2.00am...e-filing

After numerous tries to submit my tax via e-filing, I managed to submit my tax submission early this morning at about 2am. I've tried so many time during office hours for the last few days but just couldn't get through. So yesterday evening before goin home, I decided to check out LHDN's website. I'm not surprised to see that there was some sort of an announcement that there seems to be traffic overload of submission. We Malaysians like to do thing at the very last minute. Me included!!...Hahahah

So that's why I decided to wake up at 2am and finally get to submit my tax submission. As long as we submit, we should be ok I think. We should be lucky to be able to pay tax as it means that we have some degree of wealth to be taxed as compared to other people in some other countries that are not so fortunate...

Od'd again........

Last Monday, I had the opportunity to go to PNB to bank-in some cash into my ASB account. I also took the opportunity to certified my ASB (which costs me RM10!!!) too. So as of now, the balance in my ASB looks healthy as compared that what it was last year!!! I did a mistake as I went there at about noon and my number only come up an hour plus later!! Penantian itu satu penyiksaan....Hahahaha

Earlier today though, I went to Maybank to increase my OD portfolio (via the certified ASB). Unfortunately, I had to go through the same process again (i.e submission of salary slips, ea, etc..) even-though I have an OD account in Maybank. Let's see how long it will take to get it approved this time....

Like I said, everything seems to be going into plan and the reason I'm increasing my OD portfolio is to boost up my capital for my Phase II plan. Sounds odd, but I'm contemplating of getting another property soon. I've identified the place and it looks to be in good order (with tenant too)....

I have some worries though. If I decide to get another property, the bank might see that I have lots of other commitments. However, after discussing with the loan officer in Maybank just now, I was told to provide whatever proof/documents to show that I'm able to 'justify' or pay those commitments. I have the confidence though but we'll see how it goes in the next few weeks....

For the time being, I can't exactly wait for next week. Why? Coz I'm turning 32 next week. huh!!!....32 and yet still struggling with life...but that's ok...I'm working towards the betterment of myself and those around me. So it should be ok...just need to work a little smarter in the future...

The other day, a friend of mine told me that there's an auction for a flat somewhere near Ikea. I'm interested but I think...I'm gonna focus on my other targeted property in KL.

Have a good week ahead. Esok cuti....

To my friend Jeli, who is about to get married...congrats bro!!!

Kiara Park...........

For the last couple of weekends, I made it a point to bring kecik to the park for some fun and interaction with the other kids. Obviously, she enjoyed the outdoors so much!!!!!













For the time being, it's pretty quiet on my side although I'm preparing myself for my Phase II plan for the next couple of weeks/months. I believe, some interesting developments are about to happen....we'll see how it goes...

Bengkek jerk..........

Earlier today, I received a call from one of our principals. As soon as I heard the voice, I can predict that I'll be hearing comments, complaints and so forth. So, this lady, Mrs X, starts to bombard me with lots of comments and complaints saying that they were very unhappy with our performance, our report, our late submission of updating them the status report, bla bla bla.

At the back of my mind, I wanted to ask her to stop talking. I kinda pissed they way she was talking as if we are beggars and depending on them for their business. At the same time, I knew that one of her staff had actually called my colleagues and mentioned about the same thing and was expecting us lick their 'asses'. In malay we call it 'menatang minyak yang penuh'.

The more I think of it, the more I'm pissed. Yes, it is our business to give magnificent services to our clients. Yes, we have to show them what we can do but not to the extent of treating us like some dirt and so forth. The fact remains that we are in business and obviously and to a certain extent our business comes from them. I just hope that they are understanding enough to really understand the process of work that we have to go through before issuing a complete and quality reports. Lambasting us for being late or being cynical is apparently not the way. One day I hope, they will be a little bit accomodating...

Gifts from Liverpool...

My uncle and aunt just got back from the UK tour a couple of weeks ago. During their stop-over in Liverpool, they decided to have a brief visit to Anfield and bought some gifts for kecik...

How nice of them...Thnx a lot!!!




A cool LFC bag-pack for kecik!! Wonder when she'll learn to use it...

Reality TV

Tonight, I had the opportunity to watch a reality tv show aired during prime time. I've never been a great follower of this kind of tv shows. We know that nowadays that we have lots and lots of reality tv shows that has been aired over the local tv as well as in ASTRO.

Looking back I what I saw tonight, something deep inside me felt a wee bit sad especially when looking at the contestants. I'm not an expert and I admit that I sux in singing but from what I see in the shows, some of the contestants were so bad that it has turned into a laughing stock..

I mean, get real people, nothing in the world comes easy and becoming a singer won't give you an easy life. That's the reality of life anyway. Again, I'm not against the reality tv shows be it AF, Mentor or OIAM or whatever. After all, these shows are basically 'medium' for the tv station in increasing their ratings as well as maximizing their profits.

I do wish that these kids to re-emphasize or re-focus their life in continuous learning. Search for new knowledge. Go to grad-school or something. Education shall never be comprised as that is the ONLY key to the enhancement of self development. It's not being able to look great on TV, get many fans or whatever but what matters is to actually have some degree of knowledge to help them in the future.

Obviously, it is not me to say what is right and what is wrong but I have a strong feeling that each one of us must have the desire to improve ourselves. Always have a new aim and work hard towards it. However, if it's the aim of a person to be a singer via reality shows, good luck to them and I wish them well.

We are lucky to have lots of facilities here in Malaysia. The unfortunate thing is, we do not take the opportunities and using it for our advantage...Like i said earlier, education, shall never be compromised and that is what we as a nation must achieve in order to be a better nation...

I believe, the lack of education is the prime reason why we have so many moral and corruption problems as some people just unable to really think what is right and what is wrong..

Sunday Ride........

After a few weeks of golfing as well as 'staying' at home, I had the opportunity to have a short breakfast on a very bright Sunday morning. It's been two weeks since I last ride me bike, so I was actually looking forward for it. So I left the house at about 645am. It was a good ride considering the fact that I've not even started the bike for the last 2 weeks but a problem crops up when I reached the jalan kuching roundabout. I felt that there might be a problem with one of the plus so upon reaching Shell Taman Melati, I decided to change one of the plugs and the problem solved. Phewww...I was glad anyhoos....

As promised, me and 4 other friends met up at Taman Melati and we had a small chat on where to go for this ride. Originally I planned to go to tanjung malim but since TM is quite near, we decided to head to bagan lalang. SO off we went to bagan lalang via DUKE-Jln Tun Razak-MEX-Dengkil-Bagan Lalang. I assumed, it took us approximately more than an hour and almost 100kms for the 'short' ride.....






Upon reaching Bagan Lalang, we hang out at a restaurant situated about 100 meters from the beach. THe food (nasi lemak telur goreng) was not bad but we enjoyed ourselves by talking about everything from politics, bikes, etc...


We decided to head home 10 mins before 12. Before heading the highways, we stopped for a quick refuel at Sg Pelek and then we're off for home. Unfortunately, my ride back home using the highway was stopped half-way because of the rain just after putrajaya exit.



Anyways, today was the first time I was stopped by the traffic police and they decided to fine me for having an un-approved number plate. Huh!! It's been years since I ride this bike and never before I was being fine for such thing. Anyhoos, I just took the fine without saying a word.

Business vs System

The other night, I had the opportunity to browse through an interesting concept. Well, the concept is pretty simple actually. It's about the difference between a self-employed person and a business owner.

So what will be the definition of a self-employed person? Logically it would mean, a person that owns the business. For example, a burger seller by the road side is a self-employed person. The more burger he sells, the more income he will receive. Is that right? Let's say tonight he sells 200 of his burgers at RM3.50 each. Tonight alone he will earn RM700. Pretty ok for a few hours work eh? Let's further assume that he work 6 nights a week and sells and average of 200 burgers per night. What will be his income? If my calculation is correct, his income will be about RM16800. (200 x 3.5 x 6 x 4= 16800). I'm pretty sure his operating cost would be low as he is pressumably operating on his own.

From the scenario above, I can safely assume that the more effort he puts in his burger business, the more income he will get. However, what will happened if he does not sell his burgers for 2 nights in a row? That will be RM1,400 worth of business goin to some other burger owners. Am I right? So, the burger owner needs to stay healthy to ensure his business keeps on thriving and his income keeps on coming in...

There are a lot of other self-employed person examples such as wireman, contractors, small time suppliers, etc...

Now,...what about a business owner? Perhaps, the definition would be pretty much the same as self-employed person except the fact that a business owner owns a system for his or her business. The clearest example of a business owner would be the owner of McDonald's restaurants. Perhaps, the burger owner above can proudly say that he can make a better burger than McDonalds, bla bla bla, but he will not have the luxury of a business owner like the owner of McDonald's. Why? The owner of McDonald can sit down and practically do nothing but will receive a big fat pay cheque at the end of every month as the business that he owns have a system that ensure the business keeps on generating money even though he is not there.

Did any of us ever realised that McDonald's fries taste more or less the same from every different branch? How do McDonald achieve that? One answer...it lies from the business system that they have. The system that they have revolves around every aspect of McD's business starting from the customer order, the supply of materials, the workflow and what have yous... Pretty impressive eh?

Another example of a business owner is Bill Gates. Now, we are talking about THE great Bill Gates. With his business system, he has built a business empire that is so huge that it is quite difficult to think how he could come up with such an impressive 'system'. Obviously by hiring the right people and a strong leadership qualities...

I guess and I think, being a business owner would be the pinnacle of every man's dream that has to be achieved. Of course, saying it is easy but to actually doing it is difficult. We can always learn the theory of management in the universities and colleges, but nothing will prepare us for the real life out there. It's brutal and full of traps if we are not careful...Unfortunately, there are people out there that will take advantage of you if you're not careful in handling different people....

It all basically comes back to what do we want to achieve in life. Be it big or small, everyone must have at least something to look forward to as well as achieving it....The journey matters...and the destination is secondary...

Have a nice day...

Baby blue.......

This is supposedly the actual size of a baby blue whale of 2 years of age. It was put on show in MidValley a couple of days ago. Look at the size of that animal. It's freaking huge. I just wonder what will be the size of his mama...

The pic below is a pic of my baby when she was about 7 months old...hehehe

Don vs Naga......

What is Don vs Naga you may ask? Well, last Sunday myself and the other 119 other forummers from mygolf.com.my had a golf tournament at Tasik Puteri Golf Club. The tournament is a team event between 'Don' and 'Naga'. I have to be frank here...for some strange reason I was chosen to head the Don team. Imagine this, I have to be the captain for a team that consists of almost 60 golfers whose handicap ranging from 3-24. That's quite a task i might say.

ANyway, just a brief history about Don Vs Naga. It all started with a simple idea by a good friend of mine called Mr Halim. He suggested that we have a small gathering of golfers from mygolf.com.my. So we decided that we should have a team event and that's how Don vs Naga started. Like I said, I still don't have any clue as to why I was chosen to be the captain of Don team but to a certain extent, I felt honored a wee bit. Hehehe. How the Don name came up? well...the name was taken from a character in the Godfather's movie.

So from that simple idea, we decided to organized the first team event tournament at Kuala Kubu Bharu. I think the total participants was about 35-40 people. At that time, Don was the champion of the tournament and every participants seems to be contributing some points to their respective teams.

The second team tournament was held at Saujana Impian in Nov 08. This time, the participants has increased to about 70 people. And again, Don was announced as the champion. I didn't quite enjoyed the outing as a lot of the participants did not manage to complete the whole 18 holes because of the rain. The method of scoring also has changed and I still wonder how did Don actually won that team event.

So, for this Don vs Naga Part 3, Brian (the head of mygolf.com.my) took the initiative to form an organizing committee to ensure the event went smooth and steady. The OC was formed a couple of months before the event date and we managed to get few sponsors along the way. I guess, every effort has been taken to ensure that the event goes as smooth as possible. It was decided that the event was to be held on a Sunday afternoon. At that time, we had hoped that the weather stays fine (which is highly unlikely in Malaysia).

ANyhoos, I went to Tasik Puteri rather early yesterday as I was part of the OC to make sure that everything that we've planned were in order. At about 1130am, the participants started to arrived and the registration process was rather smooth. The same goes to the arrangement of flights as well as the distribution of buggies.

Unfortunately, the tournament had to be stopped about 2 times because of the heavy rain but from my personal observation, I can see the competitive spirit amongst Don and Naga team members. Hehehe. I guess, almost all of us tried our level best to get the best score for the team. In my case, I'm lucky that we managed to complete 18 holes as there were some flights that couldn't complete the game.

Since not everyone manage to complete their games, it was decided that there will be no winners for this outing. Which also means, that Don is still the defending champion. Hehehehe.

Whatever being said, I think, this tournament is not about winning or losing. It's about meeting new people, new friends and new golf kakis. I, for instance, made a lot of new friends yesterday and I even suggested that we should organize more events like this in the future. I believe it's a good place to start or improve your network of contacts...

I for one is looking forward for the next edition of Don vs Naga. For the time being, I'm enjoying the privilege of being the captain of the defending champion....hehehehe

Saturday run around....

I had a rather busy weekend.

On Saturday, I started the day rather early. I had received a last minute phone call late on Friday night from a client requesting me to join him for a game of golf at Tasik Puteri. Automatically I said yes as I'm having a rather big tournament at the same place on the following day. So we teed-off at about 830am and I think I had a good game in general. Few pars, few boogies and few double boogies. Just my normal game. After the game and a quick lunch later, I went straight to Sungai Buloh to pick-up my missus and kecik and then we head to d'sara for a quick visit to my mom's.

We were soon back in sungai buloh just after 800pm before i received a call from a friend requesting me for a quick discussion on a business project on energy saving stuff that we are goin' or planning to do. So I head back to d'sara and we met and discuss about the project in general. I have a strong feeling about the project but let's see how it goes in the next few months. We are having a meeting with a potential client later in the week and I can sense that there's an opportunity to be grabbed before anyone else. Like I said, it's worth trying and we'll see how it goes. Furthermore, the government has already set up a ministry to specifically cater for this energy-saving stuff. I think it is called ministry of green technology, energy and water. So I guess, for the next few years, this industry will blossom. (that's my opinion anyways)


Anyway, the discussion ended pretty late and later I went to meet some new friends from Jamtank.com and we jammed at a cool place somewhere in SS15. If i'm not mistaken, the place is called 12 records. The equipments are pretty impressive I must say....It does brings me back some memories as we jammed few songs from the Ramones and Metallica. Hahahaha.....

Inspiration...and Determination

I've always on the look out for new opportunities especially in business in general. What kind of business u may ask? Well, whatever business that is easy and profitable. Hehehe. Everyone wants to do that kind of business isn't it? Well, unfortunately not everyone is capable of doing it. In life, there are thousands and thousands who started a business but yet failed within 5 years of commencing business.

I take myself for example, I remembered a couple of years ago when someone approached me to tag along with him in supplying coating materials to the end users. It was exciting at first and looks ok but when I decided to 'plunge' myself into the industry, it was difficult and every door that i knocked were closed shut as soon as I open my mouth. It went on month after month and eventually i decided to call it quits. I know and realised my mistakes after making the decision to quit as what's the point doing something that you know for the fact that won't give you a reasonable return. Perhaps, inexperience and lack of knowledge plus the fact that I'm from a different industry probable the main reasons that I did not have any success in it.

Anyway, that's history now and the company that I set up in dealing with the coating material now has been changed to a trading & services company. ALthough the money generated is not big but at least I gain a wee bit of profit from it. Not bad for a one-man show company eh? Anyway, I believe that if I were to put extra effort in it, I might be able to improve the company and make it more profitable

Anyway, talking about improving the company, recently I had the opportunity to visit an old friend. He now owns a pretty successful firm and even have his own factory producing energy-related stuff. So I went to his factory in Shah ALam the other day and had the opportunity to see his factory and he talked enthusiastically about his products and amount of money and contracts he has own. To a certain extent, I admire his achievements as we are at the same age from the same school. I felt proud that a friend of mine had actually made it big time!!

During the visit, he took the opportunity to show me the first govt contract that he won. I have to say, i have never seen such a huge amount of contract before in my life and let me be frank, the contract is worth more than RM15m. Right in front of my eyes!!! So I ask him, how do it and perhaps he will share some infos with me. Wow! it's an amazing achievement for a 32 years old guy ehh...

Obviously he said, with the right connections and networks, nothing is impossible. I then jokingly ask him whether I can supply some stuff to him and he said it shouldn't be a problem. Hehehehe. He even said everyone will have their time and he said, I'll just have to wait for my time and it will come provided we work hard towards it....

Like I said, I'm proud of his achievements so far and I can say he will be in the national news real soon!! To a certain extent, his achievement has been an inspiration for me. Well, we have different goals to achieve in life and sometimes we tend to forget those goals and be a wee bit complacent. My meeting with this friend of mind has given me a good kick in-the-arse so that I wake up and work a bit smarter!!!

Presentation....

Yesterday I had the opportunity to be part of presentation team to one of our principal. Our purpose there is to give a simple presentation of a project that the principal wanted to embark in the near future. So there I was, in this mega board room full with top-level management people from the organization. As the presentation goes on, I had a brief look on their faces and something tells me that some of them are not interested to hear what we are offering. I might be wrong or whateva but my gut feelings tells me that. You know, sometimes when you talk about something to someone and you can tell that the other person seems uninterested to what you are saying....so that's basically how i felt.

Anyhoos, I think the presentation went ok. The questions and answers part was very interesting. Especially when we talk about our fee scale. Hehehe. The presentation only took us about 30 minutes or so. I wouldn't know what our chances are in getting the job but I thought we did well in expressing our interest as well as how ready we are in getting the job done.

However, sometimes, things are not easy as it seems in getting a business deal. THings are not THAT straight forward. Especially in Malaysia. ( I can vouch for that, unfortunately). We can talk and talk about how good we are, how our products or services can help them, bla bla bla, but at the end of the day, it all depends on the MAN who has the DECISION MAKING power....if the MAN said yes, the people down the line, no matter what they say, they have to follow the MAN's instructions. Even if the products or services offered are crap!! If the MAN said NO, no matter how hard we tried in getting the business, we can say 'so long and bye-bye to our efforts...

A couple of months back, I can still remember this lady, I call her Mrs X. She's a nice lady but when we talked to her about our interest in serving her organization, she came out with reasons after reasons on why she thinks that we are not capable in doing the job. (that's what I thought, anyways...). Reasons, like you do not have your personnel, not enough staff, not enough equipment, bla bla bla.... you get the sense that no matter what you said, no matter how nice your company profile is, you won't get the business....As at today though, things has changed a wee bit, we are starting to get small jobs from her. That's a good start I think...

It seems that in business, you will always be in a catch-22 situation. Moreover, if you are on your own and you need people to help you run the organization. The nature of our job is purely giving services to our principals. Hence, if we don't get any job from our principals, then there will be no business. Zero. Nil. In saying that, sometimes, we have the people and the equipment ready, but because of reasons known only to God, the principals will always come out with various reasons why they won't let you do the job! Irony eh? Yeap, it happens and will happen again in the future....

Obviously, there are a lot of things that are happening in the background especially in getting a business deal. I'm not going into that but as you might have now it, it happens. I think, it happens in every industry at every level. Unfortunately..Until the day when all 'these background' dealing stops, only then hopefully, we can move forward as a better nation...but now...to a certain extent...it sucks....

Have a nice day.......

Bitten by the COBRA

Last week, for the first time I had the opportunity to play golf at the infamous Cobra Course in Saujana, Subang. I've been to saujana before several times to practice at the range but never crossed my mind to play as the green fees are way too expensive for me. Anyhoos, a friend invited me to play with group of friends and the fact that the price was below RM200 for the game, I said ok.

I'm quite interested at first as the course has been used several times as the venue for the Malaysian Open and I've heard stories that it's not a course for the weak-hearted. Certain holes were long and certain holes requires you to have a precise shot!! The fact that I don't play or practice consistent enough perhaps the main cause that I made so many mistakes..

To be frank, I struggled to play good golf as personally I think, I'm not good or qualified enough to play at such a course as yet. It's quite a difficult course and the undulating greens were in good condition. Perhaps, another few rounds here I could make better scores. Like i said though, I've been beaten by the Cobra and I'll be playing here again...one day...