Under the weather

been 3 days having this fever-flu. and it only worsen at nights.

With the new increment, Im making less!

Looked at my salary slip, I got less after increment. I was like, wtf?

Found out later that because of my new salary, Im now under the new tax bracket.

And with the decrease in EPF contribution next year, I'm paying more to IRB. I.e. getting less disposable income.

To illustrate:

Old Salary: $5,000
Epf: 11% @ $550
Taxable income: $4,450
Tax Bracket: 20% @ $890
Net Income: $3,560

New Salary: $5,100
Epf: 8% @ $408
Taxable income: $4,692
Tax Bracket: 25% @ $1,173
Net Income: $3,519

Like WTF???

Update:
Sayugia diingatkan bahawa borang (Borang KWSP17A - AHL) hanya akan diedarkan 1 Disember 2008. Jangan berlengah kerana bulan disember ramai pekerja akan mengambil cuti. Cuti2 umum yg perlu diketahui:

Raya haji; Isnin - 8 disember
Krismas; Khamis- 25 Disember
Maal hijrah; Isnin 29 Disember (dan kemungkinan besar ramai akan menyambung cuti pada hari jumaat, 26 disember)

Dan KWSP adalah badan kerajaan, dimana prosesnya melibatkan banyak peringkat/birokrasi. Dan borang anda perlu diserahkan/mendapat kelulusan Jabatan Pengurusan Sumber Manusia tempat anda bekerja.

Tidak dinyatakan pula implikasi jika lewat menyerahkan borang. Samada pengecualian berkuatkuasa bulan berikutnya (Februari) atau tahun berikutnya (2010).

Dan yeah, sesetengah syarikat mempunya sistem IT yang agak kuno dimana variable deduction_percentage hanya boleh mempunyai satu value yakni 8% atau 11%. Dan tahun depan, default value akan menjadi 8%. Bagi pencarum 11%, kaedah manual mungkin digunakan. Dengan itu, ada kemungkinan 11% ditolak daripada gaji kasar tetapi cuma 8% dicarumkan. Sila semak penyata akaun kwsp anda sekurang-kurangnya 3 kali setahun.

Famili Ceria on Astro

Remember this game show?

Last time on TV3 with Helmi as the host.


It's on Ch 201 now. Saturday at 12noon. With Kushboo as the host :p

No Male Team Ever Won TARA

The winners were either all female teams or all sisters teams. Apa la dei!

*SIGH*

Kisah Singa Di Singapura

Sebenarnya kisah pak belang di Zoo Singapura.

Why was he approaching the tigers?








Video: Warning, horror!

Kursus Main-main aka Main Course

Mrs. McGee: Ha datang rumah aku masak for bday Shida.
Me: Okay, what to cook huh? Nasi lemak?
Mrs. McGee: How about Italian?
Me: For Shida? Isn't she like perempuan melayu terakhir? Makan ka western food? Karang muntah pulak.. I had an experience with Malay who never eat non-malay food before. Took him to sushi king, and guess what.. he vomited there and then. Kemaluan yg tidak terperi besarnya okey..
Mrs. McGee: Ahh ko masak jer.. makan punya budak ni.
Me: Find me the baked macaroni recipe then..

On the day itself, at the groceries store.

Mrs. McGhee: Why dont we make (we?) baked lasagna.. here are the ingredients.
Me: What, meat and milk? euuuuuwwwwwwwwwww
Mrs. McGhee: Sedap...
Me: Have you done it?
Mrs. McGhee: belum... but i've been longing to cook it for ages. Plus i had the lasagna sheets already.

whatever lah, malas nak gaduh2.

Bought the ingredients and went back home. Did the baking (cookies) while Mrs. mcGee was membuta.


Halfway the the cooking, Mrs. mcGee finally awaken. What is this smell?? I dreamed I was baking and here they are. *gobbling on MY cookies!*

Me: Okay fat ass, take out the lasagna.
Mrs. McGee: I thought you will do all the cooking.
Me: I said take out...

Mrs. McGee: Rumble rumble, ruffle ruffle..eh I dont have them lah!

Me: What??

Mrs. McGee: Why dont we call Domino's pizza?

Me: What ?? Yeah, halfway the cooking, we found out that we're out of the base ingredient. What do you have then?

Mrs. McGee: * Meroyan *

Fine, i'll improvised then...


So yeah, I had to throw the recipe away, and grab anything I could find on the pantry.

Tomatoes and fussili!!! What a godsend!

So, here's the recipe:
1 medium size onion
1 carrot
1 stalk celery
200gm minced Beef
1 packet Breakfast Streaky
250 ml grape juice (also not available, I used blackcurrant jam instead)
1 cube Beef stock
Olive oil
2-3 Basil leaves
2 tbs Tomato puree / paste
Chopped tomatoes (canned)
Boiled Fussili
Grated Parmesan and Mozarella cheese


Seared the onion till caramelized. Add, celery and carrot. Cook for 2 minutes. Add beef streaky, fried till semi cook and then add the minced beef. Add the juice, puree, beef stock and basil leave. Cook till the meat dry-ish. Add tomatoes. Cook for 15 min.


Transfer the meat into the baking ware. Spread the parmesan.


Layer the fussili on top.


Spread mozarella and parmesan to cover the whole thing.


Baked at 190C for 30 minutes


Take out


And serve. Eat while it still warm.

Beruskereta

Thats how it sounded like.. brus keta.. but the spelling is bruschetta. So, when you ordered one in an authentic Italian restaurant, jangan nak memalaukan agama bangsa dan negara, pronouncing it bru-sheta! :p

Unless you're in Dome. Then the waiter would insist its bru-sheta. Oh well, what do you expect from a guy who pronounce Quiche as qui-shay (again, correct pron is Keeshh). One of the reason I dont go to Dome.. theee heee heee.

Anyway.. Here's the sautéed onion and mushroom bruschetta recipe. tested and vetted delicious, even by the ultra malay palate (by shida, akak irama malaysia)

Simple recipe. preparation time is less than 10 min. Well, unless youre crazy enough to bake your own french baguette.


French baguette
Swiss/brown/portobello mushroom
Onions
Chopped Garlics
Olive Oil

Note: Dont be a pain int he ask by asking the measurement.. there's none. If its not good, blame yourself. Get rich, or marry one. Then you dont have to cook.

Or at least get the 'Tandoori Chicken'. There's rich inside there. Stewpid treasure hunt question. tandoori chicken = doori chic = ori chi = ri ch = rich! Instant richness no?

Eh, termelalut.. Sambung balik..


Sauté the Onion in olive oil for 3 min. Add mushroom. Sauté till cooked. Mixed in garlic.


Sliced the baguette and toast it for 2-3 min. Drizzle some olive oil onto the breads. Spoon mixture onto bread and serve.

Oatmeal Raisin for Mood Lifter

1 * 1 cup butter
2 * 2 cups molasses sugar
3 * 1 large eggs
4 * 1 Tbsp vanilla
5 * 1 1/2 cups multi-purpose bank flour
6 * 1 teaspoon baking soda
7 * 3 cups oats
8 * 1 1/2 cups raisins
9 * 1/2 cup chopped almonds (optional)
x * 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg powder
x * 1 teaspoon cinnamon
x = not in picture


1 Pre-heat oven to 190C (350F). Grease two large cookie sheets or line with Silpat, parchment paper or waxed paper.

2 In a large mixing bowl, beat butter until creamy. Add sugars; beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs. Add vanilla.


3 Mix flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg together in medium bowl. Stir dry ingredients into butter-sugar mixture.


4 Stir in raisins, nuts & oats.


5 Spoon out dough by large tablespoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheets, leaving at least 2 inches between each cookie.


5 Bake until cookie edges turn golden brown, 10-12 minutes.


6 Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.



Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Gnutihgnem Irah

Empat Belas Hari Lagi untuk:

Ohhh, jenama ini sudah bertukar nama... Kalau anda tahu nama lama Nestle Nesvita Soy Milk Drink, anda akan faham maksud entry ini. hint no 2: dahulu kotaknya bewarna biru. hint no 3: sudah terang lagi bersuluh.

hi hik.

Update:
========
Siapa yg masih belum faham, akan di remove dari FB friends!

Nando's Design Failure + Some Randoms

Had my favorite Nandos chicken @ my favorite mall; le Pavilion.


Assuming it was an automaat faucet, i wiggled my hands high and low.. Hmm nothing happened..

Searching high and low for the lever.. bent downward and voila!


Turned out that the faucet lever was underneath the mirror. Hampeh..


Random 1 = The Starbucks at the KL plaza is now closed. One less starbuck means one less confusion situation like below:

Zilem : We meet at Starbucks ok.
Hernia : Which Starbucks?
Zilem : Near Bukit Bintag lah!
Hernia : Yeah la, which Starbucks?
Zilem : Hmmmm... at the Pavilion!
Hernia : There's two Starbucks at the Pavilion lah. One at level four, one at the ground floor.
Zilem : Urghhhh.. lets meet at the foodcourt lah then.

*Clearly fictional. No one would believe Zilem and Hernia would ever drink at the Starbucks anyway. Kedai Kopi pak abu more like it.


I couldn't believe my eyes! These condos at Bukit Tunku don't have the Astro (or at least centralized receiver's antenna). The tenants paid at least RM750K for the unit, but couldn't afford RM49.95 Astro? Hmmmmm..

But then again, I heard the RM800K/unit Cap Square condos would get flooded every time it rains. Welcome to Malaysia.

Beware: Porn Could Kill

Heart-op man dies watching porn

By JAMES CLOTHIER

Published: 31 Oct 2008
A YOUNG man born with a heart problem died while watching a porn film.

Chris Nicholls, 23, collapsed after getting over-excited as he viewed the blue movie in his bedroom, an inquest heard.

He died of a cardiac arrest weeks after having open-heart surgery.

His body was found by his mum Clare at the family home in Redhill, Surrey. At the inquest she asked pathologist Dr Mary Sheppard, who examined Chris after his death, whether the heart attack was brought on by the film.

She said: “Christopher was watching a blue movie when I found him.

Stress

“Later I told my husband, ‘I know what’s happened. It’s got to be a rush of adrenaline because he’s got excited.’ Could that have caused cardiac arrest?”

Dr Sheppard responded: “Any kind of excessive stress or excitement could have brought on serious erratic heartbeat. So, yes, that could have been a factor.”

Chris was born with a congenital heart defect which could never be completely cured.

He had open-heart surgery when he was 15 months old and again following a heart attack in April.

He also suffered from a form of autism. Clare hit out at London’s Royal Brompton Hospital, where Chris had his latest operation.

She said: “No one there told me how imminent death could be. When I asked for guidelines on how to care for Chris at home they looked at me like I was mad.”

A natural causes verdict was recorded at the inquest in Woking, Surrey.
Source: The Sun, UK

Two Carrots and Five Sudokus Later

Lately, as if something possessed me, I am so crazy about snacking on carrots. While waiting for the others to turn up at the Garden, Midvalley today, two huge carrots were being chomped voraciously.

Ana was there on time. Told me Iira couldn't make it. Oh well, only two of us then. So we went upstairs for lunch. Wanted to go to the Thai restaurant, but the waitress said the kitchen was not ready yet.

We lingered around at Robinson to kill the time till the kitchen opened (At noon). Went back there, again, the waitress said the kitchen was not ready yet.

"Well, could we sit inside waiting while the kitchen is ready?" I asked.

She didnt know how to answered and call her supervisor (from the look, i think she's Vietnamese). He explained that there's some technical glitch going on in the kitchen. They were sorting that out.

Gee, could you guys stop hiring non English/Malay speaking staff? Fine, we proceed to the Japanese restaurant next to the Borders. Was tempted to go to that Taiwanese Restaurant right in front of it, but we're not sure about the halal-ness of that place.


I was quite reluctant to go there, because I was expecting the dish here would cost arm and leg, just like the Yo! Sushi at the Pavilion.

Standing at the door there, I could see that the place was already full. Wow! Malaysians are sure a loaded lot!

We were scurried into the private rooms which was half emptyfull. Browsed through the menu and pleasantly surprised to see the price inside.


"Cheap!" I exclaimed. She agreed. So, we went wild with ordering.

I had Salmon wrapped in fish roes, Salmon sashimi, Prawn Tempura, and Ebi Tempura wrapper. Whereas, Ana ordered, I dont remember... heh hehe. The food was pretty good and some dishes are cheaper than Sushi King!

We had a good chat on the past, present and the future... Mostly on the past. Reminiscing on the life back then, and the forgotten people. Marina cikadak to be exact. Funny, for someone who was supposedly the forgotten one, we remembered a lot of details about her a lot!


Radiant looking Ana..

Anyhow, yeah, Ana is expecting soon (early December). Planning to visit her at the newly opened Prince Court.. I am so going to ga-ga over that hospital. The look from outside is quite intimidating already, I couldn't imagine being inside.

We parted soon after, and I continued shopping (mostly windows) :)


The elated face right after I heard that she will be paying the bill ;)~

Once Upon A Time Part IV (Household items)

Have you guys ever use this type of iron? Neither do I. But I saw how my granma used to use this type of iron. Its so fire hazard, you had to do the ironing outside the house at the yard, (or if typical Malay kampung house, under the house).

The preparation was so lengthy, if you woke up late for school / work, you can kiss them goodbye. No way you gonna make it on time.

First, you had to burn the charcoal. Then you put the hot amber inside the iron and wait for it to get hot enough. But not to hot, or you might ended up burning your garment... and can kiss goodbye to your school also (which I dont mind).

Next, you had to apply the starch. Only then you may start ironing. Refilling the amber when and where needed.

My sister tried it three times and gave up. At first, she burnt her pinaform (school uniform). The second time, she burnt her hand. And the third time, she almost burnt down the house.


Well, this thing I am so familiar with. It's the kerosene cooker. Back when there were not so many LPG around, this was like the de facto cooking stove back then.

Another 'disaster waiting to happen' item too. If you put the kerosene container improperly, the oil would leak and the whole kitchen would caught on fire.

Mastering the stove was an acquired skills. You need to know how to put the 'sumbu' (the rope that would burn), how to fill up the tank, how to turn the knob, etc.. Failing so would made your cooking tasted funny. Simply put, its a bitch to handle!

I tried to cook something on it.. 1/2 hour later with blacken hands and face(from the sumbu)and kerosene drenched (not to mention had to refill them many times because I kept spilling them when i flipped the tank)... I managed to fry an egg! Wooo hooo.. that was in 1983!


And not to forget this pseudo-butterfly-brand 'oven'. It's not really an oven until you put them on top of the stove. Or in my case, on top of the stove above.. which made it extra biotch to handle.

Making raya cookies back then was hell. You could only put 1 or 2 small trays at a time. It didnt get any easier with my aunties penchant-ness of making cookies at night! Batches and batches of cookies had to be thrown away. Thats what you get when you relied on 8 yr old kid to man the oven! Another 'mishapped' with the kitty, I was shooed away to sleep. No details necessary, but enough to say the kitty look something like this afterward:


Luckily a year after, we got a new, electric oven. The china made, aluminum one, which shaped like donuts with a viewing glass on top.

Sigh, those were the days....

Ape Ape Je Lah

Random 1
=============
A: Kau Beli mana baju ni?
B: Kat pavilion.
A: Nama kedai?
B: Adalah.. kat level 2 tau! (Row kedai2 jenama mahal)
A: *Belek label kat leher* Ketawa sekuat hati *
B: Jenama mahal ok!!!!!


Sorry not trying to be racist here.. but the label sungguh tidak kena lah.. Plus, the name connote something funny! I always imagine Jaspal Singh as someone jolly, like Santa Claus, not high fashion.


Random 2
=============

Tak pernah dengar perkataan ni pun. Pengetra? Apakah itu? Ekamatra tahulah aku.


Random 3
=============

Another nama yg hancussss.. Teh dan simpati. You wont fit the dress? Dont worry, here's the sea, and please accept our uttermost sympathy.

Random 4
=============

I hate going to the Isetan through this floor. Bau hospital.

Random 5
=============

Bankrupt atas bankrupt. Restoran yg mengambil alih Bakerzin yg bankrupt beberapa bulan yang lepas di Isetan telahpun bankrupt. Buka KFC jer la, sure laku.

Tidak Ku Mengerti

Part One: Over and Over Again
=================================

The Email
=========
Subject: IMPORTANT! PVMG Driving Safety and Food Safety Training Certificates

I have been requested to centrally file the above 2 certs for our group. I would appreciate if each of you can provide me copies of the certs by tomorrow. Sorry for the short notice as this has been a short notice.

For CETS/SETS, I did get your PVMG cert and forwarded to Houston but I did not make copies of them. Can you kindly re submit to me, please.


My Response
==========
1) Again????? I didnt even made any copy the last time we did it. Plus I dont see the point why we need to do so, it's already on the system, why do you need another hard copy proof?

2) Whats the relationship between completing the 'courses' and not charging them on Planit (Timekeeping system)? Just because some idiots forgot to charge the time, everybody has to go through it again?

Part Two: London Shopping Spree Anyone?
=================================

The Announcement
==========
Lower EPF Employees' Contribution Rate Starting January 2009 Wage

Members of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) will be able to benefit from the reduction of the employees’ monthly statutory contribution rate by three per cent, from 11 per cent to 8 per cent, effective from January 2009 wage for a period of two years.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister YAB Datuk Seri Najib Tun Abdul Razak made the announcement during the winding up speech for the Ministry of Finance on the 2009 Budget on Tuesday. The move will help increase members’ disposable income in the context of the current economic outlook. At the same time, the higher disposable income will support domestic consumption and thus help sustain the momentum of economic growth.

The decision to reduce members’ statutory contribution rate was taken twice before in 2001 and 2003 as part of an economic stimulus package.

For ease of members and to better facilitate implementation of the measure, the reduction of the employees’ contribution from 11 per cent to 8 per cent will be made automatically, effective from January 2009 wage. This arrangement will be implemented until December 2010 wage.

However if members wish to maintain the contribution rate at 11 per cent may choose to do so by filling up Form KWSP 17A (AHL). Once completed, the forms can be submitted to the members’ respective employers for submission to the EPF.

In the meantime, the EPF will be issuing a new monthly contributions schedule accordingly. Members and employers may obtain the new schedule and Form KWSP 17A (AHL) from all EPF branches or download them from our website, myEPF, at www.kwsp.gov.my from 1 December 2008 onwards.

Source: Najib's Coffer.

My Response
==========
Penalise the prudence... Need to fill out the freaking form just because you want to maintain? I cant believe my ears when I heard it on the news today.


Part Three: Liars Liars
=================================
The News
==========
Heard Over the News about a statement made by this Bagan Dato parliament member saying that KAFA (Kursus Asas Fardhu Ain - Religion thingy) teachers payment were made by JAKIM and not by Perak's MAIP.

My Response
==========
So not true, MAIP has been paying RM250 (and now increasing them to RM300) since the beginning. I know that because I developed the system for them :p