Moment of Reflections

Hi All,

Sawadeekap,

I just came back from Bangkok yesterday night after I was there for a project with a bank (red colour logo). Overall, it was a good trip but felt very tired. I did enjoy things there 2 such as going 2 Chatcuchak Weekend Market (just take a MRT or BTS 2 Mo Chit station), MBK Centre (watched Transformers 3 and shopping), Central World (had Swensen's ice cream with some of my friends and later a karaoke session). I also went to church service with my Thai friend, Nutchanon (@ Maitrichit Chinese Baptist Church) and my other colleagues at Sathorn church. We had nice dinners at Fuji and Shabushi as well. I also played badminton with my collagues and experienced a Thai traditional massage. These are all of the enjoyments that I had over @ Bangkok.

While I was there, I was working late almost everyday until about 9pm or 10pm. There was also a few days when I worked until later than that. I only reached the hotel around 11pm or later. Physically, I feel very tired plus I also need to go to office for support on Saturday. 

Is it really worth it? I can sleep for more than 8 hours and still feeling tired in office? Why do I need to work so late and on Saturdays for the project?

These r some of d effects of working late:

1. Lost of concentration & focus
2. Made simple mistakes @ work but in d end got it done anyway
3. The need 2 have coffee or > food
4. The need 2 have > entertainment

We are sacrificing our health, our time for family and rest and relaxation. The time for entertainment is limited as well. I understand the need to work hard because the users may be demanding but we also need to take a break as well. I am feeling the strain on my body. Stiff neck and shoulder pain. I have a little sore throat as well.

It has been non-stop. Break only comes on Saturday afternoons or Sunday. Sometimes I can't imagine working like this. I want to have work balance. There should be adequate time of rest and relax. 

On Saturdays, the 1st question that comes to mind are:

Am I going to work? 

For How long? 

How many logs are there to solve?

It is not:

Where are we going to? 

I want to sleep in today

I want to go shopping or do other things

I want to go for Thai massage

I want to explore Bangkok

I want to have fun

These things can be planned but it is only done after working on Saturday. Work will be coming in everyday. There will be a lot of high priority and very urgent tasks everyday. We need to work late to ensure that everything is achieved.

In the end, we feel tired. We don't feel good about working. There is no life. There is no fun. We are thinking about work everyday. We are trying to clear as many logs as possible within a single day. We want to go back earlier but could not because we are tied up with work.

During these busy times, I wish that I can be like what Bruno Mars conveys in his song, The Lazy Song.



Lol. Just don't feel like doing anything. Or our feelings may be like this:




In a nutshell, work life balance is important. Family, health, rest, friends, entertainment and sports are also important too. I don't want to be a person who thinks that work is the only thing that is important.

That's all for now.

Cheers,

Rogerkoo

The Fifth Witness

Hi Everyone,
 
I bought a new book by Michael Connelly titled The Fifth Witness. This is the latest Lincoln Lawyer Novel. It sees the returns of Mickey Haller,  a foreclosure defense lawyer. He is also Harry Bosch's half brother. Harry Bosch is another Michael Connelly's main character in the Bosch series of his novels.

 

I came across this book through The Star a few Sundays ago. This book was on a 30% discount offer at Borders bookstores nationwide until 12th June. Therefore, I bought this book only about two weeks ago.

 

Michael Haller received a news that his former foreclosure client, Lisa Trammel was accused of killing the banker, Mr. Bondurant she blames for trying to take away her home.

As a Criminal Defense attorney, it is up to Mickey to defend her even though as he found out, there were plenty of evidences against her. He also had suspicions that his client may be guilty.

The book also tells us the court proceedings that went on between Michael Haller and Andrea Freeman, the prosecution lawyer on the Lisa Trammel case. There were twist and turns throughout the proceedings and you will find a surprising end.

Overall, another great read by Michael Connelly. He is one of the best modern crimes book writer.

Radio Statiions and Current Music Preference

Hi Everyone,

Radio

Radio stations and music are part and parcel of our lives. I listened it when I am on my way to work or to church or to anywhere. I also have a collection of CDs in my car and an IPod Nano 4th Generation.

Currently, my favourite radio stations are Red FM (104.90), Mix FM (94.50) and Hitz.FM (92.9). All frequencies are for Klang Valley. Now, I listen to Red FM the most. On weekday mornings, I listened to The Breakfast Show with Rudy and Jeremy. They are funny and their show include these segments, Blankety Blanks and Rudy Oke. Red FM and Hitz.FM play the latest songs while Mix usually plays a mixed variety with the latest songs being played slightly later then Red and Hitz. Love Songs with Mynn and Linora from 10pm to 1am is also good. It is love songs and dedications this time around. The songs they played are current and easy listening. There are songs that they played that I have not heard on Mix. On Saturdays, Red FM also has the Red Fresh 40 Chart Show that plays the 40 freshest hits.

Mix FM used to be my favourite radio station. Now, in the mornings, it has the Mix FM Breakfast Show with JD and Dilly. However, I do not like Dilly's Daily Dilemma segment during the Breakfast Show. This is a segment where Dilly is trying to help people to solve their issues. There were good things to be learnt sometimes from this segment but she also touched issues on love relationships. There was one particular incident where it did not went very well. The issue instead got bigger after someone discussed his issue with Dilly. Therefore, I do not listen to Mix FM in the mornings any more. Sometimes, I do listen to Mix FM when Red FM plays certain songs which I do not really like. At night, Mix FM has the Mix Top 40 segment where it countdowns the top 40 songs that listeners voted.

I do listen to Hitz.FM occasionally but not frequent. Similar to Red FM, the played the latest songs and also more rock and hip hop songs as well. The deejays are funny too.

Songs

Here are some of my current artists / songs that I listened to and others as well:

Adam Lambert

Avril Lavigne

Backstreet Boys

Beyonce

Blue

Boyzone

Bruno Mars

Charice

Colbie Calliat

Enrique Iglesias

Far East Movement (Rocketeer)

Greyson Chance

Guy Sebastian

Hoobastank (The Reason)

Il Divo

Jennifer Lopez

Josh Groban

Justin Bieber (including the song That Should Be Me featuring Rascal Flatts)

Katherine Mcphee (Terrified)

Katy Perry (E.T, Firework...) 

Kelly Clarkson

Kris Allen

Lady Antebellum

Lady Gaga

Lee Dewyze

Maroon 5

Michael Buble

Miranda Cosgrove (Kissing You) 

Nicole Scherinzger

Pink

The Ready Set

Rihanna (certain songs)

S Club 7

Shakira

Shania Twain

Taylor Swift (one of my favourite artists)

Westlife
Wonder Girls (Nobody)

I also listen to a lot of Christian songs.

That's all for now.

Cheers,

Rogerkoo

Kungfu Panda 2

Hi Everyone,

I organised to watch Kungfu Panda 2 at Tropicana City Mall yesterday with my cell group and several friends including my colleague. There were 14 of us out of which 10, including myself and my sister are from my cell group.

Kungfu Panda 2 sees the return of Po (voiced by Jack Black), Shifu (voiced by Dustin Hoffman), Tigress (voiced by Angelina Jolie), Viper (voiced by Lucy Liu), Crane (voiced by David Cross), Monkey (voiced by Jackie Chan) and Mantis (voiced by Seth Rogen). They are back to battle Lord Shen to save China and kungfu. We also see the Datuk Michelle Yeoh who voices the Soothsayer, Dennis Haybert who voices Master Storming Ox,  Jean Claude Van Damme who voices Master Croc and Victor Garber (from Alias) who voices Master Thundering Rhino.

It is more action packed compared to the first movie. It brings a more serious storyline in the movie on the discovery of Po's past and the battle between the Dragon Warriors and Master Shen, the evil peacock enemy. While they were fighting against Master Shen, Po discovered what really happened to his parents and found his inner peace. There were numerous funny scenes during the movie.

This are my overall rating for the movie: 8/10.

Cheers,

Rogerkoo

_{Source: 
1 DreamWorks Animation's KUNG FU PANDA 2 - May 2011}

Rising Costs of Living

Hi Everyone,

Food and Groceries

Prices of food and groceries have been on the rise since the past few years. A small plate (dry) or a bowl of noodles cost only RM3.30 many years ago. The large ones were RM3.80. Now the average is RM4.50 for small size and RM5 for big size. For more special preparation ones, it may go up to RM7. A cup of Teh C costs RM1 previously now costs RM1.50 at certain coffee shops with the exception of several stalls at Section 14 which still charges RM1.20. Herbal tea (leong sui) at certain stalls are also charged RM1.50. The price of sugar has also gone up. When the petrol price came down, prices remain.

For those who also need to support their family, they will need to fork out more money to buy groceries. Vegetables and meat are not that cheap anymore. For example, a 2kg Milo is around RM20 now. Eggs are not that cheap either.

Petrol

Since the petrol price increase last year, prices are going up. It has not been  coming down. Ron 95 petrol now is at RM1.90 per litre. The government recently announced that the price for Ron 95 will remain for now. It would be reviewed every 6 months. Ron 97 users are now paying RM2.9 per litre. For 30 litres of petrol, that would be RM 30 more.

How are we managing price hikes? For us who are earning steadily, we can still afford these. We can also manage it when we manage our money well such as not overspending on our credit cards, not buying unnecessary items or stay within our budget. We can also purchase items during sales or mega sales carnival to get lower prices on items. 

Technology

How about for techies? We are interested in the latest technologies such as IPhone, IPod, Android devices and other high tech products. Is it wrong to buy all these things? It is not but we need to really save up a lot of money to buy these things.  Some of these technologies doesn't come cheap with prices hovering above RM2000 and above. IPhone and high end Android devices such as the new Samsung Galaxy S2, HTC Desire HD among others are all over RM2000. IPad ranges between RM1499 to RM2599. If we are using IPhone and Android devices heavily then it may be worth buying. We can download plenty of apps for IPhone and Android. Christianity (Bibles, Dayspring), news, productivity (expense tracking, note taking, document viewers) and games are available for both. Pictures, music and videos can be stored inside as well. However, there are people who are comfortable with using older technologies but usable. To them, they do not need these things. 

Salaries should be higher to compensate price hike and reduce inflation. Malaysia has not achieve a high income nation yet and therefore, salaries should be adjusted accordingly. The public transportation system in Malaysia is also not efficient at the moment. For example, most people will need to buy a car to drive to their workplace and to send their children to schools. There are areas that are not accessible to LRTs, buses and trains. From my house, I also need to drive to the train station. There are no public transportation nearer to my house. There are also not many buses available although it has improved. The cost of petrol is then part of our expenses when we need to use the car and motorcycles as means of transport.

We should use our money wisely. Do not overspend. Do not overuse our credit cards. Credit cards do provide us with benefits such as redemption points but we also need to control our credit card spending as well. We also need to have a budget so that we will not overspend.

Cheers,

Rogerkoo

Cars in Malaysia since February 2010

Hi Everyone,


This post is just for information only. I collected my Proton Persona on February 9th 2010. I have been driving for more than a year now. When I bought the car, my car number plate is WTM 15xx. 


For Malaysian number plates, it is three characters, followed by four digit number. Therefore, each character (WTM, WTN...) has about 9,999 possible numbers (about 10,000 cars). Also, we skip the characters, O, I and Z. These few days, I have spotted cars bearing the number WUX 2xxx. 


Therefore, since I bought my car, there are over 330,000 vehicles sold over the past 1 year. There are over 330K additional cars in Klang Valley alone. People are forced to buy cars because there is lack of transport here. For myself, the nearest LRT (light rail transit) station is at Bandar Tasik Selatan, about 10kms away. I also need someone to drive me there or I drive to get to the LRT station. 


However, there is good news. Our government is planning a MRT (mass rail transit) line from Sungai Buloh to Kajang. It will pass by densely populated areas such as Cheras, Bandar Utama, Kota Damansara, Bukit Bintang, Sungai Buloh and Kajang. This will improve the public transport system here in Kuala Lumpur. It also helps the environment as there would be less cars on the road. People can drive to the train station and take a train to work instead of driving there. It would reduce traffic jam in KL too. More cars will mean more traffic jam.


That's all for now.


Cheers,


Rogerkoo

Stieg Larsson: The Girl Series

http://www.mphonline.com/books/nsearch.aspx?do=detail&pcode=9780307743435Hi Everyone,

I have completed my reading on all the Stieg Larsson's The Girl series of three books, namely The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire and the Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest a few months ago.  Now available in a set of trilogy at bookstores nationwide.

 

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo introduces us to the characters of Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander. Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist trapped by a libel conviction was asked to investigate the disappearance of Harriet Vanger, scion of one of Sweden's wealthiest families 40 years ago. Her uncle continued to seek the truth all these years. Through the investigation, he met Lisbeth Salander, a personal investigator and also a hacker at Milton Security led by her boss, Dragan Armansky. Together with Lisbeth, Mikael went to investigate the mysterious circumstances that led to the disappearance of Harriet Vanger. As you read the book, we will also begin to uncover Lisbeth Salander's past. We will see more of her past in the 2nd and 3rd book of the series.

After the adventures of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Mikael Blomkvist decided to run an expose of a wide-ranging sex trafficking operation. Just before it is published, two people were brutally murdered. The fingerprints was found to be that of Lisbeth Salander. As a friend, he is convinced that Lisbeth is innocent and then plunged into an investigation onto the murder. More of Lisbeth's past is mentioned here. Her father, Alexander Zalachenko a.k.a Karl Axel Bodin made his appearance here in The Girl Who Played with Fire. We will begin to know who he really is and the hatred of Lisbeth towards her father. Lisbeth meanwhile is drawn into a murderous game and is forced to face her dark past.

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Next, the 3rd and final installment of this series continued directly from the last chapter of The Girl Who Played With Fire. It starts with Lisbeth lying in a critical condition, a bullet wound to her head, in the intensive care of a Swedish city hospital. When she is released, she would stand trial for 3 murders. Now, her journalist friend, Mikael Blomkvist will help her to prove her innocence with the cooperation of various parties and to denounce those in authority who have allowed the vulnerable, Lisbeth herself to suffer abuse and violence. Lisbeth is also plotting a revenge against the man who tried to kill her and the corrupt government institutions that nearly destroyed her life. We can see how a division of the government also actually covers up certain things that led to the public belief that Lisbeth is a mentally ill person. We can see how corrupt these people are and how they actually took measures to protect a Russian defector and their own interests.

All the three books are very thrilling and filled with suspense that you will always want to read all the three books until the end. The main characters are mainly Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander but we also see these characters as well:

• Erika Berger (Editor-in chief of the Millenium where Blomkvist was working and Blomkvist's friend)
• Dragan Armansky
• Christer Malm
• Henry Cortez
• Holger Palmgren
• Malin Eriksson
• Anders Jonasson
• Dr. Teleborian
• Inspector Bublanksi
• Inspector Edklinth
• Annika Gianini (Blomkvist's sister)
• Monica Figuerola

There are others not mentioned here.

This is indeed one of the series of books that I enjoyed reading best. It is different from other crime / mystery novels such as those written by Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes, James Patterson and Michael Connelly. I truly recommend these three books to all of you.

You can find out more at this link: 

MPH Online

Amazon doesn't have the entry the box set that are currently sold by MPH so individual titles will be displayed.

Cheers,

Rogerkoo