Life, Travel, GRACE

This Christmas I went back home. Did so as I wouldn't be back for next year Chinese New Year. Although it was a short time spent at home, I had a good time with family. Plus able to go to some places since my sis had bought a car. There's a forest reserve area nearby my house which is good for trekking. Its hilly step could be a good place for mountain walking training . It does look like Bario trek minus the tar pathway. On Christmas day, had lunch with parents in restaurant. Although the dishes were so so, it was worth for money. On Boxing day, tried to renew my passport. Boy, nobody was lining up for the registration. In fact, the immigration counter was quite small. Unfortunately, they didn't accept my smooth-surface passport photo. So have to do it in KL. In local newspaper, Mrs Lai was in the news. Today it's time to go back. Will work for two days then new year holiday. Happy New Year!

What will be the Christmas atmosphere looks like in the remote area such as Bario and Ba Kelalan? This was featured in Sunday star edition. I have been to these two places in year 2005. Been there was like traveling backward. Everything seems to be slowing down. No traffic (car is a very rare item). Some of the people take up to 3 days to get back home for family reunion. Think of those city people who can reach their home within few hours and at any time. Reading the article brought back some memories - few hours of walking from one village to another. City boys and girls should be glad and grateful on their good conditions. Often time they have the luxury to waste. I'm thankful with what I have now.

We had some varieties of "tong yuen" ..... filled, nut-coated and basic.

Finally I've got back my car. New outer layer of doors. They even have my car washed and vacuumed. Feel like a brand new.

Yesterday we had paintball game organized by the community Nav. There were TARC Nav people joining as well. The venue was in Subang Jaya, claimed to be Malaysia largest paintball field (I think by the number of fields). Though the field was not appealing, nevertheless we had a good fight. I got hit 4 times in 3 games (arm, thigh and face (with face mask)). My team won all the way except the last game beaten by the loser of the losers.

I'm blessed. A friend of mine lent me his car while I have my car repaired. He didn't know my car was hit until we met last weekend. I did pray for provision of transportation which I thought to carpool with colleagues. Never did I expect to have a car lent by someone. God is able to take care all the small things. Praise be the Lord. Sent my car for repair on last Wednesday. Called up the workshop on Thursday and was informed the doors have been changed. It's waiting for spraying now which will take a week (?!).

The tenth flattener which act as catalyst for previous flatteners: #10 The “steroids” The development of IT and computing enable information to be digitally organized, mobile, personal and in virtual. They include: - computing - instant messaging and file sharing (peer-to-peer) - VoIP (voice over internet protocol) - Video conferencing - Computer graphic eg video game with good graphic - Wireless technologies and their devices Source: The World is Flat

The remaining flatteners which have benefited from the first three flatteners: #4 Uploading It gives the power to the community to develop and share information among each other. We as are users also benefited from this. It was started with shareware and freeware of some useful software. It also encourages community to post or share the answers for questions posted. Individual also can as a freelance reporter. You and I can upload news and commentary in the blog (like this blog). Finally, a compilation of data which can be made available as a result of community’s contribution. One useful portal these days: Wikipedia. #5 Outsourcing It has been known that most of the US companies outsource their IT support to India . This was due to large pool of IT engineers available there with lower hiring cost. #6 Offshoring Manufacturers produce their products in offshore (outside their own country). For example PCs are made in China by US company. The ultimate purpose is to

December is here. Think about what gifts are you gonna give away to someone this time. But long long time ago we had received our gift - Christ the savior is born. Merry Christmas.... .

Following the hit and run incident, I made a police report with no investigation conducted. Some more paid RM2 for the report. Then filed an insurance claim in Perodua service center. Initial estimation of the repair: RM1.8k - change two doors. The officer in Perodua was indeed the slowest to act. Only when I called him up then the process began. Hopefully the approval is granted this week and the repair can proceed.

It was an unfortunate night. My car which was parked outside the gate and it was well within the boundary, got hit by a car and ran away. Where's the justice?

A long time friend of us (MU ministry) dropped by in our house and handed out his wedding invitation to us. It's an interesting card indeed. A CD holder card. I've been receiving quite a number of wedding cards these few years. Some are conventional and some are creative (like this one). This CD holder card cost about RM3 per piece. He printed 400 copies. Such a big investment. Wish him a happy marriage life.

There will be a series of 40-day prayer for the student ministry. You are encouraged to participate in the prayer. Ops Mustard Seed

What forces the world to be flattened? There are ten. The first three was the genesis. #1 The fall of Berlin wall, the launching of Windows and the rise of PC. As a result, every individual can author his or her own content in digital form. You are using it daily though. #2 The spread of the Internet and the live Web. This was made possible by the browser and fiber optic. Do you remember your first time online? Mine was when I started using Netscape. As a result, more people can share their digital content across the boundary. #3 The standardisation of connecting pipeline of information and commerce work flow. This enable people to work together on one another's digital content. These were in mid-to late 90s. What's more in 21st century? Source: The World is Flat

The property unit which SY and I invested is still under construction. Nevertheless, we have started serving the interest. :(

You think you are safe if you stay at home? Not anymore. Ever since the industrial revolution, new stuffs keep on producing. Chemicals are used to achieve certain property and quality of the product. The bad side – some are harmful to our body. Here’s a simple list of chemical but not limited which can be found in our home: (1) PBDE – foam mattress and pillows, carpet, cushions, hair dryer, TV(?), blender, toaster, microwave (2) Phthalates – shampoo, perfume, soap, toothpaste, plastic containers and bottles, food wraps (3) Dioxin – fatty meats, dairy products, fish (contaminated) (4) Bisphenols – plastic containers (polycarbonate or PC) (5) PFA – nonstick pans What are these? - PBDE – used as fire retardants. Can cause development problem. Though has been phased out, but their variant still in used. - Phthalates – cause problem in the sexual development of male - PFA – carcinogenic - Dioxin – cancer and birth de

Confusion not only happens in “mid-life crisis” as perceived by norm. It can occur to anyone, at any age and at any time. Sounds dangerous huh. We will at least face some confusion in our stages of life. Confusion of character and ambition at teen period; balancing career and family at adulthood; handling crisis with teenager and mending decreasing physical prowess at mid life; retirement and the list goes on. Apparently, confusion is a normal experience. The end of the confusion will be clarity and direction. It’s like going thru a tunnel and you will see the light at the end. Two issues are categorized as confusion starter: calling and major life issues. Calling and vocation Of all the activities man involved, job takes the biggest portion of the time. In early stages, man will focus on his job and career. As he settled down, job satisfaction starts to fray. Confusion arises. Some men stay in low paying job. Some regret the job they’ve taken. Therefore the easiest remedy is job chang

I stumbled on this movie on the internet and watched it for free this morning. Of course the quality was uncomparable to cinema screen. This is the Hollywood's remake of Hong Kong's Infernal Affairs . Directed by Martin Scorsese, a reputable director (he had directed The Aviator, Gangs of NY). The story evolved the battle between the police group and the mafia. Interestingly, each group had placed a mole in opponent group. Jack Nicholson gave a good acting as mafia's boss. Dicarprio and Damon played the mole and each raced to find and reveal the other mole. This movie infused the plot from Infernal Affairs (IA) trilogy. You get a bit of fusion from IA2 and IA3 and largely from IA1. The first hour of the movie was quite original. You will know who's the bad good and who's the good guy. The subsequent hour was 90% similar with IA1. Just different backdrop. Funny scene to note: Business transaction with Chinese mafia. Poor cantonese being spoken. By the way, why Canto

I will have 5 days off due to Deepavali and Hari Raya celebration. No plan for this long holiday. Unlike previous years where I spent my Deeparaya completing experiment and thesis write up. I've got no plan in mind for this year. Initially planning for short trip but cancelled it as SY is not having the same days off as mine. Also try to avoid the ridiculous highway jam. Well, for this year, will try to catch up all my backlog magazine and blog. Also will try to explore the next project.

Within a year, "The World is Flat" has been published in expanded version. The book has become quite popular and informative. It tells how the world now looks like compare with previous years. Globalization is the main topic being discussed nowadays. Little did we know that globalization took place way back in 16 centuries where the European set out to discover the new world. It was about land. The next wave of globalization was the industry revolution. Mass production, new invention and wars. It was about materialism. Until late 90s, the new age of globalization emerged. The dot-com era. The introduction of world wide web, PC, networking, telecommunication and media. We are living in this era though. How does this new globalization make the world flat? What does it mean by the world is flat? It simply means everybody can communicate with everybody around the globe. Transaction can be made within a second. News and comments posted within a second. The play field has been leve

We were grateful to have Dr Jerry White in town to share some insight on the topic commitment and the lordship of Christ. Dr White is the ex-president of The Navigators. When people talk about commitment, some respond as calling – calling for full time, missionary and so on. Is it true calling come from passion? The reality – not much deviation from our devotion and commitment to God. The pillar of our commitment: “Jesus is Lord”. Every believer shall confess Jesus as Lord (Phil 2:10-11). Do you (and us) commit to the lordship of Christ in mind, hear and will? It’s a decision (mind); a response (heart); an act (will). Is it easy to commit? From our mind, it is the seat of knowledge – knowledge of God (Matt 22:37, Rom 14:5, 1 Pet 1:13). The first step is getting to know (input?). What next if we have the knowledge? The heart – the seat of our emotion and desires. From the mind, comes down to the heart where the desire begins. Having desire is sufficient? Why not

API index: 101 (as of 11am, 7 Oct 06) Noted that the telecom tower is shrouded by haze.

Yesterday was Chinese's mid-autumn festival. Suppose to have full bright moon. Due to heavy haze, no moon was visible. We had a little get around with light refreshment.....moon cake with tea.....lantern......chit-chat...... I had a tight scheduled of work day. As a result, came back late for the celebration. :( Moon gazing? Lighting up the lanterns Hanging the lantern Friends

Upcoming national conference (end of October 06)....

Today was the last day in KK. After had breakfast with my family, we had the whole day free. Strolling around, sipped coffee, did some reading, little shopping and that was the day. Lunch was in "Little Italy". So much recommendation was given about this restaurant. After all, it's really good. The food was good and value for money. In the evening, we catched a bus to airport. This time it was really chaotic. Small airport with over-crowded. Worse, flight delayed. Arrived in LCCT about 12.20am. Next day (or few hours later) went to work.

This was the day my sis graduated from UMS. Had a brief detour to Karambunai Resort. Nice place with a long beach coast line. Thinking of having a soak here in future.

We were able to rent a car. It was my sis' landlord's car. It was a small car - comparable with Kancil. This was the not-so-common Daihatsu Charade with auto transmission and low cc (I guess should be 1.1L or lesser). We started our journey to Kundasang about 8am. The journey is uphill all the way and the distance was about 80km. Thanks to the underpowered car, it took us about an hour and half to reach there. We visited the town of Kundasang where there offered a splendid mountain view. With a little endurance of the car, we managed to stop by Desa farm. It was a cow farm with greenery scene not common in Malaysia. I suppose our Fernleaf's commersial ad was done here. Had it not having cloudy day, we would have Kinabalu mountain as backdrop. Good place for photography. We stopped over in Ranau for lunch before proceeded to hot spring. Instead of soaking in the tub, SY and I went for canopy walk and waterfall. It was a time for work out though. We went back to KK around 4pm

We started the day with no plan. Initial plan was to go to Kundasang and stayed over night there. However, as there was no reasonable price for car rental, the plan was postponed. Since we had no plan for the day, we just strolled in the town. Went up to the observation pavilion. Had a good view of the town. Later it was not a good day. It rained during noon time. Lunch was fish noodle. Quite interesting as the noodle was made from fish meat. Met my parents in the evening. And that was the day........

Woke up afresh in the morning. The sky brightened quite early (5.30am). Today we planned to go to Taman Tunku Abdul Rahman - one of the famous island, Pulau Manukan. After breakfast, we walked around the vicinity to check out any better guesthouse available. Found North Borneo Cabin which was in Gaya Street. They had a very decent living room, 4 domitory rooms and 3 private rooms. It was the last day of the promotional package -RM15 per head, inclusive breakfast, internet and hot shower. A good deal. So we decided to shift our stuff to this new place. Then we met my sister and proceeded to jetty to catch up a boat to the island. The boat fare was not cheap - RM17 per person. On top of that, additional RM6 for docking fees (we need to pay for the boat packing fees??) and entrance fees of RM3 to the park. The ride to the island was great. Bouncing for 20 minutes. Thrilled..... The island was nice. Water was clear. You can see lots of fish swimming around. As it was midday, we lunched in

Had been working busy lately. Busy until didn't have enough time to prepare the trip itinerary. Took a half day off on 30 Aug 06 and it was eve of national day. Had a quick lunch afer reached home. Then packed up all the necessary stuff. Just basic stuff. I've omitted those first aid kit stuff (hope nothing bad would happen). Then met up with SY to catch up the feeder bus. We were half an hour late from the initial schedule. Reached KL Sentral and proceeded to the bus to LCCT. To our surprise, there was another bus company (Aerobus) offered ride to KLCC and they charged RM9 for two ways. Surely it was a direct competitve to Skybus which cost RM9 per trip. Reached airport at 5pm. Checked in and waited for the departure time (6.20pm). The usual suspect: flight delayed. Reached KK Terminal 2 around 9.15pm. The airport was small, which was ok for me. Stepped outside and there was construction at the front building. This made the airport a bit messy. Reached KK town about 10pm after