flying beca and the pak cik did reminded me of Santa and his sleigh. But I was not so sure what drove them to withdraw the advertisement. So I went back to the forwarded email and read the content.

It seemed like a group of pro-Islam was accusing that the ad contained non-Islamic element and demanded immediate removal. I did agree with them on the non-Islamic element but personally I thought it wasn't such a big deal. I bet no Malaysian who has access to TV service has not seen any of Santa scene or Siddharta Buddha...oups, I did not even detected the Buddhism and Hinduism lotus until being highlighted by this group of minority.

I think this advertisement is cool for it managed to demonstrate the true cultures of 1 Malaysia. True 1 Malaysia shall be a culture which represents part of past and future of each Malaysians regardless of the ancestry background. It's time for us to unite and we all know that unity begins with tolerance, acceptance and assimilation in you and me!

True Meaning of Exchange Program

I was in Korea for Korea Malaysia Youth Exchange Program which was jointly organized by Ministry of Youth and Sports Malaysia and Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Korea. This was my 2nd exchange program abroad. My first was a 2 and half months in India under AIESEC, :-) another cool NGO run by youth and especially for youth development.

As I was not given any prior hiccups on the program itinerary in South Korea and with my tight and tiring schedule at work, I didn't have much time left to do any reading on South Korea culture. I went to South Korea with an open mind and without any expectation.

With this mindset and perhaps with my past experience being in exchange program as well as running the program itself, I could cope with the cultural difference very well. Through my experience, I found many have the wrong perception of cultural exchange program. In my opinion, cultural exchange program was not just a program where people go abroad and shout out loud about their country or parade with their flags.

For the visiting delegates, I personally felt that it was time where we learn by interacting and listening to people. Of course there were times when we should promote our culture to the hosting country but that didn't mean that all our conversations only revolved around my homeland. We didn't need to call for intensive Malay language class. In my case, I did talk a lot about non Malaysia related issues. This didn't mean that I don't love my country; instead it reflected the maturity level and intelligence of general Malaysians.

Secondly I found it very annoying when people were not sincere and honest in their speech and gesture. We all respect each other individually. The best way to make friends is to be honest to each other. There was no need to say you love the food or pretended that you enjoy the food when you didn't even eat them due to religious believe. I would prefer my guest telling me that they couldn't eat them and would prefer an instant noodle instead.

In an exchange program, host country plays an important role as well. It is really a difficult role to play especially dealing with a big group. On one hand, he needs to promote his culture to his guests and on the other hand, he needs to respect their needs and preferences. So it is best for the host to always communicate with his guests to know their cultural acceptance limit as well as their preferences.

As a whole, the Koreans have done a great job in sharing their culture with us while we fellow Malaysians have a lot to brush up on our hospitality way and we seriously need to raise our cultural acceptance level...maybe CCAP program Korea can be adapted here ;-)

Lastly I would like to thank my host especially Kim, Bryanna, Ms Yu and Park for being such a lovely and accommodating host. Not to forget my new found friends, the group of energetic youth delegates from Korea. I enjoyed my stay there very much thanks to you all!

To all my fellow countrymen heading abroad and to all our exchange program hosts to be, please prove to the world that Malaysians no longer live in our own caves. We are part of the global citizens.

Dissapointment from the Selection for KBS International Exchange Program

This article was written on 30 March 2010 but left unpublished till this moment I decided to spill it all out.

I was disappointed not that I did badly in the camp. I did well and was very outstanding despite me unwilling to fight for chances to outshine everyone there. I felt that everyone should be given equal chances and treated equally. We are all leaders, the cream of our respective organizations. None deserved to be abandoned at the floor. So I just went with the flow and be myself all the time.

I was sad to discover the true fate all fellow Malaysians. I have expected the selection camp to be very competitive but it turned up to be easy. Speaking in English in a bunch of non speaker, so called young leaders whom have dream of leading our country was the easiest I could get there.

I did not understand why majority of delegates there could not speak in English at all. Worse when I discovered that they have already went through one round of selection at their respective state. How can we send ambassador out to promote Malaysia when this person can't even speak any known language at the international arena more over a total foreign language?

Secondly I was disappointed to know that fellow Malaysian young leaders are shallow. In example, my group was given the topic Education to present on. The first idea that came to my fellow team mates' thought were we should present the good and the bad side of what education can bring to us. For good, just highlight his life during adulthood with good career while on the opposite side we will present how the teenage boy would end up being druggies or 'mat rempit'. Why druggies and 'mat rempit'? Was this all that we have? Was this idea appropriate when we are suppose to be Malaysian ambassador?

I respected them and listened to their ideas. Finally when my comment was needed, I managed to convince them on our role here in representing fellow Malaysian youths. I managed to remove the negative elements from our presentation and drive them to the right direction that was to promote Malaysia Education system internationally.

So we came out with brilliant ideas, making 3 scenes for our sketch. In scene 1, we wanted to highlight the education system we have now and our adaptation in making our education aligned with the IT and knowledge base era. One of the example quoted which was astonishing to me was the 'E-book' program launched at the Terengganu state. At first I was puzzled to learn about the program as my fellow team mates knew about the project at the surface only. They kept mentioning about e-book and quoting the physical appearance of the 'e-book', not knowing about what we called as Classmate PC or netbook in general.

Scene 2 discussion was the most hilarious one. We wanted to present what has education brought to us in terms of R&D achievement. So we brainstormed on the inventions by fellow Malaysians. Believe it or not, one can quote 'Microsoft buat Intel Core 2 Duo. Designer it orang Malaysia'. I almost laughed out loud listening to him. I would not blame him for not knowing who designed the processor but despise him for mentioning anything about Microsoft and Intel Core 2 Duo. Thank god, I was there to correct them on this!

Another invention quoted was a fellow Malaysian created a cure to stomach ulcer from mangosten extract. Someone asked what was stomach ulcer and the answer given was gastric...hahahahahaha. Forgive my shallowness. I just don't know the equation for stomach ulcer is gastric. btw I have not heard of any absolute cure to stomach ulcer nor gastric. I didn't say much about this as I wasn't in health care profession.

Scene 3 was about a foreigner

Youth without independent thinking...barely followers in nature. Just tried to outshine peers, but in real fact all are followers.

On the last day, we have our final challenge. It was a public speaking for merely 1 minute. I was nervous too but still manage to do it spontaneously. Earlier, I prepared a 5 minutes speech on the Government Transformation Program. I expected many to talk about 1 Malaysia but I doubt many knew the true concept of 1Malaysia what more about GTP. However I decided to change my topic to 'How to speak in public and how to overcome stage fright?' after listening to few others. They were trembling and shivering. Many could not speak fluently what more spontaneously. I wanted to help them and I mean it. I have no intention to be the best and fight for a place on the kapal belia. I just wished that these future Malaysia Ambassadors would not embarrass us during the exchange. However it was sad that I have been given too little time to share with them.

I am THANKFUL...

Thought of sharing this forwarded mail with u all...
I AM THANKFUL:
FOR THE WIFE WHO SAYS IT'S HOT DOGS TONIGHT,
BECAUSE SHE IS HOME WITH ME, AND NOT OUT WITH SOMEONE ELSE.
FOR THE HUSBAND WHO IS ON THE SOFA BEING A COUCH POTATO,
BECAUSE HE IS HOME WITH ME AND NOT OUT AT THE BARS.
FOR THE TEENAGER WHO IS COMPLAINING ABOUT DOING DISHES
BECAUSE IT MEANS SHE/HE IS AT HOME, NOT ON THE STREETS.
FOR THE TAXES I PAY
BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM EMPLOYED .
FOR THE MESS TO CLEAN AFTER A PARTY
BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE BEEN SURROUNDED BY FRIENDS.
FOR THE CLOTHES THAT FIT A LITTLE TOO SNUG
BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE ENOUGH TO EAT.
FOR MY SHADOW THAT WATCHES ME WORK
BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM OUT IN THE SUNSHINE
FOR A LAWN THAT NEEDS MOWING, WINDOWS THAT NEED CLEANING, AND GUTTERS THAT NEED FIXING
BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE A HOME .
FOR ALL THE COMPLAINING I HEAR ABOUT THE GOVERNMENT
BECAUSE IT MEANS WE HAVE FREEDOM OF SPEECH.
FOR THE PARKING SPOT I FIND AT THE FAR END OF THE PARKING LOT
BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM CAPABLE OF WALKING AND I HAVE BEEN BLESSED WITH TRANSPORTATION
FOR MY HUGE HEATING BILL
BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM WARM.
FOR THE LADY BEHIND ME IN CHURCH WHO SINGS OFF KEY
BECAUSE IT MEANS I CAN HEAR.
FOR THE PILE OF LAUNDRY AND IRONING
BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE CLOTHES TO WEAR.
FOR WEARINESS AND ACHING MUSCLES AT THE END OF THE DAY
BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE BEEN CAPABLE OF WORKING HARD.
FOR THE ALARM THAT GOES OFF IN THE EARLY MORNING HOURS
BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM ALIVE..
...well my intention wasn't to tell you to be thankful but to remind you on how unthankful you are..

Petrol Pump Myth

I have seen a lot of emails circulating around discussing about this with the recent price increment. There are lots of myth about when, where and what are the best petrol pumping practise.

1. Do not pump full tank of petrol

True. Many of us are not aware that the petrol kiosk pump has a return pipe-line (in black ). When the petrol tank (in the car) reaches full level, there is a mechanism to trigger off the pump latch and at the same time a return-valve is opened (at the top of the pump station) to allow excess petrol to flow back into the sump. But the return petrol has already pass through the meter, meaning you are donating the petrol back to SHELL/ PETRONAS/ CALTEX/MOBIL..........

2. Fill up in cool weather - Don’t fill up in the heat of the day. Refuel in the early morning or late evening. When the temperature is lower, petrol will be denser and last longer.

True in Malaysia. Fuel is denser during cooler conditions. The fuel pump measures the volume of petrol and not the density of the fuel concentration. This would not be the case in some foreign country like Australia as fuel density is now regulated by the modern pumps used at the petrol station. However the effect is very minimal for the temperature effect on petrol is only about 1% per 15F degree approximately 8.33C degree. So basically your fuel saving on cold day wouldnt be more than 2% I guess.

3. Air conditioning vs. open windows - The temperature’s soaring and you're driving on the highway. However, you don’t use the air conditioning because it uses more petrol. Driving with the windows down is the answer.

False. Believe it or not, you won’t be able to cut down on petrol usage by turning off the air conditioning in this highway scenario. The action of opening the windows may create drag and reduce the car’s normal fuel economy. Consumer Reports tested the theory, and found that choosing air or windows didn't make a justifiable difference when driving on the highway. Urban driving is where you can reduce fuel consumption by up to 10% by switching off the air conditioning and opening the windows when the weather is fine.

4. To idle, or not - After you’ve started your car at home, you realise you’ve left something in the house. It’s best to turn the engine off to conserve fuel, while you run inside for a minute. You’re also better off to turn the engine off rather than leave it idle while sitting in traffic.

True. Restarting today’s modern engines when already warm is more fuel efficient. According to website Zero Waste Australia, idling can waste fuel. Switch to ‘park’ if you drive an automatic, suggests the NRMA, or when you are stuck in traffic turn the key to the ‘accessory’ position (not to ‘off’). Vehicles fitted with engine-off as standard typically reduce fuel consumption in urban areas by up to 15%.

5. Over-inflate your tyres - Going on the more-is-better theory, pumping up your types over the suggested pressure will make your car petrol efficient. This can only improve on the fuel economy you’re currently getting.

False. Aside from giving you a rocky ride, over-inflated tyres negatively affect the resistance between tyre and road so this theory holds no weight. There is a difference however when flat tyres are pumped up to their recommended levels. In this case, your fuel mileage could improve by 3.3%

6. Pump slowly - If you pump your petrol as slow as possible, you will get more petrol and less air and vapors filling up your tank.

False. Petrol stations are designed to minimize air and fumes going through the pipes and into your car’s petrol tank. If you fill your tank slowly you will still get a full tank, as the same cost as one pumped at a faster speed. However no studied done in Malaysia on this myth.

7. Put your car into 5th - You can optimize your fuel economy on the highway by putting your car into the transmission’s highest gear. This will allow your engine to run at a lower level of revolutions per minute, and use less energy.

True. When your car is driven at the highest gear, your car’s engine speed goes down. This saves petrol and reduces engine wear.

8. Higher grade of petrol, better the fuel economy - Buying premium unleaded gives you better fuel mileage, even though your car manual recommends regular unleaded.

False. While it’s true that premium unleaded is a higher-quality fuel, it doesn’t mean your car needs it to achieve good fuel economy. Read your car’s manual first before shelling out a premium for premium that you may not need. With petrol prices going through the roof, it helps to know exactly what is fact and what is fiction with commonly-held beliefs. That way, we can target real savings in day-to-day motoring.