What A Game!

Sorry Liverpool fans, but the Moscow dream is over.

After 180 minutes of pulsating football (which was MUCH better than the Barca-Man U game), at least you could see that the two teams were really up for it, and whoever won the tie should go on to Luzhniky Stadium and win it.

I thought both Drogba and Torres had a massive game, with the supporting midfield cast for both providing the platform for trading blow after blow. It was a balanced duel but two names really impressed me the most - Cech and Essien.

In Cech, Chelsea has an Immovable Object which sometimes is more important than your multi million Euro strikeforce. He has been very consistent, and as the game at Anfield showed, was really dependable when you needed him to be.

Essien is the heart and soul for Chelsea in my opinion. With his steely determination, unending supply of energy, he turns it on when it mattered most and is also a big game player.

He's like the Kuyt-Gerrard-Carragher clone, and just like Cech, dependable like a Duracell.

My take on the match was that it was lost when Liverpool's defence switched off in the closing minutes of the first half of ET, when they allowed Anelka's pass to find Drogba for the third Chelsea goal.

Hyppia & Co. was clearly looking forward for a breather when that happened, as Liverpool was in it to capitalize on any mistakes that Avram Grant's men would make.

The penalty incident shouldn't have robbed the Reds of any motivation as the game would have changed if they just got the other goal. In such big matches, concentration is key as the small mistakes would often prove very costly.

Having Skrtel out through injury also affected things as I thought Crouch would have definitely been involved in later stages of the game, and with his aerial prowess (is it me or doesn't he seem to always lose headers to shorter defenders?), and Pennant and Riise bombing in the crosses, he could have added extra dimension to Liverpool's play.

Anyway, congratulations to the finalist in Moscow, but I am putting my money on Grant's idiosyncratic ways this time!

Free Publicity..

Read all about it, at #1152..

My Portobello Tale

I brought my family out at The Gardens and had lunch at Tony Roma's yesterday because my wife just had to have their shrimp farfalle! Not ribs, not burgers, but pasta..

Anyway, while there I had the chance to stock up on my cooking condiments at Cold Storage as many would know that they stock stuff that many other supermarkets don't (even though they and Giant stores share the same parent company).

While pushing the shopping cart + my little boy, I stumbled upon a crate of Portobello mushrooms. Here's how they normally look like:
Now, I love mushrooms, but neither my kid or wife eats them. Here is a fully matured fungi, the size of my palm and costs like RM4 each, and I just had to find a way to sneak it into their dinners, without giving the robust, wholesome flavor away..

To the Jamie Oliver wannabe's out there, mushrooms are a joy to prepare - as long as you know how.

Most of the issues surrounding the prep work for them are whether you need to wash them, dust them, remove the stems, discard the outside 'skin' and/or removing the 'gills'. My advice is, as long as you know how they taste like once you've cooked it, and if you do like it, then you should be ok.

*****

2 hours later, I was still thinking of how many mushrooms should I take. My kid was urging me to take him to the cereal corner, so I just plopped two pieces into the plastic bag at RM7.10. Guess how much it's gonna cost you at the upscale diners?

So, I woke up this morning, with full enthusiasm to prepare breakfast. I decided that the best way to appreciate the exquisite flavor of the mushrooms were by cooking it on its own, minus all the fancy-schmancy sauces and what-have-you.

I picked up really fresh sausages at Jaya 33 supermarket a couple of days ago, so that went onto the grill together with the mushrooms, tomato halves as well as a couple of eggs. Oh, the mushrooms have to be dry for this to work, so too your pan which needs to be very hot, if not you'll end up steaming the fungi which is what we don't want to happen.

You might also want to drizzle some good olive oil and a teaspoonful of unsalted butter just to get the flavors going. The tomatoes could also use a pinch of salt and some freshly cracked black pepper, but be careful not to overcook them.

Served with a hot piece of freshly toasted baguette, and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice - Yum!

*** NEWSFLASH *** Wonder-kid Stuns Dad!!

I just have to break this story out; My 2 year old kid (well actually 2 years, 3 months and 21 days) has just showed me that he can use the computer!!

The YouTube page I opened for him had his favourite rock band playing, and as I was doing work on my laptop, he clicked the 'Replay' button when the song ended..

He then proceeded to amaze me by clicking on another song by the same band which I've opened for him previously!

Congrats, son!

The Vacuum Cleaner Story

I don't know if you folks in Malaysia know anything about Dyson. They make the coolest vacuum cleaners known to mankind, and the story of Sir James Dyson is a must read for every wannabe entrepreneur.

Not many people though (especially in the States) know that like Dell laptops, these über cool machines are made here in Malaysia!

As my correspondence to the people at Dyson will tell you, I was shocked to note that our retailers here don't stock them appliances. Why? I am yet to know why, but I suppose the potential is huge. How else can you explain a group of school kids having lunch at Carls Jr in Sunway Pyramid? When I was back at school, McD's was at the high end of the scale..

Us, Malaysian urban dwellers just love premium items, man! As long as the brand name brings association with the good life, we'll buy it!

So, I decided to write to Dyson..

Here I reproduce my e-mail in its entirety, minus personal details:

"Dear Mr. Dyson,

I am writing this from Malaysia, a country you surely would know well by now as your low-cost manufacturing facility.

I have been a great (read: fanatical) admirer of your goodself since my student days in the UK back in 1997, where I would read up about you in tech magazines, when the latest hot contraptions were handphones, HiFis and LCD TVs.

I know it is a bit belated, but congratulations for making it big, as I knew you would 10 years ago.

My great big thanks for providing my countrymen with jobs, even though at the risk of great flak from people from your homeland.

But my greatest gratitude is for saving our planet Earth, by making use of recyclable plastics in your products, as well as reducing the usage of paper bags globally.

The thing is, I was given a vacuum cleaner (a cheap Made in China model) as a wedding present by my brother, and thus, by local customs, were obliged to use it (especially when he came around) even though it was worse than a traditional coconut-leaves skewer broom! The worst part, as you would guess is when one needed to dispose off the dust stored in the cloth-bag (like the paper bag, only this was a permanent fixture), which was quite filthy and troublesome with all sorts of clips and such.

We were blessed when one day, (by accident of course) my wife broke the attachment (like I said, it was cheap), and like all other non-aesthetically inclined, low-cost driven, no customer support product, we happily noted that there were no spare parts for that sorry excuse for a vacuum-cleaner.

Not wanting my wife to despair, I sought to get a replacement for her and your Dyson machine was the first thing that popped into my mind!

I have worked hard to be able to make enough to support my wife and two kids, and knowing how steep your price is, I think now, I should be able to happily pay for your premium piece.

BUT WHY OH WHY OH WHY?

I have scoured the internet through and through, and I need an answer urgently; Why would you be selling the Malaysian made product in Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan and China BUT NOT HERE IN MALAYSIA?

This is beyond belief.

Do you know how many people have I mentioned your success story to since a decade ago? People who I motivated enough to come back from the UK and rather than the HiFi sets, they brought back your vacuums instead (albeit from a car-boot sale)?

Do you know how Malaysians hunger for your products?

For it to be produced in Senai, Johor and not getting sold in Kuala Lumpur and Pulau Pinang is definitely mind-boggling.

And I have a broken vacuum cleaner.

Thus, I would humbly request for a Dyson machine sent to me free of charge for:

1. The grief that I had after I realized I cannot get your product here in Malaysia

2. For the decade long dedication and effort in providing word-of-mouth promotion and brand awareness

3. In exchange of greater publicity (not to mention the highlighting of my life-long gratitude) to the general Malaysian public via my Blog site and word-of-mouth marketing campaign.

Your Marketing/Customer Service people should be able to get me via e-mail or call my mobile phone number at: (+xxx)xxxxfive2.

Your swift reply is highly appreciated.

Many, many thanks.

Yours sincerely,

xxx xx xxx"

Spooky Rock Song..

Everytime my kid listens to this, he'll get his guitar and goes berserk!!

Cold Days, Cold Noses..

Working from home today as I caught a cold in the midst of unpredictable weather here in Puchong. I thought it was the rain, but I didn't really get myself wet..

Then, yesterday I found out the reason why. My cubicle was right below the centralized air-cond vent, so when it rained outside, inside was as cold as an Eskimos pop sickle..

So, when I went for lunch I've already felt feverish and was sneezing non-stop. My eyes felt like popping out, and nose running. There wasn't any flu tablets around, so I weathered the storm until 5 pm.

Reaching home, I was so tired and so I had some food, medication and off to bed.

Was up at 3 am to watch Liverpool taking on Chelsea, though!

But honestly I feel Liverpool have a great chance in getting to the Final after a great display of controlled football. Chelsea was caught wrong-footed many times, and if not for the gallant display of Cech, Liverpool would have gone 3 goals up.

Anyway, looking forward to the Barca - Man U game tonite.

If only I could wake up..

Aahh, Refreshing Saturday Again..

This week went by quite fast for me.

Maybe it was because I spent much time keeping myself busy in the office as there were too many things to get sorted out. We had vulnerability issues that needed taking care of, as well as the formulation of new processes to get things going smoothly for the first time.

I am also still in my 'real-estate agent' mode, spending hours and hours scouring the net for property and mortgage tips as well as reading the the predictions on the future outlook of the world's economy. The Star yesterday carried some news on the properties market which wasn't really comforting, especially with the interest rates going up and all.

I then stumbled across a good piece of writing from George Soros that talked about the current US economic crisis which has been coming for some time now. As I understand from it, the greenback has really lost much of its desirability, which explains why it is hovering around the RM3.15 - 3.16 mark lately.

That however is great for me cause I'll be shopping on my business visit to my company's HQ in Michigan come summer!

My main target is the Dell's XPS 210 which would fit nicely behind my 24" WFP2407 while looking sleek at the same time. Another one of my target buys would be the Dell Bluetooth Media Combo which would make my rig wireless and as clutter-free as possible.

I am currently using a Belkin wireless router which would also allow me to network the would be PC without extra cables. The thing about WiFi routers though is the fact that you still need to plug in the phone cables as well as the power adapter which means hanging it on the wall would disclose all the cables, thus making the appearance somewhat unflattering.

Oh, there's one other thing I might be tempted to get on eBay and that is the rarely heard of (well, at least in Malaysia that is!) Dell All-in-One LCD monitor stand:


Unfortunately, this model is known to only support the 17" and 19" LCD monitors, so if it doesn't fit my 24 incher, I'd be happy to let it go at eBay.

I understand that Dell are not offering it's full catalogue of products here as Malaysians only has a limited level of purchasing power. But that really starves us of their most innovative and practical accessories plus add-ons which would increase Dell's desirability level.

Just like upgrading cars, consumers would like to feel that they have a customized product, although the assembly line back at the plant churns millions of the same type of thing everyday.

The Customer is always King, I heard!

Something I learnt about Home Loans today..

Loan approving officers look at several things when they are approving your loan request:

1. The kind of loan you are requesting (unsecured or secured)

2. Debt ratio (whether you are 'high' geared - >50% of your gross income paying off debts, or 'low' geared)

3. Your previous loan payment record (this is where CCRIS and CTOS comes in)

4. Your income record (whether it is consistent)

5. Your demographical background (Age, Sex, previous employment, Education level, etc.)


If you have a debt of 8k and other monthly commitments of 2k and you are making about 2.5k, most probably a loan for a house valued at 200k might not get approval.

But if you earn 5k (lower debt ratio, higher gross income) you should have a fair chance.

If you have been starting-quitting-starting-quitting-starting jobs for the past 2 years, it will trigger a red flag to the lender (bank), and your chance would be lower.

But if you have an FD of 10% of the loan amount (semi-secured), some banks would take that as a sign that you are cash-rich and a worthy borrower.

The approval given is not just because of CTOS or CCRIS, as these are only a factor in approving the loan. Most banks would allow their loan officers to fight your cause, thus they will be looking at the applications on case-by-case issue to gauge as accurate as possible your credit worthiness.

In lending out money, the bank wants to be 100% sure that you would be able to service out your loan throughout the full tenure. They are not as interested in taking back the property what more dragging you all the way to the courts for some NPL from John Doe.

Your responsibility is to provide them the necessary documents and evidence that you are worth their gamble.

How Time Flies..

Well whaddya know. It's already nearly halfway past April.

Me and my family are back at our old rented place in Puchong, sorting out stuff to be taken to our new place (if my loan gets approved that is!). Any which way I look at it, we should still need to move as the thought of walking up 4 winding, slip-prone flights of stairs with 7 bursting bags of your latest purchase from Cold Storage while carrying a 13+ kg toddler asleep in your arms, is honestly, very scary.

So we went condo hunting for the past couple of days. Target areas were Bandar Putri, Bukit Puchong and Puchong Permai.

I do have a problem in the fact that my company's moving to it's new office near MidValley in a couple of months. I however have decided that I'd rather commute than move closer to the office even though my wife works in KJ now.

The real big reason is the fact that we have a trusted daycare for the kids, whom we pay nearly RM500 a month to take care of our two children. That and that reason alone. I was really skeptical about the place initially but because it was recommended by my friend, I thought I'd give it a try. All the screaming and yelling during morning handovers aside, the place seems OK for my eldest boy who happens to have a lot of friends there.

Anyway, back to the housing issue, I am still contemplating whether to stay in this particular unit that I'm purchasingas it seems that there is a huge rental potential for that particular area. That, as well as the thought of moving the pieces of furniture that we have at our rented place at the moment..

I do really hate moving, that's for sure.

I was reading up the difference between freehold and leasehold properties and I found out these facts.

Decisions, decisions..

Autobots, Roll Out!!

Aah, the day has come for me to move my family out of my in-laws..

We are planning to purchase a small condo, as my BIL is getting married, so we are letting him move into the family home instead (and pay the lion's share of the bills, hahaha..)

As my wife is preparing to get back to work, I just found out how impractical it is for her to commute from work whilst at the same time fetch my kids from the nursery. Now, she does all the fetching simply because she gets off work earlier than I do.

My MIL failed miserably in her test to take care of both her grandchildren single-handedly, which to be fair is a mammoth task only accomplished so far by my dearly beloved wife. So, we have to contract a nursery to keep a tab on my two children while we’re off working, and thankfully there’s a good one near where we used to stay in Putra Perdana.

So we decided to test out the daily arrangements by running a pilot today in anticipation of my wife’s first day back to the office on Thursday.

What do you know, a mere glimpse of the nursery gate sent my two year old son into complete hysteria as he wailed in protest..

Even telling him that he was in charge of his little sister didn’t seem to work as he steadfastly held onto the front passenger seat, not wanting to get out off the car. The look on his face was pure unmistakable dread, and I sure hope he doesn’t remember this when I grow old and in need of tending to.. : (

He was still screaming when I handed him over to the caretaker, and I thought that was that only to discover I couldn’t move due to an irrepresible force yanking on my shirt and hair.. Oh, goodness me..

I was weeping inside to see my little boy in that state of despair, but I did read somewhere that goodbyes are supposed to be swift and neat, so I kissed my boy’s cheek and told him that dad’s gonna take him on a motorbike ride in the afternoon and said goodbye.

I hope he doesn’t take me to task on that..

Telly's best programs..

I don't really watch much TV nowadays, but the I programs I do watch would revolve mostly around football or the news. Well that was until my wife started to record American Idol on Astro Max.

Out of all the contestants still left standing, I suppose the three male singers are my favourites. You have the two Davids - Archuleta & Cook as well as Michael Johns who hails from my favourite city, Perth.

The rest are ok in my opinion, just that the three I mentioned seem to have an extra dimension to their weekly performance, are are very consistent week in week out.

Unfortunately, I've ran out of space on my AstroMax, and am forced to delete old episodes of Football Focus because of that. : (

I am also waiting for the warranty to run out as I am anxious to rip the box apart and plonk a megasize HDD to replace the preinstalled 80 GB disk. I'll definitely post the pictures on that.

I have to also say that my experience with the contraption is not to pleasant as I've seen the box freezing up too many a time. The remote also sucks, and there are many instances where hitting a button activates something else. Crap is all I can say. Great idea, crappy execution.

I've read in some forums that the box doesn't store the programs, but only shortcuts to the Astro server. My take is that the programs are in you HD, but you need the SIM card to unlock/decrypt the programs, as I've tried it by using my SIM card in place of my dad's and I could see that the previously recorded programs are all intact.

Would definitely wait for the warranty period to cease for me to find out more..

New Month, Same Old Story

I've been up and about for the past couple of days basically doing the same thing I've been doing, so yesterday I decided to take some time off work.

I was actually a bit under the weather, having some minor allergic reaction sniffing the laundry detergents at Mydin's couple of nights ago.

My wife has also finished her 'pantang' or confinement period which was due to her giving birth more than 44 days ago. Circumstances pointed out to the fact that I needed to take my family out for a spin, and that was what I did, taking them for dinner at Secret Recipe (of all places!) as Tony Roma's was too far a distance for a quick drive.

Anyway, we went to MetroPoint which is right smack in the center of Kajang town. I was actually quite pessimistic of the potential of the place as it seems to be too congested to be a successful mall. But then, it has slowly picked up its pace and you can see people flocking the area on weekends.

There's a Starbuck's, Sushi King as well as Lemongrass outlet there, but the top floors still lack a killer tenant other than MusicBox - the karaoke centre, which have been attracting young kids (and moms when I last checked) by the droves.

Even the textile shop Gulati's seem to underperform, something which was really a suprise as they don't really have a competitor nearby (Nagoya's at Tesco is I think the nearest by location, I think).

But as a stop gap measure for mall-loafers, I suppose it has all it needs to be an addiction fix until you have the time for a visit to the big malls.