The mental calisthenics of avoiding paying taxes

It’s tax season. Responsible citizens everywhere are getting headaches figuring out how to file their tax returns. It’s an onerous task, what with all the different regulations and exceptions in the different tax codes. That’s why they have professionals to assist the regular Joe figure it all out. There’s a whole industry out there related to taxes, and it’s not just for firms, but individuals too.

As we grow older we come to the realization that “nothing is certain but death and taxes”, but it’s only the latter that vexes us on a predictable annual schedule.

But maybe we should focus on how I opened this post. Responsible citizens are the ones braving the tedium of filing their tax returns and actually paying their taxes. Yes, not everyone is a responsible citizen. I’m sure we all know those who couldn’t be bothered, thinking that it’s a low priority offense and no one gets hurt in the process. Or maybe they think that it’s too much of a hassle. Or maybe they object to the principle of the matter. Or maybe there’s a political angle to it.

And that’s where things start to get ridiculous. Not paying taxes because you don’t support the current government? What nonsense! Would you propose to forgo all public services in the meantime? And how should we identify you if you did? Will you proudly showcase your political affiliation on your sleeve, so that you may be excluded from receiving public services that others support with their taxes?

Or did you think there are some things provided free of charge? Those doctors in the government hospitals aren’t doing their duty purely out of the goodness of their hearts. They still need to bring paychecks home. How do they get paid? Out of the government’s coffers, of course. And where do the funds come from? Why, 43% of the Federal Government’s budget is financed through income tax. (Look it up yourself. Try using the government websites, maintained using public funds by the way.)

Don’t go to government hospitals, you say? Or send your kids to public schools?

Fine then. Don’t expect the police to help you when you’re a victim of crime then. Or the fire department to put out the fire burning down your mansion. They’ll help your neighbour who pays taxes though, while you stand outside moaning. Maybe you can hire private contractors to put out the fire. After all, you don’t trust the current government to use your tax dollars (ringgit, whatever) responsibly. So you’re on your own. Just the way you like it.

How about the next argument? We’re taxed too heavily! It’s a burden! Too much of our money is going to the government, and being wasted on all those wasteful and unnecessary and wrong “study trips”!

I’ve got news for you too. Let’s look at KPMG’s survey. They’re a reputable enough consultancy firm, so you don’t have to judge based on my credentials. For 2008, the highest tax rate on personal income in Malaysia was 28%. That’s a marginal tax rate, by the way, so it’s not 28% of your total income. But 28% on the upper portion of your taxable income. The global average was 28.8%. But let’s look closer to home, shall we? Let’s focus on ASEAN countries. There’s data on 6 of them (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam). The average was 32%, with the lowest in Singapore (20% - no surprise there really), and the highest in Vietnam (40%). So we’re lower than the average.

Then there’s the level at which that highest marginal tax rate kicks in (there’s no such thing as a flat tax). For Malaysia it was RM250,000. Converting all the other ASEAN countries’ currencies to RM (at prevailing rates), we find that the average was RM272,716.07. The Singaporeans are lucky, cos you’d you have to be pretty damn rich (RM771,328) before you get hit by their highest tax rate. The Vietnamese, however, are doubly unlucky. If you make less than half a Malaysian (at RM100,302), you’re already hit by that highest rate, which was already the highest in the region.

Think we have it bad? Think again.

My take on all this hand-wringing? It’s just a lazy mentality. “I want it free!” Bah! Suck it up, I say. Do your duty. Pay your taxes.

Idol 8: They used the save to keep it at seven!

Wow. Well, I’m actually a bit surprised. Idol history tonight. You know what this means though, right? Two people are going home next week. That could be nail-biting.

Overall, it was a good evening. The opening number was my fave so far. And the two artists (Jennifer Hudson and Miley Cirus – yes, I know!) were actually good.

So next week is disco week, huh? Hehe. That should be fun.

Idol 8: Top seven bottom three

Do we need the judge’s save tonight?

[Wait a minute.]

Yes! Ok, no we may not need it after all. :-)

Was that an Idol challenger I heard?

Sorry, Randy, I’m gonna have to disagree with you on that assessment of Kris. I thought that was actually pretty good. One of the highlights of the night, for me at least.

At the end of the night, I’m undecided about the bottom three. Hmm. Will there be a need for the judge’s save tomorrow?

American Idol Season 8 is now a race for second place

I mean, seriously, can there be any doubt that Adam Lambert won’t win the competition? The voice control, the stage presence, the theatrics. He’s on a whole ’nother level. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of the others at this stage too. Shoutouts to Danny, Allison, Kris, Anoop, and Matt. Sorry, Lil, you don’t really excite me at this point. But Adam’s in a league of his own. I suppose there’s stilll the odd chance that it’s not to Americans’ tastes, but it sure is looking less likely from where I’m sitting.

A’isyah’s school trip to the zoo

A’isyah’s going on her first school trip today. She’s been excited about this visit to the zoo since last week, when we found out about it. Good thing her cold/runny nose cleared up in time (thanks Actifed!), so it wouldn’t be too much of a bother today. I still packed some tissues in her bag, just in case. At the last minute I gave her a cap to wear, but the skies were overcast this morning, so she’ll probably not need the protection from the hot sun.

This isn’t her first visit to the National Zoo, so I’m sure she’ll have a good time. She just loves looking at animals, and I always enjoy taking her to places with animals. I think it’s important for kids to get a chance to know the natural world and the many different lifeforms around us. The many charms of nature are probably a universal fascination for children, so it’s just up to the adults to ensure that future generations have the opportunity to satisfy that curiosity.


On A’isyah’s first visit last year just after her third birthday, I think we got tired before she did. Hehe.

I’ve just found out a little bit more about Zoo Negara; for example, 2009 is Visit Zoo Negara Year. No matter what critics may say about our National Zoo, it plays an important role, so I sure hope more of us support the Malaysian Zoological Society and visit the zoo.

Decided on those blog aggregators

Well, seems I’ve made up my mind on which blog aggregator to visit regularly. I find myself drawn to blogged.my and Negaraku, with an occasional visit to SARAwho. Those sites are responsive and offer a good choice of blogs to discover, with interesting posts that I’d actually click through to read.

Opinion and truth

When does one’s opinion become the truth?

What if someone believed “something”? What if some other people (second parties) confirmed the first party’s belief in that “something”? Can we consider it truth? Verifiable? What if that “something” concerned another party’s motives? What if there is perceived motive to deceive the first party? Should we bother to consider the assertions of the third party? To another group, the fourth party, what is the truth? Would that not rely on their allegiances, if any, to the other parties?

For how do you verify motives, when they deal with the subject of emotions?

Look to their actions then.

Change isn’t easy

Sometimes you can’t avoid it. Sometimes you don’t want to avoid it. That doesn’t mean it’s gonna be easy. It just prepares you for change.

And yet, you can’t always be fully ready for the change, when it comes.

Sometimes change happens to you, and sometimes you are the instigator. Both roles are still just as affected.

Is there a point in assigning blame? Maybe. If only to avoid it in future, if at all possible.

I remain, cryptically, awaiting change. Because some of it has already happened. And more is around the corner.

Considering alternative blog aggregators

An anonymous commenter on my previous post pointed me out to several alternative blog aggregator sites. I’d already discovered one of them, and heard about another of them, but two were completely new to me. So I decided to try them all out and compare them. My first impressions below.

blogged.my

The site loads up fast for me, including the different ways of viewing the site. They do have one interesting feature in the “most popular” section, akin to a mini digg section. Here you can view the top ten pings in the last 24 hours, week, month, or year. Their pings are listed as short blurbs. It’s paginated, so you can view previous pings as well. You can navigate by browsing tags, the most popular pings, and even by popular tags via the tag cloud at the bottom. They also have a search box on the sidebar near the top.

SARAwho

I found out about this one at the same time that I discovered blogged.my. It’s supposed to be for Southeast Asian blogs, even though it seems to be pretty much dominated by the Malaysians right now. I’m not sure if that’s a function of the prolific writings of Malaysian bloggers, or the level of outreach for the site. Judging from the number of updates, I’d guess it’s due to the latter reason.

SARAwho has a few feeds on the right sidebar, and you can view the pings from the last 4 hours, 8 hours (default view), 16 hours, 1 day, or 1 week.

Beras Padu

I’d heard of Beras Padu before, from other blog posts, but I’ve never visited the site. This is laid out in similar style to SARAwho, although I’m not sure which site copied which. There are certainly more malay bloggers pinging here, and overall it gets a lot of pings.

The site loads up pretty quickly. Beras Padu has a “reader community” and the right sidebar has links to selected blog posts. You can view the pings from the last 12 hours (default view), 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week. There’s even an RSS feed for Beras Padu, although you’ll have to click through to the owner’s site to grab the link.

Planet Malaysia

This one is new to me. Planet Malaysia started as a small portal for Malaysian bloggers, and it seems to have grown in time.

The site takes awhile to load up for me, probably because it doesn’t just list links to other blogs. I’m not sure how their members ping the site, since the site has more than just links to blogs. The individual entries seem to be in custom formats, with text, formatting, and pics. The way it’s done, you may never need to click through to the original blog.

The site isn’t paginated, and there’s no way to filter posts. On the right sidebar you’ll find links to archives, a blog roll, and links to recent posts.

Negaraku

Another new one for me. They have a Facebook Group, and member profiles. Their banner, however, doesn’t display correctly on this system and looks quite bad.

The site loads up pretty quickly. Arranged at the top are Category links. The posts seem to be “rated” for buzz, and you can view those popular posts. The right sidebar has links to the popular posts of the day, the previous day, the week, the month, and the year. They also have a tag cloud. The post listings have short blurbs, and some even come with full-size photos. The site is paginated, so you can browse the pings in batches.


I don’t think there’s a clear “winner” in this list. They’ll all appeal to different people of course. For myself, I haven’t decided yet which one(s) I’ll visit regularly.

Setting records in by-election nominations

Ok, this is certainly interesting. One of the three scheduled by-elections for next month in three far-flung constituencies has just seen 15 candidates qualify the nomination round! This, for a constituency with 5,140 registered voters (as per The Star’s reporting). Let’s assume a 70% voter turnout. At that rate, each of the thirteen independent candidates only needs to guarantee about 240 votes to make it interesting for the two main political parties vying for the seat. Seems doable for an independent.

PPS no more

Boy, am I glad I stopped pinging PPS some time back. (Leave aside the fact that I don’t have many posts in the first place. Hehe.) I just visited PPS recently, and have discovered that it has a new owner. I figured there was change, what with the addition and re-arrangement of ads on the site. And I don’t think I like the new direction the site will be headed. So, I’ve started my search of alternatives. First up is blogged.my, which seems decent. I’m not gonna start pinging again, but I’ll “vote” with my clicks. I’ll be visiting that aggregator instead, for updates on the Malaysian blogosphere.

Milestone: A’isyah on the slide!

The 100th post is usually regarded as some sort of milestone. And though this post is the 100th post on my blog, I’m not really trying to commemorate it. Besides, this post makes 100 by virtue of my merging my other blog with this one, bringing in a few posts when I wasn’t actively blogging.

Rather, I want to celebrate a much more fun milestone! Although, I’m about three weeks late in celebrating it. Hehe.

A’isyah’s always been a bit wary of heights. She doesn’t mind climbing, that’s for sure. She’s always climbing on the back of the sofa for example. She’s even gone up slides before. It’s just coming down the slides that’s been a problem for her. For some reason, she’s always been afraid to take the plunge and just ended up going down the stairs again.

Although Nany said that A’isyah’s been ok with slides for a couple of months now, whenever I take her out, she was still reluctant to go down any slides.


That is, until we went out to Nando’s at Bangsar Village. They have a small play area, and there were two little girls playing there. So A’isyah decided to join them, and didn’t hesitate to take the slide down. Yay! Maybe all she needed was company. Whatever it was, the floodgates have been opened! Now she just loves to go on the slides.

This, I think, is a serious milestone. It really opens up playground explorations, which is good for confidence, strength, and curiosity (amongst other useful traits).

So here’s to milestones!

Pulling in visitors from around the world

Well, I guess I should send a shout-out to Sgt. Al Thompson. My post on that Iraq gold scam certainly has brought in a lot of visitors from around the globe. Sure testament to the reach of that particular scam email.

And it seems myth-busting in general draws in visits. No surprise there really, since there’s not much reason for random visitors to find my blog. This here is just a personal blog. So here’s a shout-out to Nichole Dishuk (RIP), and kids ball pits!

The only other posts that have received random visits are a tech advice piece on ntrights, a clarification on the difference between dateline and deadline, and my post(s) on colgate toothpaste.

I’m probably gonna continue getting visitors on those topics from around the world, and may even capture random visits on future posts. It’s a bit strange for a non-specialist blog tho, I think.

No matter tho, since I’ll just keep on doing my own thing. As Eek the Cat says, “It never hurts to help!” :-)

Pulling updates out of draft-limbo

Sometime back I had written that I was going to update my blog with some old posts. But then things went quiet. I didn’t update in a long while. And when I finally did update, I’d forgotten about my earlier promise. So I went back and checked the drafts, and decided to flesh out two that deserved a spot on this blog. And so, just to be completist, I’ve published those posts here and here.

Colgate haram Google search

Odd.

So I wrote earlier about my blog post on the halal status of Colgate toothpaste showing up (kinda) high in Google search results. At least, I thought so. I mean, that’s what I got when I did a Google search with the same search terms as my intrepid visitor.

When I related the story to someone else though, their results varied. Not sure whether that’s because of a localized version (I’m currently defaulted to www.google.com.my), or some other customization due to IP address location or something else. I’ve never really paused to ponder how Google throws its search results together. They’ve served me well enough over the years.

It’s just odd that a search for the same terms, at the same time, gives different results, with my blog post showing up in one, but not another. And just so no one thinks it was some vainglorious self-promoting ego-trip, I snapped a pic of my search results.



If the above looks suspicious, just keep in mind it’s a crop from a pdf print of the search results page.

Ah well. Someone else managed to find my blog post via Google, so it doesn’t matter how that happened. Just hope it helped someone.

An activist is born!

So much for staying private. :-) I’ve just started a “movement” blog to save A’isyah’s pre-school from being evicted. I’ll be pinging that blog to PPS, and that opens up a path to this blog, although convoluted.

I’m a newbie to the whole activist scene. I’m not even active on the current Gaza War issue, beyond announcing my views in my FB status and having discussions with some friends and colleagues. That’s the hot-button issue here right now, of course. Hotter even than the recent Kuala Terengganu by-elections where BN lost.

So here, I am, fumbling through an issue more personal to me.

Save the Al Hidayah Islamic Pre-School!

419 scam: Want a share of some millions “found” in Baghdad during the war?

Oh my. My blog is turning into some myth-busting site. Hehe.

I received an email this afternoon, forwarded to me by a colleague. Alarm bells went ringing as soon as I saw the header. An email from someone within the US Army? Can’t be.

And then I read the email. My mind was pretty much made up by then that this was some kind of scam.

Here’s the email that was forwarded. Take note of the From: field.

From: Sgt.Al Thompson [mailto:thompson@usarmy.com]
Sent: Monday, January 12, 2009 10:24 AM
To: undisclosed-recipients
Subject: Matter Of Interest.

Matter Of Interest.

My name is Sgt.Al Thompson, a member of the U.S. ARMY USARPAC Medical Team, which was deployed to Iraq in the beginning of the Iraq’s war. I will like to share some highly classified information about my personal experience and role which I played in the pursuit of my career serving under the U.S ARMY.

Though, I would like to hold back some certain information for security reasons for now until you have find the time to visit the BBC website stated below to enable you have insight as to what I'm intending to share with you, believing that it would be of your desired interest one-way or the other. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2988455.stm

Please get back to me after visiting the above website to enable us discuss more. I'm not comfortable sending this message to you without knowing fully well if you are indeed with me or you may decides to go public.

Please reply me via my personal email:sgt.althompsonus@gmail.com confirming you have visited the site and that you have understood my intentions.
Thanks,
Best Regards,
Sgt.Al Thompson

Let’s just try to ignore the bad grammar, shall we? ;-) It didn’t take much to unravel this scam that I wonder if anyone’s been taken in by it.

My “Internet sleuth” quick response below:

Dear All,

Beware! This is a variation on the (419) Nigerian email scams on the internet. The way it works is, the scammers offer a share in huge sums of money, but you need to pay them some advance fees first (for “processing”, etc.).

Please see:
Phishbucket article

Break The Chain forum post

This one capitalizes on a real event, which was reported by the BBC (hence the legitimate link in the email). The gist: A stash of money was found in some containers in Baghdad, but there are some questions as to where the money came from and even whether all the money found has been accounted for.

Don’t fall for this scam!

I don’t usually use the Importance: High flag in email, but I did with my response above. Just wanted to make sure no one had already tried contacting the scammers. They can be quite persuasive apparently.

On another note, these scammers aren’t very imaginative when it comes to the fake names, eh?

Dangers of birth control pills?

Another entry in the “Internet sleuth” series, from an email I researched this morning.

This time, I’ll include the quoted email that was forwarded to me:

Menstrual cycle - very important send to all your friends.

I am sure most of you have a daughter, a granddaughter, a niece, a friend or a friend's daughter... this might be worth checking out. PASS THIS ON EVEN IF YOU DON'T USE IT!!

Recently, this past week, my cousin Nicole Dishuk (age 31... a newly graduated student with a doctoral degree about to start her new career as a Doctor...) was flown into a nearby hospital, because she passed out. They found a blood clot in her neck, and immediately took her by helicopter to the ER to operate. By the time they removed the right half of her skull to relieve the pressure on her brain, the clot had spread to her brain causing severe damage. Since last Wednesday night, she was fighting for her life. They induced her into a coma to stop the blood flow and then operated 3 times.

Finally, they said there was nothing left that they could do. Multiple clots in the left side of her brain were found, the swelling wouldn't stop and she was on the life support. She died at 4:30 that day. She leaves behind her husband, a 2-year old, Brandon and a 4-year old, Justin.

The CAUSE of DEATH they found was a birth control she was taking that allows you to only have your period 3 times a year. Doctors said it interrupts life's menstrual cycle, and although it is FDA approved... it shouldn't be. So to the women in my address book, I ask you to boycott this product and deal with your periods once a month, so you can live the rest of the months that life has in store for you.

Please send this to every woman you know - you may save someone's life. Remember you have a cycle for a reason.

FYI: The name of this new birth control is Lybrel. If you go to Lybrel.com you will find a least 26 pages of information regarding this drug. The second birth control is Seasonique. If you go to Seasonique.com you will find at least 43 pages of information regarding this drug. The warning and side effects regarding both pills are horrible.

Please forward this to as many daughters AND sons, co-workers, friends and relatives. Several lives have already been changed.

God bless!

And the response I sent out, after my research:

Hi All!

Another one to investigate. This one I took on mainly because I personally know women who have trouble with their normal menstrual cycles and have opted to use medication to control certain aspects of it.

First check reveals that it appears to be a mixed bag. There’s info debunking the urban legend of Nicole Dishuk:
Snopes page on Dishuk

Interesting to note that the original “warning” didn’t include info on particular brands of birth control pills. That info was apparently added on in later cycles of the email forward.

But, yes, there is a real case of a woman named Nicole Dishuk, PhD in psychology, married and mother of two young boys, who died of a stroke. From here on out, however, it gets murky. There is no definitive proof that the cause of death was the birth control pills she was taking, even though there is a news report (here: ABCLocal site) saying her husband was told that the doctors identified the birth control pills as the only risk factor for Nicole to suffer a stroke (blood clot to the brain). Whether this was established as the cause of death is unknown, because the private medical records are not available. Note also that there is no indication she even took either of the two brands identified in the “warning” below.

And here one has to note that all medication comes with risks, and contraindications are noted precisely to highlight potential risks.

So this is where we get controversial. A good jumping off point for different points of view on this topic can be found here:
About.com site on Contraception

Some say we should go au naturel, and avoid all medicines entirely, because they interrupt with the “normal” body functions. See the “warning” that was just forwarded below. Or some comments posted under the About.com post above:
“Anything that interupts (sic) a life cycle has to be dangerous.”
“Nutrition feeds the cells which in turn communicate with our 600 trillion cells helping the body to heal itself. … Put synthetic drugs in a human body and take the consequences.”

Some take the opposing stand, noting that a lot of medicines do a lot of good to people who may not have the same “normal” experiences as the majority.
There’s the case of someone who “started getting (her) period at the age of 11, when (she) first started getting (her) period (her) cycle was 35 days long and (her) actual period was 8 days long.” This person went on birth control pills at 17 and no longer suffers such terrible PMS symptoms or cramps. And there are other cases such as hers.

Some say that anyone taking medication should be responsible over their own bodies and be informed about any risks they may face.

There are many opinions on the matter, but in the end, ladies, it’s your prerogative. Stay informed.

Conclusion: Not all birth control pills are suitable for all women; you have to be aware of any potential risk factors. However, it is unfair to depict them as dangerous and having no benefit whatsoever.

It’s easy enough to sympathize with the origins of this particular myth. But there’s a danger to perpetuating misinformation, in that it could scare women off potentially useful information regarding contraceptives. All in all, a thorny subject, but still, better to spread knowledge than ignorance!

A’isyah at school

It was A’isyah’s second day of pre-school today, and she was just as excited about school today as she was yesterday. This morning, however, she was prepped with her crocs, which prompted her to ask about her black shoes. She was just told that she can wear her black shoes another time. Hehe. Not sure how long that will keep up.



Since I haven’t mentioned it yet, the school is Al Hidayah in Damansara Heights, pictured above. Three of my sister’s kids went there, and the youngest just graduated from Al Hidayah to enter Standard 1 in SKBD, which is just nearby. They have a good number of teachers/caregivers, and a pretty diverse program, plus instruction in both Malay and English. Quite a few yuppy Malays out there with kids who aren’t so fluent in Malay apparently.



Two days straight, and A’isyah is still very enthusiastic about the whole experience. I think she’s glad that she has others her age group to interact with. For me, I just hope that she gains more confidence in interacting with others.

News from Dubai starting to hit home

Big news today. Just found out from the local paper (NST) that Meydan have cancelled the construction contract for WCT and Arabtec to build the world’s largest horse racecourse. It’s all over the Gulf news. A sampling can be found here and here.

Interesting to note that the reason given was “because of non-adherence to the agreed time schedule for construction”, as mentioned in Meydan’s statement.

Hmm. No further comment from me.

Dropping off A’isyah at school

I just dropped off A’isyah at her pre-school, for her first day of school. She was so excited this morning, dressed up in her uniform and wearing her favourite black shoes, with her backpack on her shoulders. Decided to change her shoes though, after seeing the other kids wearing sneakers or crocs even. Maybe for the time being she can wear her crocs. It’d be easier to take off and put back on as she goes in and out of the school building.

First impressions were ok. A’isyah seemed alright, and was curiously watching all the other kids. She met one new girl who was there the day we registered A’isyah. And there was this new boy who was crying the whole time after his parents left, just as he was on the day we registered. Feeling better about A’isyah being able to cope now. At least she wasn’t bawling her eyes out. Hehe.

So this whole morning I’ll probably be wondering if she’s doing alright on her first day of school.

Halal status of Colgate toothpaste

I was browsing my Statcounter logs earlier and found an interesting search engine entry into my blog. One of my earliest posts was about a halal scandal involving Colgate toothpaste, and apparently it’s now a popular enough reference on the topic. I’ve actually seen a few Google searches on “Colgate” and “halal” leading into my blog before, but I never bothered to check it out much.

This latest search was for the phrase “is Colgate haram”, and interestingly, my blog post appears on page 3 of the Google results (as of this writing).

I figure it’s only appropriate I update that post with the latest info, which is to say that the issue has been settled (at least, for now). I can’t say about other locales, but the Colgate toothpaste sold in Malaysia is now certified halal. You can check out Colgate Malaysia’s statement, which specifically states that:

“The calcium in Colgate toothpaste is sourced from minerals.
The glycerin in Colgate toothpaste is sourced from plants.”

I hope this puts to rest the question of whether Colgate toothpaste is haram.

The other question that remains unresolved is whether the original “flyer” was indeed a misinformation marketing tactic, or was created for genuine reasons. I suppose it’s irrelevant, because in the end, Colgate sat up, took notice, and went ahead with the halal certification process to prove its credentials.

Merging PriceWatch

I had another blog, which I set up to track prices of stuff in Dubai. It was just for reference purposes, but I didn't use it that much. I'm not in Dubai right now, of course, but I think the idea behind PriceWatch might still be useful.

Anyway, I've merged that blog to here, and deleted that blog, since it won't be (just) Dubai prices I'll track.

Itching to game

It’s been ages since I played a game. Starting to feel the “itch”. I never got my fill of Dawn of War or even Supreme Commander (which I came to very late). Problem is, I’m running outdated hardware, so the latest games are out of reach anyway. Even some of the games on Jumboplay are not playable on my old laptop. I should probably just cancel that service.

The last game I gave any time to was TrackMania Nations, which didn’t quite scratch the same itch as (the original) Re-Volt. Incidently, Re-Volt was the game that finally prompted me to get a video card for my old Gateway PC. There’s really nothing else out there (racing game-wise) that I’ve encountered that captures the same sense of fun as Re-Volt. Still, TrackMania Nations is decent fun. Too bad I can’t play it on my current laptop.

Probably time to plug in the ol’ XBox, since I’m not getting a new laptop anytime soon. Or any new games either, for that matter.

Weekend in Dubai – Day 3

On our last day, we only had half a day. Our flight was in the early evening, so we took it pretty easy. Unlike Day 2, or even Day 1, we took part in the group outing. At least, A’isyah and I did, since there was a visit to Ski Dubai in the program. After breakfast in the room again, I sent Nany to our old place where she was meeting someone at the spa, and then A’isyah and I went to MoE. We were there early, since the group was late to breakfast and late to depart the hotel. While waiting, A’isyah and I walked around and took pictures at the x-mas display in the centre court.


Finally the group arrived and we got our tickets. Half were going for ski lessons, while the other half were just going to the Snow Park. I bought A’isyah a pair of mitts, and then we got suited up. A’isyah was excited about the visit, since the memory of her previous (and first) visit a few months earlier was still fresh in the mind. She was looking forward to gathering up snow and throwing it around again. We spent a good hour inside, and then came back out to meet up with Nany and have lunch.

The rest of the group had to rush for a visit to old Dubai (the Creek and the old souks), while we took our time with a nice lunch at Chilis. After lunch we walked around for a bit, and then took off for the airport. I returned the rental car, and then we waited for the rest of the group to arrive. After getting our tickets, we went ahead and checked-in, and then processed through immigration and went straight to our departure gate.

When we boarded the plane, we had to re-sort ourselves, since we had gotten three seats in separate locations during check-in. Two seats in the same row, and another a few rows back. So we had to switch around with the rest of the group, and there was quite a bit of confusion as we switched seats around so couples/families could sit together. We finally got three seats together in the middle aisle, and settled in for the return flight. Once again, we all rested all the way through, not even bothering with any in-flight entertainment.

We touched down on time around 6am, and took the ERL (KLIA Express) to KL Sentral. Headed home, got ready for work, and was in the office by 10am. Back to the grind.

Overall, for such a short trip (back) to Dubai, it was alright, though it could have been better. At least, A’isyah had a fun vacation.

Weekend in Dubai – Day 2

Day 1 was mostly about the Annual Dinner. Day 2 was free reign. At least, for me. The rest of the group had a sight-seeing tour around new Dubai, and a desert safari in the afternoon.

So the morning of Day 2, after breakfast in the room (mini-croissants and cupcakes bought the previous day), I sent Nany and A’isyah to the Umm Suquem Spinneys while I headed out to the site office. I had some files on a thumbdrive to pass to someone, but when I got there, there was no one around. The security guards told me that people would only start coming in after 1pm, since there was a dinner the night previous. Odd, I thought.

I went back to pick up Nany and A’isyah, then we headed over to the Dubai Mall. On the way there I received a call from the office. They needed someone to direct the tour group to the site office and give them a tour before lunch. After checking the timing, I agreed to meet up with the group at Souk Madinat Jumeirah around noon. That gave us an hour plus at Dubai Mall.

And that turns out to be more than enough time. Dubai Mall is open, but it’s not quite ready. The first thing you notice when entering from the parking lot (besides all the construction workers around) is the paint smell. Lots of spaces are still under construction, so all the sounds and smells are still there. There are some shops already operating, but I can’t imagine there’s much foot traffic yet.



We only came over to check out the big tank at the centre, to compare with the one at Atlantis that we had seen the previous day. I’m not certain which aquarium is larger, or which one has more fish. It doesn’t really matter. Both aquariums have something to offer the visitor. The one at Atlantis has a unique setting, while the one at Dubai Mall has a larger viewing area. I never went “inside” either area, so I can’t comment on the paid areas, except to note that the aquarium at Dubai Mall is cheaper than the aquarium at Atlantis.


The only other thing worthy of comment at the Dubai Mall is their touch screen navigational aids. After experiencing (read: playing around with) the touch screen map at the Gardens Mall in KL, I can’t help but to compare to the better implemented aid. The touch screen map at the Dubai Mall isn’t good for much more than listing the stores at the mall. Finding your way around on it, and finding the location of the stores is pretty much a hopeless task. Since there’s going to be a lot of stores at the Dubai Mall once it’s fully operational, I hope they improve on that. The other quibble I have is that they don’t have a static map displayed, unlike at the Gardens. So if someone is playing around with the map (which I’ve seen people do at the Gardens), anyone else wanting to find a shop will just have to stand around waiting their turn.

After Dubai Mall, we headed out to Souk Madinat Jumeirah. This ranks (a distant) third amongst the malls we like to visit, after Mall of the Emirates, and Mercato. While waiting for the group to arrive, we went to Seattle’s Best Coffee for a light lunch of sandwiches, cake, and coffee. After that, we collected our car from the parking lot and waited just outside, right before the junction. The group arrived late, and I heard later that they just rushed through the souk to take photos. We were an hour later than the schedule leaving the souk. The bus driver knew the way to the Nad Al Sheba Racecourse, so I only had to show the entrance to our site office from the construction entrance.

Once at the site office, I gave the group a tour of the two office buildings, and gave them a briefing on the project. At the second office, they went off to the canteen for their lunch (nasi lemak, I was told later), while we left. I sent Nany back to the Spinneys where she was going to be picked up by friends for a gathering. Then I headed back to the site office to hand over the files and check in with some old friends. After a while, I went to the HQ for some official business and to check in with yet more friends. And then I went to pick up Nany and A’isyah back from the Spinneys.

We headed back to the hotel, where we cleaned up, and then, together with a colleague, we took off for Global Village. It was my first time driving there, and thankfully we didn’t have too much trouble finding the place. Global Village has changed since last we visited, and it didn’t seem as crowded, although we didn’t go to the amusement park area. Still, the parking lots didn’t seem as full. Maybe it was still early in the season.

We ate (overpriced) briyani, and then walked around, visiting some of the pavilions. Eventually we got tired, so we went back to the car, and waited there for my colleague to finish her shopping. Driving back to the hotel my colleague showed the route their bus driver had taken earlier. It was shorter than my earlier attempts, but we had to go over some rough patches since we cut across on a back lane.

We arrived back at the hotel around midnight, and went straight to sleep.

Dateline vs deadline

I was working on minutes earlier today, and was just reminded of a pet peeve of mine.

I’ve created templates for minutes before, and once, someone used my template but went and changed one of the column headings. Said person thought they were correcting my spelling. Then when I came back to the KL office, I was passed a set of minutes that had the same error. When preparing the very next minutes, I corrected the error, but was queried on it. So I explained the difference, and below I’m sharing that critical explanation.

Dateline is mainly used in the newspaper business.  You’d see it at the top of stories, together with a byline.  The dateline identifies the time and place for a story; the byline identifies the reporter.
Click here for definitions.

Deadline, on the other hand, is the point in time when something is due.  Quite a few people erroneously write “dateline” to connote when something is due, when they actually mean “deadline”.
Click here for definitions.

I suspect I will continue to encounter this. At least next time I have the explanation all ready to be shared.

Dangers of kids' ball pit play areas

Ok, another myth. Received one in the mail this morning. Actually, two copies of the same email. Of course, me being me, I decided to investigate a little.

I'm just going to copy over my whole email response.

Hi All!

Back on the job. This one’s a tough one to handle, so I’ll be as careful as possible.

First off, we should all note that any environment, if not properly managed, is potentially dangerous.

The warning circulated below is an old one, dating from the late 1990’s. However, it’s been given a new lease on life several times over the years, doubtless when someone just encounters the tale, or digs it up to share it with someone after some conversation on safety. It happens. In this case, the Word document was last saved by Colleen & Trevor Bellman, using Microsoft Word 10.0 (that’s old software), on 16 May 2008. This suggests that the alert originates in North America (I know, judgement call there), and is most likely more applicable to that area. Nevertheless, some things apply everywhere, so this still bears investigating.

So here’s the deal on the warning: It’s false. At least, the warnings about the deaths. No verifiable incidents as those described in the warning have ever happened. Follow through to Snopes for more info:
http://www.snopes.com/critters/snakes/ballpit.asp

Another source of info is at BreakTheChain.org, and this one matches the text in the “Alert.doc” forwarded below more closely:
http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/ballpit.html

And finally, for an unraveling of the syringe aspect of the story, back to Snopes:
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/parental/archer.asp

Synopsis: No evidence of any snake-related deaths or syringe-related deaths from children’s ball pits.

Now, here’s where it gets slightly tricky. All the sources above do concede that ball pits are not the cleanest of areas, with some questionable items occasionally found in them, of the kind mentioned in the “alert”. However, most businesses spot clean the play areas daily, with a more thorough cleaning at least once a week. At least, that should be the policy. So, the smart thing to do would be to check with the management of any place that has these kinds of play areas on their cleaning policy. If you want to be extra careful, ask to see the cleaning log to know when was the last time they cleaned the pit and the individual balls.

I say this to protect the franchise owners, because they also suffer from the spread of these rumours. So, if you are a franchise owner, or know one, maybe you should ensure that the cleaning policy suggested above is implemented, enforced, and transparently reviewable.

In the end though, what this “alert” is really trying to get everyone to do is to be more vigilant about the safety of our children.

Conclusion: Dismiss the reports of deaths; be alert for cleanliness.

Your Internet sleuth,

Already I’ve gotten a response saying, “why take the risk?” Which is a valid response. But it misses the point. The point is, any environment, if not properly managed, is potentially dangerous.

And, yes, I sign off these kinds of emails as the “Internet sleuth”, since I rely on the Internet as my source. That opens up a whole 'nother discussion on reliability of sources, which I'm not going to go into here.

Weekend in Dubai – Day 1

A continuation of my weekend in Dubai updates. Previous post was just the day of departure.

Arrived in Dubai at 3am on Friday. I slept throughout the flight. Didn’t even watch any movies. Luckily, so did A’isyah.

I rented a car since I didn’t want to be tied down to the “official” program. Most of the group hadn’t been to Dubai before, so they had arranged a full program for sight-seeing. Since I’ve already lived in Dubai for almost two years, I wanted to do my own thing.

I was supposed to bunk with some officemates at their apartment, which was a place I had stayed at before. But on the plane, I was informed that the company had re-assigned my living arrangements, so I was to go to the main hotel (Arabian Park Hotel). Of course, I had no idea where this hotel was.

Thankfully, the rental car was delivered to right where the chartered bus was waiting. So when I picked up the car, the rest of the group was boarding the bus. I followed behind the bus to the hotel, which is really out in the middle of nowhere.

Rested for a bit after checking in, and then went down for breakfast around 8am. There was only one other couple from our group down at the restaurant at the time, and they were well into their breakfast already. Now, we had been informed that breakfast was included, but all of a sudden, one of the waiters comes over to their table and asks for a credit card or something for the payment. Vincent’s wife sure was surprised! And since we were sitting one table away, so was I when I overheard this. Turns out that the booking was only for the rooms, and no breakfast included. We told the staff to check the booking again, since we had been informed it was included. They did, and came back with the same info.


I was already halfway through my breakfast, so there was no backing out. So at the end, I said to Vincent that we’ll cover it first and sort it out with Joanne, the admin staff who was supposed to be in charge. So when we were done with breakfast, I asked for the bills for both our tables and charged it to my credit card. It was AED 70.00 a head! Eeks! And not even the best of breakfasts!

Vincent (or his wife, dunno who) managed to get a hold of Joanna in her room after this, and then Joanne calls our room saying that she just found out that morning that when the Dubai office made the bookings, somehow breakfast did not get included. So she said that we were on our own for the first day, and that she would try to sort it out afterwards. Of course, I gave her a piece of my mind about misinformation, and said that I would claim back the charge. She told me to give it a try.

Found out later that the rest of the group encountered the same problem later that morning, but they found out before going in. This put some people off breakfast. (Of course! Who wants to pay AED 70 for breakfast?) But Teik Lee or Chor Wah or someone made some kind of arrangement and most of them ate with the hotel charging the breakfasts to the room. Too late for us though.

After breakfast, Nany, A’isyah, Vincent and his wife, and myself went off to drive around. I decided to go to the Atlantis on the Palm Jumeirah, since that had opened already. So we went there, took a look around and took some pics.

Then we headed to Mall of the Emirates. I left the rest of them there while I went to the mosque nearby (close to the Jumeirah resort), then met up for lunch. After lunch, we headed back to the hotel to rest.

When the rest of the group had come back from their outing for that day, Vincent, Khairina, and myself went to the Jumeirah Beach Resort to check out the venue for the dinner. We wanted to recce the stage and see what we had to work with for our performance.

Coming back to the hotel we got lost. As a matter of fact, it took me several tries before finding a decent route to the hotel. Hehe. I kept taking a long way around. One route had me crossing Garhoud bridge and then re-crossing the Creek at the Business Bay Crossing. Another had me crossing Business Bay, making a u-turn at Festival City, and crossing back.

Terrible, I know. Apparently, the best route is on Oud Metha Road, passing Al Wasl Hospital, and turning at the Emarat gas station, which takes you on a back-road to the hotel.

So, we ended up arriving back at the hotel just before 6pm, and the bus was supposed to leave at 6pm. Not a problem for me, but it would be for the other two. Got ready in half an hour, then went back down. Luckily for the other two, the bus was late and it was still there, or they would have had to squeeze into the car with me.


I must say, the venue was done up nicely, with banners outside. The bagful of door gifts was pretty nice too.

We went back to a buffet dinner, after last year’s (almost unanimously voted) disastrous sit-down ala carte dinner. The food, what little of it I sampled, was alright. Nothing really to shout about, but at least decent.

For entertainment, besides our “Idol” performances (five in total), we had a Malaysian Idol in the house. Jaclyn Victor performed in between our own performances, in what was meant to be the highlight of the evening I’ll bet. I didn’t get to see most of her show, since my group was getting ready for our performance.

And speaking of our performance, we were a little “off”. I mixed up the placement for one of the lines in our haka, and there were a few coordination issues. The worse was the face makeup. Our stage makeup went missing, so we had to get last minute replacements, consisting of liquid foundation and eyeliner pencils. It didn’t really have as big of an impact, and together with the lighting problems, it wasn’t as good as our taped video performance we handed in as part of the audition stage. In the end, we were one of two teams that won consolation prizes. I’m not surprised about the winning team though, after having watched their audition video.

Of course, the lucky draw was something most looked forward to, but this year they only had 30 draws, unlike previous years where everyone won something (if only the smallest gift). The other change was that there were no trips in the prize list this time around.

The official program ended shortly after 11pm, and we headed straight back to the hotel afterwards.

Weekend in Dubai – Day 0

That title sounds a lot more glamorous than it really is. Our company sponsored the KL branch to fly out to Dubai for the Annual Dinner. And this year’s Annual Dinner was also the occasion for the 15th Year Anniversary of the company, so it was to be a grand to-do.

I’m splitting up my entries for the weekend, just to keep each entry short.

Day 0 was the day we left. We flew off on Thursday. By 6pm, practically everyone had left the office, since we had to be at the airport before 9pm. There were still a couple of stragglers, printing off and arranging some drawings on linen to lug over to Dubai for signing.

By 10pm we were checked in, but our seats were scattered throughout, splitting up families. It was a mess we had to sort out on the plane.

We boarded before midnight, and off we went.

The rest of the updates coming up.

Back in KL and the office is empty

Well, we’re back in KL after a weekend in Dubai. We were celebrating the company’s Annual Dinner, and 15th Anniversary. More on that later.

Touched down just after six this morning, and everyone headed home. Some of us didn’t opt to take leave today; we already had to take leave on Friday just to attend the dinner (can you believe the gall of that?) and some of us have run out of leave days. That includes me. Hehe.

So here I am at the office. And it’s mostly empty. No admin staff even. Courier came by at 9.50 this morning, and there was no one to answer the door. So they left the notice hanging on the front door. When I came in about 10 mins later, I found it hanging there.

Slow day in the office then. :-)

Going (semi-) private

I’m taking my blog semi-private. That only means that I’m not going to ping PPS. But I’m not unlisting this blog, or making it private access only. So people can still find me, and those who already visit this blog anonymously (I’m talking to you, person who lives in Klang and works in KL) or not, can continue to do so.

But I’m rediscovering the reason why I started this in the first place. It’s just a place for me to record my musings. Not quite a journal or diary, but some sort of record.

Because someday I will want to share this with someone. And it’ll all be here.

Could we get a fact check please?

Sigh. Another one. Fact check, please!

I received a forwarded email today. One of those that tries to be helpful, by informing you about the latest threat facing single ladies/unwary movie-theatre-goers/what-have-you. Seriously, doesn't anyone check the claims in these emails before forwarding them onwards? I suppose it's too much trouble.

I mean, first you have to employ a little critical thinking to extract key words from the email. Then you have to Google a combination of those key words. After which, you should be able to find a discussion on that topic as one of the top 10 results, leading you to something like this: Coke+Ajinomoto

Go on, try it out! Try searching for "Coke and Ajinomoto". You'll find the text of the email I got (and no, I'm not going to reproduce it here).

Only one difference in the email that I received earlier today. Someone added in a sender:
Hishamuddin Alias (ASP) Jabatan Siasatan Jenayah Berat IPK Kuala Lumpur

Now, I don't know if this is someone's idea to lend some weight to the email, or there really was an ASP Hishamuddin who forwarded this email onwards, and people kept his sign-off in subsequent forwards. I sure hope it was someone's idea of adding authenticity to the email, and not really a member of the Malaysian police force who forwarded the email onwards. If it was a member of the Serious Crimes Investigative Department, then I bemoan the (lack of) inquisitive and thorough minds employed there, and fervently hope I never have the misfortune of having to rely on them.

Report on NaNoWriMo 2008

Well, it’s over. And I am (slightly) ashamed to report that, once again, I did not reach the 50,000 word target. Hehe. At least I did better than last year, where I barely scraped past the 10% mark. I know where the problem lies. I still have to “free” myself; I'm too concerned about “getting it right”. Plus, I keep putting it off. I have my days, where the words come flowing, and then I have days where nothing comes to me. I just have to keep pushing myself, I know.

So, I’m setting myself a target before next year’s NaNoWriMo. I’ll at least finish up my two NaNoWriMo projects, before the next one rolls around.

Tired of being me

There are times when I just get tired of being me. Tired of being the way that I am. With the way that I think and feel. It just gets to be too much. Sometimes. I guess this is one of those “sometimes”.

Actually, we can enter “hate” territory now. I hate knowing that I have caused someone-I-used-to-care-for to turn into a hateful person. And there's no doubting that. Either that there's hate in this person's heart. Or that it was my doing.

What's worse is that I feel this. I can actually understand what is going on. I get it. But that doesn't mean that I will make it “right”. Unlike how I have been exhorted to, by countless many. They say it's easy; just make a conscious decision to change your mind, and you will. You just have to want it.

And that's the crux of the matter, isn't it? You have to want it. So what happens if you don't?

This part I get too. I have been branded heartless. Selfish. Short-sighted. Any number of names, none of which are quite what one would consider encouraging. Now, apparently, I'm also defying God. Eternal damnation awaits me, because I'm not afraid enough.

Oh, to be ignorant! Woe is me, to have a mind that ponders these things, instead of just sweeping it all under the proverbial rug.

Can't I truly be heartless? Wouldn't it be easier not to care?

Why must this hurt me?

And last, why am I even sharing this? It's not like I'm going to win converts to my “cause”. Am I seeking understanding? Sympathy?

I'm not sure. I just have this need to share. Because, maybe... maybe someday this will be necessary. Maybe someday this will be worth something.

For now, maybe it's time to scream.

Gordon Freeman to be put in charge of security at LHC

Life imitates art, or, how games have made a huge impact on popular culture/the modern psyche.

Anyone daring to call themselves a gamer knows about Half-Life, arguably one of the most influential games of the modern era. Even if you've never played it (putting you in the minority of gamers), you've heard of it. Even if you're not a gamer, I'd hazard a guess that you've heard of it.

Heck, even the scientists at theLarge Hadron Collider, which is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator, have heard of it. Of course, being geeks, it's really no surprise that they have. (Seriously, people: Scientists -> Geeks -> Gamers. We're talking almost totally inclusive sets, although the reciprocal isn't true.)

For evidence of the above phenomenon, take the jump (below) to see the new security training regimen at the LHC, which has scientists practicing with a crowbar. Serious stuff people. Could save the world, and what-not.

Video calls come to GMail

Google has introduced video calling to their chat application - but only in the GMail client. They haven't rolled this out to their GTalk app yet. One wonders if that's in the pipeline.

This lets them join the ranks of the other IM apps that offer video calls. The ones that I've used are YM, MSN, and Skype. For some time now though, YM hasn't offered good connections, although they're still the only option for group vid-chat, afaik. MSN quality is on and off, and Skype is mostly spot on for quality.

If the GMail vid-chat app doesn't support Opera, I'm not going to bother even trying it. If it makes it to the GTalk app, I'll probably give it a try, though the quality on GTalk's voice-chat isn't the best.

Browser share stats

Well, it seems there's controversies over how to properly count browser stats. My earlier post still stands; Chrome is making inroads in the browser market. For more detailed stats, tho, have a search. A good jumping-off point is at Wikipedia's entry for usage share of web browsers. And that's where I'm leaving it.

Chrome makes an appearance

I was just browsing my site stats, and have noticed my first visit from a Chrome user. Said user came over for a short visit just before midnight on 31 Oct 2008, attracted by my mention of NaNoWriMo.

The Chrome browser was just recently released, but already it's made quite an impact on the browser market. Says something about the influence of Google, doesn't it?

BTW, I use StatCounter for site stats, and Opera as my browser. StatCounter is free, and quite detailed. Opera is just cool.

So, anyway, welcome to the game, Chrome! :-)

Election 2008 – and The Age of Holograms!

My sis called me up this morning at around quarter past eight, and told me to switch on the TV and turn it to CNN. I was wondering whether it was a surprise election result. Maybe a swing state went to the Republicans, or maybe a traditional red state went over to the Democrats. But no, she wanted me to check out the hologram they were using! They had one of their correspondents ‘beamed’ over to the studio as a 3-dimensional hologram. I’m not talking get-out-your-3D-glasses kind; I’m talking Princess-Leia’s-message-to-Obi-wan-via-R2D2 kind! Definitely cool.

They used 35 cameras to capture views of the correspondent so they get an all-around view. But I’m more intrigued about the projection system. Still pondering…

Incidently, we’re getting close to an official win for the Democrats.

NaNoWriMo 2008!

So I've decided to participate in this year's NaNoWriMo. Short version: it's a group writing exercise, where every participant attempts to write a 50,000 word "novel" within a 1 month timeframe. I found out about it last year through a friend, and gave it a shot. I barely managed to get to 10% of the target word count. Hehe. Quite miserable, I know. But I've decided to give it another go, to try to write freely, and not be so hung up on constructing everything so "perfectly". Wish me luck! :-)

Service with a smile – in Singapore

We – meaning Malaysians – have a long way to go.

I just came back from a week-long trip down to Singapore, and I have to say, I’m impressed. It’s been absolute ages since I’ve been down there, and I can’t really remember much of my previous visit, so I don’t have much to compare to. With nothing to compare progress to, it still bears noting the level of development they have achieved. The bizarre road-markings aside, downtown Singapore looks like any other developed city should. But it’s not the physical development that I’m most impressed with; it’s the human development.

I’m not sure where they picked it up. Maybe it’s part of their school curriculum, or part of their military service training, or their regular government announcements/indoctrination (seriously, look at all the signs, and even the announcements in the MRT!), but wherever they get it from, they’ve mastered the “service with a smile” attitude. At least, they manage a very decent job of projecting it to all tourists.

From the cab drivers, to the MRT staff, to store clerks, to the guys at the foreign exchange counters, to the hotel staff, everyone seems to put on a welcoming face and provide good, friendly service.

One anecdote I’d like to share was an experience at the lobby restaurant at the Hotel Re! (brand new chic hotel, opened just 6-months ago). We knew the hotel was new, cos even the (very friendly!) cab driver didn’t know about it, and we were curious how new it was. So we asked the wait staff, but he didn’t know. So he went to his supervisor, who then came over to our table, and then shared with us the brief history of the hotel (converted from an old school). That’s what I call friendly and helpful service! (Interesting aside: the wait staff was this young Chinese guy, young enough to be a student, and the supervisor was a not-as-young Malay guy, both speaking good English – no surprise – and interacting like normal in a work environment, which, frankly, you don’t see enough of in similarly multicultural Malaysia.)

Even Dubai can’t match this level of service, which seems to permeate every level of society. I don’t have to be some white-guy staying in 5+ star accommodations to get good, friendly service. Imagine that!

Friends...?

A random thought came to me, and it made me pause.

All of a sudden, I’m wondering about friendship. Specifically, about when the last time I could actually – comfortably – say that I had friends. Not someone else’s friends. Not acquaintances. Not co-workers. My own genuine friends. People who wanted to spend time with me, for me, and actually did. People I could talk to about shared interests.

I’m not ungrateful enough to think I’ve never had friends. Of course I have. I remember the times. But I was much younger then. The “world” was smaller.

And maybe I do now. Yet… I’m hard-pressed to think so. I mean, truly believe that I do.

This random thought reminded me of that quote:

”No man is an island.”

Which led me to think of the movie ”About a Boy” (no, it wasn’t Jon Bon Jovi who said that; it was John Donne). And that made me smile.

So not a pointless random thought after all. At least it didn’t leave me completely depressed.

Sneaky cybersquatting (of sorts)

In my earlier post on Azafia's art, I had mistakenly identified the website of the organizer. I had gotten this, instead of the real Expat website. Kinda sneaky.

Azafia's art

I just got back from Expat Expo 2008, an expo organized by Expat, where Azafia and a few of her friends from GIS were doing some paintings. They worked on it all day, from around 10am til around 6pm, and the artwork is supposed to be auctioned off with the proceeds going to charity.

Not bad. There were 4 collaborative pieces from the GIS students.

Convene the Council so I can get you kicked off the island

In some alternate universe...

DSAI: You have to get the group together. Call a special council.

AAB: Why?

DSAI: Well, I want to call for a vote to kick you off the island, and since you're the only one who can call a Tribal Council, I need you to get the group together.

AAB: Oh.

DSAI: And do it soon.

AAB: Uh... no?

DSAI: This just proves that you're scared to get kicked off the island.

AAB: Sure. Whatever you say. Why don't you just wait for the Tribal Council scheduled in a couple of weeks?

DSAI: No no. It has to happen on my terms. I've already got all the votes I need to get you kicked off the island anyway. It'll just be a formality. So, are you going to call the Tribal Council or not?

I wanna scream!

This is going to be cryptic...

I wanna scream. Scream, scream, scream!

I hate myself for hating my life. Because I know, I have nothing to hate about my life. Not really. Not if I were to be 'rational' about things. I mean, what more can I ask for? What more do I have the right to ask for? What more do I deserve?

Why is it that I'm so selfish? That's what it comes down to, isn't it? That I'm selfish, because I only think about what I want. About what makes me feel good.

Why is it that I can't make sacrifices, for others' sakes?

Why is it that I don't want to change myself?

Why is it that I don't want to adjust to my 'responsibilities'?

Even now, I have to use quotes around that word. I'm trying to distance myself from that word.

Why is it that I can't 'grow up'?

And even that phrase, I put in quotes.

Can I just go and scream now?

Laundry detergent

Item: Laundry detergent, 4kg
Brand: OMO
Price: AED 23.90
Date of Purchase/Survey: 19/12/2007
Place of Sale: Carrefour, Mall of the Emirates

Powdered milk

Item: Powdered milk, Milupa 3, 900g
Brand: Milupa
Price: AED 42.50
Date of Purchase/Survey: 19/12/2007
Place of Sale: Carrefour, Mall of the Emirates

Powdered milk

Item: Powdered milk, Milupa 3, 400g
Brand: Milupa
Price: AED 18.25
Date of Purchase/Survey: 06/06/2007
Place of Sale: Carrefour, Mall of the Emirates

A fair amount of savings compared to Spinneys.

Rice

Item: Basmati Rice, 10kg
Brand: Lehar
Price: AED 39.50
Date of Purchase/Survey: 06/06/2007
Place of Sale: Carrefour, Mall of the Emirates

Rice

Item: Basmati Rice, 5kg
Brand: Mughal
Price: AED 17.50
Date of Purchase/Survey: 15/05/2007
Place of Sale: Carrefour, Mall of the Emirates

Rice

Item: Basmati Rice, 5kg
Brand: Green Valley
Price: AED 17.20
Date of Purchase/Survey: 15/05/2007
Place of Sale: Carrefour, Mall of the Emirates

Chicken

Item: Chicken wings, 900g
Brand: Sadia
Price: AED 11.00
Date of Purchase/Survey: 14/05/2007
Place of Sale: Spinneys, Umm Suqeim

Chicken

Item: Chicken breast, 450g
Brand: Sadia
Price: AED 10.50
Date of Purchase/Survey: 14/05/2007
Place of Sale: Spinneys, Umm Suqeim

Paper towels

Item: Paper towels, pack of 4
Brand: Home Choice
Price: AED 8.25
Date of Purchase/Survey: 10/05/2007
Place of Sale: Spinneys, Umm Suqeim

Toothpaste

Item: Toothpaste, 125ml
Brand: Colgate (Maximum Cavity Protection, Extra Mint)
Price: AED 4.75
Date of Purchase/Survey: 07/05/2007
Place of Sale: Spinneys, Umm Suqeim

Chicken

Item: Chicken drumsticks, 900g
Brand: Sadia
Price: AED 12.25
Date of Purchase/Survey: 07/05/2007
Place of Sale: Spinneys, Umm Suqeim

Note: Looks like chicken is cheaper in Carrefour. This is the same brand, same type, same weight, but it's ~11% more expensive. It'll start to make a difference when you buy more than just a few packs.

Powdered milk

Item: Powdered milk, Milupa 3, 400g
Brand: Milupa
Price: AED 21.75
Date of Purchase/Survey: 05/05/2007
Place of Sale: Spinneys, Umm Suqeim

CD-R

Item: CD-R, 700MB, 52x, pack of 10
Brand: Imation
Price: AED 11.90
Date of Purchase/Survey: 03/05/2007
Place of Sale: Carrefour, Mall of the Emirates

AV equipment

Item: Camera tripod, RT-1000
Brand: Giottos
Price: AED 85.00
Date of Purchase/Survey: 03/05/2007
Place of Sale: Fotofun Color Lab (Kodak), Mall of the Emirates

Video tape

Item: Mini DV video tape, 60 min, pack of 3
Brand: Sony
Price: AED 50.00
Date of Purchase/Survey: 03/05/2007
Place of Sale: Fotofun Color Lab (Kodak), Mall of the Emirates

Note: It's AV related.

Chicken

Item: Chicken drumsticks, 900g
Brand: Sadia
Price: AED 11.00
Date of Purchase/Survey: 26/04/2007
Place of Sale: Carrefour, Mall of the Emirates

Rice

Item: Basmati Rice, 5kg
Brand: Lehar
Price: AED 19.95
Date of Purchase/Survey: 24/04/2007
Place of Sale: Carrefour, Mall of the Emirates

Introduction - PriceWatch

Welcome to PriceWatch Dubai!

I've started this blog to keep track of prices in Dubai, U.A.E. People are always saying that the cost of living in Dubai is high. After living here for 4 months plus, I can see why people say that. Still, not everything is expensive here.

So, to help compare apples to apples, I've decided to keep track of prices for goods in Dubai. I may even add in services. This is mainly going to track my own shopping, but not always.

I figure this will also be a handy way to track inflation (if I stay here long enough to notice), and whether a sale really is a sale.

I hope this blog will be useful to others and not just myself.

Edit (29/12/2008): Old blog deleted. All posts merged with current blog.

Time to play catch up

It's been a long time since I posted anything. Too long. And I don't have an excuse for it. I just didn't set aside the time for blogging.

My last post was on 16 Aug 2006, about the Dell battery recall. A lot has happened since then. The biggest change of all is that I'm now in Dubai. I'm sort of settled in, and ready to start posting again.

Still, there were a few updates I wanted to post before this, and I've even drafted some posts already. So I'll be posting some "new" posts, backdated to the time I want to post them. Each of those posts will be time-stamped 9pm exact. Once I've caught up, I'll post new stuff. Hopefully playing catch up doesn't take too long.

Dubai, here we are!

It’s always a thrill to move. At least, to me. But that’s probably cos I’m so used to it, having moved around a fair bit in my life. I grew up moving practically every three years, uprooting myself and getting into a new school, adjusting to a new place, and making new friends. A large part of my temperament and personality has been affected by this background. And I’m not afraid to leave my family “behind”. I was in boarding school from nine to twelve years of age, so I’ve adjusted to that before.

This move will be harder on Nany though. When she went to Penang for a year to do her teacher training stint, it was the furthest she’d been from her family. So this is a big move for her, coming all the way to Dubai.

So, here we are. At least it’s a Muslim country, so food isn’t going to be an issue. We still have to adapt to the local customs (Friday prayers are done slightly differently here), and the local shops. Language isn’t too much of an issue, since English is widely used here. I don’t foresee us having any problems on that front.

The “apartment” unit we’ve been assigned by the company isn’t large, but at least it’s just us. We don’t have to share accommodations, unlike some of my other colleagues. It’s also the first place to call “ours”, so there’s an excitement to that too.

Big changes, and an exciting time ahead.

A’isyah’s 1st birthday

This is a big occasion! It’s the point when we stop describing her age in months, and start using years. :-) No longer “x months old”, but now, “a year plus”. To celebrate, A’isyah decided to start walking.

And we had a family dinner at KGPA. It’s becoming something of a favourite for my family; we even had a buka puasa there recently. The buffet spread’s certainly not bad.

We had planned on adjourning to Damansara after dinner, but the weather didn’t cooperate. When we exited the dining hall we noticed that it had started raining heavily while we were eating inside. Since we had the cake and the main presents with us anyway, we decided to just do our thing right there at the external dining area. So we commandeered a round table and took pictures. A’isyah sat down on the table and started playing with her new gifts straight away.

I think she had the best time of all. Which is a good thing. :-)

Dell recalls laptop batteries

Heard this bit on the news this morning on my drive to work. They mentioned the largest safety recall in the history of consumer electronics, for Dell batteries manufactured by Sony.

I remember coming across some articles about spontaneously combusting Dell laptops. This was after I purchased one myself of course.

Then while getting my daily dose of Slate I found their Hot Document on the issue. I am a bit surprised that Dell tried to keep it on the quiet. Still, can't blame them. Wouldn't want to scare off potential customers with a huge warning plastered on their front page, would they?

Anyway, for anyone else with a (recently bought) Dell laptop, check out Dell's battery replacement page for info on whether you're affected.

Just for the record, the serial numbers affected are:


Luckily, we're not affected.

Battlestar Gallactica 2

Malaysia's getting the second season of the new Battlestar Gallactica! Cool!

We finally got the reworked BG last year. Finally an update of the 70's show. I remember watching some of those episodes when I was a kid. Mostly I remember the Cylons with their eyes like Kit from Knight Rider, and that line, "By your command", and of course the Vipers. I was some baffled when they never finished the story. I mean, we never got to find out if the ragtag band of ships managed to find Earth.

The update took the same main story, at least in broad strokes. With some rather interesting changes to the characters and other elements. The best change, of course, was to the Cylons. The new version gives them a proper backstory, and at least some kind of motive. Of course, we're kept guessing, but that's good. Still, some "fans" felt it wasn't proper calling it BG, since it was so different from the original BG. But what's the point of doing a rework of it's gonna be exactly the same?

Anyway, the first season ended with quite a cliffhanger. So this second season's gonna get off to an interesting start.

Time to switch the channel! :-)

The Real Story of the 2006 World Cup Final

Yes, Italy won the World Cup for the fourth time.

But let's move past
1) that Italy beat France (yay!), and
2) that they did it on penalties.

What everyone's talking about, and what the 2006 World Cup Final will most probably be remembered for, is Zidane's headbutt. What a coincidence that the incident happened to involve the only two goal scorers in that game's regulation time; Zidane scoring with an early penalty, and Materazzi equalizing with a high header from a corner kick. And at the penalty stage, France could have used another Zidane penalty kick. I'm sure there are France supporters out there agonizing over Zidane's red card.

Anyway, this headbutt thing was quite serious. There was immediate speculation on what set off Zidane. One side said this. The other side said, "No, I don't even know what that means." They even got lip readers to watch the tapes and decipher what was said. Still, despite being sent off from the Final, Zidane got the Golden Ball. That's a tribute to a great ballplayer!

So, the 2006 World Cup was the Zidane Headbutt World Cup! :-)

And this brings my football-following days to an end. At least for another 4 years or so. I don't really follow any sport that closely, but I do enjoy watching the big games.

I vaguely remember the 1986 World Cup, mainly cos of Maradona's Hand of God. I somehow remember people talking about that. That was when I was in boarding school in Penang. The next World Cup for me was the 1994 World Cup. (Lin, remember watching that in Stockholm?) I didn't really follow the 1998 World Cup, mainly cos I was a uni student in Canada with no cable. And somehow, I didn't much follow the 2002 World Cup, but that was a busy year for me.

Until the next big game attracts my attention, that's it from me for sports.

A forgone conclusion for third place at 2006 World Cup?

Well, seems my outlandish predictions were only half outlandish. ;-) Loved those two late Italian goals! Well deserved, and quite a gamble. I mean, seriously, four strikers on the field!

So now we're down to the last two games of the 2006 World Cup.

And I wonder, is the third place game really a foregone conclusion? Most peeps I talked to seemed to think that Germany was sure to win their match-up with Portugal. But they do seem to have run out of steam in the last couple of games. In the run-up to the quarters, they were quite impressive, with their string of early goals to give them the psychological edge. Then they kinda faltered and met with some good fortune in the Argentina game. And in the Italy game they looked like they were fine with taking it to penalties again.

Sidebar: They're letting Kahn in for their last game! Hehe.

This is the third place game, and they're on home ground. They'll be playing for pride in front of their home fans. I'm sure the crowd will be pushing for them to win against Portugal.

Do Portugal have some magic up their sleeves they can pull out for their last game? Look around the field... Doubt it...

World Cup 2006 Semi Finals

So it's a European Cup.

Surprises galore for me. Crushed dreams. Countered with raised spirits for some.

Let's make some outlandish predictions then shall we?

In the Germany-Italy game, Odonkor gets a red card for getting in the face of an Italian. Lehmann lets an early goal in, so he gets switched for Kahn (finally!), who quickly concedes two goals. Ballack manages to limp pass all the Italian defenders for a late consolation, but the game goes to Italy after they crush the German defense 3-1.

Portugal-France goes to Portugal. Score is 1-1 after 120 mins, and Portugal wins on penalty shootout after Zidane kicks too high.

Yeah, right.

What is it about fans and their predictions? Let's just hope for a beautiful game. I wish I saw more of that from Brazil. :-( Seriously, I didn't see Ronaldinho really shine this World Cup.

Germany-Argentina result

Oh woe, oh woe!

I knew as soon as they went to penalty shootout Germany were through.

Did anyone else feel the ref was biased against Argentina?

It was a good and entertaining game though. Just felt that the ref made too many calls in Germany's favour, and waved off incidents against the Argentinians.

Looks like Germany might make it to the finals then.

World Cup 2006 Quarterfinals

So we're at the quarterfinals already. Quite a few surprises on the way, and Brazil's taking me on a rollercoaster ride. Gotta see how they perform this weekend.

But of the four games this weekend, the one I've really got my eye on is the Germany-Argentina game tonight. Should be quite a match! I'll skip staying up for the Italy-Ukraine match and hope I don't wake up to a shocker in the morning. Hehe.

Incidently, I'm now actually rooting for Argentina to win it this time around. Yes, I'm hoping to see a Argentina-Brazil final.

A few thoughts on the new car

First off, it was actually less than two months. :-)

I've had a chance to drive the new car a bit. It's quite a feisty car. Smooth acceleration, and no problems on any hills so far. Seems to handle the hills nicely, compared to my old Wira. By hills, I'm only talking Bangsar and Damansara Heights, but I can still notice the difference. Only thing is, you gotta watch the turns. It sits higher, compared to the Wira.

We're both pleased with the car. Features and specs of the car are pretty good, especially considering the price range. Seriously.

Only thing is, we've got to get rid of the new car smell, cos it's giving Nany a headache. But she doesn't want to spray any air fresheners in there either.

More thoughts after the first service.

Our new transport

We just took delivery of our new Ozzy Orange Premium Auto Myvi today, after waiting two months.

Wait, let me repeat that.

Two months.

Don't be jealous! :-) People I know had to wait upwards of six months to get their Myvi's. We got a little lucky.

So anyway, when school opens next week, Nany will be driving a new car.

Did I just jinx MyTeam?

Just saw Malaysia score one on MyTeam, putting them one up.

So the pressure's now on MyTeam. I won't hold it against them if this is the final score. They made some good plays.

Maybe I shouldn't be blogging while supposedly watching TV. ;-)

MyTeam v. Malaysia at half-time

MyTeam is up 1 over Malaysia. Hehe.

Why am I not too surprised? Sigh.

Mixed feelings here.

Oh wait. Malaysia's already equalized. Ok then.

Sorry, Nany's watching the AF prelude concert.

First movie in year (at the cinema) - X-Men: The Last Stand

Yup, went to the cinema for the first time since last year's Batman Begins. A few changes, such as, the ticket line, the ticket price (up RM2!), the seats. (GSC MidValley, of course, as both Nany and I still think that's the most convenient place to go.)

We'd been planning to go on opening weekend since I heard when it was being released. So we made it. No problems getting the tickets on Thursday night. Entered the theater this morning and it wasn't full. Not just the front rows, but generally everywhere. Don't know if this is a trend with movie-going, bad word-of-mouth for the movie, or the school holidays that just started this weekend. Whatever.

We enjoyed ourselves, and enjoyed the movie too. Won't go into a review of the movie, except to say that, yes, it's not strictly true to the comics. But, get real! There have to be some concessions when making the conversion to movie format. I can see where they're coming from, and as long as they make a good enough movie that stays true to the spirit of the comics, then I'm ok with it.

My verdict: this was a good way to end the "trilogy".

The only thing is, I didn't know there was an extra scene after the end credits! I should have guessed when I noticed a bunch of people not moving from their seats when the credits started to roll. I would have totally missed out, if I didn't start reading posts on the net about the movie. (Policy of mine not to read too much on the net about a movie I'm going to see, before I see the movie.)

Imagine my frustration. It's not like we're going to get another chance to go watch it at the cinema again. And no, I'm not going to go out and get the pirated VCD.

Anyway, it didn't take much to find out what I missed. (See bottom of this post for the spoiler.)

I'd still recommend this movie, even to fans, although I'd tell the die-hards to chill, man.

*** SPOILER ALERT! ***

*** Don't read further if you don't want to know anything about the movie! ***

*** I'm serious! There's a spoiler here! ***

Info on that extra scene follows this...

Wipe away those tears. You know, the ones that slipped out in that scene at the Grey residence. The one where... yeah, that one. Anyway, remember the ethics lesson Prof. X was giving towards the beginning of the movie? Remember in the video, Dr. Moira McTaggert was talking about a guy in a coma that had no higher brain function (the guy in the hospital bed in the background)? Guess who wakes up in the extra scene and calls out, "Moira"? And how does she respond? With a surprised, "Charles?"...

Happy Teachers' Day!

To all the teachers in Malaysia, including and especially to my wife, Happy Teachers' Day! :-) Nany's busy receiving messages from her students now...

Hello World

unknownVisitor = StatusCheckCookieCrumbs()

IF unknownVisitor
    Display("Hello World!")
ELSE
    Display("Hi! Just announcing myself on Project Petaling Street")
END IF

The Malaysian blogosphere

Wow. There're quite a few Malaysian blogs out there.

When I started this blog I wondered how many other Malaysians were into this blogging thing. While browsing around, I actually came across a few Malaysian blogs. Of course, the next thing I wondered was whether there was a list of Malaysian blogs out there.

Just recently, I stumbled into the Petaling Street Project, a Malaysian blog-tal. Probably the Malaysian blog-tal. I haven't really explored much for others like it.

So, the Malaysian blogosphere is larger than I thought, and there's a wide range of voices out there. Definitely something for everyone.

I'll probably list myself there sometime.

Troubleshooting the "Local policy on this machine does not permit you to logon interactively" error

This one was a pickle, and even after solving it we don't know what caused it in the first place. One moment we were fine, logged in as admin, fiddling with the firewall. Then after a restart we get the logon error message. Can't logon to domain, can't logon to local account.

Go all around and finally found three articles of use.

1. Microsoft KB276590 article
   
   This one was the first to point in the right direction.


2. Microsoft KB279664 article
   
   This one gave info on syntax for NTRights.


Unfortunately, I was getting an Open Policy error when I tried to use NTRights.

3. Forum posting on the subject
   
   This one gave a hint to what was keeping the above from working. Tried to establish a link to the pc, but kept getting "Network path not found". Finally clued in and booted up in Safe Mode to disable the firewall, and voila! NTRights works and we can log in again! What a relief!

So, finally got it stable, but now have to get all the components working again. Hope to be up and operational by end of day tomorrow.

And all this with little to no experience as any kind of admin (sys or network), and with zilch training. Damn Comp Sci degree! Everyone thinks I'm supposed to know all about computers... ;-)