No! Don’t Stop…

I was thinking, after Earth Hour being celebrated quite successfully last Saturday.. Why not we do it again?? Here are some ideas from me..

How - Same with what we did on 8.30pm last Saturday during earth.. turn off all the lights.. better still turn off your main power source.. no lights, no fan, no tv.. no internet..

What - Since it’ll be dark and hot.. Lets just call it THE DARK(est) HOUR ??

Who - All Malaysians only.. with the spirit of Malaysia Boleh..

Where - all over the world.. Malaysians in Oceania, Asia, Europe, Africa, America, or even out of the world.. do we have anyone @ ISS? oppss.. sorry.. went back already..

When - why wait for Earth Hour 2010.. why not do it now.. Lets do it tomorrow.. or maybe Friday, so still got time to call for the rest of Malaysians.. what time? hmmm… earth hour is @ 8.30pm local time.. meaning it is different time according to timezone.. since this is our nation effort, lets do it the same time.. how about 10AM Friday 3 April 2009.. and lets do it annually.. at least for next 3-4 years perhaps..

Why - I dont know.. you tell me..

ps: Wait.. on the other hand.. how about we ask other countries to participate as well.. no.. not all.. selective countries only.. else it wont be unique.. how about those which start with letter M

When I took Basic Econ in form 4, one of the first chapter being covered was about your need vs want.

Wikipedia defines the term as below :

Quote

Needs would be defined as goods or services that are physiologically or biologically required for maintaining life. This would include the needs for air, food, water, clothing, shelter, sleep[1]. “Wants” are described as “having a strong desire for something” be it a consumable good, time, or money. Want is often a physiological desire.

Unquote

When I involved in system implementation projects for MNCs, I also came across with this term. Probably rephrase as Must win vs Nice to Have. The concept is still the same however.

From my experience working with Mat Sallehs in designing systems, they would always look deep into ‘Must wins’ first before slowly move towards on those ‘nice to have’. This to ensure that everything is optimumly designed and delivered for usage with quality, money and time well-spent.

However sad to say. Things are very much different in our country. Pardon me. I’ve never really experience it but from numbers of reliable source, it does happen.

Malaysia government, GLCs, often looking at facilities, systems, technologies at the very high-end. A consultant-friend of mine once told, he involved with a project with an oil company in malaysia (i dont wanna say the name) where they want a very complex & fully-automated system. after god knows how many mandays spent, it was delivered. The system was too complex until end-users dont really know how to make full use it.. One who never ride a horse but given to ride a Unicorn.. Ended up as another “White Elephant”..

Another friend of mine told me, a development corporation in Cyberjaya planned to implement a fully integrated up-to-date customer relationship systems which can monitor, track and process calls from customer very much faster and simpler. First question asked when he came to propose the solutions, how many calls the client want to track? His client proudly answered… “3-4 calls per WEEK“. My boss here would probably say “Pure bollocks!!”.. How on earth you need a multi-million system when it alternatively can be done by just a simple spreadsheet?

Last thing I heard, it has not fully went live after 2 years.. And to make it worse, (I strongly believe) this corp is being sourced by government grant..

This kind of scenario keeps on happening.. again and again..

The most recent on the purchase Eurocopter issue.

In a statement issued Friday, Abu Bakar said the ministry chose the Eurocopter EC725 because the company had a complete tender offer that obtained the highest marks based on technical evaluation, an offset package while also being at a reasonable price..

“Eurocopter also offered a system that was proven which also fulfilled the army’s specifications,” he said, adding that the Government had no influence on prices that were offered by the company as bidding was done via an international open tender process.

Does it?

I dont have the answer.. Hopefully it is not another ‘First class facilities but with third world mentality’..

post note {18/10/2008}: this article is a must read..

I went back from office yesterday and found Jr with his new toy.. Badminton rackets + a shuttle cock.. He waited for me to play with him..

Since it was still early for Berbuka, I gave it a try.. playing inside the house..

I served to him, but he miss hit it.. Then he took the shuttle cock, somehow he was like, threw it in the floor.. I was puzzled.. then he took it again and did the same thing.. as if he wanted to bounce the shuttle cock.. Finally he said to me.. “Look Daddy, I’m NADAL”

Ah silly me.. he never watch any badminton before.. but he is quite a big fan of tennis.. I just wondering, Malaysia has produced a world no 1 squash pro, also successful badminton players.. why not a tennis Ace? maybe someone can become a Datuk in the future..

However read this first.. excerpts from Wiki.. on Andre Agassi..

He called Agassi’s two older siblings “guinea pigs” in the development of his coaching techniques. He honed Andre’s eye-coordination when he was an infant by hanging tennis balls above his crib. He gave Agassi paddles and balloons when he was still in a high chair. When Agassi started playing tennis, his ball collection filled 60 garbage cans with 300 balls per can, and Agassi would hit 3,000–5,000 balls every day. When Andre was five years old, he was already practicing with pros such as Jimmy Connors and Roscoe Tanner.

Dont bother about the title.. it is a line from Stolen by Butterfingers…

But yes, I am confused when someone want to send other someone to a drop-zone.. say LRT station, or hotel/shopping complex/hospital lobby.. why this other some has to drive???? Most of the cases, the someone is an XX and the other someone, of course an XY.. I guess would be simple if XY stopped the car, got out, XX switched to driver seat and drove away.. but thats not the case!! Typically it will be like this.. XY stop the car, taking own sweet time ie hug and kisses (yet still acceptable..) before getting the butt out, worst when XX start jumping to driver seat.. rearrange handbag position.. take off high heels *easier to drive barefooted i guess, adjust rear view mirror, check out side mirrors.. opps look back at rear view mirror.. * this time to check if any smudges on make-up.. put on drive mode.. oppps.. forgot to fasten seat belt.. put back to neutral.. fasten seat belt… and slowly drive away..

OH COME ON!!! SIMPLIFY!! just let XX drive our from your porch!!! You may think it is additional 2 minutes taken.. you are wrong.. lets look from Project management perspective.. one car, 2 people.. while so-called macho XY dont let his beloved XX drive the car while he’s in it, 4 other cars are waiting in-line at the drop-zone.. thats roughly 2 x 2 x 5 = 20 man minutes.. if 20% out of 200 cars at one drop zone, do this every morning .. do your own math on how many mandays has been unnecessarily wasted per year!!

Oh, please bare with me.. It is a tired Thursday Blues…

*************************************

These few days, we noticed lil Miss is already manage to pull herself up, we saw her standing proudly inside her cot.. and yesterday.. I’d to bring down the cot floor to stage two.. with some help from Jr who claimed himself ‘I Handy Manny, I’ll help you daddy; and 20 minutes later.. yes DONE!!

now she couldnt climb out.. and HE couldnt climb IN.. he tried hard to climb in to join his lil sister inside the cot, perhaps wanted to tell her he helped daddy did it.. but to no avail.. the sides now too high for him to climb.. we laughed hard at him.. he ran out of the room.. and came in again a little later, shouting.. ‘I’m confused.. I’m confused.. I’m confused!!!”
and ran around us..

We were also confused.. where he learnt the words.. and whether he understood it.. eitherway.. he really looked like one confused little boy.. We then laughed even harder..

p/s: oh.. anyone knows where to print a huge banner? One football team is coming to town in July and I plan to bring Jr along to stadium.. maybe with a huge banner with either “BRING BACK THE SPECIAL ONE!!” or “Miss Abramovich, Will you marry my son?”

Clinton proposes $5,000 “baby bonds”

With this, she got my vote!

Think about it, every parent goes to the JPN to get their kids MyKid nowadays, and with that, they should go to PNB too, to get Government funded “baby bond”; Amanah Saham Ku (???), which maybe say least would be around RM100 to RM500. That should be in the Yearly Budget. Every Malaysian baby with Malaysian parents, get to have that initial fund, in which they can only take out say when they are 21 perhaps. With that, meaning to say, primary, secondary and matriculation schools/colleges are government funded. If not 21, then perhaps 18 (the least) - if taking out at 18, has to be only for education purposes perhaps, if 21 full ownership ie you can whatever you want with it. This fund can also be monthly added by the parents, automatically via EPF, and later on when maturity dated can be channeled to other funds; Amanah Saham Nasional or others.

I think this is brilliant of Clinton. Even if you are a dropout, you might get some for a kickstart on your business. Even if you are basically just plain dumb, you could always use the money for your daily necessities. And of course, if the child died along the way, the other siblings should get the share. Would the government lose out in this deal? Nope, I don’t think so. The government would have 18 - 21 years of cash funded into them. But of course, duit rakyat untuk rakyat.

Let’s do some calculation:
At RM100 per baby,
250,000 (babies born per year) * RM100 = RM25 million per year
500,000 (babies born per year) * RM100 = RM50 million per year
RM100 * 12 * 18 * 12% = RM2,592
RM100 * 12 * 21 * 12% = RM3,092

At RM500 per baby,
250,000 (babies born per year) * RM500 = RM125 million per year
500,000 (babies born per year) * RM500 = RM 250 million per year
RM500 * 12 * 18 * 12% = RM12,960
RM500 * 12 * 21 * 12% = RM15,120
I am just roughly calculating here. Of course, if the dividend rate is higher say around 38%, then it would be even better. Or if parents continue to chip in monthly, min of RM100, that would even help. And of course, what I calculated is just a fixed dividend rate, not the accumulative one (which I hope I got it right, maybe you financial people can help me out here).

So anyway…
This will definitely help! Absolutely brilliant! Well…Pak Lah or even Datuk Seri Shahrizat what say you?

During my bus ride back from Cherating last Sunday, Mr Ramon was kind enough to share a very nice movie.. a documentary to be precise.. “An incovenient Truth“..

Quote from wiki :

An Inconvenient Truth is an Academy Award-winning documentary film about climate change, specifically global warming, presented by former United States Vice President Al Gore and directed by Davis Guggenheim. A companion book authored by Gore has been on the paperback nonfiction New York Times bestseller list since June 11, 2006, reaching #1 on July 2, 2006.

(You may go to http://www.climatecrisis.net/ for details)

It was really an eye-opener for us all in the bus.. if that was how my lecturers present in class, i definitely wouldn’t sleep..

For some especially republicans or a tun, might thought this movie is just a propaganda made by someone who failed to win the presidency.. a threat.. lies..
For me, it is purely a great effort.. massive..Lots of facts (or theories??) you can learn from it.. I always believe that the end of the world is near, but after watching this, i think the doomsday much more closer that I’ve ever thought..

WE ALL NEED TO WAKE UP..

Some basic points that we can do :

• buy energy efficient appliances + light bulbs - checked
• recycle - started
• use hybrid cars - always in my wish list
• use light/mass transit - too bad cyberjaya doesn’t have any
• reduce dependency on foreign oil - hopefully soon-to-be Dr Pak Andak will come out with something..

oh, at the end of the movie, it also said to encourage everyone you know to see this movie.. so i think mr gore wouldnt mind if you tube it or torrent it..

A must seen by all.. Thumbsssssssssss and salutesssss up for Al Gore..

p/s : I wonder would it be better if he was in The White House?? nahhhh… some genius Tun might not happy..

My boss taught me some managerial tips these few days as I’m gonna take some people management role in the project.. would like to share one of it..

Foresee any risk early, voice it out before it happen.. eg: if you think someone is pushing u to the wall.. immediately shout for help coz once u touched the wall, the ‘risk’ will turn to be a ‘problem’ and anything u say will be remarked as defensive

So true..

And speaking of that.. this evening, I wanted to go back early to see my sweethearts at home.. left office, ah.. still early and I decided to take R1 to go back home.. as I paid the RM1.60 toll, just about 50 metres after the toll booth..

“Cucking Frap!!”

Bumper to bumper!! All the way to Tesco Puchong due to an accident from what I heard in the radio..

While I was crawling in the trafficjam, my mind calculated how many vehicles were there, and how many manhours were wasted, plus how many RM were collected.. (hmm.. I thought in the contract, higher numbers of highway users = chea*er.. oppss OSA)

As the toll rate hiked, I really hope highway operators could improve their service better.. what for paying for stuck in between rows of vehicles for hours.. I would like to suggest that it is mandatory for highway to have visible warning services.. maybe via electronic board or something.. at least before the last turn into any highway.. saying something like : “Very heavy traffic at .. till … due to.., you are advised to take alternative route..”  (heh.. i wish.. its a capitalist world, who want to loose their potential customers, right?)

For instance, it happened to us last time in (+) highway during the one festive period.. traffic-jam 25km all the way from Seremban till just after Pedas-Linggi exit.. (mind me, I knew for southern route only).. If we were informed earlier then, we could opt to exit at Pedas-Linggi and take slip-road via Tampin to Seremban.. unfortunately we weren’t and it was too little too late for us to make a u-turn.. but i did informed my brother (who departed 4 hours after us), and him and his family safely arrived in seremban minutes earlier than us..

Imagine such a small piece of info saved them RMs to pay more toll, litres of petrol and above all, plenty hours of time..

I dont mind to pay more if one can up their services more.. I think many will appreciate such warning system more compared to the cable car going up the stone caves.. wont you? oppss..