The day I'm proud to be Malaysian

Malaysia 3 - 1 Myanmar
Merdeka Cup Final

The humiliation of being the beating boys at the last Asian Cup was all but forgotten last night as the Malaysian squad beat the odds to become champions of the 39th edition of the Merdeka Cup. The 3-1 conquest of defending champions Myanmar gave the 40,000 fans at Shah Alam Stadium last night and thousands across the country, much to rejoice and add even more cheer to our nation’s 50th independence celebration tomorrow.



The Malaysian team has not won, I repeat, HAVE NOT won anything in the last 14 years and the last time we won the Merdeka Cup was in 1993 by beating South Korea by the same goal line. Last night’s win was also our 7th victory ever since the tournament was introduced in 1957.

The Malaysian goals were provided by (the good looking) Zaquan Adha and (the equally hot) Safee Sali plus an own goal by Aung Myo Thant. Myanmar got their consolation goal from Tun Tun Win.

Missing their captain Shukor Adan through injury, the Malaysian team scored the opening goal through Zaquan Adha on the 12th minute much to the delight of 40 thousand strong Malaysian fans who thronged the Shah Alam stadium last night. On the 56th minute Malaysia doubled their lead when Aung Myo Thant deflected the ball into his own net. The crowd almost brought the roof down when Safiee Sali scored Malaysia’s 3rd goal with style on the hour mark.

The second looked more like a boxing match as tempers flare and the Myanmar team vented their frustration by kicking and punching the Malaysian players instead of actually playing football resulting in the dismissal of one of their players in the final minutes of the game. But the Malaysian team was equally robust to their barbaric challenges and held on with the 3-1 lead until the 95th minute when the referee finally blew the final whistle. Football Association of Malaysia’s president Sultan Ahmad Shah was clearly delighted with the victory as he personally hugs every Malaysian at the medal-giving ceremony.



One thing for sure, Malaysian football is far from dead and buried as proved by our boys last night. And there are still plenty of supporters of our national team as evident yesterday when ten of thousands fans filled the stadium to root for the national team. They’re just frustrated of our lack of success in the international scene and had gone into hiding, waiting for miracles like last night to happen. Even watching in front of the TV at home I could feel the hype and electrifying atmosphere of fans cheering and singing for our team. And the national team didn’t let us down by winning the tournament that could signal the start of better things to come from Malaysian football.

My 10 most prized possessions

I’m a simple man. I don’t have fancy cars or the latest gadgets in the market. In fact I don’t own anything much to shout about really. If I really wanted something so much like a new phone or camera I had to work my ass down and save up for a few months. Here is some of my most prized possession that I’ve acquired through the years.

In no particular order:




1. My desktop pc

My desktop pc was assembled from scratch about 9 months ago. I bought the parts one at a time to create this baby of mine. Here are the specs:

- Asustek pc4800 motherboard with IDE, AGP and SATA slots
- Intel Pentium 4 processor 3.0Ghz
- 1GB DDR RAM
- NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 graphic card
- 120GB hard drive
- DVD and DVD writer drive

Overall I spend about RM575 for this machine... Get out of here! That’s like so freaking cheap!! Well my friends, that’s one of the perks of being an International Super Spy, you get to confiscate the enemies’ highly advanced technologies he he!

Price: RM575




2. My mobile phone

I bought this (AP) Motorola SLVR L7 phone for RM600 last year. Sturdy and reliable this phone had passed the test of Adam Farihin (my kid) with flying colours. It has been bitten, dropped and thrown across the living room with hardly a scratch. One thing I loved most about this phone is the mp3 player where I can play my favourite songs anytime, anywhere whenever I’m bored. Today you can buy this (AP) phone for just RM350 at Low Yat Plaza in KL.

Price: RM600




3. My digital camera

My second digicam ever, this Nikon CoolPix L10 was bought last month at (where else) Low Yat Plaza. 5 Megapixels, 3x optical zoom and video recording are some of its features. Small enough to slip into my pocket unlike my previous camera which made me look like I have an erection sideways har har! After using it for a month I found that there’s something slightly wrong with the video recording. Some of them are jerky or completely messed up. Is it the software or something wrong with my pc? Yet to figure out what's wrong.

Price: RM510 (plus free 1GB SD card)




4. My wristwatch

This Casio watch is one of my longest lasting possessions. I bought this watch for 98 bucks at Mid Valley Megamall 6 years ago. Although some people say only kids wear watches like that today, this watch means so much to me because I bought this watch with my very own money, not my dad’s or my loan’s money but from my meager McJob salary which is just RM4 per hour. It got basic features like stopwatch, timer, 5 alarms, dual time and can store 30 phone numbers in there. The battery is supposed to last 10 years too so now it’s already 6 so I’ll get a new watch in another 4 years maybe? Or perhaps someone is kind enough to buy me a new one for my birthday ke? (hint-hint!).

Price: RM98




5. My shoes

I wear this Black Hammer shoe everyday to work, play and practically everywhere and it also doubles as a safety shoe where I can wear it at construction sites. It got metal plate between the soles so I can’t walk on nails and sharp things wan, don’t prey-prey arr! I’ve owned 2 Black Hammers shows before and I also bought this pair at their main shop in Seri Kembangan just next to Pasar Malam Serdang.

Price: RM127




6. My sweater

I’ve always loved those black Adidas track top you know the one with 3 stripes at the side but the original ones are so hard to find it took me years to find them. I found this one only last year at Al-Ikhsan at The Curve and although it’s quite expensive I bought them anyway cause God knows when will I find them again.

Price: RM79




7. My subwoofer

I got this Altec Lansing S45 subwoofer during my university heydays. You see my housemate bought this really loud speaker for his pc and I got jealous and bought one myself too (with my loan money). This speaker proved to be one of my best investments so far cause it’s still in good shape even after 7 years of wear and tear. Oh yeah I also incurred the wrath of my neighbour in Serdang a few years ago when I played my music a bit loud in the middle of the night keeping his mother awake. I’m not an unreasonable person really but sometimes I have play them out loud at times you know just to let it out, release tension kata orang.

Price: RM260




8. My ride

What more can I say? This baby is my freedom and my livelihood. I’ve driven nearly 31000 kilometers already in like 10 months. Other than the faulty gear and knob, I’ve no problem with this car so far.

Price:RM38000




9 and 10. My wife and kid

Priceless

Leaving on a jet plane

Last week my mother went to perform Umrah for the first time. The Umrah a pilgrimage to Mecca performed by Muslims that can be undertaken at any time of the year. It is sometimes called the 'minor pilgrimage' or 'lesser pilgrimage', the Hajj being the 'major' pilgrimage and which is compulsory for every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it. According to some schools of Islamic thought, the Umrah is not compulsory but highly recommended. © Wikipedia 2007



As her eldest male son, I automatically became the default sender cum driver to the airport, not that I mind of course. We all woke up at 5 in the morning and took off right after Subuh prayers. Mother insists that we get to KLIA 3 hours early. That’s what her travel agency people told her to do anyway.



My grandma came here a few days earlier. All my siblings were here for the send off. Izni ponteng for one day and came here all the way from JB. Faiz meanwhile came right after class. My elder sister Lina met up at the airport with hubby and son. That’s her son in blue and that’s NOT a Real Madrid jersey my kid is wearing. Huh, over my dead body!



We got there around 7 o’clock and mother didn’t check in until 9. So I spent the free time exploring KLIA with Adam and took load of pictures. Did you know they’re voted the World’s Best Airport recently? How cool is that?. I’ve only been to LCCT and KLIA so it’s a little bit difficult for me to judge.



They made announcement in 4 different languages mind you; Malay, English, Mandarin and Arabic plus they got signs in Japanese also. I wouldn’t be shopping here anytime soon though cause everything’s so expensive here. I still don’t get it. Just because it’s at the airport, everything has to cost extra? Even McDonald’s here costs almost double than their regular outlets elsewhere. Okay, maybe the rent there is much higher but that’s still not a good excuse to cutthroat everybody.



Hey, my uncle Dib fixes those aeroplanes everyday. He started off 15 years ago with just a polytechnic certificate he’s now one of MAS’s top engineer. They send him to airports all over the world to fix their aircraft. Amazing right? From a basic salary of 350 ringgit he worked hard and went up through the ranks to earn a respectable salary enough to raise his 5 kids. I don’t know whether I could last even to weeks on that salary today. I have a lot of respect for uncle Dib and always look up to him as one of the role model in my family. He’s a living proof that you that you don’t necessarily need a university degree or a top class education to succeed in life. All you need is hard work and a real deep interest in what you do.



Anyway they’ve got a nice little playground there right next to KFC. Adam enjoyed playing there so much he didn’t want to leave at all. I have to carry him as he thrash about violently from one end of the airport to another. That little monster!!

from left: Faiz, grandma, mother, Lina, Izni

Finally it’s time to say goodbye. After the obligatory hug and kisses my mother left for her maiden voyage to the holy city of Mecca. I pray that she’ll have a safe journey there and back. I also hope that she’ll find her guidance there before she made the biggest decision (or mistake) of her life. For all I know, we might have a new member to the family this Hari Raya (Oh No!).

Whatever it is we love you mom and I’m missing you already :)

Music of the day

Kerispatih - Tapi bukan aku

Jangan lagi kau sesali keputusanku
Ku tak ingin kau semakin kan terluka
Tak ingin kupaksakan cinta ini
Meski tiada sanggup untuk kau terima

Aku memang manusia paling berdosa
Khianati rasa demi keinginan semu
Lebih baik jangan mencintai aku dan semua hatiku
Karena takkan pernah kau temui cinta sejati

Berakhirlah sudah semua kisah ini
Dan jangan kau tangisi lagi
Sekali pun aku takkan pernah mencoba kembali padamu
Sejuta kata maaf terasa kan percuma
Sebab rasaku tlah mati untuk menyedarinya

Tapi bukan aku...

Semoga saja kan kau dapati
Hati yang tulus mencintaimu
Tapi bukan aku

...................................................................

mp3

How to get a GDL license

My company bought a Renault Kangoo last month and The Boss decided to make it an official company vehicle with logos, labels and all. Meaning: we have to get a Goods Delivery License (GDL) license in order to lawfully drive that thing. So some 20 of us were handpicked to sit for this test at a driving school in Bangi.



The company decided to pay for the 200 ringgit course and license fee up front and they’ll deduct it from our salary later. I have no problem with that of course. Who knows it might come really useful to me in the future. The one day course was held at a driving school in Bangi from 9 to 3 in 2 sessions. The first session was held by somebody from the driving school. He gave us a remarkably boring lecture about GDL basics and stuff. He talked kind of funny too because his cheeks was broken from an accident during his time in the army. Our jolly dispatch Acha (in white) got us in stitches every time he mocks the way the lecturer talks (and he’s really good at it too!).



The classroom in Institut Latihan Memandu Cemerlang was so tiny and they cramp in about 50 people in there per class, how do you spell stingy? Anyway the second session was held by a JPJ officer himself. Naturally many of us were super-sleepy after lunch and although the JPJ dude tried to crack some jokes in class, it was dry and not funny at all and nobody laughed but himself. I don’t suggest you quit your day job for stand up comedian anytime soon dude! Either that or people were afraid he might slap them with a summon or something had they laughed.



After the boring lecture we had to sit for the real test about a week later. It was supposed to start at 9:00 a.m but the JPJ dude didn’t show up until long after 10:00, caught in a traffic jam he said, yeah right. I never know there’s so much traffic in DENGKIL! Which is lucky for me because I totally forgot to study for the test the day before. So I spent the whole one hour before the test studying like mad. The first lecturer from the driving school sold us an exercise book containing frequently asked questions in the test. Some of my friend bought it but not me. I thought the questions are going to be all common sense and really easy, it’s a waste to buy something like that even if it’s only 5 bucks.



Thank God I read that silly exercise book, turned out 80% of the questions in the book came out in the test! Remember, if you need to take a GDL license in the future, get the exercise book, it’s truly worth it. So I answered all the questions in the test with a breeze and I’m even the first one to finish and leave the room. The next day we were told all 10 of us passed the test and we got this license a few days letter. Don’t prey-prey arr I can drive vans, lorries and submarines now! Yeah-yeah my driving license looke rather dirty there but bear in mind it’s 10 years old already maaa..

Here’s a summary on how to get a GDL license:

1. Book for class and test at driving school
2. Pay the course and test fees
3. Listen to boring lecture and crappy jokes for whole day long
4. Buy exercise book and read it!
5. Take test
6. Pass the test and brag to your friends/blog it
7. Don’t drink and drive
8. Stay clear of suspicious looking drug addicts on the road :P

Transform your Windows look to Mac

Tired of your ugly Windows XP look? Why not make it look like the uber cool Mac OS X? FlyakiteOSX is a cool freeware to transform your windows XP look to resemble the look of Mac OS X. The installation process is pretty straight-forward and simple. However, this whole transformation might use a considerable amout of system resources (like memory and graphic) so I suggest 512MB of RAM and above. Other than that this software is quite stable and I've been using it for close to a month now without a glitch. Get the software here.

Screenshots:

Start up screen


Welcome screen


Taskbar and Start menu properties


Control Panel


Desktop


Dock

Oops, I did it again

I’m delighted to announce today that my lovely wife is 7 weeks pregnant! I guess it’s about time. It’s been nearly 3 years and all. No we’ve not been trying, just let nature took it course. If we've been trying, we'd had 2 more babies by now. (so confidence with meself :P). We found out about it last week after 2 pregnancy tests at home and a visit to the doctor that confirmed it. Gosh I’m gonna be a dad, again! (me = so terrified).



Now how did this happen? Oh wait, I remember now. It was a cold, rainy Sunday evening that July 15th. There was nothing good on tv, no Smallville, just some crappy JomHeboh concert. Adam gone to bad early that day, probably tired after running around Jusco earlier. And then with one touch it all happen…

(for the rest of the story just use your imagination)



All they signs were there. Her period was late (and didn’t come at all), her sniffles were stiff, she’s tired all the time and everybody’s been telling her she’d gained weight. Even Linda was suspicious that she might be pregnant all along. I meanwhile told her that little bulge at her tummy is probably just 100% fat (I’m a jerk, I know).

So now, 7 weeks along Linda have been having all the usual morning sickness and nausea. She’s also had her fair share of cravings for certain foods like ice creams, slurpee, laksa, bihun etcetera. Thank God it’s not anything weird like kangaroo burger or red cow’s milk (which I won’t entertain anyway).

Adam’s seemed quite cool with all this brother/sister stuff. When asked if he’d like a new baby he just replied nak! - nak! I doubt he has any inkling what’s going on though. Just wait till the baby comes out then you find out wan.

Despite only 7 weeks along I’ve been coming up with baby names already, all of them girls though. I’m particularly fond of this W.N.A or A. F name, which I’ve thought off long time ago. I do hope it’s a girl this time since I’ve been dreaming to have a baby girl since like forever! But then again most of the time I rarely get what I want so if it’s a boy, we’ll accept it with our arms wide open nevertheless. The naming convention goes like this: it has to start with an A andd a F you know, like Adam Farihin. I’ve loads of name for girls but I no clue what to name him if it’s a boy, some help please?

And just like my friend Rin, I’ll taking some time of from blogging you know, so that I can take care and pay more attention to wifey.

Yeah right.

My little Picasso

This masterpiece was created by yours truly. Yeah I know, I’m so talented I even amaze myself sometimes!



This next magnificent piece of art was created by my very own Little Picasso, pretty impressive for a 2.8 years old yeah? This is just stickers, wait till he get a real paint brush and canvas, move aside Airis – here comes Adam!

One year on

The month of August marks my first anniversary of working here.



I’ve been a through a lot this past 365 days, the ups, the downs, the good and the bad times. That’s The Boss car by the way. Anyone see a Kia Sorento on the road with a Kedah registration running around Seri Kembangan, that’ll be him. Next to it is our Renault Kangoo, the latest addition to the company’s vehicle.



A lot has changed since I first started here. For example the parking lot in front of our office is filled to the brim now. Once there’s only a handful of car parked there, no more than 10. We’ve definitely grown over the year, hired more staff, and acquired new projects and stuff.



When I started, there’s only 30+ staff here. Now we’ve almost double that (including practical students). Our little meeting room can no more accommodate all of us in there unless we take out all the tables and chairs. Oh yeah, we’ve bought the vacant building next to us too.



This is my department, the super-secret Covert Operations department. Okay-okay just the Operation department. It’s on the ground floor right behind the reception. That’s my flag hanging there right over my desk by the way. That’s Kak Lily on the floor arranging some blueprints for our mega project, the UiTM 2 Puncak Alam project.



Over a dozen of our staff commutes to Puncak Alam daily since they were involved with the project’s Computerized Facility Management System. From left, some dude from Hong Kong whose been teaching us Archibus FM, Hanum and Hany.



Overall, I still like working here. I’ve learned loads of stuff, meet new challenges, go to places (not stuck in the office all day) and I can safely say my job is not too stressful compared to others. I still get to hang out and relax sometimes too when there’s not much work to do. (Huh? ß what’s that suppose to mean?)



And there are good and bad times of course. One of the highlights of my job here is the IT equipment relocation exercise involving our parent company. It was done in 3 phases and we did the first 2 phases all right, it’s the last phase that we screwed up big time. Somehow we lost 2 units of pcs along the way. That’s when we felt the full wrath of The Management. Those were the hard times. If it weren’t for my family’s well-being, I’d quit this company right there and then. You can read more about it here.



Nevertheless I’m still very grateful for every other thing The Management did for me and my colleagues. For example they treated us for a grand Buka Puasa dinner last year and they held this motivational courses for a couple of months (where we get to eat at the hotel for free!). I also remember the time they gave us duit raya and bonus at the start of the year. Not to mention the panel clinics and the free MAA insurance coverage which includes our spouse and kids.



I would like to take this opportunity to thank my friends and colleagues who’d been really nice and helpful to me. Special thanks to Bujal and Sapuan for teaching me loads of stuff all this while. I thought I already know a lot, apparently not. Also to my department head for the co-operation and lessons (and the snide remarks) although you’ve blocked Blogger.com, it’s okay I’m not mad at you (much).

I hope to work here for many years to come (God-willing) really, I don’t go to SPA or any other interviews anymore cause it’s not like they’re gonna hire me or anything. So boss, I don't want to sound too demanding but how about a raise? Like, right now? No? It's okay, take your time, I know you're a busy man.

Under construction

Anyone who used to study at UiTM in Shah Alam should know that the main campus is already packed with students and they really need to build a new campus soon.


Not many people know this but plans for the new campus is finalized like in 1996 already but you knowlah with Bumpiputra contractors, they like to play-play at work they like to pay attention to details :).


So today, over 10 years later they're still working on phase 1 of the new UiTM campus in Puncak Alam, Selangor. If you have no idea where the heck is Puncak Alam, I don't blame you really. It's located about 42km from kl or about 35km from Shah Alam on the way to Ijok and Kuala Selangor.


There's hardly anything exciting there except a couple of housing estates and... that's it. Nobody in their right mind would want to live there unless for work or economic reasons.


FYI my company was appointed as the main ICT contractor for this project therefore we're directly involved in setting up the ICT infrastructure there.

Ini gua berlagak dengan Mitsubishi Storm pinjam

Meaning I had to go there like 2 or 3 times a week to setup or fix anything that had to do with IT or computers like connect their pcs to printers or find out why their mouse is acting up (p.m.s maybe?).

Actually there's tons of work to do there and they came up with new problems everytime I go there. Plus they don't have an IT dept of their own so we had no choice but to attend to all their ICT problems ourselves.


Not that I have any problem with that. In fact I'm more than happy to experience a new work environment (i.e in a construction site) and get away as far as possible from The Boss meet new challenges.


I tell you this new UiTM campus is gonna be HUGE!!! Even bigger than UPM (and UPM is already BIG).

So for the next 6 years or so I don't have to worry about not having anything to do cause until this mega project is finished, rest-assured we'll have plenty to fill up our daily working hours with.

Me and my (multi-cultured) frens.

Who do I look like the most?
	A big shot engineer
	A smart-ass architect
	A handsome Indon construction worker
	A dashing Bangla construction worker
	Butt ugly Martian
	A real slacker
	David Beckham
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