It's Saturday...

... and I'm currently in the office with my beloved. I'm here on account of a colleague of mine. She has requested that I coach her for her presentation this Tuesday. So, here we are. I have finished coaching her, and am now waiting with my beloved in the office. And while I wait, I thought I might as well write something in here.

Tomorrow, am going to BSC to celebrate a couple of friends' birthdays. My old uni friends. We haven't seen each other since August. A couple of nights ago, went to Uptown to meet up with my best buddy. I haven't been to Uptown in ages, and it still haven't changed a bit.

There were a couple of MPPJ lorries, just waiting for the first VCD stalls to be put up, so that they can tear it down again. My beloved and I was quite looking forward to browsing through the stalls, in search of Chicken Little. But alas, it was not meant to be.

In the end, went to a DVD shop nearby and browsed through the selection. Didn't buy anything though.

Was away in Melaka for five days. Attended the compulsory BTN course. Although now they call it SSM. The place was in Alor Gajah. There were 93 of us. The first day was in anticipation of what will happen to the 93 of us. Well, suprise, suprise, but I had fun throughout the five-day course.

We had to do some physical exercises. We had to run 2km in under 18 minutes. Running uphill and downhill. It took me 14 minutes and 20 seconds. Yes, I know that's pathetic, but I'm not that fit to begin with. After about a 10 minute break, we had to lift a participant in a fireman lift and walk 10 metres, I think it was.

My partner was someone I thought was about my weight. But apparently wasn't. He lifted me just fine. But when it was my turn to lift him, I could barely walk. Luckily for me, the coach called a much smaller guy for me to lift.

The next day, we were forced to abseil from a four storey tower. It was a first for me. So, I was quite nervous about it. After wearing the harness and the rest of the gear, I went up the four flights of stairs, and was shaking in my Adidas-All-Star.

Honeymoon in Sabah

Welcome back to Kuala Lumpur!!! I was on leave for a week. The reason? I was in Sabah!!! With my beloved!!! Arrived last Sunday around 1.00pm, after experiencing a delay in KLIA. Apparently, the runway was full of planes. So, we had to wait our turn. My cousin was waiting for us at Sabah's old airport, and we went straight to my aunty's house in Kepayan.

That evening, we went to the beach to see the sun set. It was beautiful, to say the least. We ate some snacks while watching the sun set. The next day, in the morning, we went to Monsopiad Village, where they have this kind of tour thing going on. It was interesting.

Legend has it that Monsopiad, a warrior from 300 years ago, used to collect the heads of his enemies and placed them in his hut. Our guide said this was to discouraged further retaliation from his enemies. After walking around the place, we went to the main hall, where we saw their traditional dance. And we participated in one of the dance. It was fun.

After lunch the same day, we went shopping at The Phillipines Market. We emerged from the place a couple of hours later, with less money in our pockets and a couple of plastic bags full of stuff.

During the week, we went to Kundasang, the foot of Mount Kinabalu. We went to Timpohon, the entrance to the track to go up Mount Kinabalu. Then, we went to the Dairy Farm, where New Zealand-kind-of-cows were being bred. In other words, they were black and white.

We even managed to stop at Nabalu to do some shopping. Yet again. We stayed at Pines Resort, and the following morning, we sat up after dawn to see the tip of Mount Kinabalu. The morning air was cool, there weren't many people up and about, it was quiet and peaceful.

The few days after that, we went to Gayana Island, near Kota Kinabalu. We stayed at a chalet in the middle of the sea. Well, not really in the middle, but it wasn't on land. It was on the water. The chalet itself was nice.

It was sad to leave Sabah the following Sunday. But leave it, we had to. It was fun. Hope we can go there again.

My beloved just got a phone call from her school a couple of days ago, and they told her that she just received a letter stating that she has been transferred to school very near where I work. We'll be surveying the area soon to determine the exact location of the school.

Today, had lunch at home, since it's so near. Well, at night, it takes around 7 minutes to get from my house to my office. This is without traffic jams, and with just a couple of cars on the road. But during lunch break, it could take up to almost an hour. Seriously.

I have to work this Thursday night. And as usual, we start after midnight. Hope we don't encounter any unforeseen problems. That's basically why sometimes I work till dawn. It's because of these unforeseen problems cropping up at the least expected places. Dang those problems.

Next week, the ISO auditors are coming to my office to audit our procedures. We had a pre-audit just the other day, and I was called into the meeting room to answer some questions. Luckily it only took a couple of minutes of chatting with the auditor. This coming audit is the real deal. This is where we either make it or break it. So, everyone in the department would have to be ready for it.

The first audit was done a couple of months ago, by the company employees, but from different departments. I had to sit in for my boss, since she had to audit some other department. That was quite scary. Until I found out what it was they would be asking. Then after that, it was only routine question and answer.

I hope we bag the certification. That would be something. Well, do wish us luck, kay. Thanks!

Am currently reading Mr Murakami's Kafka On The Shore and Mr Block's A Walk Among The Tombstones. Mr Lawrence Block, by the way. The former I bought at Kinokuniya's with the help of my cousin. Thanks, Girl. And the latter, got it from my bro. Thanks, bro.

Both books are good reads, but I'm going to finish Mr Block's book first. Because, as usual, I like to read Mr Murakami's books slowly. Very very slowly. It's the same when I'm eating something delicious. Sometimes I would just take time eating it. That would usually mean dessert. I remember eating a chocolate-icecream-cake-thingy at TGIF with my family. It was huge. Extremely huge. And extremely delicious.

By the way, I saw Bewitched the other day. The movie Bewitched. And it's quite ok. I mean, it's not that funny. It's just sweet. Yes, just sweet. And I saw The Longest Yard. Now, that's a good movie. Actually, I generally like movies with Adam Sandler. He's fun to watch.

Am now wanting to watch Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Narnia, Doom and AeonFlux. About Narnia, I've read The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe a couple of times when I was little. And it was a really good read, or I wouldn't have read it that many times. I think it was my sister's, since my brother didn't admit it was his. And I really can't wait to see it on the silver screen. It looks promising.

I'm currently reading Scott Adams' God's Debris, A Though Experiment. He's the guy who does the Dilbert comics. And the book is quite interesting. It's about a delivery guy was suppose to deliver a package to someone, and ended up talking about everything under the sun with one old man. The topic of their discussion ranges from Delusion Generator to Physics of God Dust, and everything in between. Its an interesting read. And it's free. You can get a copy of it here. I printed a copy and got it binded, so I can take it anywhere with me. Neat, huh.

On another note, Haruki Murakami's Kafka On The Shore is finally out on paperback. Fantastic. So, I plan to pick it up this Friday. I asked a cousin of mine to keep a copy of it for me, since she's working in Kinokuniya. What are cousins for, right!

We went rayaing to a couple of my beloved's relatives' houses. And on the second day, we went to our mutual friend's house. So, mostly, we just ate and ate and ate. It was fun. But tiring though. On the fourth day of raya, we left for KL. We left around 8.30 in the morning. And arrived in KL around 6.30 in the evening. Luckily for me, my beloved drove half way, so wasn't so tiring. Although it still was.

During the following week, went to my relatives' houses. And some relatives came over. It was good to entertain and to be entertained. Then, one night, I suggested to my beloved that we go hang out at one of my old haunts. And so I invited my best buddy and my brother's sister-in-law to join us. And in the end, there were eight of us there. My beloved and I, my best buddy with two of his female friends, my brother's sister-in-law with her Aussie friend and her cousin.

I was on leave for two weeks. And for the past three days, I was at Putrajaya for a workshop. So here I am, again. Lots of things have happened. And I hope I can get it all out on this blog. Firstly, I spent raya with my beloved at her hometown. It was a first for me. We left KL on Monday after sahur, around 6.30am. This was on the 31st of October, 2005. The road was quite empty. Meaning, there were some cars on the road, but it wasn't the heavy traffic kind of thing. I drove the first leg of the journey, and my beloved drove the second leg. We finally arrived at her mother's house around 2.30pm.

The raya celebration there was quite different from the ones I'm used to in KL. In KL, open houses would mean, people coming in droves. Non-stop. But in her hometown, people would come in very small groups. So, the atmosphere wasn't hectic. Unlike the open houses in KL.

To be continued...

Had dinner with my family at a nearby shopping mall last night. We had something to eat at home to break fast, then we went shortly before 8.00pm. As we were deciding what to eat, I had a sudden craving for spagetti. As I was quite famished by then, the small plate the spagetti came in was quite a disappointment. But, luckily for me, it was very tasty. After that, shared a plate of french fries with my mum.

After dinner, took my dad to a clinic to check his blood pressure and his sugar level in his blood. Because he's been complaining of a severe headache. The doctor said that its gas. So the doctor gave my dad some medication and told him keep his sugar level steady, without being too low nor too high.

Then, shortly after arriving at home, I had to prepare for an exercise that night. Meaning work. My colleague and I had to update the pharmacy application. And as usual, all the exercises pertaining main applications has to be done after midnight. We managed to complete it successfully around one in the morning.

Got back home around 1 something, and slept around 2. Woke up around 5. And went to work around 6.30am. And had a deparmental meeting at 9. Luckily didn't fell dead asleep in the meeting room. And luckily the meeting only lasted around 1 and a half hours.

Went to Danau Golf Resort yesterday to break fast with my colleagues. Went with four other people in my red automobile. Was caught in the jam on our way there. But finally arrived at the appointed place around 6.05pm. The place was in Bangi.

It started raining around 7.00pm. After having eaten almost everything served to us, we chatted while the rain kept pouring. And around 8.00pm, we left. The co-pilot in the car suggested we used the Kajang route, as there won't be any traffic that way, so she said.

But even before we reached Kajang, we hit tremendous traffic going towards Kajang. So we avoided going into Kajang by taking the Silk Highway. As we were driving along a stretch of highway, we realised that we were the only ones on the road.

Then, my co-pilot sheepishly said that that was the first time she's been on that highway. I was like, what?! But then, since we had more than half a tank of petrol, I wasn't worried. Sent my co-pilot to her house first, then proceeded to sent another girl to her home, and the other two passengers to a nearby LRT station.

Arrived home almost two hours after we left Bangi, feeling knackered. Had a shower. Then sleep overtook me.

I am currently reading David Morrell's The Protector. And I think it's one of Mr Morrell's better books, although I like all his other books, I think so far, this is the best. A really good read, in this genre, that is. I'm about to finish The Protector. I hope my bro has others that I can read. That's where I get most of the books I read.

It's about a protector (a much better term than 'bodyguard') who's been double crossed by a client fearing for his life. This includes getting the protector's colleagues killed by a team of special ops agents. The client is running away from two groups of people. One group is trying to capture him for information while the other group is trying to kill him. And the protector has to outwit both groups to get to the client. A fantastic read.

I can't wait to see Doom. I hope it's as good or even better that I imagine it to be. One of the reason is because Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson is in it. So far, all his movies are fun to watch. Unlike those B-grade Van Damme movies. I liked him in The Scorpion King, Walking Tall, and The Rundown.

Just finished breaking fast with my colleagues at work. We had nasi beriyani. And I'm seriously stuffed. Nyum nyum. Next week, we'll be breaking fast in Bangi, and on Tuesday, somewhere in Cheras. Food galore, here we come.

On a more serious note, The Prime Minister’s wife, Datin Seri Endon Mahmood, died at 7.55am today at Sri Perdana, the Prime Minister’s official residence in Putrajaya, after fighting a long battle with cancer. Al-Fatihah.

Am currently reading "The Nanny Diaries". Let me explain why I'm reading this book. First of all, I'm starting to find A Beautiful Mind to be boring. Extremely boring. I should have just watched the movie again. So, after that, planned to kidnap the book my father was reading, The Protector. But alas, my niece brought to book to her friend's house since last week. So, as I rummage through the house, looking for a book I haven't read, I came across The Nanny Diaries. And to tell you the truth, it's hilarious. Seriously. Can't stop reading it.

Yesterday was on leave as my wife was in KL. We spend almost the whole day trying to renew the car's insurance and the road tax but to no avail. In the end, decided to postpone it, as she was getting ready to go back to her school. Waited for over an hour for the car insurance to be ready, when, in the end, the guy said, "Sorry but we can't do it today". Can you believe that. Dang!

Saw Transporter 2 the other day. And it's a whole lot better than the first one. Even the fight scenes are better. But there's one thing I don't understand, why did Frank (the transporter) allow the evil-woman-in-bikinis to enter his bullet-proof car? I don't get it.

Land of The Dead

I saw Land of The Dead the other day. And I like it. It shows what happens to the human race when the whole world is overrun by the dead. Typical zombie story, you say. Well, not exactly. Because you see, the zombies are getting smarter. They have started communicating with one another. I kid you not. And now they have started to fight back. Seriously. It has all the gore and violence of a good zombie flick. And the storyline is pretty cool. On one side, you have the leader of the zombies, taking the zombies with him to extract his revenge on the humans. And on the other side, you have the leader of 'Dead Reckoning', a huge armoured vehicle meant for the annihilation of the zombies. They have their own mission to accomplish and they do it till the end.

John Leguizamo acts in this movie. I haven't seen him in a while. I liked him in Spawn, where he was the demon clown. Yup, that was him. The fat, short and obscene clown. Anyway, for those of you who loves zombie movies, like Mr Blood, you really ought to see it. A different view of zombies, I would say.

My dad was discharged last Friday. I would like to thank all my friends for coming over to see my dad the other day. We really appreciate your support. Thanks. And not forgetting my relatives. Thanks.

At the ward, they were two other occupants. One of them was a very friendly young guy. He was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 14. His mum said he used to drink carbonated drink every single day when he was little. And he's still in the ward at the moment. I might just go and visit him later today.

Just sat for the mandatory government examination. I sat for two papers. The results should come out by next month. Hopefully I pass.

My Dad's Sugar Level

My dad's in the hospital for a very high sugar level in his blood. It started last Friday, when he was complaining of being very tired, and being light-headed. I was at a shopping mall with my colleagues, bowling. But when I got the call from my mum, I immediately left the game. I'm not a great bowler, anyway. So, I managed to flag down a taxi. After about half an hour, I arrived home. Then, my dad was sleeping. So since my mum and I didn't want to disturb him, we let him sleep.

The next morning, I brought my dad to a nearby clinic to do a checkup, and the doctor immediately adviced my dad to go to a hospital for a thorough checkup. We went home right after that to pick my mum up, and went straight to the hospital. There, the doctors said that my dad's sugar level is very high. So, my dad was left resting in the emergency ward with an IV on his arm, and periodic insulin shots.

After about five hours, the doctors said that my dad was to be admitted because they couldn't get the sugar level to go down.

I've been tagged my petite friend, Mrs Derek a.k.a Rinie. Thanks Rinie. So, here goes...

Seven things you plan to do before you die:
1. Perform the Hajj with my wife.
2. Send my parents and my mother-in-law to perform the Hajj.
3. Have kids. At least two.
4. Travel the world.
5. Buy a house.
6. Buy another car, an X5 hopefully.
7. Become a doctor of philosophy.

Seven things I could do:
1. Do my Masters. And soon.
2. Start working out to lose weight.
3. Buy yet another Haruki Murakami book.
4. Buy a new phone.
5. Watch a movie, any movie.
6. Talk less. Listen more.
7. Learn a new language.

Seven celebrity crushes:
1. Natalie Portman.
2. Gwen Stefani.
3. Kristin Kreuk.
4. Jennifer Connelly.
5. Gillian Anderson.
6. Bjork.
7. Salma Hayek.

Seven often repeated words:
1. "Banyak la..."
2. "Well..."
3. "... kot..."
4. "I think so..."
5. "Not sure..."
6. "Dang!"
7. "Hmmm..."

Seven physical traits I look for in the opposite sex (which my wife has, but of course):
1. Petite.
2. Fair skinned.
3. Cute.
4. Slender fingers.
5. Big round eyes.
6. Nice lips.
7. Basically how my wife looks like.

Seven tags go to:
1. Blood.
2. CikLi.
3. Mokozomo.
4. FunneeBunnee.
5. Dils.
6. Saiful.
7. Nieza.

Wasn't in the office yesterday. Went to a seminar at Renaissance Hotel. The seminar was about CA's new product, BrightStor r11.5. The whole seminar was about storage and backup management. Representatives from Hitachi Data Systems and IBM had a session each. Overall, it was very informative. And luckily for me, I bumped into two former colleagues. Well, actually, I was busy filling out an evaluation form in the hopes of getting an iPod, when somebody nudged me from behind. I turned and there they were. So, we sat in a row and chatted while waiting for the seminar to start. Which took longer than I anticipated.

Earlier in the morning, after I had just registered for the seminar, I went to the IBM booth to ask about their range of products. I talked to a guy about what they had to offer. And after a while, and lots of questions, he finally said that his colleague would be much more capable of answering my questions. After that I went and disturbed the guy at the Hitachi booth, and I got a small notebook for my trouble, and an evaluation form. Then I proceeded to find a place to sit in the sea of banquet chairs. It was then that my former colleagues found me.

It was fun to hang out with my old colleagues. One of them was my ex-boss. So we chatted about the good old days in my old department. Most of my colleagues have since resigned. Once upon a time, it was truly alive with all sorts of people. It was fun, because we were all around the same age. Those were the old days.

Now, in my new working environment, I'm surrounded by the same age group as well. Which is to say that, we have fun here too. Though everybody's busy with work, nowadays.

Work Related Stories

The other night, had to come to work to solve a backup problem. Apparently, one of the backup policies doesn't work. So, there were, around midnight, trying to solve the problem, by reinstalling the database agent into two servers. And lo and behold, it didn't work. So, we are going to dismantle the whole RMAN configuration. But when and how, still hasn't been determine yet. Will have to wait and see, won't we.

Moving along, I am still reading Mr Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. And as I said before, it's simply good reading. Extremely good. I can't decide whether I like Dance, Dance, Dance or this book better. This will also have to wait till I finish the book. Then I can decide.

This morning, my friend came to my cubicle and started telling me ghost stories. And it had to be about our department. And especially about the room my cubicle is in. And to tell you the truth, the stories are quite disturbing. After hearing her stories, now something makes sense.

The other day, as usual, I would arrive at work before 7, and on this particular morning, I bumped into my colleague at the escalator as I was coming out. To say she was startled to see me emerging from the escalator would be an understatement. Then she turned to face me, and said that she wanted me to accompany her to her cubicle, since there was no one else around. So we went straight to her office. There, while she was getting ready for a seminar that morning, we chatted about work and stuff. Then, once she was ready, she left the office and I proceeded to go to my cubicle which was across the corridor. All the while I was wondering why she was so afraid to go into the office alone, as it was already morning. And now I know why.

Apparently, this particular colleague of mine is the one they disturb most, according to my other colleague. Once, while in the ladies, she heard someone calling out for help coming from outside the window, in the voice of our colleague. At first, she thought it was a prank, and as she realised the truth, she ran out of the ladies, face white with fear. And another time, as she was alone in the office late at night, she heard the sound of a baby crying at the main office entrance. These are a few of the episodes that she had to endure.

Myself, while working late at night, especially after midnight, I would hear sounds like people typing away at their keyboards. I would then venture to see where the sounds were coming from. Only to find there was no one in the room but me.

From Here to There and Back Again

Am currently feeling extremely sleepy. Eyes feel really heavy. Am actually comptemplating whether to sleep the rest of the day somewhere quiet and cold or to actually do work today. I really need a cup of thick black coffee. Although I'm unsure whether coffee has that kind of effect on me. Just need some shut eye. That's basically it.

On Saturday, went and picked up my wife from her apartment way yonder. From there, we went window shopping for raya clothes. Then, we went to my sister-in-law's house in Subang Jaya, where I chatted with her husband about him continuing his studies. He's currently taking a course on transport and logistics. After showing of our wedding album to them, we went walking around Carrefour, window shopping, yet again. After that, we headed home.

The next morning, went to Great Eastern Mall to meet up with my old friend, along with my wife, of course. My friend wanted to give us our wedding present as she didn't go to our wedding reception a few weeks ago. She's currently preparing for her wedding as well.

Speaking of weddings, this year alone, a lot of my friends are getting married. A colleague of mine will be tying the knot in five days time. In November and December, there will be a couple of weddings we will be attending. And also in those two months, will be planning to have our real honeymoon. So we'll just have to see and wait for the where and when.

After getting our wedding present from my friend, I proceeded to sent my wife back to her apartment, way yonder. Sad. So sad.