Survey: Help needed

This entry will be on top till 26th of November 2009. For other regular (like yeah, regular) entries, kindly scroll down.
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My lovely readers,

Im helping my friend distribute a survey on the organization's political cultures. Kindly take 10-15 minutes of your precious time to fill out the automated survey linked below (just click, click, click.. so simple)

Poor response will resulted in this blog being privatised. Comprende?

Kikikikiki

-Blog owner

==========================================
Dear Respondents,

I, Yanty Roslinda Harun a doctoral student at Cardiff Business School, am undertaking a study to fulfill my PhD requirement, aimed at exploring attitudes towards organisational politics, perceptions of management power bases and work ethics. In this regard, I am interested in issues advocated but seldom studied in academia such as organisational politics and work ethics influencing power bases outcome. My questions mostly concern behavioural aspects, reflecting managerial perceptions and no questions involve proprietary information.

For this endeavour, research questioning is to take a form of a short, one-off, anonymous online survey taking no more than 5-10 minutes of your time.

All information provided is strictly confidential; results of the study will only be exhibited in aggregate form and no names will be disclosed.

Kindly use this online survey system, which you can access via the link below. The deadline for answers is Midday on November 26th.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=GnYeAvqf4vkpFDF0oCHTgg_3d_3d

Your answers will be completely anonymous and two lucky respondents will be picked at random to receive RM50 in gift vouchers. If you are interested in the findings, please send an email request and I will send a copy of the results to you.

I sincerely hope that you are able to support this research and assist me in answering and forwarding this email to your colleagues and friends.

Please note that I can be contacted via email at [kindly email the blog owner for the email, can't post it on the public site like this].

Many thanks and kind regards,

Yanty Roslinda Harun
Doctoral Student,
Cardiff Business School,
Aberconway Building,
Cardiff University

It's not what you think it is

Not blood.

Statement taknak kalah

Accidentally went to the Samsonite sale at the Isetan yesterday.


Overheard one akak's conversation to her friend over the phone (not in the picture), gambar di atas sekadar gambor hiasan.

Akak 1: Eh, ngko, ada sale ni.. murah 70%, dari RM2,000 jadi RM600 jer ni. Tapi camne ni aku baru jer beli Mandarina duck semalam.


Just grab my item and left... Damn 20 more days till the next salary!! In a meantime, makan pasir (or KFC, pay with vouchers) Ngek ngek...

Removing Rust from the toilet bowl: Finally

Have you had mother of all rust stains on your toilet bowl and refused to go away. To make things worse, the affected bowl is in the guest's restroom.


--(iron out my ass, wasted money only)

For years I had to suffer embarrassment and believe me, since I moved in (or more like since my house-mate moved out), I've been trying EVERYTHING to remove these stains, be it over the counter cheapo stuff like clorox (which make things worst) to the most expensive stuff you get on the specialty shop (ACE Hardware that is :p).

Whenever shopping, I would desperately buy (and try) any product that I run across that claims to remove hard water rust stains -- usually with no success and wasted money.


So today, the same drill took place. WEnt to ACE hardware and found this stuff called LYSOL - Power. At the end of my mind I was thinking, yeah like this RM15.90 stuff gonna work when the RM99.00 stuff doesnt...


I tried it anyway. I squeezed it under the rim all around the bowl, letting it flow into the bowl-- then left to let it sit for a while (30 minutes)while I was watching the Exorcism of Emily Rose, which was another mistake....


During the commercial, I returned to the restroom, half expecting to start the usual pointless scrubbing routine again, and jibberdy dibberdy, I couldn't believe my eyes -- the rust stains were gone! I now have a white, spotless toilet bowl.

Omigod, Lysol does work! 2 years stains were gone in minutes. Now I got a new BFF (right after Jif/Cif) for miracle household DIY kit.

Free Stuff

Got these from the office. The Shuffle for the safety milestone, and the Touch for my 5th year anniv. Yee haaa...

The joy was short-lived though. I got to know my ranking... Sigh, two years in a row now... With the same old broken record "it's not you, its the system, try to be more visible next year. Everyone could give 110% for base work, we need something more.."

Was down for a couple of days, but now its not that bad anymore.. I could see some potentials process improvements which I could work on, thus making me more visible to the management.

But what I dotn really get thought was the increment that goes with that ranking. Supposedly, for my dismal performance, I was expected to receive less. Last eyar I got a promotion (?????) and this year the increment is good (the gross is, dont know why my tax increased by RM300 with the new salary).

Anyway, back to the free stuff topic.
Earlier this month, I saw the "Notis pemberitahuan Pos Daftar" on the grill of my apt.


Similar like this. I was like, okay, this is not funny. I hope no one sent a surprise parcel for me (for my birthday), because seriously, I dont have a car and I dont even know where the heck Sentul postoffice was.

If it's true, I am so gonna delete this person from my FB...menyusahkan hidup aku jer... kikikiki

I was also thinking this could be a lawyer letter or something for the unpaid loans or something. But then again I dont have any loan with any institutions. Sudah, mesti ada orang guna nama aku ni buat loan.. (Lost my IC a few years back)..

So yeah, one Saturday morning, luckily the post office opens on Saturday, I googled for the address. Phew, within walking distance from the LRT station. So off I went to the PO.


Got the parcel.. its from the P1 wimax. Eh, did I missed a payment for them to sent me the registered mail?

Tear it opened.. and voila, inside I saw this:

Pundek haram betul.... Menyusahkan aku sungguh!

It's for my birthday.. RM20 vouchers for the KFC and the Pizza hut.. So tak berbaloi the anxiety and the troubles I had to go through...

Oh well, better than Asstro though.. for 8 yrs being a good paymasters, I never received a single thank you note from them..

And the service? Dont get me started. Some of my channel was down because of incomplete downloading (happens twice a year at least because I turned off my unit when I go to work/sleep at night to save electricity :p), and everytime I got different answers from the operator. One even had a cheek to ask me to pay RM50 for the technician to come down to check my decoder.. Stupid or what? I said nevermind, let me wait for the next "update" when Astro will be pushing the whatyacallit to the decoder. I will leave my decoder on then for a week, true enough it worked. But now I had to pay the electricity for tis month... hehehehhe

Simple math

Quiztime

Nice boobs, or are they?
Click for Answer: 1


Hmm, hairy one that is...
Click for Answer: 2


Where could you see this lion?
Click for Answer: 3


Another boob-y trap.
Click for Answer: 4

Le Mesa has been turned

Me as my usual self, snapping random picutres on the lrt, hoping to find somthing funny to blog about later...


But tonight the table has been turned.

Akak tudung putih:
*Eh budok nie, nak amik gambor aku yeak?*, sambil memberi arahan kepada kawannya, "Jah, mu amik la gambo dia pulak"

Kak Jah: Baik mem...


Ketawa, kikikkiki, "Molek letak dalam fesbuk ni!"

Ketidakadilan: And nasha aziz is still single...

Got it?

It is hilarious if you get what it means...

hi hihi

Im so rolling on the floor, laughing my ass of.

Out of Action for a couple of Months

This blog has been virtually neglected because of:
(1) FB rules!
(2) Office work.
(3) Just when I had the mood to update:
----->(a) The modem crashed
----->(b) The Laptop went kaput


The modem went first.. just when I was busy with MonopolyCityStreets (separate entry, hopefully), it just died out. It only had a power light on and that was it.. No blinking whatsoever. And it happened at 11.30pm! So i had to wait till 8am to made a report (P1 help desk 8am-11pm only).

Wasted another 4-5 days again because of the wrong advise:
(1) The P1 transmitter station in sentul was down.. waited 2 days.
(2) The, allegedly the OS wasn't properly updated. SO i had to leave the device on for 2 days
(3) By third call I was no longer being polite. Only then they said go and get a replacement (like yeah during hari raya, which office is opened?).. So had to go to PJ for a replacement modem.. luckily FOC.


Then, of course the major headache occurred. My 15mth old laptop died. When I tried to boot it up, nothing happened. Just a blue lights (as above) and then nothing.

At first I thought it was because I left it on the carpet and there was a major thunderstorm a night before, and the static has been accumulated, rendered it lifeless.

So, i did everything to "drain" the charge up. Then I thought maybe it was too humid, so I put it under the hair dryer for minutes, nothing happened also.

Called the HP helpdesk, which was re routed to India with funny accent, asked me to do the same which I did previously. I told him, I think the culprit might be the motherboard, he said since the laptop is already out of warranty, I might have to purchase the new set + the service charge. No price tag was given, therefore I went to the HP service center in Bkt Damansara and it was bloody RM$1200 (Just for the mother board)!

Are they insane? I might as well bought a new one.

Then I decided to google, and lo and behold, Im not the one who experienced the same thing, there's even a group in FB about the lousy design of HP laptop.

The problem is with the combination of HP laptop + NVIDIA grahpic processor + Vista. And HP wont admit its design flaw.. Well, those affected users are gathering signatures for class suit action.

They managed to sue NVIDIA, HP is Next! Woo hoo.

Anyway, i found the solution posted on youtube:



First step, took out all the components.


This is the culprit. The thermal compound evaporated and accumulated around the graphical processor, cutting off the link to the motherboard.


Baked it under the 120watt spot light for 2 minutes.



Made a trip to Singapore to get the Thermal Conductivity Compuound at the Sim Lin Square. I could have swear Low Yatt should have it as well, but those stupid ah beng dont speak english, and gave me the bank look when I asked for one (even after I showed them the picture, they gave me the superglue).


Smeared it, and put a penny/1 cent/brass/gold to maximise the contact point between the fan and the graphical processor unit.


Reattached the fan


Reassembled your laptop. Wait for the compound to dried up (a day is enough). PRAY!


And voila, RM1200 has been saved! F off HP... Im so changing to MAC after this.

Fish Head Curry Revisited

After the dismal attempt previously, where the fish falling apart/flaky, I tried again during the frist week of ramadhan, (or was it before.. dont remember lah).

Made 1-2

Ingredients:
1 fish head (about 1 kg)
4 pieces tender lady’s fingers
2 tomatoes, quartered
2 sprigs curry leaves
1 green chillies, slit half way lengthwise
1 big onions, pounded
1 cloves garlic, pounded
3 cm ginger, pounded
1 tbsp mixed curry seeds (halba campur)
4 tbsp curry powder for fish (I used BABA)
A glass of water
200ml coconut milk
2 tbsp tamarind
2 tbsp cooking oil


(1) Wash fish head and drain. Season with salt and steam till cooked.


(2) Heat oil in wok and fry the curry leaves & curry seeds for 1 min.
(3) Add pounded ingredients till aromatic, and tad brownish(a bit).


(4) Add the curry paste and coconut milk. Stir-fry till the oil comes through.

(5) Add tomatoes, lady’s fingers and chillies.

(6) Add the tamarind juice, salt and sugar and continue to cook over a low heat. If gravy is too thick, add a little more water and let simmer for 5 minutes.


(7) Add the steamed fish head, cover wok and let simmer till cooked


(Optional) in a seperate fryer, fry fennel seed and curry leaves till aromatic. Pour into the cooked concuctions.


Voila!


Serve with udang masak kunyit and salad.. YUMMY!

Are you one of those 10% of the population?

I Just Found Out

.... that the position I left 5 years ago, has been upgraded to the Vice President positon:

Five years ago:
Famil Sulaiman
Head, Banking System Development

Today, it would have been :
Famil Sulaiman
VP, Banking System Development

A missed opportunity? I dont know.. somehow managing people is not my forte. I always want to be their friend rather than their boss, therein lies the problem.. I'm too nice... hehehehehehe

Plus, kalau aku kat sana idok ler boleh bersosial.. muakakakaka..

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Correction;

Its AVP,
Technology Solutions

Another Kecik Kecik Tak Nak Mampos Moment

When the application was packaged 3 months ago, the user said it was fine. Then got some minor update and they decided to change the option as well.

Previously:


They want it to be like this:


So I did. Just to accomodate that simple change, I had to modify many subcomponents and redifined the Registries:


And now after all done and I already submitted the app to the QA, they came back and ask me to revert back to the old one.

Nelli... I have a question ofr you
Famil Sul... yeah
Nelli... There will be a TS package for this app as well. Would it be possible to have A4 and Letter format at the same time on a terminal server?
Famil Sul... thats what we did last time.. and you asked me to change
Nelli... but did it work for both versions?
Famil Sul... yeah
Famil Sul... but now i have to change for the TS
Nelli... I am sorry
=====================

EEEEE, aku rasa macam nak cekik cekik kasi mampus

Got this aplication on my back for eons.. Its all because what I believe was the DB error, but those DBA and jokers kept on insisiting they are right, and its my application which are problematic.

So after 2 weeks of exhausting every possibilities, I sent them a note yesterday for recommendation.
=================================

Dear xxxxlai/DBA;

The Marquas 7.3.1 app still not launching. We have done the following:

1. Install Marquas 3.7.1 as a replacement for Marquas 7.2.3 - FAILED
   
2. Install a new version of Marquas 3.7.1 into a clean machine - FAILED
   
3. Install a previous working version of Marquas 3.7.1 (prior to recycled) - FAILED
   
4. Install Marquas 3.7.1 from the Media provided by the vendor - FAILED

* FAILED as in the app is still waiting for the db to response until timeout occurs.

The dependency has been installed, and all registries entry has been checked to point to the sqldb1.

Therefore we could ruled out packaging / media issue.

Probable caused
========================
I did some checking on the SQL setup and found the following:

1. Access to the Server SQLDB1 has been granted correctly
   
2. Access to the Database VOIS2000_DATA has been granted with the correct role (UR_MARQUAS)
   
3. However, access to the application (VoisUser) is not there.

Recommendations
======================
I am not sure wether this is the real culprit, however I would like to suggest the following:

1. Remove user xptst05 from the table VoisUser.
   Add user xtstafs and xptst05
   Grant more access to these users (VesselVisibility = A, ApproveRejectxx= Y)
   xxx to look into this. MarquasUserAdmin are responsible to manage users in the application. I dont know whose in the group.
   Only if this method doesnt work, we will do step no 2 below.
   
2. Remove VOIS2000_DATA from sqldb1.
   Restore/refresh/replicate VOIS2000_DATA from June 01 2009 backup (VOIS2000_DATA_Test) OR
   Restore/refresh/replicate VOIS2000_DATA from sqldb0
   DBA to act on this.

============================
Complete with diagram and stuff so that they could easily understand.

I were even close to give the exact command like:
insert into xxxx
(LoginName,Initials, RoleID, VesselVisibility )
Values ('xxxx','xx',5,'A')

but that would be insulting the DBA.. as if they dont even know their own job.

DID ANY OF THEM LISTEN OR ACT UPON MY RECOMMENDATION?

Hell no! They keep on doing some troubleshooting and today send an email to the vendor asking for assistance...

And today, we received this from the vendor
===================
The problem is that the Test accounts are not defined in the MARQUAS
Database.

The following commends would add the User accounts to MARQUAS.

insert into voisuser
(LoginName ,FullName,Initials, RoleID,EmailAddress,ApproveRejectHold,
ApproveRejectLift ,ApproveRejectIncident ,ApproveRejectIncidentReport ,
ApproveRejectFinalReport ,ApproveRejectInspection ,ApproveRejectVPRReport
,VesselVisibility )
Values
('XPTST05','Test Account','TA5',5,Null,'y',
'y','y','y','y','y','y','A')

insert into voisuser
(LoginName ,FullName,Initials, RoleID,EmailAddress,ApproveRejectHold,
ApproveRejectLift ,ApproveRejectIncident ,ApproveRejectIncidentReport ,
ApproveRejectFinalReport ,ApproveRejectInspection ,ApproveRejectVPRReport
,VesselVisibility )
Values
('TST06','Test Account','TA6',5,Null,'y',
'y','y','y','y','y','y','A')


Regards

Roger Kelly

====================
Pengsan aku!

A$$Hole

Well, an a$$ in a hole that is..

hmmm, an Indonesian would aptly define this...

Three's A Crowd

Hmmm, who could the third person be? In-law? The go-go bar dancer? JAIS?

Indon definition for the Spirit of the Ramadhan

What would happen if they found one????

It's all ebgan when one ang moh who worked for the discovery channel in Singapore made a stupid mistake thinking all South East Asian were the same. For his mistake, he was rewarded a promotion, oh so typical ang moh...

As left two countries in a deep mess, once again.

And oh, if only they (the Indonesians) see this news from BBC, they're going to roll on the street, frothing at the mouth.

YCOM: TimeOut Comedy Thursday

Old entry.. thanks to my lazybumhectic life. This entry was on my draft for months (since July 3rd).
===============================

Attended Young Comedian of Malaysia stand-up performance. It was held on every first Thursday of the month, and the venue is all over the town (Zouk Underground, Shalome Bangsar, urbanattic Chulan Square, etc)

The cover charge was RM20, but being a cheapo's best buddy (Sri), he sent me a link for 50% voucher... So voila.. Preethy, her hubby and I had a great time that night laughing our head off, well mostly.

The verdict?

4 superb
1 mediocre
2 bleargh


but seriously now, I dont remember whose who.. so Im trying my best to do the review based on my archaic memory.


The superb one were:
(1) Jien, the chinese guy with a buckteeth,
(2) Sri, the mek su, seriously! Im not being bias because he's on my blogroll!
(3) Papi zak, with his american accent!
(4) The other indian guy.


The so-so:
(1) A chinese guy.. Or maybe its just me who felt that way.. Because of all his jokes, I'd read them somewhere on the net before. So nothing new lah!


The "OMIGOD-they're so bad, even Nazri Aziz made better jokes then they could!":
(1) Faisal. Enough with the sex jokes already! I were about this close to shout "Hey you, you are soooo Malay, even your jokes are mediocre..." luckily Preethy refrained me from doing so.. hi hi
(2) The other indian guy. Just when we thought the Malay guys was bad, this guy was the worst. No sex jokes though.. Just plain lame.


I swear I had something funny to talk about this pic, but now Ive forgotten about it already.. darn! I shouldnt procrastinate!

Aspalela abdullah...

Hah ngko, 2 bulan bersawang...

Busy ya rabbi.. Right now Im the only one in my team doing the application in AP and europe region. Therefore, I seldom have time to even take a break, let alone blogging. Reached home already too lethargic and drained to write...

As early as 8am, the would be users in Australia asking for assistance, then Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia.. Break for lunch. By 2 Technical contact in Hungary already logged on. Then Checz and UK. If im lucky enough to stay back, I could catch the counterpart in Argentina to handover today's workload...

Good news though.. for the past 3 months I haven't pay a dime for electricity... I wish I am in Selangor so that my water would also be free... but heck with only RM6 for water bill, Im not complaining :p



The bliss of not having to cook and internet...

They Need us more

Maid tiff set to be resolved

KUALA LUMPUR: Indonesia will resume sending its citizens to work as maids in Malaysia next month.

Indonesian Manpower and Trans-migration Minister Erman Suparno said the resumption would, however, be subject to the settlement of specific issues.

During his meeting with his Malaysian counterpart Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam yesterday, he raised the following issues:

> Allowing maids to hold their passports instead of the employers doing so;

> Giving maids a weekly day off;

> Requiring employers to bank in monthly pay;

> Giving adequate protection to maids from abusive employers; and

> Curbing maids from being brought into Malaysia illegally.

He said discussions would start on July 15.

“We hope to reach a consensus within two weeks. We hope that the discussions will solve the problem so we can resume sending maids,” he told a press conference at the Indonesian embassy.

Erman said the Indonesians would also discuss minimum wages during the discussions.

“Being trained or untrained is irrelevant. The question is what are the qualifications required by employers for a domestic servant?

“The wages should be standard. There should not be discrimination. All nationalities should earn the same.”

Erman said the two countries would also review the memorandum of understanding on labour, which was signed in May 2006.

“We need to review it because both countries have since passed laws which are not consistent with it.

“On the Indonesian side we have a new human trafficking law which came into force in 2007,” he said.

On his meeting, Erman said he was now “happy and confident”, adding that Dr Subramaniam was responsive to suggestions to improve the situation.

Source: The Star, Tuesday 7th of July
========================================
“We hope to reach a consensus within two weeks. We hope that the discussions will solve the problem so we can resume sending maids,”

Indonesian government + Malaysian government = within two weeks...

Hmmm, doesnt add up. Even by next year the paperwork would still be underneath the piles in one of those Jabatans. Where the exec were out doing courses, sick leave, umrah, getting married, getting pregnant, having birth, etc....

But that also proved that those Indons have to eat their own words. Saying that they can survive without Malaysia...

Monorail's Anomalies

Gosh, it took me an hour to board the train today.

Must be an idiot who made the schedule 6 minutes apart at peak hour! To make the matter worse, the two coaches monorail was not that full, but because most of the kiasu Malaysians wouldn't budge from the doors, not that many passengers could board at a time.

Me: Ma'am there's a cavity there, would you mind moving a little bit.
She: You're kidding right, look at him, I wouldnt come near even if you pay million.
Me: I couldnt care less if he looks like a serial rapist, you aint no Beyonce either... Now move...!!

But of course the scene above was only on my imagination.. hi hik...

==================================
There was a "Buy Malaysian Products" exhibition at the KLCCCC's a few days back (or was it weeks). Anyway, there's this Proton car being showcased complete with nice looking models, on which made you think, are they selling the cars or the girls?


Sekadar gambar hiasan...

And then, it also made me think, if they're selling the lorry, would they also use appropriate models to promote the products too?


Like these perhaps?

LRT's Anomalies

This one looks like she was holding the rail, blame it on my lousy papparazzi skill. But actually she was holding that guy's hand.. not letting it go.. No matter how awkward it looks.


From the beginning, this kid couldnt stay still. he jumped, he climbed, he stand on the chair.. This koronggĕ was only behave


at the Madurese presence. All it took was a one stern, 'im gonna decapitate you' look, and he was as still as the late Tun Endon's hairdo...

koronggĕ = Monkey in Tamil.

This could only mean one thing

The Arabs have return.

1- Pushing trolley this far.
2- Using hotel towel as toilet paper.
3- Barking mad at waiter/waitress.
4- Cutting lines in queue
5- .................................. (fill in the blank)