Year of Weddings

I have attended countless of wedding this year. Its been a year of marriages. My cousin is getting married on Christmas day as well. I have been the "unofficial" photographer for at least 6-8 occasions and been requested personally about 4 times. I seriously gotta start making money out of this. Ohh btw, I become the PM and Emcee for one of those weddings as well. Should I venture into wedding planner business?

My friend's wedding has just concluded and he is now in Hawaii for honeymoon. Of course the unique thing about his wedding is his wedding card which I forgot to mention. How often do you get a wedding card with your name printed on it? No, not the empty dotted line to invite you but a special piece of card just to thank you. Unfortunately my friend, you spelled my name wrongly. Its OK, I forgive you. Make sure you get me something nice from Hawaii.

Russell Peters

This is freaking hilarious comedy. I was trying to embed it here from Google Video, but I can't seem to get it to work for some reason. Stupid Google.

Here is the link anyway. Check it out. You will not regret it.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4604360870333886926&q=rusell+peters

Update @ 3rd Dec
Rusell is coming to KL in March 2007! I must get the tickets at all cost! I must! I must!

Food & BMW & Wedding

Food

Just to get your brain all fired up with the title, actually its 3 separate issue I would like to speak about. Firstly, about Nasi Kandar Penang.

I am a big fan of Nasi Kandar ever since my work in Penang started about 2 years ago. Since then I have been on a hunt for Nasi Kandar in Penang and KL. Last week I took an opportunity to have lunch at Original Kayu Nasi Kandar at Aman Suria. The reason simply because I wanted to go by Egonutrition and pick up a supplement. I will come back to this.

Picture courtesy of pasankia.blogspot.com

Surprise! Surprise! When they say original, they really meant it. It was simply fabulous. It had such an originality on the taste. Never have I tasted such even though in Penang. The chicken was nice and big and I had a huge mountain rice. The price - RM 6. Total reasonable. I was full and satisfied. Service was good. The waiters were nice and prompt. The best part, my bill was RM 16.28, I paid RM 20. They cashier didn't have 2 cents, so he gave me 5 cents back. Now that is what I call real honest business! 5 stars from me! This is going to be my favourite place for many years to come.

EGO

Now Egonutrition - I can't find your freaking place. I pusing pusing 2 big round, can't find. I didn't have the map or the phone number. No sign board. I gave up.

BMW

BMW? Ever seen the BMW advert in Astro. With one nerdy looking guy and 3 girls? And they went about "Testing testing, BMW?" - So bloody irritating. I never understood the advert till today. For goodness sake, it look like the production team was made up with bunch of high school morons.

Wedding

I attended my boss's wedding couple of weeks back. Very nice wedding and I volunteered myself to be the unofficial photographer. 2 thing struck to me on that day.

1. Boss will be a boss. You can see my boss my walking around nervously and scolding the hotel managers. Take charge in every situation.
2. When I arrived at my table, I had a nice little surprise waiting. My name on a card. It was actually to indicated where am I suppose to sit. This is my first time seeing such arrangement. I thought it was very nice and thoughtful. You get the personalize service feeling. He got my name spelled right!

All the best and happy married life!

PS - Dude, your screwed. :)

A Month's Update

I have been missing for a while now. I attribute this to my busy schedule and lack of new and interesting development to blog.

I have been officially hired to be a photographer for my friend's engagement. Well, its actually a candid cameraman position. No pay, but loads of learning to do. The engagement was like a wedding. I can't imagine how the wedding would be like. The pictures turned out well and I am glad my friend is happy. More to learn, more to do.

After 3 months of self imposed solitude from gym, I am back in action. I really can't say whether its my sheer motivation and determination or the NO kicked in, I was like a Energizer bunny yesterday in the gym. I couldn't stop working out and waiting between sets was a chore. A real kick ass workout.

Over and out....

Secret Recipe secretly cheating?

Update @ 14th Nov 2006
I have tried several Secret Recipe shops and all of them does have this defect. So on one occasion, I had to ask. The reply was simply, "The machine rounds up the number. Would you like your change?". This proves that SC's staff are aware, and in order to get your 2 cents back, you NEED to ASK!

Now the best part.... almost a month now.. no action from KPDNHEP. Why do I even bother?



Btw, same thing happen today at KLCC foodcourt - Bengal's corner. 2 cent was not return again. Why does this happen to me?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I decide to buka puasa with my favourite Secret Recipe cake last week. However I come out with 2 slices of cakes and alot of questions. Have a look at the receipt below. Do a bit of math, and can you tell me where did my 2 cents go?




I know my maths is weak... so can anyone explain this? Btw, I didn't get my 2 cents back as I paid RM 50, and the cashier return RM 40 back. I have filed a complain with http://e-aduan.kpdnhep.gov.my. Lets see how its goes.

Open Source Symposium 2006

I attended a 2 days event on Open Source held at Ritz-Carlton Hotel. I took the monorel for the first time. Not bad.

Clearly evident was the numbers of participants. This could be due to TechEd event going on simultaneously in KL. The numbers for TechEd estimated over 1000 while Open Source had less than 300 participants. On the second day, most sessions was attended no more than 50 people.

But the food was good. They really spend money to feed everyone. I don't think you can get that at TechEd.

I found the content of the symposium to be interesting to a certain extend however the selection of title and the quality of speakers was poor. There were only a few select exceptional speakers such as Shane Owenby - Red Hat APAC, Dinesh Nair - QubeConnect, Dr. Yusseri Yusoff - former Consulting Project Director for MAMPU and few others.

I can't comment on the rest of the talks which I didn't attend. Most speakers do not speak in passion about the technology nor offer new insight although everyone was knowledgeable. The talks was mostly catered for experienced Red Hat users or developers. No afford was taken to introduce the basics of Red Hat. I hope there will be more improvement in the following year.

The 2 days events had a tagline which was notable in every talk - TOC (Total Ownership Cost) and Vendor Lock In. Very Anti-Mircosoft atmosphere. The cool part was the presentation was done using a Linux OS notebook using OpenOffice (or was it Star Office?).

I am not a Open Source or Microsoft evangelist. To me, what is important is what technology that can deliver the requirements that I have in a productive, fast and efficient manner. If I have to pay for a software, then I will if it really helps my productivity. If Open Source can provide the same solution and helps my productivity, then by all means I will use it.

Fitness First Review : IOI Mall Puchong

Located within IOI Mall Puchong. You can't miss it if you are heading to KL using the LDP.

• Parking is RM 1 for the 1st 4 hours. Then subsequent is either 50 sen or RM 1. I would imagine getting a parking here during weekends will be a nightmare.
• The entry point is ground floor. So you can park at the open car park and walk across. I got fooled because I saw the signboard way up and I thought it was on the upper levels. Took an unnecessary journey to park on the roof and walk all the way down.
• First impression. There is sure alot of cardio equipment here.
• Single level concept.. thank God.
• Receptionist, nothing to shout about.
• The men's locker room seems big, but don't be fool. Strategic placed mirror makes the room look big. But its all new and clean. Locker seems smaller compare to others place.
• Free weight area abit smaller compared to FF Curve. They have about 5-6 work bench. The rest pretty much the same as DU.
• Juice area, quite small.
• Somehow, I feel the PTs here are unfriendly.  Just me...
• Machine, the usual. Didn't really pay attention to them.
• Plus point, all the equipments are spanking new. Even the dumbbells looks virgins.

Ratings? 


Check out for more reviews below
FF Menara Axis
FF The Curve
FF DU
FF Consplant

Back from Cherating

I just got back from a much needed vacation. This time around, the destination is Cherating. This is my second time to Cherating and to the same hotel - Impiana Cherating. This hotel with its rustic and ala Malay traditional architecture capture my attention and mesmerized me on my first visit. But what really made me return is the placement of the rooms close to the sea, where you can hear the sounds of the thundering yet soothing waves from your room.

This is where I laid back and enjoyed the breeze and sounds of the waves.

The main purpose of this journey was not to enjoy or to take a break, but rather to have a quite environment for me to reexamine my purpose in life. I have achieve half of the objectives I set out to do here. The rest, time will tell.

The beach... regret not spending more time here...

In Cherating or Kuantan, life moves in a much slower pace. I felt I was moving much faster than time and the cruel reason is because I have been obsessed and influenced with KL's ruthless lifestyle.

Here, you are able to relax and wind down. I could really feel the difference. People are nicer and life is much more simpler. There is nothing to rush for or to compete with.

The moment I got onto Karak-KL highway, I saw the ugly side of these Ws plat numbers. Sigh... I wish I could stay longer.

I bid farewell to the sea... liken to the ebb and tide, my life is such.


I hope a day will come when I can rejoice my success in life with a dwelling near the sea. Put away the hatreds and disappointments and embrace life the way it should. We all can learn a thing or two from nature.

This entry was published using Windows Live Writer. Pretty cool software. Sadly blogger.com does not support image publishing.

A new year to begin

95% emotionally recovered and feeling great. Been starting to hit the gym, although I feel like a beginner. Couldn't care less about what has happen in the past. Everything happens for a reason. So "life", here the deal.. I ain't giving up, so keep trying, loser.

25th July, my birthday. Started the celebration with my wife and a nice cake from secret recipe. My staff threw me a surprise party. It was kindda touching as I didn't expect them to go to such extend. I guess ppl show their respect and affection in a different manner.

My friends threw me a party as well. For the first time in my life, I celebrated a birthday party with friends. I know its pathetic, not everyone is popular, ok? It was great buffet dinner and its nice to know you have friends who care (finally, i am not alone in this world). Lucikly, no one threw me a party in the gym.

It made me realise that I have so many ppl around me that actually took the effort to rejoice a celebration for me. I gotta cherish this ppl and make more effort to acknowledge them. Life is not bad after all, yah?

Recovering

I have been out of action for 2 months now. The hand injury is getting better, but emotionally I am healing as well. Cryptic? Simply put, the past month, I had endured some painful setback in life. It's one of those event that really changes your life as you know it. You are paralyze emotionally and you need to step back and re-look at your life.

I am not good a dealing with emotional breakdowns, as usual my life breaks down together. Finally after a month plus, I have pieced up my life together, although some part of it is still missing (eventually I'll find it).

As of present time, my body is back to where it was 6 months back. I need to refocus on my gym and nutrition again (been feeding on pizza, ice-creams, chocolates like nobody's business). I need to refocus on my career and family again. Lets put this way, its Ganee 2.0 booting up soon.

Company Trip

I just got back from my company trip held at Summerset, Rompin. This place is really ulu, where ther is no line and surrounded by jungle.

The trip was fun and nice, but consist alot of team building activities. The worst activitiy was to dig out sand from the beach to built a small tunnel, using your bare hands. On that day, I felt how a dog will feel like...

Most of the free time I get which is between lunch hour and evenings, I dive straight into the pool. Yup, good old cardio exercise. The funny things is I didn't see the gym here eventhough its listed on their brochure.

Pool is clean and nice, and we did spent quite abit of time playing water polo.

The sea was quite rough with big waves. The night was fantastic whereby the sky was brightly lit with stars.

Among the activities we played was water polo, volley ball and beach soccer. Unfortunately, my wrist got worse and now this is my 3rd week that I am out of the gym. I hope to get well soon, can't wait to get back to gym.

My Protein

Left - Old, Right - New

Just got my tub of protein powder from EgoNutritions.com. Its a new improved Whey 100% Gold Standard. Out of curiosity, I was comparing the the old tub against the new one. Right off is the weightage, the new one is 5.15lbs while the old one is 5lbs only.

There are a few others differences as below...

Left - Old, Right - New

Eventhough the protein is up 1 gram, but the cholesterol and sodium is up. I wonder what new ingredients they have to put into this protein powder. Maybe its time to switch to another protein?

Out of Action

Arghh... the worst thing to happen to anyone training with weight.. INJURY. I sustain a wrist injury. Its been there for sometime but as the last workout, I think I went in abit aggressive. I had to see the doc after I notice the pain didn't go away and there was a clicking sound around the wrist area.

He slapped around bandage and told me to lay off weights for 2 weeks. That sux! Guys, injury sux and can set you back for sometime. So go easy and listen to your body. Now then, tomorrow is shoulder day.. hmm....

Gym for bunnies and yuppies

I just gotta blog about this. In the US, there is this gym named "Planet Fitness". Their tagline is "judgment Free Zone". Using this tagline, they tailor their gym for Cardio bunnies and Yuppies. Why do i say this? Several reasons

• They do not have squat rack
• They do not allow deadlifts
• No T-bar rows
• There is no dumbbells heavier than 40lbs. What!?
• If you drop your weights or make noise they will slam of the LUNK ALARM - its kindda loud siren to embarrass you. - I don't like the alarm idea, but I agree on this rules, although you ought to be allowed at least a grunt.
• Bodybuilders are openly discouraged to sign up with their gym

Understand why now? I seriously believe they shouldn't call themselves a gym. What kindda gym that doesn't allow bodybuilding? Sissy club?

You seriously gotta check out their radio commercial. Damn funny.

Now it makes me worry, I just hope FF does not follow the same steps in the future. Right now they are looking more and more like "Planet Fitness".....

Gym buddy

Currently I have a gym buddy.. who is actually my boss and my competitor. Kindda ironic? Anyway, he is cool and I find that having a buddy in the gym does help alot. How?

• You are able to share knowledge on exercises and tips
• Someone to push you further
• Someone to correct your mistakes
• Create a close rapport among your friends/colleague
• The guilty feeling you will have if you don't show up, so you are committed to the training day

However there is also some bad points :-

• You are unable to follow your training plan
• Changing weights, especially if the other is stronger / weaker than you
• You spend quite a bit of time chatting

So in order to get the best of both worlds, I train with my gym buddy 1 day a week, and the rest of the days I work out alone.

Currently I am learning how to swim, so far only 4 classes. The instructor keeps on postponing the classes. Hopefully I can learn to swim fast in order to burn my fat and get some solid back muscle.

Ain't growing anymore

For the first time in my life, I have been religiously going to the gym for the 3 months straight. Now there is a record for me. I have never been to gym so often in my life. At least its an improvement on my commitment.

Result for 3 months? There is growth. I can see some muscular shape here and there, however so sadly, I believe I have stopped growing. Whenever I am in the gym, it just makes me wonder, how the heck all this guys got big? Damn look at those biceps, how they hell he got such a big chest? Wow, huge forearm... I am like the tiny twig in the gym, trying to grow into a tree...

Anthony Ellis transformation - Body for Life

Anthony Ellis has been kindda my role model, however I still can't believe he did this in 6 months.

I am pretty much in the same size and still got my tummy. Man all this workout is not easy. Not to sure, whether I am not pushing hard enough or not eating right?

Right now I am trying to compete with my boss in terms of fitness and shape, however it seems like he is ahead of me by light years. HELP!

Fitness First Review - Menara Axis

Located across Asia Jaya LRT station. You can actually see the gym and the people inside if you pass by thru Federal Highway. The review :-

• The best parking facility - Before 8 AM and after 6 PM, the parking is free.
• Yeah, the dreaded 2 floor concept. Men locker room are upstairs and the ladies are same floor with the entrance.
• Only few cute receptionist.
• This place is quite huge. Ample of cardio equipment and most are new equipments.
• 1 studio and 1 yoga room.
• I love the free weight area here, its huge and all the machines are double here. 2 bench press, 2 smith machine, 7 work bench, tons of new equipments. Need to do tricep pulldowns? We have 10 machines... cool.
• Ample space for abs workout.
• People - hmm.... Recently the crowd has grown bigger. Chicks, OK lah, since I only workout at night, I miss out the working crowd.
• Men locker room is big. No worries there.
• Here, the instructors leave you alone, they don't try to pester you into PT.
• This is my favourite gym!

Ratings?

Check out for more reviews below
FF The Curve
FF DU
FF Consplant

Birthday celebration in the gym

Thats it... thats the last straw. It has happen.... I couldn't believe it. A bunch of fags gathered around and celebrated birthday... not just any place but in the GYM! Can you imagine that!? In a gym!

Sigh, its official now, the fags have conquered the gym. I can't believe it when I was working out, suddenly out of the blue - "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY.... " I was like WTF?

This is a gym! A place to workout. Where testosterone get pumped and stinking sweat get splashed around, not a sissy birthday place. After that, I practically lost my mood and went home. Sigh....

If you notice, more and more newer gym are catered for women. Celebrity Fitness in SJ, has a vanity corner for women, and their locker room is 3 times bigger than the men's. Looks like we have to go back to the old days, like rusty metal plate get thrown around with the sound of "klang, klang", big huge men huff and puff. Nay.....

Gym Etiquette

Its been 5 weeks since I have been hitting the gym. There is some growth here and there, but nothing noticeable yet. Gotta try more harder and eat well.

I would like to share with you guys about gym etiquette. I have been in and out of gyms for about 3 years now and I have seen a fair share of behaviours. What is even more suprising is, its becoming worse over the years. The gym should be more proactive instead of signing on ppl to join, educate them!

Below are the unwritten laws of gym etiquette. Learn it and do it! Its just sickens me whenever I see this selfish, self-centered, clueless, arrogant ppl. You are paying for the gym fees, so am I. We are all sharing the facility so lets just do that! SHARE!

• Put the weights back where it belongs! It isn't that difficult. Put the dumbbell back to the rack. Its makes everyone's life easier to work and look for weights.
• Do not hog the machines! If you are using it, use it fast. Then move on. Don't leave your bloody stinky towel on a machine and chat away in the juice bar.
• If you come in a group, do remember that others too need the same machine. The machine doesn't alone belong to you and your friends. Another note, don't waste time and joke around. Get to work and leave. Sigh....
• Stop dropping the weights! Can't you read the sign on the wall. You think this is your father's gym ah? It doesn't make you stronger or macho by dropping the weights, it just create more attention that you are weak.
• Hair dryer... to dry your hair not your body!
• I am pretty uncomfortable looking at naked man in the locker room. Do not assume everyone is a gay like you.
• Shower place is to take a shower, not to pee or cough out out your lungs..

There is few other things, you can read it at http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/betteru20.htm

Fitness First Review - The Curve

Located within The Curve shopping complex in Mutiara Damansara. The review:-

• Parking is plenty. In the parking area, they have marked which place you should park for easy accessibility to FF. Good idea!
• 2 floor concept again.. sigh, but they have cute receptionists.
• The place looks slightly bigger and newer than Consplant.
• Ample of cardio equipment. Machines OK lah. They have most of all the machines and some new additions.
• Free weight area is quite big. However if there is a crowd, it could pose abit problem in finding a bench.
• The rest is pretty standard. Classes, shower room and etc.
• The juice area is quite strategically located, just behind the cardio area. You get to sip a your drink while looking at ppl's butt. Not a bad thing....
• The crowd... hmm... looks like a good mix of working ppl and students as well. Chicks, not bad either.

Ratings?

Check out for more reviews below
FF DU
FF Consplant

Fitness First Review - Consplant

Located just beside Subang Parade, this branch is the nearest to my home. Now the review :-

• Parking is terrible. You can either park at the basement, per entry is RM 2 after 5 PM, or park around BCB or in front of Wisma Tractor. However don't be surprised if you get a ticket.
• 2 floors. I hate 2 floor concept. However the place is more or less the same size as DU. Lighting wise is good. There is also a glass window around the gym, so you can get a view of Subang while working out.
• Stretching area is so small. But they have 2 TV hooked up to ASTRO. So while you are crunching your abs and knocking into someone's butt, you get to watch silence movie of animals jumping around.
• Free weight area, much better than DU. Machine wise... OK lah.
• Shower room, not bad. Clean and OK.
• Crowd - mix crowd of professionals and students. Beautiful people and huge muscle heads. Look out for a certain crowd of machine hoggers. But this place has abit too much crowd to my liking.

Ratings?

Review on FF DU .

Fitness First Review - DU

Now armed with my FF Passport membership, I am making full use of it by visiting as many FF branches of as possible. Following are the few reviews I have on some of the FF branches I have visited.

FF Damansara Utama

For years I have worshipped this place thinking WOW! Can't blame me who has only HOME membership and the last gym I visited was no bigger than my living room with rusty weights.

After comparing, this gotta be the worst gym within the FF branches. You will immediately doze off after stepping in. Such poor lighthing. The receptionists..... don't bother.

The gym is terribly small. Only 1 bench press machine and only 3 benches to share among the crowd. The cardio machines are getting old. Used to be 2 studio for classes, but they torn one down to make more space for machines and streching area. Machines is limited.

Plus point is the shower room is slight bigger than other branches.

However eventhough the size is small, it serves as a small knit community where you general will know one another.

Ratings?