Jessica's Blog

Jessica Has a New Blog Location

2010-05-08T19:02:00.002+08:00

Please visit Jessica's Journal for it's new blog location. Thank you for the visits.

2010 New Year Eve

2010-01-01T13:19:00.003+08:00

New Year Eve was a pretty nice night for me. I had Pork Knuckles and a variety plate of sausages at a German restaurant with friends. After dinner, we went back home to play 3D Monopoly game until midnight. We watched fireworks from our balcony and managed to capture 2 major fireworks and 4 mini fireworks. I would say One Utama mall had a much better fireworks than the Curve mall for the year. We continued our monopoly game and chit-chats until 3am. I went to bed about 4am.

I received my HP Virtual Tech Museum Gallery Contest Prizes

2009-12-04T08:12:00.001+08:00

I drove all the way down to Wisma Genting, Jalan Sultan Ismail to collect my HP Virtual Tech Museum Gallery Contest Prizes. It was an easy drive and I reached my destination in about 30 minutes. However, I was lucky enough to get a Visitor parking as I was informed later that the Visitor parkings would not be available after lunch time. After meeting the Contact Person, signed the Goods Received forms and had my photo taken for HP purposes, I left the place happily with my prizes about an hour later. I look forward in exploring my new gadgets.

No Plastic Day Campaign

2009-11-28T10:16:00.001+08:00

Penang will extend its No Plastic Day campaign for 3 consecutive days in a week, ie. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 1st. January 2010 onwards. Currently, the No Plastic Day campaign runs on Monday which had started in July 2009. I experienced the no plastic day at Watson shop in Beijing, China and Borders bookstore in Melbourne, Australia in recent months. Customers were required to pay for the plastic bags. Like in China and Australia, I think it is a good move but with one condition, ie. the local hypermarkets and shops need to allow customers to bring their own backpacks or bags into the premises.

I received Official HP Letters

2009-11-23T13:19:00.003+08:00

I received the official letters from HP (Hewlett-Packard) on my HP Virtual Tech Museum Gallery Contest Prizes. I look forward to collecting the prizes on the 4th of December from Hill & Knowlton office (HP's appointed PR agency) at Wisma Genting, Jalan Sultan Ismail, Kuala Lumpur.

The Law of Navigation by John C. Maxwell

2009-11-06T07:23:00.002+08:00

The Law of Navigation by John C. Maxwell can be easily illustrated in a Treasure Hunt competition. The team that wins normally possess a good navigator who can navigates the team members to the correct clues and destinations. Hence, a great leader needs the Law of Navigation instinct to lead a team. As the saying goes, almost everyone can steer the ship, but it takes a leader to chart the course.

Oracle Commitments to Sun Products

2009-11-03T12:23:00.002+08:00

Like many concern IT professionals, I am eager with Oracle future plan on Sun products after it's acquisition announcement on 20th April 2009. After nearly 6 months, both companies still remain as 2 separate entities. Hence, lots of unanswered quesitons popping up in the air. As a result, Oracle issued an Overview and FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) document to address the market concerns. Here are some of the extractions from the document:

Delivering increased investment and innovation in Java
Oracle plans to accelerate investment in the Java platform for the benefit of customers and the Java community. Java is one of the computer industry’s best-known brands and the Java platform is one of the industry’s most widely deployed technologies. Oracle has been a leader in the Java community since the inception of the Java programming language and already has the world’s largest investment in the Java platform, which provides the foundation for its Oracle Fusion Middleware products and its next-generation enterprise applications. Oracle plans to not only broaden and accelerate its own investment in the Java platform, but also plans to increase the commitment to the community that helps make Java an ubiquitous, innovative platform unified around open standards.

What are Oracle’s plans for the GlassFish Enterprise (Java EE) Server after the transaction closes?
Oracle plans to continue evolving GlassFish Enterprise Server, delivering it as the open source reference implementation (RI) of the Java Enterprise Edition (Java EE) specifications, and actively supporting the large GlassFish community. Additionally, Oracle plans to invest in aligning common infrastructure components and innovations from Oracle WebLogic Server and GlassFish Enterprise Server to benefit both Oracle WebLogic Server and GlassFish Enterprise Server customers.

What are Oracle’s plans for NetBeans?
Oracle has a strong track record of demonstrating commitment to choice for Java developers. As such, NetBeans is expected to provide an additional open source option and complement to the two free tools Oracle already offers for enterprise Java development: Oracle JDeveloper and Oracle Enterprise Pack for Eclipse. While Oracle JDeveloper remains Oracle’s strategic development tool for the broad portfolio of Oracle Fusion Middleware products and for Oracle’s next generation of enterprise applications, developers will be able to use whichever free tool they are most comfortable with for pure Java and Java EE development: JDeveloper, Enterprise Pack for Eclipse, or NetBeans.

What are Oracle’s plans for MySQL?
Oracle plans to spend more money developing MySQL than Sun does now. Oracle expects to continue to develop and provide the open source MySQL database after the transaction closes. Oracle plans to add MySQL to Oracle’s existing suite of database products, which already includes Berkeley DB, an open source database. Oracle also currently offers InnoDB, an open source transactional storage engine and the most important and popular transaction engine under MySQL. Oracle already distributes MySQL as part of our Enterprise Linux offering.

What is Oracle’s plan for OpenOffice?
Oracle has a history of developing complete, integrated, and open products, making integration quicker and less costly for our customers. Based on the open ODF standard, OpenOffice is expected to create a compelling desktop integration bridge for our enterprise customers and offers consumers another choice on the desktop. After the transaction closes, Oracle plans to continue developing and supporting OpenOffice as open source. As before, some of the larger customers will ask for extra assurances, support, and enterprise tools. For these customers we expect to offer a typical commercial license option.

How does Oracle support open source?
Oracle has long been committed to developing, supporting, and promoting open source. Oracle has been, and continues to be, committed to offering choice, flexibility, and a lower cost of computing for end users. Oracle has invested significant resources in developing, testing, optimizing and supporting open source technologies such as Linux, PHP, Apache, Eclipse, Berkeley DB, and InnoDB. Oracle continues to embrace and offer open source solutions as a viable choice for development and deployment. More information about Oracle’s support of open source can be found at
oracle.com/opensource.

Australian ETA Application

2009-11-02T14:23:00.005+08:00

My Australian ETA (Electronic Travel Authority System) application was not a smooth ride initially. However, thanks to the prompt reply from Internet ETAS Support team, my issue was resolved and I managed to complete the transaction in less than 10 minutes. The application process was pretty straightforward with only minimal required information needed to be entered on the webpages. I clicked on the Apply for ETA button and proceeded to enter the required information such as Passport Number, Nationality, Date of Birth, Sex, Country of Birth, Passport Expiry Date, Issuing State, Date of Issue, Issuing Authority, Family Name and Given Names. Then, I selected the Visitors visa as required and proceeded to the Payment webpage. Once the payment was processed successfully, I received a webpage that confirmed my ETA application had been successful. As I included my e-mail address as part of the entered information, I received 2 e-mails automatically, namely Payment Receipt from iVisa Services‏ and Application for ETA for Australia. That's the wonder of internet!

Google Analytics Sign Up

2009-10-28T10:13:00.009+08:00

Google Analytics is a web analytical tool that enables us to discover where a website visitors come from, what webpages they visit, how long they stay, what they do, what makes them leave and where do they go and many more others. Like Google Adsense Sign Up, Google Analytics needs a Google Account.

Google Analytics New Account Sign Up is divided into 4 areas, namely General Information, Contact Information, Accept User Agreement and Add Tracking. Simply fill in all the required information and Copy&Paste the Javascript code into the website that needs to be tracked. More websites can be added for tracking once the Google Analytics account has been successfully set up via the Add new profile link> Add a Profile for a new domain selection option.

Once the Javascript code has been successfully added into the website, you may view the Tracking Status under the Google Analytics Settings> Profile Settings option. A successful message (Analytics has been successfully installed and data is being gathered now) will be shown.

McDelivery Response

2009-10-25T12:32:00.005+08:00

Yesteday, I received a phone call from McDelivery on my earlier feedback. They wanted to verify my feedback and to ensure the quality of their McDelivery services. In the end, he offered to resend the order. I received the order in about 35 minutes. It was followed by a phone call by a different personnel to check on my delivery. It was great that McDelivery took the efforts to look into the Customer Feebacks and followed up with actions. However, I think McDelivery may look into better ways to ensure the order reaches the customers in better condition. Most of the time, the food were not warm, the french fries were soggy and the drinks were spilt into the plastic wrapper. Nevertheless, I look forward to the future improvements by McDelivery.

Google Blogger bX-5eka1d Error

2009-10-23T15:59:00.005+08:00

Internet surfers experienced difficulty in accessing all Google Blogger's blogs including the Google Blogger Dashboard. Forums and blogs were flooded with messages asking for help. Google put up a quick and short message (We're investigating an outage on blogger.com. Thanks for your patience as we work to resolve this) in Twitter informing all surfers. After the message was posted for merely 2 hours, the issue was resolved with a new message (We have fully restored Blogger functionality. Thanks for your patience). Great work to Google for the speedy recovery.

Malaysia Day As National Public Holiday

2009-10-19T08:06:00.004+08:00

Malaysia Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced Malaysia Day as national public holiday. Hence, the first Malaysia Day Public Holiday would commence in 2010. East Malaysia, namely Sabah and Sarawak joined Federation Malaya and Singapore as Federation of Malaysia on 16th Sept 1963. Malaysians would have double independence celebration starting next year, namely Malaysia Day and Merdeka Day (National Day). The announcement is definitely in line with the Prime Minister's 1Malaysia spirit.

I won HP Virtual Tech Museum Gallery Contest Prizes

2009-10-16T15:23:00.009+08:00

I won prizes for the HP Virtual Tech Museum Gallery Contest. I received an e-mail from Cheryl informing me of the good news. I had to read the e-mail 3 times to confirm that it was not a joke. I won 2 prizes, a unit of HP TouchSmart IQ300 and a HP Pocket Media Drive PD3200 for the Overall Regional Winner and the Malaysia Oldest Device respectively. I was in cloud 9 for the whole day after receiving the good news. I replied the e-mail immediately with my details and collection date as I would have to pick up the prizes personally at the Hewlett-Packard (M) Sdn Bhd, HP Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Now, I am eagerly waiting for an official letter from HP for the prizes collection.

Microsoft Windows 7 Consumer Launch Roadshow Tour

2009-10-11T08:23:00.006+08:00

Microsoft Malaysia will be having Windows 7 Consumer Launch Roadshow Tour at shopping malls across Malaysia. Check out the various locations and dates:

Kuala Lumpur
2nd - 8th November 2009
Plaza Low Yat, Kuala Lumpur

Petaling Jaya
4th - 8th November 2009
Ikano Power Centre, Petaling Jaya

Penang
6th - 8th November 2009
Gurney Plaza, Penang

Johor Bahru
13th - 15th November 2009
City Square, Johor Bahru

The official Microsoft Windows 7 Consumer Launch happens at Plaza Low Yat, Kuala Lumpur on 7th November 2009. Special offers, fun activities and prizes will be available.

McDelivery Disappointment

2009-10-08T23:11:00.003+08:00

I called up McDonald's Delivery Service (McDelivery) at 1300-13-1300 for a late dinner. However, I was rather disappointed with the McDelivery service. I decided to provide an online feedback to McDonald's for future improvement:

Hello,

I would like to provide feedbacks on McDelivery service. I placed my order via the phone and was rather disappointed with the services. I received my order 1 hour and 30 minutes later with the wrong products (cheeseburger instead of Ayam Goreng) eventhough the products orders were correctly printed on the receipt. The cheeseburger had to be thrown away as none of us can take beef. The coke drinks were also spilt with only half of it left. The drinks droppings made a mess on my floor.

I hope McDelivery can learn from Pizza Hut Delivery as the later seems to have a better system and procedure.

Thank you.

Google Bar Code Doodle

2009-10-07T08:32:00.001+08:00

Google celebrated the 57th anniversary of the bar code invention by placing a bar code doodle on its Search Engine website. Users were greeted with a bar code in place of the usual Google logo. The Google bar code doodle uses Code 128 to encode Google. Bar Code was patented by Joseph Woodland, Bernard Silver, and Jordin Johanson in 1952. All the Google Doodles - Holiday Logos and Events are available online for viewing.

Setup Google Adsense Payment Type as Western Union

2009-09-26T15:23:00.004+08:00

My Google Adsense earning reaches it's initial USD10 dollar and it automatically triggers me to make a withdrawal if I choose to do so. I choose to set up the payment type as Western Union, which only requires a few simple steps:

Sign in to your Google Adsense Account
Access My Account tab
Under the Account Settings page, select Payment Details's edit button
Under the Choose Form of Payment, select Setup Western Union Cash radio button and Select the Continue button
On the Confirmation page, ensure that the Current Payee Name is exactly the same as your Bank Account Name which should be the same as your Nationality Identification card. Fill in the Payee First Name/Given Name and Payee Last Name/Surname/Family Name columns accordingly. Tick on the I agree that I have a government issued ID that matches the contact name above checkbox and Select the Save changes button

Fill Up Tax Information as Required by Google Adsense

2009-09-23T16:12:00.001+08:00

Google Adsense requires all Adsense publishers to fill in the mandatory Tax Information. Adsense payments are held until the tax information are submitted. The steps are very much simpler for non U.S. residents:

Sign in to your Google Adsense Account
Access My Account tab
Under the Tax Information page, select the Submit your information now button
Under the Submit tax Information page, answer the following questions accordingly: *** Are you a U.S. citizen, U.S. resident alien, U.S. corporation, or a U.S. partnership? *** Do you own equipment in the U.S. related to your participation in AdSense? *** Do you have employees in the U.S. related to your participation in AdSense?Select the Continue button to proceed to the next page
On the Certification of No. U.S. Activities page, key in your name and Select the Submit information button
A Thank you page appears to confirm on the successful changes

The Law of Process by John C. Maxwell

2009-09-18T10:32:00.002+08:00

Success does not happen overnight and so does the Leadership Skills. The Law of Process by John. C. Maxwell tells that very truely. Leadership skills are not entirely borned but can be acquired with preserverance and determinations. If we look at students in the college or university, it is very obvious that knowledge are not gained in a year or two but over a period of the course duration. Whenever, we are impatient in achieving our goals, we can revisit the Law of Process and learn to be more patience.

China iPhone in the Imitation Market

2009-09-06T11:29:00.001+08:00

Thanks to Maggie, I had a chance to look at China iPhone in the imitation market. There were basically 3 types of China iPhone, being priced at RM300, RM350 and RM550 respectively. I found the first 2 models were kinda of amusing as the screen navigations need the finger nails, unlike the real Apple iPhone models. As Maggie had nicely painted nails extension done recently, it was not a problem to her. She just had to tap on the screen using her extended finger nails. I listened to the music sample but all I could hear was just a bunch of noisy sound. I couldn't really hear the song lyric. As for the screen colours, it was pretty mild. It would be great if further enhancements could be done!

Malaysia 52nd's National Day

2009-08-31T15:32:00.001+08:00

Malaysia celebrated it's 52nd National Day with moderate affair due to the current H1N1 (Swine Flu) situation and it's the moslems' fasting month. The celebration was held at the Parliament Square with nearly 6,000 people turned up for the event. However, only 1,600 people were allowed in. Check out the above special Google Doodle on the Google Webpage.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Movie

2009-08-19T21:23:00.005+08:00

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the sixth movie in the Harry Potter movie series. Harry Porter (Daniel Radcliffe) and his friends, Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) were back in Hogwarts. Harry was reluctant to return due to his experience at the Ministry of Magic with Voldemort. Professor Dumbledore encouraged Harry to return and obtained Harry's help to convince former Potions Professor Horace Slughorn to return to Hogwarts. Professor Dumbledore was keen to find out what Professor Horace told Tom Riddle when he was Professor Horace student.

Eventhough I had always been a fan of Harry Porter movies, it took me more than a month before I went for the movie. The reason being, I had been getting lots of negative feedbacks on the movie. After watching the movie, I understood why my friends found the movie to be boring. The Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie had less actions in comparions to the previous movies. There were more talkings and the actions were slow. The movie was kinda of dragged to be longer than it should be. Among the many Harry Porter movie series, this might be the least interesting movie. In fact, my neighbour was yawning towards the end of the movie.

China Visa Collection Again

2009-08-18T11:26:00.002+08:00

I tried to be early for my China Visa collection yesterday. I reached Malaysia China Embassy at 10:30am and I was overwhemled by the crowds. The queues were long and *snaky*. What I mean by *snaky*? Well, it had to do with the queues from various counters that formed to the shape of snakes. The queues were even crossed. An interesting queue pattern. I hard to search for the snake head starting from the counter in order to determine the snake tail. After looking for some minutes, I was relieved to discover the Payment and Collection counters which were located in the middle of the queues. I was more relieved when I discovered there were only 3 persons queueing at the Payment counter and none at the Collection counter. After the payment at the Payment counter, I proceeded to the Collection counter. My transaction was done in less than 3 minutes. I felt sorry for those who were entangled in the *snaky* queues. I hope the Malaysia China Embassy does have an expansion plan for the near future. I am certainly glad that I have applied for a 2-years China Visa.

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past Movie

2009-08-17T10:08:00.000+08:00

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past was premiered almost the same time as another romantic comedy American movie, The Proposal. Connor Mead (Matthew McConaughey) was a famous photographer who was scheduled to attend his younger brother's wedding. Conner was bittered from his first love, Jenny Perotti (Jennifer Garner) at a young age. Thus he vowed to never be in serious love. Conner met Jenny again at his brother's wedding where both had moved on after a short relationship. Cornor learnt from his womaniser Uncle Wayne (Michael Douglas) to always live short romantic life and never get serious in any relationship. Uncle Wayne warned Connor that 3 lady ghosts from past, present and future would visit him which could change his life. The girlfriends took Cornor to visit images of the past, present and future which slowly changed his perspective in love.

I enjoyed the movie very much. Even though there were no big surprises, it had a good story line. Watching both romantic comedy movies, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past and The Proposal gave me an impression that we are in the Valentine month.

Happy Birthday MSN Messenger

2009-08-16T11:35:00.000+08:00

Happy Birthday MSN Messenger! MSN Messenger was officially launched 10 years ago on 22nd July 1999 by Microsoft. It came a long way since then with constant enhancements. It is currently known as Windows Live Messenger, joining Hotmail and Windows Live Spaces as a big family. Personally, I started off using Yahoo Messenger and slowly migrated to MSN Messenger. I guess the cute little blue guy icon attracted me. Remember to download the free ThemeBuilderExtras Gift Pack which consists of free winks and emoticons. Check out the MSN Messenger 10 years timeline:

The Proposal Movie

2009-08-15T08:26:00.003+08:00

The Proposal was a romantic comedy movie directed by Anne Fletcher. Margaret Tate (Sandra Bullock) was the executive editor-in-chief of a book publishing company known as Colden Books. Margaret had Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds) as her assistant. Andrew and the whole office workers hated her. As Margaret faced deportion to Canada, she came up with the idea of forcing Andrew to marry her. Mr. Gilbertson (Denis O-Hare) from the Government had the task to ensure the marriage would be a genuine marriage. As a proof, Margaret and Andrew were forced to spent the weekend at his grandmother's 90th birthday party in Sitka, Alaska.

Eventhough the movie lines were predictable, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. I could hear lots of laughters from the cinema patrons throughout the movie. It was funny seeing Margaret got down on her knee at the busy New York street to propose to Andrew and also the sight of Margaret doing a rap dance with Andrew's grandmother at the woods. I would recommend the movie to those who need a light and easy comedy movie.

The Law of Influence by John C. Maxwell

2009-08-13T10:30:00.004+08:00

The Law of Influence is another important fact in leadership as emphasized by John C. Maxwell. Many times in our lives, we need to be able to influence people positively. It is common for workers to get side-tracked at times in the working environment. Good workers will be able to rise quickly and move on to their next tasks. However, there are workers who need leaders to influence them positively before they are able to rise up. In this case, the Law of Influence plays a very important factor in leadership. Leaders who possess the Law of Influence can easily motivate the workers postively to move on to their next tasks.

China Visa Application

2009-08-12T13:38:00.005+08:00

I decided to apply for China Visa again. I went for the 24 months multiple entry visa for RM120. Strangely, the visa application fee for 1 year is the same as for 2 years. Hence I decided to go for the later since my passport had just been renewed. I printed out the China Visa Application form at home, the night before and had it all filled with a nice passport photo glued.

I reached the Malaysia China Embassy at 10:30am and went straight up to the upper floor. There were 2 queues for VISA, namely VISA and VISA/Authentication. I queued for the VISA lane. It was a pretty long queue with about 15 people in front of me. It took me at least 30 minutes before I reached the counter. As I passed my visa application form to the counter lady, she told me politely thay they no longer accept the visa application form that I filled. I had to pick up the latest visa application form from the table near the main entrance and fill them again. She was nice enough to tell me that I didn't have to queue again later. In other words, I could just pass the form to her directly (bypassing the queue). I was relieved. It would be a hassle if I had to queue for another 30 minutes later to re-submit the form. The VISA counter operation hours were from 9:00am to 11:45am.

I quickly proceeded to pick up the new form. The new form was in 2 pages with more information required. It took me slightly more than 5 minutes to refill the new form. Luckily, I brought my own pen. I went straight up to the VISA counter and it was already 11:15am. I informed the lady in the queue that I just filled in the new application form as required. I was hoping that she could just let me submit the form again. The lady was from Shenyang, China. She was nice enough to let me proceed. Perhaps I left a good impression to her earlier on when I directed her to the VISA counter queue.

I waited for about 5 minutes and I managed to submit my application form to the counter lady. She informed me that it would take 4 working days for a normal processing. In other words, I would be able to pick up my Passport with the China Visa on Monday. I left the counter happily as I managed to submit it on time. As I was leaving the counter, I noticed the time was already 11:35am. There's another 10 minutes before the counter would be closed. There were still 8 persons in the queue. I realised the room was packed with more people. I guess, I needed to come earlier next week for the Passport and Visa collection. The lesson learnt of the day would be to always use the latest Application Form.

On His Majesty's Secret Service Movie

2009-08-11T17:28:00.001+08:00

On His Majesty's Secret Service movie was about an Emperor who had 12 Secret Royal Guards. All the Royal Guards were kungfu masters except Royal Dog (Louis Koo Tin Lok) who had a great interest in inventions. Royal Dog had a fiancee named Faithful (Barbie Hsu Hsi Yuan) who had always wanted to marry him. However, Faithful's parents felt tha Royal Dog was not good enough for their daughter. Unicorn (Louis Fan Siu Wong), the head of eunuchs was a martial arts expert who dreamt of overthrowing the Emperor.

On His Majesty's Secret Service was a typical comedy film from Hong Kong with big casts such as Louis Koo Tin Lok, Barbie Hsu Hsi Yuan, Sandra Ng and Louis Fan Siu Wong. With such a great casts and Wong Jing as the movie's director, I thought it was a nice to watch movie. However, I was wrong. In fact, I wanted to leave the cinema as the movie started for merely 5 minutes. I guess that tells a lot about the movie.

Maxis Feedback on Worldwide Apple iPhone 3GS Shortage

2009-08-08T08:43:00.003+08:00

I received a phone call from Maxis immediately upon submission of my Worldwide Apple iPhone 3GS Shortage post via the Maxis Feedback website. The Customer Service personnel re-emphasized the worldwide Apple iPhone 3GS shortage. I fully understand the constraint faced by Maxis. However, as an existing Maxis customer with a good and long relationship with Maxis, it would be great if Maxis could provide value added service as part of the Customer Loyalty programme. Perhaps, Maxis could make an exception for existing Maxis customer and allow phone booking instead of having to walk in into the Customer Service Centre.

According to the Maxis Customer Service personnel, almost 90% of the customers who pre-booked the Apple iPhone 3GS had not gotten their mobile devices yet. In the end, I asked for a recommendation. He recommended me to either make the booking (via the Customer Service Centre) where the iPhone would be available in a month time or I could wait until middle of September where I would be able to subscribe to Maxis plan and pick up the Apple iPhone 3GS device on the same day at the Maxis Customer Service Centre. I guess my best option would be to wait for the Apple iPhone 3GS shortage issue to be resolved by middle of September. I think many things can change in a month. What if Steve Jobs (Apple CEO) makes a sudden announcement on its Apple iPhone 3GS price? How will that impact Maxis Value Plans?

Worldwide Apple iPhone 3GS Shortage

2009-08-07T11:26:00.000+08:00

I called up Maxis enquiring on the new Apple iPhone 3GS plan subscription. I dialled 123 from my Maxis mobile line. I was greeted by a special line which was set up specifically for Apple iPhone enquiry. I was told that there's a worldwide shortage of Apple iPhone 3GS. I can't place my order over the line. I will need to walk in into the Maxis Customer Service Centre or the Maxis Authourised Agent Centre to officially make the booking. The customer service guy informed me that Maxis only places the iPhone 3GS order with Apple once the customer has made the booking. It takes at least 2 weeks before the customer receives the Apple iPhone. I wonder why Maxis does not allow booking via the phone for existing customer and not to keep safety stock for Apple iPhone 3GS, especially it is newly launched.

G.I. Joe - The Rise of Cobra Movie

2009-08-06T12:31:00.002+08:00

G.I. Joe - The Rise of Cobra movie began with James McCullen's ancestor caught by the French for selling weapons to the enemies. As a punishment, he would have to wear steel mask for the rest of his life. He vowed that his descendents would continue his legacy. Forwarded to the future, James McCullen created a non-technology (war-heads) that's capable of destroying a city in minutes. He sold the war-heards to NATO and the US Army was tasked to deliver them. Duke (Channing Tatum) and Ripcord (Marlon Wayans) were delivering the war-heads when they were ambushed by Baroness (Sienna Miller) and Storm Shadow (Lee Byung-Hun) who were sent by James McCullen. Duke and Ripcord were rescued by G.I. Joe team members, namely Scarlett (Rachel Nichols), Snake Eyes (Ray Park) and Heavy Duty (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje). G.I. Joe is an abbreviation for Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity. G.I. Joe team was a special force with the best members around the world, headed by General Hawk (Dennis Quaid). Duke wanted to be part of the G.I. Joe team as he wanted to know what had happened to Baroness in the past 4 years. The used to be a couple before they were separated.

There were definitely lots of actions with loud sound effects throughout the movie. I was attracted by it's nice preview which was more than a month ago. I was impressed with Duke and Ripcord where they were on the run in special suits. However, I wouldn't rate the movie that high. Perhaps, a nice to watch during free time but not enough to be my must-watch list. The movie ended with hints that a sequel would be on the way very soon.

Malaysia PC Fair 2009 (II) at KLCC

2009-07-31T22:59:00.004+08:00

I went to the Malaysia PC Fair 2009 (II) at about 4pm. I almost suffocated! I thought the first day would be better with less people. I was wrong. The crowd was so obvious starting from KLCC Suria Shopping Mall to the KLCC main entrance. There was a very big banner asking people to be aware of pick pockets. I was there for slightly more than an hour. No doubt, it was a good place to find all the IT stuff under the same roof but it was not pleasant place to take out sweet time to shop, mainly due to the packed environment. Nevetherless, I managed to grab a few stuff (a nice notebook Samsonite backpack, Avira Security Suite and blank CDs).

The Law of the Lid by John C. Maxwell

2009-07-29T19:50:00.003+08:00

The Law of the Lid by John C. Maxwell implies that Leadership ability is the lid that determines a person's level of effectiveness. The higher an individual ability to lead, the higher the lid on his or her potential. Let us look at what's in a team. Normally, team members are selected based on their merits and efficiencies. However, to see how far can a team goes beyond their limit depends very much on its Team Leader. Team Leader needs to have a high leadership ability to bring the best out of a team. Hence, The Law of the Lid appeals very much to the leader of a team.

Interesting Job Advertisement By Volvo Malaysia Sdn Bhd

2009-07-26T14:05:00.007+08:00

I came across an interesting job advertisement on Jobstreet website by Volvo Malaysia Sdn Bhd. The Job Title is of a Sales position while the Job Requirements and Responsibilities are of an IT position:

Position Title: Sales Executive (Prai)

Responsibilities:

Application support and maintenance for a range of business application systems.
Design, analysis and programming to meet user requirements.
Support and maintenance of systems, devices and jobs to meet service level requirements.

Requirements:

Degree in IT or equivalent
At least 4 years of relevant experience providing technical and application support in AS400 environment.
Skills in AS400 RPG/RPGLE and CL programming.
Knowledge in business application areas in inventory, customer ordering, purchasing and etc.
Applicants should be Malaysian citizens or hold relevant residence status

Looking at both job advertisements, it was pretty obvious that the above job advertisement has a wrong position title. Perhaps, Copy and Paste feature can easily lands one in the above error.

Civet Coffee

2009-07-23T22:53:00.001+08:00

Knowing that I am a coffee lover, naturally my chit-chat sessions with my friends include coffee related matters. My friends told me the most expensive coffee in the world is known as Civet Coffee or Kopi Luwak in Indonesian. It is known as Civet Coffee because it is claimed that the animal eats the raw coffee beans and digests only the soft outer layer of the coffee cherry. Hence, the inner beans stays intact and the civet excretes them. The locals believe the civet's internal digestion adds a unique flavour to the beans and removes the bitter taste. As for me, I don't think I am adventurous enough to try it out, knowing the fact that it is the civet's feces.

Date and Time as 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

2009-07-19T20:49:00.002+08:00

I received a forwarded e-mail asking me to watch out for a special date and time as 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9. So stay tune at 12hr 34 minutes and 56 seconds on 7th August, 2009 (12:34:56 07/08/09) for the special sequential number. It only happens once in our lifetime.

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John C. Maxwell

2009-07-17T21:36:00.012+08:00

I received a complimentary copy of The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Audiobook on 3 CDs from MPH for purchasing 2 John C. Maxwell books. John C. Maxwell was borned in 1947 and had been an active author, speaker and pastor who wrote more than 50 book titles, primarily focusing on leadership. Each CD consists of 7 laws with illustrations and live cases:

The Law of the Lid - Leadership Ability Determines a Person's Level of Effectiveness

The Law of Influence - The True Measure of Leadership Is Influence - Nothing More, Nothing Less

The Law of Process - Leadership Develops Daily, Not in a Day

The Law of Navigation - Anyone Can Steer the Ship, But It Takes a Leader to Chart the Course

The Law of E.F. Hutton - When the Real Leader Speaks, People Listen

The Law of Solid Ground - Thruth Is the Foundation of Leadership

The Law of Respect - People Naturally Follow Stronger Than Themselves

The Law of Intuition - Leaders Evaluate Everything with a Leadership Bias

The Law of Magnetism - Who You are Is Who You Attract

The Law of Connection - Leaders Touch a Heart Before They Ask for a Hand

The Law of the Inner Circle - A Leader's Potential Is Determined by Those Closest to Him

The Law of Empowerment - Only Secure Leaders Give Power to Others

The Law of Reproduction - It Takes a Leader to Raise Up a Leader

The Law of Buy-In - People Buy Into the Leader, Then the Vision

The Law of Victory - Leaders Find a Way for the Team to Win

The Law of the Big Mo - Momentum Is a Leader's Best Friend

The Law of Priorities - Leaders Understand That Activity Is Not Necessarily Accomplishment

The Law of Sacrifice - A Leader Must Give Up to Go Up

The Law of Timing - When to lead Is As Important As What to Do and Where to Go

The Law of Explosive Growth - To Add Growth, Lead Followers - To Multiply, Lead Leaders

The Law of Legacy - A Leader's Lasting Value Is Measured by Succession

Actions To Be Taken Before Calling Streamyx Support

2009-07-15T22:58:00.010+08:00

My Streamyx broadband was disconnected on Tuesday evening. I called up Streamyx Support at phone number 100 from my fixed line. I spoke to 3 support personnels within 2 hours to get my complaint lodged. The complaint would enabled a technician to look into the matter within 2 days. I would recommend anyone to take the following steps before calling Streamyx Support for assistance. It would definitely save lots of time and frustrations:

Try to connect the broadband connection line directly to the phone wall socket, ie. without using a spilter for phone usage. Try if the internet connection can be established.
Open up the Command Prompt screen and type ipconfig command. If you are using the Local Area Network connection, issue the ping command on the IPv4 Address (for example: ping 192.172.2.8). Look at the comman results: Packets: Sent, Received and Lost. The Lost should be 0. Do the same ping command on the Default Gateway and check on similar results. The Lost should be 0 too. The above ping command ensure that the modem used for the broadband connection is working fine.

If the above are okie and still no internet connection, call up Streamyx Support and inform them of your findings. As I spoke to 3 Support personnels for the same issue, I had to repeat the same information again. Get ready with information such as account name, phone number used for the broadband connection, broadband username and whether you are using the phone line for alarm system. I did request to speak to the 1st Support personnel, hoping it would saved me time in repeating the same information. However, the 2nd. personnel told me that I couldn't. I would only be entertained by whoever that picked up the line. My conversation with the 2nd. personnel was frustrating as she couldn't understand my issue and kept on repeating after me. After repeating the same thing for 3 times, I told her that I would call back again.

The 3rd. Support personnel was better. At least she was able to assist in further checkings and lodged a formal complaint for the technician to work on. I received a call from Streamyx the next day. I was informed that there was a problem with their server connection and it was fixed. Once I reached home, I checked that my internet connection was back to normal. I was glad that it took them less than 2 working days for the issue to be resolved.

Life Is A Brief Candle

2009-07-13T19:32:00.002+08:00

Life is a brief Candle was written by my 13 years old niece on her MSN Messenger short message. It caught my attention immediately. Later, she told me she picked the phrase from a book and it meant to say Life is Short, Appreciate it. Many times in life, we do take things for granted. We act as if things are forever available. Hence we tend to take our sweet time to do things and ignore important ones around us. My niece statement woke me up!

Malaysia PC Fair 2009 (II)

2009-07-11T22:59:00.001+08:00

Malaysia PC Fair is back in town. The previous fair was in April. It seems PC fairs are getting more frequent like the Malaysia Mega Sale. The fair will be held from 11:00am to 9:00pm at the following venues:

31st July - 2nd August:

KL Convention Centre, Kuala Lumpur - Kuala Lumpur City Centre, 50888 Kuala Lumpur
Village Mall, Sungai Petani - Kedah
Dewan Perbandaran Taiping - Perak
Batu Pahat Mall, Batu Pahat - Johor

7th August - 9th August:

Penang International Sports Arena, Penang - Jalan Tun Dr Awang, 11900 Relau
Mahkota Parade Melaka, Melaka - Jalan Merdeka, 75000 Bandar Hilir
Sabah Trade Centre, Kota Kinabalu - Sabah
Berjaya Megamall, Kuantan - Pahang

13th August - 15th August:

KB Mall, Kota Bharu - Kelantan
Terengganu Trade Centre, Kuala Terengganu - Terengganu

14th August - 16th August:

Persada Johor International Convention Centre, Johor Bahru - Jalan Abdullah Ibrahim, 80000 Johor Bahru
Stadium Indera Mulia, Ipoh, Perak - Jalan Ghazali Jawi, 31400 Ipoh

What Inspires Your Style Dell Contest

2009-07-08T21:20:00.006+08:00

Dell is running a What Inspires Your Style? contest where we stand a chance to win a Dell Studio 15. We just need to pick a notebook colour that suits our style, fill in the required personal information and write a note on What inspires your style? with a maximum of 500 characters. Just click on the Enter Competition button for submission and a successful message will be displayed (THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING. NOW WAIT TO FIND OUT IF YOU'RE ONE OF THE WINNERS!!!). I noticed that the I would like to receive Dell information via e-mail must radio button must be selected before the completed form can be submitted successfully. Perhaps, it is a marketing strategy by Dell to expand their customer database.

A Great Way To Care TVB Drama

2009-07-05T17:28:00.005+08:00

A Great Way To Care was the latest modern TVB Drama which ended last Friday. The drama revolved around mental illness cases. Ko Lap Yan (Alex Fong) was a senior psychiatrist at Yan Wo Hospital while Mok Man Yee (Kate Tsui) was a police officer in the Serious Crime Unit. Both teamed up to solve various mental illness cases that need psychological analysis assistance. Eventually, they became a couple. However, Mok Man Yee had doubts in continuing their relationship due to her inherited mental illness from her mother. I find the cases produced in the drama were rather interesting but the couple definitely was lack in on-screen chemistry. In fact, I find the friendships among Ko Lap Yan with his good friends, namely Lin Chi Sum (Cheung Chi Kwong) and Li Ying Chun (Wong Ho Yin) were more interesting.

Citibank Credit Card Mystery Solved

2009-07-03T22:43:00.003+08:00

My Citibank Credit Card mystery was solved this afternoon when I received a phone call from the bank, asking me to sign up for their credit card. Ever since my application was rejected without any given reason, I had been receiving constant smses and letters pestering me to sign up. I insisted to the telemarketer to find out why my application was rejected before I would consider applying again. I thought this would save my frustrations again. He called back about 15 minutes later and explained the whole story to me. According to their system, my application was identified as invalid because the submitted documents had been with the agent for more than 14 days. In my case, my agent was the bank branch. I related my frustrations to the telemarketer in the credit card application. He apologized for what occurred and quickly reassured me that the company recently appointed a new CEO with better policies. Anyhow, I told him that I needed more time to reconsider and he promised to forward the credit cards information to me. After almost 3 years, I finally figured out why my credit card application was rejected. I was so glad that the mystery was solved and it was not due to me.

Transformers Revenge of the Fallen Movie

2009-07-02T19:10:00.005+08:00

Transformers Revenge of the Fallen movie is a sequel to the Transformers movie in 2007. The Transformers Revenge of the Fallen movie introduced autobots (little transformers) and it was definitely a worth watching movie. Almost 90% of the movie was packed with actions. I really love the time when the vehicles turned into big giant robots plus all the fightings scenes. I bought a special pop-corn meal from Cineleisure, ie. a water tumbler with Bumblebee at the top and a large pop-corn. The special meal costs me RM15.00 and it's pricier than my movie ticket (RM11.00). I highly recommend the movie, even for a second watch!

Met a Potential Scoundrel

2009-07-01T10:32:00.004+08:00

I met a potential scoundrel at MidValley, Kuala Lumpur. I was resting at the seats at the main entrance of MPH bookstore and Sceret Receipe restaurant. As I was busy with my MacDonald's ice-cream, a lady in her 50s approached me. She said "Hello, Wanna get you fate read?" in mandarin. At first, I couldn't really understand what she was saying but after digesting for seconds, I got what she meant. I just raised my hand and made a *dunno* gesture. Then, she said "Oookie, sorry yaa" and left. I used to read news like these kinda of happennings on the newspaper. I thought it only happens at *kopitiam* (Coffee shop). Later of the day, I told my friend about the incident. She said "Well, these people need to change tactics to look for new victims.". Interesting thought!

iPhone Application Development Workshop

2009-06-30T08:36:00.000+08:00

ITrain will be conducting a 1 day iPhone Application Development Workshop on 17th July 2009. The workshop fee is RM197.00. The instructor led classroom workshop will mainly be XCODE and iPhone SDK (Software Development Kit):

Overview of iPhone OS
Overview of XCode, Interface Builder, iPhone Simulator
Building your first iPhone Application
Model View Controller 101
Introduction to OOP with Objective-C
Working with Data
Overview of Phone Gap Framework

Missing HP Virtual Tech Museum Gallery Contest Submitted Entry

2009-06-29T18:38:00.007+08:00

I waited patiently for my entry to appear on the HP Virtual Tech Museum Gallery website after 2 submissions on 18th June 2009. Initially, I thought the website traffic was too high, hence it took some time for the uploaded photo to appear on the website. I decided to write to Phlook Team on my missing entry after 10 days:

Jessica's Mail (4:34 PM):
Hello,
I submitted my entry to the HP Virtual Tech Museum Gallery Contest on 18th June. However, up till now, I have yet to see my photo displayed on the http://www.phlook.com/contests/hp/photos.aspxwebsite. You may refer to my blog post for the submitted entry: http://jessicangui.blogspot.com/2009/06/hp-virtual-tech-museum-gallery-contest.html
Please advise and Thank You.

Phlook Reply (5:02 PM):
Hi Jessica,
Thank you for submitting an entry to Virtual Tech Museum.Was it the same photo in your blog that you have submitted? Our apology, but our records do not list out that photo indeed! A new entry should be displayed immediately. Would you kindly submit your entry again? Sorry for the inconvenience, and do not hesitate to email us if the same problem occurs again.
Thank you.
Wee Kiat
Phlook Team

Upon receiving the e-mail reply from Phlook Team, I submitted the entry again.

Jessica's Mail (5:32 PM):
Hi Wee Kiat,
Many thanks for your prompt action. I submitted the entry again and now it appears in the Virtual Tech Museum Gallery: http://www.phlook.com/contests/hp/picdisplay.aspx?picuid=662361511 . Have a nice day!

I discovered a little improvement on the HP Virtual Tech Museum Gallery website and decided to provide feedback to Phlook.

Jessica's Mail (5:47 PM):
Hi Wee Kiat,
I would like to point out a little improvement on the http://www.phlook.com/contests/hp/picdisplay.aspx?picuid=662361511 website. Under the Embed Photo on your website - Simple HTML section, I changed the provided HTML code to the following: http://www.phlook.com/contests/hp/picdisplay.aspx?picuid=662361511 target="_blank"> http://www.phlook.com/PoolPics/3459/662361511Thumbnail.JPG border="0" alt="Ericsson Sweden Traditional Phone"/>
The above allows my blog to be able to point to the photo website when I click on it: http://jessicangui.blogspot.com/ .

Phlook Reply (6:03 PM):
Hi Jessica,
Thank you for your valuable feedback! We have just corrected the problem you have pointed out.Thank you once again, and I see you entry too!
Regards,
Wee Kiat
Phlook Team

I am glad that the HP Virtual Tech Museum Gallery Contest entry submission problem is resolved. Many thanks to the prompt reply from Phlook!

Postgradasialive! 2009 Second Day

2009-06-28T19:25:00.006+08:00

I headed straight to the Postgradasialive! 2009 Talks registration counter and quickly registered for the first 3 sessions. The first session was by Mr. Nicholas YC Lum from Victoria University at Sunway University College. I was rather disappointed by the talk when the speaker started the session by asking the audience on fundamental quesions like What is Professional Qualification? What is Academic Qualification? What are the differences between both qualifications? and many other definition based questions. I was rather annoyed when the audience session lasted for more than 5 minutes. I thought it would be better to make good use of the short session (15 to 20 minutes of talk and 10 minutes of Question and Answer with audience). Perhaps, he could have given a brief definition of both qualifications quickly and focused more on highlighting the differences in terms of practicality to the working industry. I decided to leave the session after 10 minutes where the participants were still giving the definitions with imported pens from Australia as a gift.

The second session by Mr Mohar Yusof from Universiti Tun Abdul Razak turned out to be better. At least he was feeding audience with relevant facts on MBA programme. However, I think it would be better if he could focus more on the talk topic, ie. General MBA vs specialised MBA: which to select? The talk session was mainly on MBA in general with only about 10% of the talk was on the planned topic. A participant highlighted it at the end of the talk. She really pointed out the facts very well. She highlighted 2 points on the talk. Firstly, she mentioned that MBA would be more suitable for those who are interested to move upward to be a managing the general stuff in a company, like a company's CEO while a Msc postgraduate would be suitable who needs the industry specific accreditations like Accounting and Engineering. Second point, was that she mentioned the talk conclusion by the speaker did not really conclude the talk topic. I think she made her points very well.

The third talk turned out to be the best among the 3 talks that I attended for the day. It was obvious that Dr Ahmad Faisal knew his topic (Look before you leap: part-time postgraduate learning) well and that he was talking from his own many years of experiences. It made the session to be more interesting! Check out his Dr Faisal Learn Tips blog on postgraduate related issues.

The Postgradasialive! 2009 is a good event to assemble all local and foreign postgraduate providers under one roof. It definitely saves us lots of time!

Postgradasialive! 2009 First Day

2009-06-27T18:34:00.007+08:00

I attended the first day of Postgradasialive! 2009 Fair at KLCC (Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre). I headed straight to Hall 5, Ground Floor. I intended to attend the first talk at 1:00pm but I was late. I walked around and visited college and university booths. It was not as packed as the annual PC Fair. However, the crowd grew later in the evening. I attended the talk at 3:00pm by Dr Marie-Aimée Tourres from Manchester Business School at Sunway University College. She talked about "Why an MBA now?" and drew many interesting points. She said MBA is about Business and Management. She also mentioned 2 main reasons to commit to an MBA, ie. Personal and Economic reasons and we need to be clear about our reasons. She didn't advise fresh graduates to do an MBA right after an undergraduate course. She posted an interesting question to the aundience, "Who would want to hire a 27 years old to be a company's CEO?" She advised the audience to gain some working experience first before enrolling for an MBA. I found her 30 minutes talk to be interesting. She was honest in sharing her thoughts. I could see the audience really enjoyed the 30 minutes talk. The fair ends tomorrow with more interesting talks:

Professional qualifications vs academic qualifications
General MBA vs specialised MBA: Which to select?
Look before you leap: part-time postgraduate learning
Great future begins with effective decision making

Major Loses in Entertainment Industry

2009-06-26T11:36:00.004+08:00

Entertainment Industry lost 2 major figures yesterday, Michael Jackson and Farah Fawcett. Michael also known as the King of Pop had a a heart attack in Los Angeles and passed away at the age of 50. Farah Fawcett was a 1970s star icon passed away at the age of 62. She was diagnosed with Cancer in 1996 and it had been a long battle for her and the family. A few days before her deadth, her long time boyfriend (Ryan O'Neal) proposed to her again. Perhaps, she was too weak to proceed with the wedding. May both stars *Rest In Peace* and for those who are still *kicking alive*, may we cherish each precious day!

Goodbye PSP

2009-06-25T21:38:00.005+08:00

I sold my Sony PSP and below is a special farewell post to my dear PSP:

Dear PSP,

Today, I decided to let you go. I knew we hardly had time together and that's the main reason I let you go. I brought you in 'cause I wanted to explore the wonders of a PSP (Portable Sony Player) like games, surfing and photo viewing. Your slim and sleek look *attracted* me. I was amazed with the high quality of graphic resolutions shown by you. During our time together, I managed to play with you on games like Crash Bandicoot, Final Fantasy and Sega Genesis Collection. I dressed you with the latest *accessories* in town. After meeting your new *playmate*, I believe you would be in good hands. I have great faith that he would have taken good care of you.

Your Playmate,

Jessica

Free Eclipse and Java Video Tutorial

2009-06-24T14:06:00.003+08:00

I found this amazing Eclipse and Java for Total Beginners Tutorial on the eclipsetutorial website. The video clips are embedded into HTML file and can be opened by using Web Browser. I highly recommend the superb tutorials by Mark Dexter to all beginners in Java using eclipse IDE (Integrated Development Environment).

Tutorial Lessons:

Lesson 1 – Create Your First Java Class
Lesson 2 – Add Methods To Class
Lesson 3 – Use Eclipse Scrapbook
Lesson 4 – JUnit Testing in Eclipse, Part 1
Lesson 5 – JUnit Testing Continued
Lesson 6 – Using Test-First Development in Eclipse
Lesson 7 – Create Book Class
Lesson 8 – Add Person to Book Class
Lesson 9 – MyLibrary Class and ArrayList
Lesson 10 – Start on MyLibrary Class
Lesson 11 – Create first methods in MyLibrary class
Lesson 12 – Create checkOut, checkIn Methods
Lesson 13 – Continue checkOut Method
Lesson 14 – Finish checkOut Method
Lesson 15 – Finish MyLibrary Methods
Lesson 16 – Create main Method and JAR File

Get started by downloading the Eclipse and Java for Total Beginners tutorial version 1.0.

Cold Storage Cashier with Face Mask

2009-06-22T22:06:00.005+08:00

I did my groceries shopping at Cold Storage and was surprised by the cashiers. All of them had face masks on. I stopped in front of the market entrance, having a second thought if I should walk in or walk away. I looked around and noticed everyone else in the mall were not wearing any mask. Then, I decided to go ahead. I guess Cold Storage is taking precautions by protecting their front-end staffs in the current H1N1 (Swine Flu) deteriorating situation. I wonder if Giant hypermarket and Guardian pharmacy staffs are wearing masks too since they are under the same main company.

Missing Nuffnang XChange Widget

2009-06-20T15:48:00.003+08:00

My Nuffnang XChange widget went missing in early of the week. At first, I thought it was due to some technical issues with Nuffnang. I thought it would be back soon. After 3 days, the Nuffnang XChange widget was still missing. I love the pretty flower with a bee widget on my blog. Occasionally, I love browsing through the Nuffnang XChange widget RSS to see if there's any catchy blog post. Then, I created a ticket with Nuffnang on my missing Nuffnang XChange widget:

19th June 2009:
Jessica's Mail:
Hi,
I noticed my innit widget is missing from my website bottom right corner. May I know why?
Thanks.

Nuffnang Reply:
Hi Jessica,
The widget you might be talking about is called XChange. It's not a default feature that you get once you have Nuffnang ads. In fact you'll need to insert the codes into your blog's HTML in order for you to use it. Kindly look for it under the tab XChange once you login to your Nuffnang account.
Cheers,
Robb Chew
Blogger Relations Executive
Nuffnang Sdn Bhd

I was puzzled with the e-mail reply, 'cause the widget was there earlier on and it just went missing. In other words, the Nuffnang XChange Widget Code had always been embedded into the blog. So, I went ahead and did some investigations. I noticed my Nuffnang membership status had been downgraded from Glitterati to Ordinary without notice. A clause by Nuffnang XChange stated that the XChange was only available to Glitterati members. (You are not allowed to view this page because you are not a Glitterati member). I decided to wrie to Nuffnang team again:

Hi Robb,
I have figured it out. My blogs membership status has been changed from Glitterati to Ordinary without me reliasing it. There is a clause that says XChange is for Glitterati members only.
" You are not allowed to view this page because you are not a Glitterati member "
May I know why the status was changed?
Thank you.

20th June 2009:
I woke up and surfed my blog as normal. I noticed the pretty flower with a bee widget was back! I also noticed my Nuffnang membership is reverted back to Glitterati. However, there's yet a reply from Nuffnang on the change. I hope the Glitterati membership is here to stay. Afterall, I only have 1 South East Asia ad network on my blog and it certainly does not violate the Nuffnang rule. I hope Nuffnang crawlers behave and do not penalise the Nuffnang members unnecessarily.

Nuffnag Glitterati Membershtip Eligibility:
An exclusive Nuffnang blogger is a blogger that has NO advertisements from any other ad network that originates from South East Asia on his/her blog.

You do not need to apply and will automatically be included as a Nuffnang Glitterati as long as you do NOT have any ads from any other ad network that originates from South East Asia. Our crawlers will automatically include your blog in the club within 48 hours.
Note that if an ad from another ad network is placed on your blog at any time, our crawlers will pick it up within 48 hours and you will automatically be removed from the program.

Postgradasialive! 2009

2009-06-19T10:18:00.000+08:00

Watch out for the coming Postgradasialive! 2009 event at KLCC (Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre) on 27th and 28th June 2009. Exhibition hours will be from 12:00pm - 6:00pm with various postgraduate studies talks:

Postgraduate study: choosing between research and taught degrees
Maximise your career chances with an MSc in Management
Why an MBA now?
Postgraduate studies in the area of biotechnology
Professional qualifications vs academic qualifications
General MBA vs specialised MBA: which to select?
Look before you leap: part-time postgraduate learning
Enhancing decison making

Admissions to talks are free for all registered visitors. You may register online to avoid the crowd on the event days.

HP Virtual Tech Museum Gallery Contest

2009-06-18T17:35:00.010+08:00

I submitted my entry for the HP Virtual Tech Museum Gallery Contest which is organised by Hewlett-Packard Singapore (Sales) Pte Ltd. I posted an Ericsson Sweden Traditional Phone photo. The contest runs from 27th May to 10th July 2009. Contest winners will be announced on 31st July 2009 via e-mail. Attractive prizes are awaiting, namely HP TouchSmart IQ500, HP Pocket Media Drive PD3200 and HP Mini 110. So start digging out your old tech devices, gadgets or gizmos and start taking photos. My story submission is as follows:

" I bought the Ericsson Sweden traditional phone at an antique shop in Jakarta, Indonesia. The traditional phone is stored in a solid wooden box. It is almost 5kg. The phone still works in great condition with the traditional ringing sound. It is definitely a plug-and-play phone! "

Resume Revamp

2009-06-16T17:31:00.004+08:00

I revamped my resume with much enthusiasms. The last time I made a change was almost a year ago. The reason was most of the jobs were available online via Job Search wesbites. Hence, a traditional document was no longer required as all the employee data had to be entered into the Job Search website online template. I was amazed with the wide variety of ready-to-used Microsoft Word templates available. Microsoft Word has a special category known as Resumes and CVs and it containes Basic resumes, Job-Specific resumes and Situation-specific resumes. Unlike in the old days, one had to create their own template. Nowadays, various types of templates are available. We just need to ensure that our computer is connected to the internet in order to access the variety of free online templates.

Drag Me To Hell Movie

2009-06-13T07:55:00.003+08:00

Drag Me To Hell is an American horror movie by Sam Raimi. The movie started with a kid dragged to hell (the floor just opened up and he was dragged into it). The kid stoled a jewelry from a gypsy and he cursed. The parents sought the help of a medium. However, the curse was too powerful and the medium lost the kid. Some years later, a bank loan officer, Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) was approached by an elderly lady, Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver) for a loan extension. Christine was under pressure from her boss to perform well in order to be considered for the next promotion as an Assistant Manager. Hence, Christine decided not to extend Mrs. Ganush's request even after numerous of beggings by the old lady. Mrs. Ganush felt that Christine had shamed her in public by rejecting her. When Christine left office at night, she was attacked and cursed by the old lady. The curse put Christine under the frequent attacks by a demon called Lamia. The rest of the movie showed how Christine desperately tried to beat the curse. Even though it was a horror and a very suspense movie, there were times where I found the movie to be pretty funny. I found the horror scenes between Christine and Mrs. Ganush to be pretty amusing. If you are up for a horror, then it is an okie movie. Nice to watch but nothing too great. A pretty typical horror movie.

The End of the Internet Website

2009-06-11T13:38:00.002+08:00

I happened to stumble upon this interesting The End of the Internet website while reading some online news. I was indeed curious about its title and content. It made me think....What if there's no link in a website? Will WWW (World Wide Web) be known as W1W (World 1 Web)?

Steve Riley Left Microsoft

2009-06-09T14:05:00.006+08:00

A big surprise news! Steve Riley, a Senior Security Strategist in Microsoft was dismissed by Microsoft in a recent 2nd round restructuring in Microsoft. He was a regular in Microsoft Tech Ed events in many corners of the world. He was also voted as the Top Speaker at the Microsoft Tech Ed event. I won the Microsoft South East Asia 2008 Exclusive Luncheon with Steve Riley contest and had a chance to meet him for lunch. It was a very enjoyable lunch at KLCC (Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre). He was a typical technical guy who knew his topic (security) very well. Below is an extraction from his last blog post at Microsoft TechNet.

" Friends, as a part of Microsoft’s second round of restructuring, my position was eliminated yesterday and my employment with Microsoft has ended. While there were many rewards that came from my job, the most satisfying element was knowing that our time spent together helped improve everyone—whether at conferences or through this blog, I’ve learned as much from you as you’ve learned from me. Sharing information, debating positions, and doing the right work for the right reasons are all very important and I’m honored and humbled to have been trusted by so many of you."

Rogue by Danielle Steel

2009-06-06T11:16:00.007+08:00

Rogue is a romance novel by Danielle Steel. The novel was on Maxine who was married to Blake Williams. Blake was a brilliant and fun to be with person but not a good husband nor father. They had 3 kids, aged 13, 12 and 6. Maxine was a pychiatrist who specialised in childhood trauma and adolescent suicide while Blake made it as a successful dot-com entrepenuer. After 5 years, Maxine requested for a divorce. She couldn't stand it anymore as Blake was always absent from home. However, they remained as very good friends with occasional vacations togther with the kids. One fine day, Maxine met a nice widow doctor and they fell in love. As they were about to get married, Blake turned into a grown-up man as what Maxine had always wanted in him. The novel ended with an interesting twist. Even though, the book titled Rogue (a name given by Maxine's father to Blake) the whole novel was mainly on Maxine and the 3 kids. I find the book to be an interesting read but the ending was wrapped up pretty fast. It would be great if there were more writings on Maxine and Blake together!

Goodbye MPH Book Cafe

2009-06-04T20:10:00.009+08:00

MPH Book Cafe at MidValley was closed recently for renovation. I thought they were having a makeover for a new look. I got a surprise today. A new cafe known as LaCucur had replaced my favourite MPH Book Cafe. Nevertheless, I gave it a try. There were quite a variety of local delicacies (traditional malay kuih) on display. At first, I wanted to try the fried mee-hoon (noodles) but it was not available. I was surprised as it was lunch time. Then, the counter lady told me that they had curry noodles and tomato rice for the day. As I wanted a light lunch, I settled for the curry-noodles and teh-tarik (local tea). The lunch came up to be about RM10.00. When the food and drink were served, I was rather dissappointed. The noodles were too spicy with little noodles. The teh-tarik (local tea) was just average. I miss my regular MPH Book Cafe meals and drinks. They offer a much more variety of food (ranges from local to western food). The counter lady told me that the MPH Book Cafe at One Utama will be replaced with LaCucur in the near future too. Maybe, it is a good idea to try out my favourite MPH Book Cafe food at One Utama again before it is replaced by LaCucur.

My Bad Experience with Air Asia

2009-06-02T11:30:00.007+08:00

I had a bad experience with Air Asia's air stewardess on my flight from Guilin, China to Kuala Lumpur. The plane was late for about 20 minutes when it arrived in Guilin, China. After the plan was ready for boarding, all the passengers were rushed to the plane. Once I got onto the plane, I quickly looked for my seat based on the seat number that was automatically allocated during my check-in. However, an uncle was already sitting comfortably on my allocated seat. I saw an air-stewardess was standing nearby and I approached her:

Me: Hi, Is this my seat? (I showed her my boarding pass and pointing to the seat that was taken by the uncle).
Air-Stewardess: Yes (She quickly walked away).

I was left with no choice but to approach the uncle myself.

Me: Err, Unlce. I think this is my seat (pointing to the seat).
Uncle: Err, is it? But they told me this is my seat.

Me: Uncle, can I look at your boarding pass?
Uncle quickly showed me his boarding pass.

Me: Uncle, your seat is this one (I pointed to the adjacent seat which was seated by his friend, an auntie).
Uncle: But they told me this is my seat! (Uncle pointing to the people at the back and stood up)

Me: (I saw the same air-stewardess just now and I approached her again). Err, can you help me to sort out my seat here?
Air-Stewardess: Just get a seat anywhere (She quickly walked off again!)

I was left standing with no seat and the uncle insisted that was his seat. I don't mind allocated a seat elsewhere. But at least, the air-stewardess could have helped me to look for a seat first before walking off. The plane was almost full, about 95% of the seats were occupied. My suggestion to Air Asia is not to implement the auto-seats number allocation feature for their flights if they are not ready for it. Also, they need to do regular refreshment trainings for their staff, especially on how to handle passengers and definitely not to ignore them. Again and Again, Air Asia surprised me!

Hiccups at Giant Teluk Intan Opening

2009-05-31T22:01:00.012+08:00

Giant was officially opened at Teluk Intan on 28th May, 2009. Lots of offers were made to attract customers. Giant even distributed their offer brochures before the offical opening date. As a normal practice, Giant phone number was printed on their brochures. However, Giant made a big mistake on the phone number. The printed number was a residential number in Teluk Intan, instead of Giant Teluk Intan's contact number. The residential number happened to be my friend's younger brother's classmate's home number. So, the friend had been receiving regular calls on Giant related matters, especially since the opening of Giant:

Case 1:
Caller: Hello! Giant ah? Sini ada kerja ah? (Hello! Is this Giant? Do you have jobs?)
Residential: Errr...sini bukan Giant. (Err...here is not Giant)

Case 2:
Caller: Hello! Giant buka pukul berapa eh? (Hello! What time does Giant open?)
Residential: Errr...sini bukan Giant! (Err...here is not Giant)!

Case 3:
Caller: Allo. Giant ah? Saya nak buat aduan lah. Ada banyak orang yang pergi ke Giant ni, letak kereta depan rumah saya lah! (Allo. Is this Giant? I want to complain. There are lots of Giant's customers who parked their cars in front of my house!)
Residential: ...senyap...Okay, okay. I pergi panggil itu tow truck yaa!!!...tersengih. (...silence...Okay, okay, I will call the tow truck yaa!!!...grinning).

Finally, the friend called Giant and lodged an official complaint on the incorrect phone number printed on the brochures. However, I guess the damage had been done with the brochures circulated around Teluk Intan town and the nearby villages. I think the friend can expect more Giant related calls in future.

Monsters Vs Aliens Movie

2009-05-29T10:01:00.006+08:00

I watched Monsters Vs Aliens at GSC MidValley when it was released on Thursday, 28 May. The ticket fee for the 3D version was RM17. Monsters Vs Aliens is an animated 3D movie by DreamWorks Animation and Paramount Pictures. Susan Murphy (Reese Witherspoon) was hit by a meteor on her wedding day. She grew much larger before she could say "I do" to her future husband. She was captured by the government and labelled as a monster, Ginormica. She was then imprisoned with other monsters (B.O.B., Dr. Cockroach, the Missing Link and Insectosaurus) in a top-secret prison. However, all the monsters had a chance to be released when earth was attacked by an alien, named Gallaxhar (Rainn Wilson). General W.R. Monger (Kiefer Sutherland) instructed the monsters to fight against the alien.

The movie plot was predictable but I enjoyed the 3D effect very much. The movie was interrupted at about 15 minutes before it ended. All of sudden, the screen turned into little white bubbles. After about 5 minutes, a movie patron left the room to inform the GSC personnels. They tried fixing the problem but after about 30 minutes from the interruption, they decided to announce that they had a technical problem. All movie patrons could reimbursed the ticket fee at the special counter. We proceeded to the special counter. As we were queuing, we were informed that the technical problem was resolved. We could either proceeded with the reimbursemnet or went back to the room. The movie would resumed from where it stopped. Most of the movie patrons chose to proceed with the reimbursement.

GSC did a good job in coordinating the people but I think they could have acted faster. Instead of waiting for 30 minutes before declaring the reimbursement, they could make a decision in 10 or 15 minutes. I chose the reimbursement because it was way too long and the mood to watch was no longer there. Anyway, I think I will be able to catch the ending when it is released in DVD. I look forward to Ice Age 3 in 3D which was previewed before Monsters Vs Aliens movie started.

Neighbour's Bad Experience with Air Asia

2009-05-27T21:31:00.009+08:00

I went out for dinner with my neighbour and related my missed Air Asia flight incident to them. Then, they related their bad ecounter with Air Asia lately too. I found the incident to be ridiculous and that it could happened to a successful budget airline.

She prebooked her meal before the flight date. The advantage of the prebooked meals was that the meals would be made available and passengers were given a 20% discount off the normal price. When she got onboard, she was informed that Air Asia forgot to load the prebooked meals to the flight. The air-stewardess told her that she could still buy her meals onboard at the normal price. I found this to be ridiculous that the company forgot to load the prebooked meals and yet the same meals were made available to other passengers for purchase.

The air-stewaress told her that she could reimbursed her payment (RM14) once landed. My ex-neighbour requested a note from the air-stewardess as a proof and for easier reimbursement. Once landed, she went to the reimbursement counter and was told that the company needed to investigate the case. She then left for home.

She called Air Asia about 3 months later. She was then told that her reimbursement (RM14) had been credited into her Air Asia account (not credit card bank account). The credit would need to be utilised within 3 months. Again, I found it very ridiculous. It was Air Asia's fault for failing to deliver the prebooked meals as agreed. Yet, the passenger was not only not compensated but also indirectly asked to fly again with Air Asia in order to get back the RM14. Again, Air Asia had surprised me!

Star Trek Movie

2009-05-25T21:44:00.004+08:00

Star Trek is a scientific movie that revolved around the early days of James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto) with the USS Enterprise crew members. The movie started with USS Kelvin attacked by the Neros. James Kirk's father, George Kirk was put as the acting-captain who ordered evacuation. George stayed behing to provide cover for the escaping shuttlecrafts. His pregnant wife was among the passengers. She delivered their son (JamesT. Kirk) on the shuttlecraft. The remaining of the movie focused on the smart James T. Kirk and Spock, who had a very logical mind. The movie ended with James T. Kirk promoted as the USS Enterprise captain with Spock as the first officer. I watched Star Trek (old movies) when I was small. I couldn't really understand the movie well in the old days. But now, I am able to understand the movie well and was very entertained. I highly recommend the movie, especially to scientific movie fans.

American Idol Season 8 Winner

2009-05-23T21:09:00.006+08:00

American Idol Season 8 ended with a winner being crowned. The Top 2 finalists were Kris Allen and Adam Lambert with Kris Allen emerged as the new idol. The 13 finalists for American Idol Season 8 were Kris Allen, Adam Lambert, Danny Gokey, Allison Iraheta, Matt Giraud, Anoop Desai, Lil Rounds, Scott MacIntyre, Megan Joy, Michael Sarver, Alexis Grace, Jorge Núñez and Jasmine Murray. Danny Gokey was my favourite but he was eliminated in the Top 3. He had a likeable voice but needed improvements as an entertainer. Even though, everyone felt Adam Lambert had a better voice than Kris Allen, it as surprise that Kris Allen emerged as the winner. Personally, I will prefer Kris Allen than Adam Lambert. I agree that Adam is a better entertainer than Kris and had a bettwe vocal range. However, I don't like Adam's shrieking sound. Somehow, Kris is more likeable in comparison to Adam. An entertaining tv show indeed! I look forward to American Idol Season 9 in 2010.

Unpleasant Jusco Shopping Experiences

2009-05-22T20:51:00.003+08:00

I encountered 2 unpleasant shopping experiences at Jusco Store, MidValley on the same day. I bought 2 pairs of shoes with the second pair having a price tag of RM55.00. However, when I reached home, I noticed the price tag on the shoe box was at RM49.00. As a regular Jusco customer, I hardly checked on the irregularities. Perhaps, the frequent sales made it harder to synchronize the prices. Another experience was when I paid for my red panties at the cashier counter. Instead of being greeted with a normaly greeting (Hi or Good Morning), I was greeted with an exclamation! Yeee, merah ye ini! (Yeee, this is so red!). I smiled but when the cashier repeated the same thing again to her colleague, I got a little embarrassed. I guess, Jusco need to do regular refreshment trainings to their staff, especially the customer facing staff.

Night at the Museum - Battle of the Smithsonian Movie

2009-05-21T15:51:00.004+08:00

Night at the Museum - Battle of the Smithsonian is a sequel to Night at the Museum in 2006, an American adventure comedy. Ben Stiller resumed his role as Larry Daley, a former New York Natural History museum security who became a successful commercial product inventor. Museum of Natural History would be closed for renovations and all their historical figures would be sent to Smithsonian Institution for permanent storage. The historical figures included Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams) - the first female pilot that flew solo non-stop across the Atlantic, Theodore Roosevelt, Albert Einstein and many more others. The old figures came alive and were attacked and held up by Kahmunrah, an evil Pharaoh. Larry sneaked into Smithsonian to save the old historical figures. I think the story plot was pretty average but seeing the historical figures coming to life made it much more enjoyable. I will definitely recommend the movie to those that love adventures, animations and loveable historical characters.

SAP NetWeaver 7.01 SR1 ABAP Trial Version Installation Experience

2009-05-20T13:10:00.002+08:00

Finally, I managed to install SAP NetWeaver 7.01 SR1 ABAP Trial Version after a few trials. I encountered a problem where it kinda of stuck at Import ABAP phase. I got it resolved with the help in SAP ABAP forum. It was not a smooth installation experience for me but was glad that it finally worked.

Give More and Take Less

2009-05-18T12:08:00.001+08:00

All of us have experiences in giving and taking from people. Do we ever stop and think what was it like when we give and take? I find that I like giving more than taking as the feelings seem much greater. It is like being in the *cloud nine*. Of course, I do like receiving things from people but then again when I give, the feelings of seeing the happy smile on the other party is great. Also, the feeling of being able to help others are much greater as compared to when I receive. Hence, I think we all can try to give more, without expectations (in return) and see how do we feel.

Back From Guilin Trip

2009-05-16T11:08:00.002+08:00

I got back from Guilin trip yesterday and I spent the day unpacking and resting. I think I still need more beauty sleeps. I visited Yangshuo, Longshen and Guilin with lots of climbings (hills). The hills at Guilin were very unique but the air was pretty polluted. It reminded me of Beijing, a busy city with polluted air. Jimmy, our tour guide spoke mandarin and american english pretty well. He took care of us and also was good in trying to earn some extra pocket money from us. However, we were smart enough not to be taken on too long rides. It it pretty common for tour guides to try to earn xtra money from their customers, like selling additonal items. I think it is fair enough but not too much though. I enjoyed the trip eventhough I was very worned out physically. In fact, I might have lost a few pounds with all the walkings and climbings.

Missed Air Asia Flight

2009-05-10T12:18:00.008+08:00

I missed my flight to Guilin by 2 minutes. The flight was scheduled to take off at 6:40am and the gate was closed at 6:30am. We checked in our luggages with one of us (Meow) having problem. When we checked in, Meow's seat was taken by another passenger with similar name. Meow was issued a bording pass with the passenger's name who had checked in earlier. We were stopped along a few spots for questioning due to the different bording pass name by Meow. We reached the boarding gate at 6:32am. The gate officer called the flight captain twice but was told that it's too late.

We proceeded to the special counter for help. The counter officer told us that we would need to pay for a new one way ticket (full fare) to Guilin. We asked to speak to someone who was able to assist us. We waited for 10 minutes before the manager arrived. We explained the situation again to the manager, that we missed the flight by 2 minutes and the delay was caused by the inccorect boarding pass name. The manager was not helpful nor sympathy with us. We tried to pursuade him to give us a discounted fare instead of the full fare for the new air tickets. In the end, he agreed to give us a fare where we had to pay for the penalty and another fee. Then he added this "We are liable for you only, but not your 3 other friends. They could have flew!". That statement made Meow lost her cool. She banged on the counter table and shouted back to the manager, "If you were in our shoes, would you leave your friend?". We pulled our friend aside and clamed her down. The manager reacted immediately by telling his colleague to inform us that there would be no seat for tomorrow's Guilin flight. I was very surprised with his immediate reaction. I never thought a manager who claimed to be the *toppest* of the day in the airport could be reactiving so negatively to the customers. When I tried to talk to him, he told me off, "I have enough of this!". In other words, he was asking me to keep my mouth shut. Gosh! I was even more surprised.

Then, another friend (Curly) went and talked to him. He agreed with us in paying for the 2 fees as agreed earlier. Our friend (Tiger) paid and about to leave when he requested to talk to us. We went back to the counter and he kinda of requested us to persuade Meow to agree with the arrangement. He even agreed for us to only pay for 1 fee (not the earlier agreed 2 fees). We were very dissapointed with the way he handled the whole situation. We just told him that we wanted to settle the whole thing and leave for home. Then, he asked Curly to his counter and he agreed to refund the payment that was made earlier by Tiger. The manager even gave us 4 RM10 MacDonalds voucher for tomorrow's breakfast. We were very surprised.

Later on our way home, Meow told us that she spoke to a higher management personnel in Air Asia and lodged a complaint. The personnel understood our frustrations and agreed to reimburse the payment. She acknowledged that it was due to Air Asia's fault (incorrect check-in). We were glad that Meow managed to help us to reimburse the payment made earlier and we will get to fly for free tomorrow morning. Many thanks to the Air Asia higher management personnel for being understanding!

Guilin Trip Preparation

2009-05-09T15:34:00.004+08:00

I have packed for my Guilin, China trip with enthusiasm. I will be travelling with Air Asia early tomorrow morning. I will be arriving in Guilin in the afternoon whick is a 5 hours trip. I have packed some books and psp to keep me occupied during the flying hours. My luggage is only half-full due to the warm clothing. The wheather in Guilin will be pretty warm, ranging from 21 Celcius to 29 celcius. I am expecting lots of natural sceneries in this trip. I will be back on Friday afternoon.

China Visa Collection

2009-05-08T14:50:00.008+08:00

I reached the Malaysia China Embassy at 11:55pm for my china visa collection. I was greeted with the door closed and a security guard sitting on an office comfy chair guardiung the door. I was told to come back at 4:00pm for collection as the embassy was closed for lunch. I was shocked as I was not aware of such arrangement. Soon after, a guy standing near to the security guard offered to go in for my visa collection. The security guard told me that travel agencies are allowed to enter but not individuals. I was shocked again. Anyway, I passed my collection reciept to him due to his offer. He entered with the permission of the security guard and came out with my passport in less than 5 minutes. He went to a nearby corner and asked me to check my passport and visa. Then he asked me for Rm10.00 service fee. I told him that he should told me earlier on the service fee. He just grinned at me. In the end, he agreed to settle the fee for RM5.00.

I related my story to a young man who had let a guy to collect his visa on his behalf. The young man was late for 5 minutes. He asked me for small notes change, in case he had to pay for the service fee. Later on, he told me that he was not asked for the fee. The guy just did it for free. It made me wonder who are the people who benefit from the service fees.

I came to know that we can only submit the visa application or collection in the morning until 11:45am. The embassy allocates half-an-hour in the afternoon for visa collection, ie. from 4:00pm to 4:30pm. I guess the lessson learnt is to be kiasu (fear of loosing) and always arrive early in the morning for such official issues.

Teach Yourself SAP in 24 Hours

2009-05-07T16:57:00.004+08:00

I read or rather browsed through the Sams Teach Yourself SAP in 24 Hours (3rd Edition) in a day. I had high hope before I started reading the book. However, I was dissapointed after I completed my reading. It gave a very high-level view on SAP with lots of marketing contents. I like Part IV: Developing a Career in SAP section the most. I will give this book a pass unless you are looking for a general book on SAP.

Table of Contents:

Part I: Introduction to SAP

Hour 1: What is SAP?

Hour 2: SAP Basics - What It's All About

Hour 3: Business Basics: Developing a Roadmap for Deploying SAP

Hour 4: Infrastructure Technology Basic: Hardware, Operating Systems and Databases

Hour 5: Developing a Technical Roadmap for Deploying SAP

Part II: SAP Products and Components

Hour 6: SAP Overview: SMB and Enterprise Products

Hour 7: Laying the Groundwork: SAP Netweaver

Hour 8: SAP ERP: SAP's Core Product

Hour 9: The SAP Business Suite

Part III: Implementing SAP

Hour 10: Implementation Overview: A Project Management Perspective

Hour 11: Implementing SAP: A Business and Functional Perspective

Hour 12: Implementing SAP: A Technical Perspective

Hour 13: Implement Tools and Methodologies

Hour 14: SAP and Enterprise SOA

Part IV: SAP Technical Considerations

Hour 15: Technical Installation of SAP

Hour 16: Integrating SAP with Microsoft Office

Hour 17: After Go-Live: System Administration and Operations

Hour 18: After Go-Live: SAP Upgrades and Enhancements

Part V: Using SAP

Hour 19: Logon, Session and SAP GUI Basics

Hour 20: SAP GUI Screen and Printing Basics

Hour 21: Customizing Your SAP Display

Hour 22: Reporting and Query Basics

Part IV: Developing a Career in SAP

Hour 23: Where Do I Start?

Hour 24: SAP Resources

Peaks and Valleys Book

2009-05-06T15:25:00.002+08:00

I bought Peaks and Valleys - Making Good and Bad Times Work For You - At Work And In Life book due to its author, Spencer Johnson. I read his earlier book (Who Moved My Cheese? An A-Mazing Way to Deal with Change) nearly 5 years ago. The former book was about smelling change and to take actions before too late. Peaks and Valleys talked about how a young man learnt to have more Peaks and less Valleys in life. I highly recommend the book to all people as it helps one to stay strong and focus during bad times and to learn how to stay at the Peaks. I plan to read the book many more times!

Using Your Peaks and Valleys At Work And In Life:

To Manage Your Good and Bad Times:

Make Reality Your Friend

To Get Out of A Valley Sooner:

Find And Use The Good Hidden In A Bad Time

To Stay On A Peak Longer:

Appreciate and Manage Your Good Times Wisely

To Get Your Next Peak:

Follow Your Sensible Vision

To Help People:

Share It With Others

Malaysia China Embassy

2009-05-05T19:48:00.000+08:00

I visited Malaysia China Embassy at Plaza OSK, Jalan Ampang this morning for my visa application. It was quite easy to locate the building. I took the Star LRT and stopped at Ampang Park. It was only 5 minutes walk to the OSK building. I walked straight up to 1st floor and I was surprised to see most of the notices were in chinese. The numbering system was down and most of the people were queueing up at their respective lanes. I went straight up to the VISA lane, hoping that it was the right lane. I was lucky and the queue was pretty quick. It took me less than 5 minutes before I was served. I would be able to collect my passport with the approved visa in 4 working days. It would be RM30 for a single entry and the payment would be made when I collect the passport on Friday.

MDec ABAP Job Camp Last Day

2009-05-04T18:01:00.007+08:00

The MDec ABAP Job Camp ended with an internal test conducted by HCL-AXON. It was a 30 multiple choice questions test in 1 hour. The test was expected to cover all the materials covered in the recent 5 weeks. It had been a great training on SAP ABAP with a very experienced SAP trainer, Ruslim Chang. We were asked to complete a training evaluation form too. I provided some very constructive feedbacks and hopefully further actions will be taken. All the 25 participants were inspired to pursue the Development Consultant SAP Netweaver - ABAP Workbench2004 certification and to be hired as SAP consultants. I had my lunch with some participants at Mid Valley Oasis foodcourt and had a good chat, especially on our plans. I am grateful to MDec for providing the sponsorship. I wrote to Mages from K-Workers Development Department, MDec on the certification fee (RM2,000) sponsorship possibility by MDec. However, due to no budget reason, they were not able to assist. Hopefully, I am able to secure a SAP job in an MSC status company in future. Then, I will be able to apply for funding from MDeC under the MSC Malaysia Capability Development Programme.

Jessica Is On Long Leave

2009-04-09T09:04:00.004+08:00

I will be away from Jessica's blog for the next 1 month. I intend to focus on my current SAP ABAP training. I will be back in early May with more interesting posts.

Surprise Visit from Mdec

2009-04-08T18:59:00.006+08:00

We received a surprise visit from Mages of Mdec Malaysia in the afternoon. She introduced herself and Mdec functionalities. A very friendly and pleasant lady indeed. She gave us some very good pointers in the local job market too. She also attended to our queries, especially on the local SAP job market. She left us feeling happy with Mdec.

Malaysia New Prime Minister

2009-04-03T20:25:00.000+08:00

Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak was sworned in as Malaysia's 6th Prime Minister at 10:00am. The first thing that he did was to order for the release of the 13 ISA (Internal Security Act) detainees and lifted the ban on 2 local publications. He promised a One Malaysia concept. As a Malaysian, I have great hope on our new Prime Minister. I hope our new Prime Minister can boost up our current economy.

Citibank Credit Card

2009-04-02T15:22:00.002+08:00

I applied for Citibank credit card about 2 years ago and my application was rejected. I provided all the requirements as required by the bank. Yet, the application was rejected. When I called to ask for the rejection reason, I was told that they couldn't reveal. Ever since, they sent me regular invitations for new credit card via sms and postage. I even called them to exclude my contact in their credit card marketing system. Yesterday, I received their latest credit card promotion. As a reputable bank, I hope Citibank can take actions on the above matter.

April Fool Day

2009-04-01T23:36:00.003+08:00

Today is April Fool! It is a day where one will play practical jokes on others and the victims won't be mad. I am rather surprised that I do not get any prank from anyone up 'till now. Can it be a forgotten day or people are just busy with their lives?

Teknology Park Malaysia Parking System

2009-03-31T20:57:00.006+08:00

Finally, I managed to sort out my car park problem at the Teknology Park Malaysia on my second day at MDec ABAP Job Camp. I find the parking rate for covered parking place (opposite of Enterprise 4) to be very pricey. The first hour is RM2.50 with subsequent hour at RM2.00. A day parking can easily costs RM20.00. The cost at open-air parking place is RM3.00 per day and visitors need to purchase the parking coupon. Visitors can purchase daily or a 10 days coupon for RM30.00. Coupon booths at the open-air are closed from 12:00pm to 2:00pm and it's available from 8:00am. I wish I have known the parking system much earlier. It would have saved me from being late on my second day at MDec ABAP Job Camp and lots of running around.

MDec ABAP Job Camp First Day

2009-03-30T20:40:00.010+08:00

MDec ABAP Job Camp registration started at 9:30am. I reached HCL-AXON Training Centre at 9:10am. The first day session started as scheduled, ie. at 10:00am even though there were a few latecomers. Our instructor (Ruslim) for the next 5 weeks is a very experienced SAP Implementor from Indonesia. He has more than 10 years of SAP projects experience and has joined HCL-AXON for the past 5 years. We were also greated by Zuraidah, the Manager of Axon Academy. She welcomed us and encouraged us to aim for the ABAP Certification, ie. Development Consultant SAP Netweaver - ABAP Workbench2004. She gave us a very good tip that the current exam format is True or False and no longer the MCQ (Multiple Choice Questions) format. That means, there is a 50% chance of passiong the exam. She also informed us that an e-mail has been circulated to all SAP Partners to only hire certified SAP professionals. I think she has very valid points. It doesn't really tell much about an ABAP developer by completing the 5 weeks training and without passing the exam. The first day has been great with a very good introduction to SAP Solutions, Navigation and the System Kernel. We are given a thick manual for each week. I look forward to the weeks and yet concern that it may be too much for me to digest in 5 weeks.

Jessica's Birthday

2009-03-29T19:31:00.007+08:00

Today is my birthday! I spent a very relaxing birthday morning. I woke up at 10:00am and treated myself a nice MacDonald breakfast. I vwent out lunch with my sister. Then, we spent the afternoon at her house chit-chatting. As she was browsing Cleo magazine, she asked me Is today your birthday? . I just smiled. We chatted until late evening. As I drove away from her home, I shouted Hey, today IS my birthday! She said Yeah, I knew it!! I just smiled again. I received a phone call from my mom when I reached home. I was greeted with a Birthday song. I will be sleeping in early tonight as I will be attending the MDec Abap Job Camp training tomorrow. I am excited!!!

E.U. TVB Drama

2009-03-28T16:30:00.009+08:00

E.U., a 30 episode TVB drama stands for Emergency Unit in the Hong Kong Police Force. E.U. is a sequel to The Academy (2005) and On the First Beat (2007) starring Ron Ng and Sammul Chan. In E.U., Ron and Sammuel were joined by 2 TVB veterans, Michael Miu and Kathy Chow. E.U. mainly focused on the police force and triads. Kong Sai-Hao (Michael Miu) was in jail for 10 years for drugs tafficking in Taiwan. He returned to Hong Kong and reconciled with his long time buddy, To Yik-Tin (Lam Lee). When Kong Sai-Hao reliased that To Yik Tin was not greatful to him for his years in jail, he decided to frame his buddy. To Yik-Tin was killed by the police and Kong Sai-Hao became the new Chun-Heng triad boss. The police placed 2 undercovers in the triad, namely Laughing (Michael Tse) and Chung Lap-Man (Ron Ng). I think E.U. is a great watch for all TVB drama lovers, especially those who love police dramas. All the actors and actresses played their roles very well, especially Michael Tse in his role as the triad leader, Laughing. Elaine Kong, a singer and a newcomer to TVB drama played Kong Sai-Hao's daughter (Kong Yau-Yau) very well too. It is also great seeing the comeback of Michael Miu and Kathy Chow who were the lead actors and actress in the 1980s. Among all the 3 police dramas, I like E.U. the most, due to its strong story plot with great actors and actresses. I believe there will be a sequel coming very soon.

Highland Velvet by Jude Deveraux

2009-03-27T09:01:00.004+08:00

Highland Velvet continued from Velvet Promise historical romance by Jude Deveraux. Highland Velvet was on Stephen Montgomery, the second son in the Montgomery family. Stephen was given a Scottish wife (Bronwyn MacArran) by the English King. Bronwyn was the chief of the MacArran clan and she hated English. Stephen was greeted with a knife cut by Bronwynn on their first wedding night. She was determined that Stephen was the wrong groom and would not be accepted by her clan which had been her first priority ever since she was made the clan's chief. Soon, Stephen turned from an English to being a Scottish and even dressed in the traditional Scottish plaid. If you have had enjoyed Velvet Promise, Highland Velvet is a must read.

Malaysia Banci

2009-03-26T13:35:00.010+08:00

I received an unexpected visit from Department of Statistics Malaysia. The officer mentioned that he was here to do Banci (Census - Malaysia Population Statistic). It was a quick Q&A (Questions and Answers) session which lasted for about 5 minutes.

Questions by the Officer:

How many residents in the house?
How many males and females in the house?
Do you own or rent the house?

In the end, I was given an orange colour card to be pasted on the door. The Integrated Listing Card (Kad Penyenaraian Bersepadu) includes information such as State, Aministrative District, EB NO., Building Unit NO., Serial NO. of LQ/ILQ/NLQ/BE and Date. I noticed the Orange card was pasted on my neighbour's home eventhough there wasn't anyone at home. It makes me wonder how the banci was done at my neighbour's home.

IBM to layoff 5,000 Workers

2009-03-25T12:20:00.003+08:00

IBM announced that they plan to layoff about 5,000 American workers in a new round of job cuts. The layoff will affect about 4 percent of IBM's American-based work-force, which totaled 115,000 as at end of 2008. Currently, IBM has about 400,000 employees worldwide. The layoff is seen as a business strategy to move most of the works to lower cost countries like Brazil, China, India and Russia. Unlike other companies who have announced layoffs, IBM has maintanced a profitable outlook to their investors. On top of that, there are news that IBM is bidding for Satyam and Sun Microsystems. Let's wait and see what's next in IBM.

MDec ABAP Job Camp Confirmed

2009-03-24T18:00:00.009+08:00

I received a confirmation e-mail from HCL-AXON that my MDec ABAP Job Camp training is scheduled from 30th March to 30th April, 2009 on weekdays. The training location is confirmed as follow:

HCL AXON
Lang Tengah Room
Unit L5E-IB, Level 5, Enterprise 4
Technology Park Malaysia, Bukit Jalil
57000 Kuala Lumpur

I am glad that I am selected for the training and I look forward to learning new IT skills.

Malaysia PC Fair 2009

2009-03-23T14:25:00.003+08:00

Get ready and mark your personal calendar for the coming Malaysia PC Fair in April, 2009. The fair will be held from Friday to Sunday (11:00am - 9:00pm):

3rd - 5th:

Permata Car Park (Level 5), Kuching - Sarawak
Dewan Masyarakat Sandakan, Sandakan - Sabah
Berjaya Megamall, Kuantan - Jalan Tun Ismail, Sri Dagangan, 25000 Pahang
Stadium Indera Mulia, Ipoh, Perak - Jalan Ghazali Jawi, 31400 Ipoh

10th - 12th:

KL Convention Centre, Kuala Lumpur - Kuala Lumpur City Centre, 50888 Kuala Lumpur
Persada Johor International Convention Centre, Johor Bahru - Jalan Abdullah Ibrahim, 80000 Johor Bahru
Village Mall, Sungai Petani - Kedah
Dewan Masyarakat Tawau, Tawau - Sabah

17th - 19th:

Miri Indoor Stadium, Miri - Sawarak
Sibu Trade & Exhibition Centre, Sibu - Sarawak
Penang International Sports Arena, Penang - Jalan Tun Dr Awang, 11900 Relau
Mahkota Parade Melaka, Melaka - Jalan Merdeka, 75000 Bandar Hilir

24th - 26th:

Dewan Jubli Intan, Muar - Johor

Change Blogger Template

2009-03-22T12:42:00.006+08:00

Calvyn advised me to get a new refreshing web template for Jessica's Blog. I searched around and finally settled for Coffee Desk template by FalconHive. I like the casual and colourful look. As a coffee lover, I am immediately attracted to the coffee cup picture at the top of the template. The steps were pretty simple but I had a problem which was resolved by Alvaris Falcon. As I was using photobucket to store the template images, I needed to select the Reduce to: 1 megabyte file size option when the photos were uploaded.

Installation Steps:

Download the Coffee Desk template zip file from FalconHive website
Upload all the template pictures to photobucket website, a free image hosting website
Edit the Coffee Desk XML file with Notepad. Search for IMAGE-LINK-HERE text and replaced all with the respective image URL path from photobucket. Save the modified XML file.
Access Blogger's Dashboard> Layout Tab> Edit HTML option . Backup the current blog's template via the Download Full Template link. Upload the new Coffee Desk XML file using the Upload a template from a file on your hard drive option.

Crabs in Action

2009-03-21T12:12:00.006+08:00

Many says a picture is worth a thousand words. At times, a picture alone may also means many interpretations. I would say it depends also on one’s imaginations. As the saying goes, no 2 minds are alike. What’s the first thing in your mind when you see the following photo?

Possible Actions:

Two lovely creatures captured in action during mating season

Both just ended up in awkward position due to the big waves

A mom trying to protect its kid

Performing stunts for attracting the spectators

It’s a cold weather and they are keeping each other warm

MPH Stock Clearance Promotion

2009-03-20T22:23:00.007+08:00

I am a regular to MPH promotions, be it Store Sale or Warehouse Sale. Today, I went to the MPH Stock Clearance Promotion at Taman Mayang, Petaling Jaya. The promotion was scheduled from 14th to 22nd March, 2009 (9:30am - 7:00pm). I was there for more than an hour and left with dissapointment. I wished the books could have been categorised according to their titles. Also, the place was stuffy and the walkway was pretty narrow too. There were lots of children books on sale, just as in previous MPH sale. Most of the professional books were outdated. Some IT books published in the early 2000 were on sale at 50% discount. Nevertheless, I managed to buy 2 books, namely Peaks and Valleys by Spencer Johnson and Sink or Swim by Sindells.

Head First PMP Book

2009-03-19T16:29:00.013+08:00

I stumbled upon the Head First PMP book as I was looking for a fundamental book on Project Management. Head First PMP was created to help project managers in the PMI (Project Management Institue) PMP (Project Management Professional) exam. It covers Areas of Responsibility, Process Groups, Processes and Knowledge Areas in details as mentioned in PMBOK Guide. The Head First PMP has an easy reading format that it feels as though I am reading mangas (Japanese comics). The book is a great read for all (not only Project Managers) who would want a glimpse on project management concepts.

Table of Contents:

Introduction: Why Get Certified?

Projects, Processes and Projects: How You Do the Job

The Process Framework: It All Fits Together

Integration Management: Getting the Job Done

Scope Management: Doing the Right Stuff

Time Management: Getting it Done on Time

Cost Management: Watching the Bottom Line

Quality Management: Getting it Right

Human Resource Management: Getting the Team Together

Communications Management: Getting the Word Out

Risk Management: Planning for the Unknown

Procurement Management: Getting Some Help

Professional Responsibility: Making Good Choices

A Little Last-Minute Review: Check Your Knowledge

Malaysia LHDN e-filing

2009-03-18T17:16:00.003+08:00

I received an e-mail from Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia (LHDN - Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri) that I will need to submit my taxation for the year of 2008 online. As I submitted my previous year via e-filing, it automatically means I won't be receiving any taxation hardcopy in future. The last submission date for BE form will be on 30th April, 2009.