Another Day at Work

I refuse to talk about matters relating to football last week as I am bitterly disappointed with the results of the matches.

It's one thing if you lose, as most people know that you'd find it difficult to find a better loser than I, but the fact that the referee spoilt the contest was really unbearable.

Anyway, a new week, a new day..

I have been working on issues at work that I haven't been familiar with in my previous company. The learning curve is actually very steep, but I suppose where there is a will, there is a way.

My cubicle buddies are off in IOI Mall playing bowling and watching movies, but here I am slogging away, just to keep things tidy and not unmanageable. My wife has been nagging at me to take her for a short excursion, but I am yet to finalize the plan. I might just go to Bangi and relax playing golf at Equatorial, so that my wife can have her leisurely tan with my kid in the kiddy pool.

Or I might just go karaokeing..

I just finished filing my Income Tax return electronically after getting my long-awaited EA form from my old employers. I only found out that there was a tax shelter of RM3000 for contributing to the SSPN fund which wasn't there a year ago! Damn, if only I knew..

The funny part was, prior to that, I actually received a call from LHDN at 7.30 a.m. As it was too early, I didn't bother to pick up. When I redialled the 'Missed Call' number, only then did I find out that it was from the taxmen.

I received another call at 8.30 and suprise, suprise, I was conveniently chosen to be audited! It wasn't a fun experience, especially if you had to answer tax-return questions going back to 3 years ago. Man, was I pissing in my pants. The scary thing was the fact that they also asked about my wife who took a salary cut in order to join a different company!

The lady, who was actually very pleasant to talk to, was very helpful in answering my questions as well as giving me advice cum consultation on what was to be done.

In a nutshell, my wife had to submit her tax returns - pronto.

BTW, the nice lady also told me to submit my taxes independently, as the rule of thumb was that for anyone who has a spouse earning > RM3000 a YEAR, the relief provided is greater if submit your tax separately. Phew, I knew I had to do it separately, but after all these years I still didn't know why!!

Thanks LHDN. I 'm glad I'm paying for the services of excellent employees such as yours!

Health is Wealth..

My sinus cavity is throbbing after I had a cup of MIL's beef soup a couple of night's ago.

It's something I've learnt to live with since I found out that I'm allergic to oily as well as MSG-laden food during my teenage years. At that time, there wasn't an internet to look up on, but thankfully I had a really good doctor - Dr. Khatijah, whose clinic in Taiping town bears her name.

The normal prescription was a red and blue coloured capsule that acts as a decongestant as well as a pain reliever (the pain actually subsides when the lining of the cavity stops swelling, thus pressure in the sinuses gets lowered, enabling the mucus to flow freely).

Nowadays, I get my medication in the form of Clarinase, Aerius and Cetrazine pills from the pharmacy. During my student days in the UK, Rinafort ('Rina' comes from rhinitis I suppose?) was the best working poison, but I was surprised to find out that years later it was banned due to some disconcerting side effects. I can't give you a link on that, just that a really good pharmacist looked in up in a drug reference book that they use and told me so. (BTW, Aeris, Clarinase and Rinafort are all produced by Schering-Plough, the drug company).

I have to say that exhaling cigarette smoke through your nostrils also provided some short-term relief, but I suppose smoking kills you faster that sinusitis..

The lady at the pharmacy where I bought my pills just now also recommended a traditional concoction that she says remedies the situation in the long term. I am yet brave enough to try that out, but I will surely post on how it pans out once I have the guts to!

I also found a really good link that you can use to look up your drugs. The fabulous thing is that it also shows you how the medicine looks like!

Let me just summarize my top fixes for my ailments as of 2008:

1. High Fever - Remafen
2. Migraine - Paracetamol
3. Cough with phlegm - Benadryl
4. Sinusitis - Aerius
5. Lozenges - Dequadin

Again, someone's remedy could be someone else's poison, so do please consult your doctor before chowing down my cocktail of western medicine.

Better Days Ahead?

I was thrilled to read in the newspaper that the State government has started to review some of its water agreements with Puncak Niaga in order to save the people their hard-earned money.

My family (6 adults and 3 children) spends about RM150 on water bills monthly and that includes car-washing once every two months. My dad does a bit of gardening (edible vegetables only though), but he only waters the plants if it doesn't rain.

I can't say that frugality runs in the family as I notice that my sisters and brothers-in-law are quite foreign with the concept of resource conservation and worse, the paying of bills! Fans are left full speed when they are off to school/office and washing of a single cup involves a gallon of water.

The same can be said with my mom-in-law, so it is a real challenge when I start my "Save the Environment, Save Your Money" campaign and there she is re-boiling a jug of water which was already warm several minutes before.

It is an uphill struggle, but I suppose with persistence, I should able to work it through.

I should also mention that I was a Greenpeace member during my student days in the UK. These people are really passionate about the environment - which explains why some of them are willing to risk their lives saving redwood forests and whales.

Muslims are also taught not to waste whatever resources and privileges (ni'mat) God has blessed us. I was raised with the believe that those who waste are devil's brethren:

"Lo! the squanderers were ever brothers of
the devils and the devil was ever an ingrate to his
Lord." (17:27)

Football Nite!

You guys must have guessed by now that I'm a big football fan..

Well, who isn't?

I have two clubs which I am really fond of, but unfortunately both are foreign league teams. Why? You see, I used to watch Selangor and MPPJ play every now and again, but since the big corruption clearout plus the Ad billboard crisis of recent years, my interest has waned so much that I don't even bother anymore.

Maybe that explains why the national team has been so disappointing of late. I'm sure some player from African nations would be thrilled to be training on such fine pitches that our country has to offer. Without being disrespectful to our local players, sometimes I just wished we would follow the Singapore way of importing athletes and naturalizing them.

We might be able to bring a crop of really good young African players and just make them Malaysians so that by the time they reach prime age, they would able to play for us in the World Cup. (I was surprised to find out that Carlo Cudicini IS eligible to play for England as he has been staying in England for such a long time, and has not played for the Italian senior side)

Well, either that or the Malaysian government gets their top notch super sleuth to get some of Zidane's DNA and impregnate Mia Hamm's ovaries with it. The next step is to get a surrogate mother, but I'm sure a lot of mothers in Malaysia would volunteer to give birth to the next Mokhtar Dahari or Azizol Abu Haniffah..

Yeah, right! Dream on Saint..

Oh, oh.. Footie's on.

Work, work, work

I'm still at the office waiting for my boss to call me on the phone from the States. We have an 8.00 pm appointment but I don't know whether the rest of the team are there yet.

They are 12 hours behind, so I suppose they should be all awake by then.

Funnily, I left my old job because of this reason - to spend more time at home. Thankfully, me being at the office after hours is an exception rather than the rule.

I spent quite a bit of time surfing for the web just to get an idea of how much would it cost for me to travel to Moscow to watch the UEFA Champions League Final on the 21st of May.

It seems that UEFA are selling the tickets and the prices ranges from €80 to €200! I ran a check on SIA' website and they are actually giving away good discounts for traveling throughout that week of May, but the catch is that the minimum stay is 5 days.

Ran a check at hostel prices and prices were between €25 to €80 a night. Of course, the lower end of the price is for dormitories where you could have anywhere between 6 to 12 people.

I might just be able to squeeze that extra cash, only if my favourite team gets into the final of course!

Reading through the many travel pages, I was shocked to read that Moscow is one of the most expensive cities in Europe (notable others are Oslo and London). I thought to myself "What, old commie town?" The prices of real estate there are really expensive and I suppose the swanky hotels are too.

Spoke to my wife over the phone, and I asked whether she'd be OK if I were to go to Moscow. She said OK, as I furnish her with the details of when I was supposedly going, and who with, etc.

I nearly made a clean getaway when she paused for a while and asked "What for?.."

Sheesh, women!

The minute I said football, she went all ballistic and was telling me how thin a sushi she's going to cut me into when I get home..

Well, don't worry. She'll get over it..

More Politics..

I am tapping my keyboard dilligently while watching TV3's 'Buletin Utama', which news still revolves mainly on the repercussions of the last election.

Pak Lah has announced that no ministers from the previous cabinet are promised a position this time around. That would cheer up most people that I know, but one character I would miss the most is the amusing outgoing Information Minister, Uncle Zam.

I'm sure most of you are aware of the war that is raging against Malaysian bloggers, which honestly just drives us even more to write. Call him what you may - loyal, zany, arrogant, I suppose he single-handedly gave Malaysians the reason to vote against BN with the kind of propaganda campaign unseen since the 2nd World War.

I read somewhere in the Sun that they've spent somewhere close to the tune of RM1.04 million on TV ads alone. That is if my memory serves me right : p

Maybe because we all love to see the underdogs win, just like Barnsley vs. Chelsea in the FA Cup last week. Whatever it is, I sure hope Barnsley does not turn out to be a flash in the pan, and that they go all the way to win the Cup.

This talk about football reminded me of the late night sports-forum program, Scoreboard, on TV3 last Moday night. Tan Sri Elyas Omar was the special guest for the evening and if you have followed the news lately, he was recently given a tough time trying to streamline the administration of sports associations in Malaysia.

This included being accused of taking bribes and politically affiliated with the late Zakaria Deros.

Without doubt, the sports associations in Malaysia (especially the underachievers) seem to be involved in petty bickerings of some sort. I still remember KOAM sometime ago had leadership issues which never seem to be resolved.

Then you had the State FAs and many others I care little to mention. I suppose when grown ups (notably men..) get together, in the merriment of the crowd you can always find some politics involved.

Looking back, I still don't know how we lost the Doha Asiad bid. All I heard was some rich oil sheikh offering something behind closed doors to voting delegates. Believe it?

The fact that the FA of Malaysia lacks tangible results also is a great cause of concern to many. I suppose when the world body is run by a joker, that's what you'd get.. Looking back at the comments he's made, I'm sure he's there because people wanted a comic-relief on the stage of world football.

My boss is peppering me with all sorts of e-mail, so lemme sort that out first.

Election Fever? Paracetamol, Rakyat's suppository style

Hi all,

Sorry as there were no posts for the couple of days that Malaysians were gripped with Election fever.

Given the recent results, statistically BN got only 63.06% of the Parliamentary seats which is less than 2/3rds majority. That got me thinking, out of the 72.2 percent of the 10.4 million voters, simple statistics shows that 2 out of every 5 of them had put their trust on the PaS, DAP, PKR alliance.

I sure hope this will bring forth better control in policy-making, as well as review of previous arrangements made by the outgoing administration.

One important thing that should be the focus of the newly appointed State Governments of Penang, Perak, Kedah and Selangor is the unearthing of any dubious contracts and projects awarded by the previous BN ruling coalition.

Let me just stress that I am not pro this or that. It's just that when you work hard for your money, and pay a lot of taxes for it, you wouldn't want other people just to throw it down the Klang River.

I wish everybody the best of luck and stop wasting the Rakyat's time & money on trivial issues. Instead, we should work together, the Government AND the Opposition, to make things better for Malaysians. We have enough problems ingress from the borders, the last thing I want is a chaotic home to raise my kids in.

Malaysia Boleh!

Car Repair Pix

Here are some of the pictures I promised;

This is the repair shop. Enter at your own risk..


The engine with the top block removed. Note the excess water dripping out..


Here is how you check whether your piston is ok. Make sure the walls are smooth, if not, you need to re-bore it.
The engine cover - water and petrol mixed at high temperatures and splattered on the engine cover:

Thank God that's over with..

Lasagna tonight?

Let's skip talking about cars for a while as I need to tell you folks about something else.

I was busy at the office overseeing many issues that needed fixing, when out of the blue, a good buddy of mine called me on my handphone. Now, this particular friend never calls unless there's something really urgent. Guess what he said?

"Hey man, why does my LASAGNA TURN OUT STIFF & UNCOOKED?"

Oh, my..

Now for those out there, let your Abang Andak here give you some advice on life.

You don't have to know how to cook precisely everything to be a great chef. Or to impress your girlfriend. Or to be in the F&B business. Or to survive.

My tip is to learn a few recipes and be REALLY damn good at it. It's really helpful if you learn to prepare what you would love eating, cause I wouldn't really go to all that trouble not being able to eat what I've cooked (although some people seem to think that what you've made would taste better to you if someone else cooked it!)..

Anyway, lasagna is such a dish that I have taken the liberty of learning to prepare and as the saying goes, "Practice makes perfect".

IMHO, just like any other pasta dish, you can basically make any sauce that your heart desire. There are virtually many recipes out there, but the basic one consists of primarily 3 things:

1. The red (meat / marinara / bolognese) sauce
2. The white (cheese / bechamel) sauce
3. The pasta (lasagna or what ever you fancy)

Again, there are zillions of recipes for a good sauce, and I won't say mine's the best because everybody has their preferences. Have a look at epicurious.com to browse for a few good ones.

Unfortunately, like any other recipes, the notes that you jot down while doing it determines whether you end up with the piece de resistance or just plain simple crap.

My tips are:

1. Always soak the lasagna sheets (eventhough the package says it doesn't need pre-cooking)
2. Make the sauces a bit watery
3. If you put in leafy vegetables (e.g. spinach), make sure you blanch it first, if not take into account the water that comes out of it during cooking
4. Make sure you preheat the oven
5. Rest the cooked pasta before serving
6. Use good quality stock if possible for the sauce
7. Cheese sauce should taste of cheese
8. Use the freshest herbs possible

One thing quirky about my pasta though, is that I tend to not have chicken in my 'red' sauce. I'd rather cook it Alfredo style in the Bechamel and have a basil-infused tomato sauce instead.

To save time, of course you can use the canned version of the sauces, but doing it the hard way ensures tons of love gets mixed in the preparation of the recipe!

BTW, for those who ended up with such a result as my poor friend, I would try to steam (kukus) the lasagna for about 20 minutes on low heat to get something edible out of it.

Good luck!

Repair Bill Woes..

Sorry that I am yet to post the pictures of the repair job.

I have spent 2 days with the car, and it seemed to be working okay since I collected it from the workshop last Monday. Yep, the managed to squeeze in another extra day from me as they said they didn't have enough time to reassemble the engine.

Point 1- They agreed that I would personally source for the repair parts
Point 2- They agreed that the fee would be RM180 to complete the job
Point 3- They said that the workshop was open everyday till 7 pm, and only halfdays on the last Friday of every month.

When I went with my DIL to send in the reskimmed top block at 2.30 pm last Sunday, the manager (Ca'a) was complaining that we sent it in late. He was arguing that he didn't have enough time and most of his staff did not turn up for work!

Oh, please...

Then when I handed over the things that he needed to fix back the engine (Gasket set, glue, fan switch, thermostat, etc.), he had the cheek to demand RM250 from me!

What a loser.

I told him RM200 is the max I wanted to go, and we got into aheated argument. He was claiming that he is charging extra because we bought the parts ourselves. My contention was that we TOLD HIM EARLIER that we were buying the parts and before we left, we reconfirmed that fee was RM180 (which was already expensive!).

I could see it from his eyes that he was weaseling his way out, but I couldn't take my car out because he would charge at least a couple hundred of bucks for storage and diagnostics.

My last words to him was "Saya bukannya bawak BMW, jadi mintaklah sikit budi-bicara" (I'm not driving a Beemer, so could you please be a bit more considerate).

He lowered down his price to RM220 and I said yes.

Truthfully, a couple of years ago, I would have gotten a tow-truck, took my car out, called KHEP action Team, and the cops and cause such a ruckus, they wouldn't be able to open for business for weeks. It might be the tiredness of it all, or age is catching up with me, I just seem not to have the will to go that far anymore.

The good news is that the car is back, and eventhough the engine sounds a bit brash on cold starts, when it gets warmer, the drive is much smoother than previously.

The idiot in front of the Box

Came back from the workshop yesterday without any transport to go to work.

Fortunately in my kind of job, considerable work can be done remotely, thus losing my car for the weekend is not too bad, considering the circumstances.

In case I forget to mention, the Kancil engine was full with water, the fan switch malfunctioned & thermostat was faulty. The solution is to replace the faulty parts, a top overhaul as well as re skimming of the top half of the block in order to get the gasket firmly back into place.

All in all, the workshop quoted RM550 for everything - parts & labour, when in actual fact the real cost was much very much lower. Sending for the re skimming and buying the parts myself, I was able to save in excess of RM250! Unfortunately, since my car is stuck in the workshop, I have decided to contract them to do the work for a fee of RM180. Hopefully the engine stays good without having to do a rebore etc.

Honestly, if the Kancil starts acting funny, I'd definitely be selling it off. The thing is, as with many other people, we're stuck with a long-term loan that's a pain to break free from. If it does come to that, maybe I'll try fitting in a good Mira engine from a kedai potong instead.

I'll post some pictures on the repairs tomorrow.