Pristin Transview Golf tournament @ PTGC

It was certainly not a tournament for the lower-handicappers. The tournament was played using the modified stableford system. Medal A was for 0 to 16 handicappers. I played quite well. Scored 82 on the stroke play; even with a 2 strokes penalty inquired when I stupidly removes some "kemuncup" around my ball, at rest. All the winners came from the higher handicappers; to be exact; the 16 handicappers. 5th place got 41 points. The winner was a guy who manage to score 46 points. I got 35 points; the only consolations, won LD....not longest drive but lucky draw. Will only take part in a stroke play tournament in the future.

In my alumni egroup today..interesting comment; ....

From Bro Prof Ahmad Puaad Osman of UKM;

"I have never said that studying Math & Science is not Good...I was in SMSS from 73-74. I took MCE, All the nine subjects were in English ( Subjective tau ) Xcept Malay and Ugama.
But when I grow up, Involved my self with education ( Not politics Ha..) and try to understand the efforts of BUILDING A NATION.. like what the Japanese, Korean, German, British, Chinese, Russians. do ..( a few more..) I now understand the need of my mother's tounge
language. Americans do not built their nation. America is the melting pot of many nations who just want to seek opportunity and fortunes. ( A researched was done by a scholar from UKM. Prof. Shahrir Md Zain...( mathematician ).. 80%of the Nobel Laureat, were educated in their own mother tounge's language, at least up to the Bachelor degree before they immigrated to the USA -the land of opportunies ). Believe me...In 20 years to come...If the present trend is to stay.. we will never again see food ingradients written in the Malay Language on food wrappers or food package. Why??? because nobody understand it.. and by the way who needs it anyway..Everybody is talking in English when it comes to science technical terms.
Remember.. We are talking about BUILDING A NATION with pride....not building a rumah setinggan. To remind again.. English is VERY important.

Just ponder: When Malaya or British were ruling before.. or may be in the 60s and early 70s...English was the main stream at that time.. (mind you I was in Malay school.. then remove class and only then English ).. were the Malays .. ( excuse me to the non-Malays )...much better of in Science and technology.. in 60s and 70s. The core of the problem is Sound Education system. Recently ( my daughter is one of them) the JPA has started sending students to Russia and Ukraine (Ukraine dah stop) and Indonesia to study medicine - to save cost. These students have to speak and write in Russian when they go to clinics. In class they sometimes have to
read medical literatures in Latin...It seems, they wre OK, and survived despite the difficulties. Believe me if most of our students have good command of English.. NO BODY bothers
to ask to teach Science and Math in English.. So logically.. English & Science and Math have VERY little correlation.

One silly question to ponder .. If we want our footballers to be like the Brazilians.. why don we ask the coach and sports teachers teach football in Brazillian (?) or Spanish for that matter.. Ini joke je..

I rest my case here for a while.. I may be wrong !!!!. But I want my future generation know that I contributed to the Nation building...

For your information... The equation F=ma is not always right... Have you ever heard about F=ma2 ( squared )"


Hmmmmmmmm....????

Aiks!!!! Budak yang kena tangkap basah ngan NFJ tu ropernyer....

Member gua la!!!!!

I was browsing through this gossip column discussing about the "close proximity" case of a popular Telecaster of TV3. Tetiba gambar member gua yang kena tangkap tu ngan NFJ terpancar kat dalam forum tu.....


Alamak, gua memang kenal brother ni. Last sekali main ngan dia kat Sri Selangor. Memang le NFJ pun ada kat situ, having lunch with all of us. I still remember my flightmates that day, Executve Director of SKALI, AA , Mr ASH and the Bro EP. Memang kerja dia main golf, everyday plak tu ..he,he.. tuah badan. Aku terus call Mr ASH and AA. "Oii yooo member main golf kiter suda jadi orang fofular la"

Anyway Brother EP...wherever you are...I hope you'll be cool... with your pipe.

Another Golf Tourney; PristineTransview; 18/12

It's about time for me to participate in another golf tournament; the PristineTransview Golf Tourney; Sunday 18/12/2005. Hope to get a good score that day. Will try. .......Another important thing, and got to remember this; .......it coincide with the wifey's birthday date la.

La, .....Melayu ropernyer....

There was this video clipping; purportedly showing a Chinese national being asked to do ear squats in nude. Everyone was shocked. From a local issue; it became a G to G issue. Bilateral relationship between two countries, China, and Malaysia was in jeopardy. A commision were set-up to investigate the case. Pak Lah scolded his minister for coming up with insensitive comment about the incident. Today, it was revealed that the lady filmed doing the ear squads naked was not even a Chinese national but a local malay. What gives????

I asked a policeman friend of mine...
" so, apa sebab budak perempuan tu bogel masa kena ketuk ketampi??"
" Aisay, Golfer Melayu, bila lu buat raid, tempat tu selalunyer dijadikan tempat menyorokkan pil-pil tertentu, ....so dari kita orang korek sendiri; baik suruh dia buat ketuk ketampi 10 kali; kalau ada apa-apa kat dalam benda tu; sure terkeluar punyer.....mana lu hendak; nak suruh kita orang korek ke, nak suruh ketuk ketampi?...."
"Mak aihh??? Dasat tu"....

Hmmmmmmm.......

maybe,..... I can make money by inventing a non-contact; non-intrusive scanning device.......

Online Marketing.....

"Golfer Melayu; we need a new way to do marketing, man..." .D
"Ok, I'm listenin'"
"I read that blog will be the in-thing to do proactive marketing; we could create a blog; talk about out tacit and explicit knowledge about eLearning;.....; we will link this blog to the company's website ........ it's like the company brand awareness program; .....through this blog; very cheap. You have blog right, Golfer ?" D.
"Yup, I have a blog; just for me to release my thoughts on a lot of useless stuff"
" So, how many readers do you have; you have the knowledge on online and onsite marketing.." D.
" D, first of all, I have created the blog for myself; just to reminisce my experience on a later date and mostly I write about bullshit; anyway, to answer your question; I've received about 1,500 hits to date"
"Within a month??" D.
"No Bro!! in 8 months!!!! since I first started to put in the online statistic thingy within the blog"
"Aiya; So how can you get people to search and reach for your blog?"D
"D, if you wanna do that; in Malaysia, most people will probably search for keywords such as, Melayu boleh, melayu bogel; awek melayu; seks, or sex; or even siti nurhaliza.....in indon, try tiara lestari; cerita seru; Kris Dayanti, Inul; and if you're looking for traffic from around the word, try free porn, nude celebrities or stuff like that...."
" Aiyo!!!!!!!, I wanna write about eLearning,....... not sex!!!!!!" D.

No. 1

Aku dah pernah berambut style budak-budak sekolah, masa kat sekolah rendah and menengah la. Rambut panjang sampai ke dada, style mat rock @ mat dadah, pun dah pernah, ni masa kat University la. Aku tengok muka aku time tu memangla handsome,... tapi menakutkan. Sebijik cam Mat fit. Dengan gitar plak, ke sana , ke sini. Orang lain belajar kat Library, gua kat Student Union....main pool, main video-games,....... sambil belajar. Pernah satu ketika, bapak mertua aku melawat that University, pasai hal kerja; dan masa tu plak, aku tengah couple ngan anak dia. Dia jeling semacam je. He, he. Siap check keputusan aku lagi, walaupun aku ni different "Scholar". Nasib baik gak aku ni bole tahan pandai nyer,.....muka cam budak kena "probation"...aku tau ni pun, sebab wife aku, masa tu kira awek le, pernah cuba di tackle oleh mamat yang cuba memburukkan imej gua dengan mengatakan gua ni budak takda masa depan, tapi in real life, aku ni "dean's-list" student le. he, he. So, don't judge a book by it's cover. Tapi kan, kalau aku tengok nanti, anak perempuan aku keluar ngan mamat yang "seropa" perwatakan luarannyer, macam aku pada masa tu, aku pun sure reject mamat tu punyer.

Masa aku mula kerja, in US lagi, aku dah potong rambut, tapi still panjang le, ada ekor-ekor. Balik Malaysia, rambut aku still panjang gak. Pernah aku ditegur oleh "boss" aku masa tu, pasal rambut aku yang ada jurai-jurai kat belakang.

Last Sunday, aku rasa macam nak gunting rambut aku , pendek se pendeknyer....kalau gi kedai gunting rambut, cakap aja, nombor 1. Bila aku duduk ajer kat kerusi gunting rambut tu, mamak tu tanyer,

"Camner Bang?"
" No 1, kasi all-around no. 1" Aku
"Huh?!, biar betul bang"
"Yup no 1, Just do it la"


So, Sekarang aku dah berambut ala-ala gondol....and aku bole nampak yang rambut kat tengah lebih jarang dari rambut kat tepi...bahana pakai topi tengah panas, bertahun-tahun, masa di padang golf . Mula-mula pas gunting tu, aku nak gelak tengok muka aku, lama-lama nampak okay la plak. Hmmmmm......................

My Golfing Achievement..2005

1) Became a Charter Member of PTGC
2) Became a Single-Handicaper, currently 9.
3) Broke 80...7 times this year.
4) Winner of 2 TNB Transmission Division tournament. - ( 3 including the latest at Bukit Unggul, very recently, only it's counted as 2006 season)
5) Got to be the runner-up in the Medal-A category, PTGC Monthly Medal tournament. (Scored 78 that day)
6) And the most important of 'em all, .......still makes money from my golf buddies....he,he,he

A few more interesting places in Jakarta

Pondok Indah; an elite area, with huge bungalows that's stretch to the limit, where the side walls of the house is connected to the gate itself..... entry will only be from the front and rear...Somebody told me that Ahmad Dhani of the Indonesian rock-outfit, DEWA, have a house within Pondok Indah.

Pondok Indah Golf and Country Club; very high class and expensive golf course ala Saujana Subang. If you wanna test the course, make sure you play on Monday..coz in Jakarta, the green fee increases by the day of the week.

Pondok Indah Mall; huge mall, ala One Utama...two huge complexes, connected via overhead bridge and underground tunnel. I did not do too much walkabout in the mall, except for going in through the valet parking entrance, go one floor up through the escalator, and have dinner at "American Grill"..... "Sirloin and Seafood Combo"....with all-you-can-eat buffet spread.


Chilandak Town Square; or better known as CHITOS, a place to eat, relax, sit, with with a lot of "pusat" to watch..... CHITOS..... do sound a lot like CHINOZ??! Hmmmm..

Jakarta lagi

Arrived in Jakarta at about 2:40pm, local time. Large crowd today. Took the "beef stew" in the plane. Pretty good, maybe becoz I'm hungry. Was out of the Soekarno Hatta airport at about 3.30pm. The road was not bad. Arrived at hotel Kristal by 4.40pm. Nice hotel. I am staying in a 3 bedroom apartment, overlooking the pool. Mr J, goes direct to work while I'm in the hotel, relaxing. Tomorrow, morning....golf. Afternoon, need to see a customer.......and it goes on like that the whole week. Thursday & Friday...POC. Friday night...seafood dinner with Mr W. Gotta find one other time for golf this week!!!!!

Hey..hey...taking the family to A'Famosa for holiday tomorrow. Checking their website, they have this new attraction called "1st 4-D Theatre in South East Asia". Looking forward to check that out. But before that, tomorrow morning, golf at the A'Famosa "crocodile" 18-holes course. Will be there until Saturday morning.

Sunday morning, golf at PTGC, evening the alumni open house.

Monday noon...off to Jakarta, once arrived, directly to the customer's place with all the bagages. Expected Travel Time; KLIA to Soekarno Hatta; two hours. Soekarno Hatta to Sector 7, Bintaro; 2.5 to 3 hours. Yuck. Will be in Jakarta the whole of next week. Expected to play golf twice. Yessssss!!!!!!

"Selamat Hari Raya...Mak..uhuk..uhuk...janji tak nak nakal lagi....maaf zahir dan bathin...uhuk..uhuk..Aisay..duit raya sikit la..." 

Back in business

Back to work...with pile of stuff to do. Sync with D on tasks to do. Bla, bla, bla and more bla.

The "Hariraya" celebration went on allright. Eve of Eidufitri, went over to Omak's house and joined in the tradition of doing the "takbir" from house to house. 8 houses that night. The boys were having the time of their live...with the "duit raya" being the main and most important purpose of the ziarah and the "food" as the value add to the whole event. Raya Day in Kajang. Then off to the "older" relatives. The next day, in Sentul, and right after Solah Jumaat, back to visiting relatives. Hectic....

4th day of Raya, my first Golf outing. Not bad but not good either. Still feels uncomfortable.
Now , 3 weeks after Raya, Golf is suprisingly not that important to me. I still can play. The score of a single-handicap player is still there. But the drive to improve is lacking. I lack focus. Maybe, it's the long break. Maybe, it's the pain that's still there and was always in the way of my swing. Whatever it is, I"m not as focus as before.


Have to go to Jakarta again, 20th to the 25th or 26th of this month. 1 whole week..... There goes the "Amateur Closed Tournament" at PTGC. And suprisingly, I'm not too upset about it.
I'm gonna bring my set to Jakarta. Gotta play at least once ...or twice.. while I'm there.


But before Jakarta, I"m taking the family for a short holiday....A'famosa. Thursday 17th to Saturday 19th. I'll be there with 3 other families.

Plan ; on Thursday, early mornin', the ladies will do the groceries and cookin.. the kids will be allowed to have "free and easy", the men will GOLF!!!!

Perang SMS

Maka bermulalah perang SMS untuk mengucapkan "Selamat Hari Raya I'dulfitri, Maaf Zahir dan Bathin" . Boss-boss Telco company senyum aje. Aku pun join sama mengantar SMS Raya ni. Mana taknye. Tak sempat nak hantar kad raya. Aku baru keluar hospital. Hari ni aku gi office, 1st day after the long break, melambak-lambak kad raya kat meja aku. Mana kad raya yang aku dapat, and kad-kad raya yang dah masuk sampul tunggu aku sign aje. Kira-kira kad-kad ni akan sampai lepas raya la. Takpa la, janji hantar gak.

Since aku dah bole gerak, weekend lepas gi buka puasa kat rumah omak and in-laws. At the in-laws, ada perjumpaan famili yang besar gak. Best gak. Maghrib sesama and Isyak and Terawikh sesama. Makan sakan aku, especially sekarang ni aku ada natural diet plan, sejak-sejak tak dak hempedu ni. Makan aje, within five minutes, aku kena gi toilet.

So nak balik kampung mana? Kampung gua ke kampung wife? Hmmmm.... gua local(Taman Pelangi ,Sentul), wife local(Kajang). Plan rabu ni, pagi gi Kajang, malam gi Taman Pelangi. Takbir kat sana. Pas takbir rumah ke rumah, gi Kajang balik. Raya kat Kajang, pas sembahyang raya, round rumah-rumah yang biasa di round, next day gi Taman Pelangi balik and then gi rumah-rumah yang patut di ziarahi. Pikir-pikir, boring gak tak da kampung ni. The last time aku balik kampung was the time when I'm in primary two. We were staying in Kuantan at that time. Balik KL, untuk balik kampung. Arwah Abah kat Selayang, Omak kat Segambut. Ahhh...those good old days.

"SELAMAT HARI RAYA I'DULFITRI.....MAAF DZAHIR DAN BATHIN....DRIVE SAFELY"

Yikes, it's already Friday. 2 weeks after the open chole. I'm just beginning to enjoy the break..or MC. I know I would have tons to do when I'm back at the office but...hey...I think I better enjoy the "accidental" long break, while it last. Next monday...I'll be back in the office...for a day before going off for the Hariraya Holiday. My body feels good. I believe I could do a full golf-swing with a golf club by next week. Ahh....something I'm looking forward to do.

Ahhhh....It's nice to recover. Slowly but surely. Especially when you do the recovering at home. Watched tons of DVDs. Played with the kids PS2 quite a bit, eventhough, I only exclusively play the "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2006" out of hundreds of games that's lying beside the PS2.

Yesterday, my first day of driving, ...actually my first day of driving without flinching with pain. I did that once last week, sending my eldest kid to school, and it was a BADDDD idea. I went to Ampang Puteri for a post check-up with Dr Shuib, the surgeon. The guy is cool. Everything's cool......except that I can't use my stomach muscles. When the open surgery was done, all veins and nerves that runs through the stomach areas were shreded to pieces...would need time to heal.

Met the "biras" cousin of mine, The Big Boss Man of 8TV, AIO, getting his cholesterol pill.
"So, what's the main reason for the gallstones in the gallbladder?" AIO
" Inbalance diet, stress, and bad sex life....ha,ha"
"Huh?"
"just kidding!!!"

Arghh, I need to be able to drive the DRIVER again!!!!! If not, I would always come up with those lame jokes,........ again and again.

My Condolence....Al Fatehah

To Pak Lah, for the demise of his beloved wife...
And to Ahmad Lutfi Osman, for losing his beloved daughter, his touching story in my email today. Al Fatehah...


Subject: [AL-HIDAYAH] Perginya jantung hati

Perginya jantung hati kami
Oleh Ahmad Lutfi Othman

Rabu, 5 Oktober, 1 Ramadhan, jam 8.15 pagi. Segalanya berhenti. Deru angin, kicau burung, juga lintasan dan angan-angan. Dengan lembut roh Nurul Syafiqah bt Siti Hawa, 11 tahun, anak kedua kami dipisahkan dari jasadnya sehingga saya, isteri dan tiga putera lainnya, Ahmad Luqman Hakim, Ahmad Ikmal Syafiq dan Umar Mukhtar menyangkanya tertidur nyenyak.

Tragedi tidak bermula Subuh awal puasa itu. Aturan Ilahi tentang kematian kerap menyentap,
mengejutkan lena, memancung cita-cita, namun punya rahsia tersembunyi, yang mungkin tidak terbongkar sampai bila-bila. Jumaat, 30 September, 12.45 tengahari. Syafiqah telefon dari sekolah. "Akak tertinggal bas, boleh ayah ambil?" Saya terdiam, banyak kerja mesti disiapkan; artikel politik kampus untuk harakahdaily baru setengah jalan. "Akak jalan kaki,
ya?" pintas Syafiqah selepas saya membatu.

Semalaman membakar pizza. "Tapi banyak barang kena bawa ni," asaknya tanpa nada mendesak. Hari itu Syafiqah 'menjamu' guru-gurunya dengan juadah pizza masakan ibunya. Semalaman dia menunggu pizza dibakar oven. Sememangnya Syafiqah suka sekali membawa makanan ke sekolah, tidak lama dulu nasi daging. Sehingga dia mengalah, saya langsung tidak terasa apa-apa bahawa Syafiqah mulai letih dengan demam dan sakit tekak yang dideritainya. Petangnya Syafiqah telefon maklumkan dia dapat tumpang kawannya balik.

Malamnya, apabila sampai depan rumah, lambat pula Syafiqah buka pagar. "Awat lambat?" Saya merungut walaupun cahaya lampu kereta menyerlahkan muka Syafiqah yang pucat.
"Akak cari tudung."
"Malam gelap, tak ada siapa nampak," jawab kebodohan saya.

Ketika itu tidak teringat langsung bahawa Syafiqah kini cukup prihatin dengan aurat. Nak masukkan karung sampah di belakang rumah pun Syafiqah pastikan bertudung dulu.

Set nasi ayam
Sabtu, 1 Oktober, sepatutnya saya tunaikan janji dengan Syafiqah. Selepas tamat UPSR dan PSRA, dua hari sebelum itu, Syafiqah minta set nasi Ayamas. "RM5 saja ayah. Akak teringin nak makan dengan kawan. Kami jalan kaki pun boleh." Masya-Allah, saya seolah-olah tidak
mendengarnya sambil memberi jawapan tidak pasti, "esok ... esok." Isteri saya, Siti Hawa memberitahu Syafiqah tidak selera makan malam tadi apabila saya minta izin ke KL hadiri mesyuarat penggerak demokrasi bersama Mat Sabu. Nasi goreng kampung dengan sambal belacan kegemarannya hanya ditatap, kemudian disimpan dalam peti sejuk. Saya masih tidak terasa apa-apa sedangkan takdir hanya menunggu masa.

"Ayah pi sekejap aja, sebelum tengahari selesai, nanti malam kita balik kampung," kata saya kepada Syafiqah sambil berjalan ke kereta. Raut muka cerianya seperti terlindung. Saya seakan terlupa Syafiqah anak berjiwa kental, sesekali tidak menunjukkan rasa sakit minta dimanja walaupun sememangnya sedang menderita. Lewat petang, selepas menukar tayar kereta di Hulu Kelang, memecut laju ke asrama anak sulung kami, Luqman, di SAM 10,
Cheras. Aduhai, janji dengan Syafiqah sudah luput. "Bawa akak ke klinik, tekak makin perit," katanya, juga tanpa menunjukkan rasa sakit. Klinik famili kami, Dr Mahyuddin Yassin tutup. Saya ke klinik sebelah, dekat Taman Sri Ampang. Semasa menunggu, Syafiqah bermain- main dengan dua anak kecil. Nampak letih tetapi tetap gembira. Saya berbisik, "Nak balik kampung?" "Ayah baliklah dulu, akak boleh tinggal dengan nenek," balasnya.

Ketika neneknya datang malam itu, kami sudah bersiap nak balik Kedah. Syafiqah tenang saja. Kalau anak lain tentu akan merengek. Emak mentua saya akan membawanya ke hospital periksa darah, takut-takut denggi. Dalam perjalanan kami dimaklumkan Syafiqah tidak
diserang demam maut itu. Lega. Melalui SMS, dan itu kali pertama Syafiqah menggunakannya,
dia bertanya, "ayah di mana?" Sambil melintasi Taiping, saya menjawab. Selang beberapa lama nada SMS berbunyi, juga dari Syafiqah, soalan sama, di samping memberitahu dia muntah. 5 pagi, kami sampai di Kampung Raja, Kubang Pasu. Saya maklumkan kepada Syafiqah. Kemudiannya kami diberitahu Syafiqah malam itu asyik sembang dengan neneknya, maklumkan kandungan SMS.

Ahad, pagi ke petang (begitu juga Isnin) temujanji saya padat di Alor Setar, Syafiqah terus SMS. "Mulut akak pahit, nak buat macamana." Saya menjawab, dan Syafiqah bertanya hal lain pula. Sehingga malam baru saya sedari SMS tadi rupanya "gagal dihantar".
Ya Allah, rupanya Syafiqah terus menunggu dan menunggu ... Selasa pagi kami berangkat pulang. Walaupun jangkanya dapat bertolak sebelum jam 10, tapi disebabkan singgah banyak rumah saudara-mara, itu pun tidak sempat menziarahi pusara bonda Aisyah (sesuatu yang tidak pernah saya tinggalkan jika balik kampung), menjelang 1 tengahari baru kami keluar ke Pekan Tunjang, seterusnya ke Lebuhraya Utara Selatan. Di rumah neneknya, Syafiqah makin lemah tidak berselera makan, dan asyik menyebut nama ayah dan ibunya. Tapi bicaranya
tetap ramah, suaranya masih bertenaga. Kami solat Maghrib di R&R Sg Buloh. Syafiqah desak saya jemput. Sekali lagi, ayah yang tidak mengerti perasaan anak di hujung usia itu, minta tangguh esoknya, atas alasan letih.
Syafiqah berkeras. Dia menggesa nenek dan pamannya hantar segera ke Bukit Ampang. Ketika Syafiqah tiba, saya keletihan di katil. Namun terdengar juga celotehnya dengan Luqman. Dia
bercerita tentang bagaimana darahnya diperiksa. Saya dimaklumkan kemudiannya, Luqman > pun tidak memberikan respons sewajarnya, juga kerana letih dan mengantuk.

Awal pagi terdengar Syafiqah asyik masuk keluar bilik air, muntah. Ibunya berlari-lari anak menyantuni, antara Syafiqah dan adik kecilnya, Nurin Afifah, 2 tahun, yang juga terbatuk-batuk. Setengah jam sebelum Subuh kami sekeluarga di meja makan, bersahur, termasuk Syafiqah.

"Fiqah tak payah posalah," kata saya. Ampun Tuhan, suara suara agak tinggi minta Syafiqah kembali tidur dan berehat, kebetulan kerusi di meja makan tidak cukup untuk semua kami.

7.45 pagi, 1 Ramadhan, isteri mengejutkan lena saya. Syafiqah menjerit: "Ibu, sakit! Ibu, sakit! Dari atas saya mendengar suara Syafiqah cukup kuat, tidak pernah dia menjerit selantang itu.
Melihat keadaannya, jantung saya berdegup kencang. Taqdir makin dekat. Tahu ibunya menyidai basuhan, Syafiqah bersuara, agak perlahan: "Dahlah ibu, suruh abang sidai kain, akak
sakit ni."
Tapi bicara Syafiqah masih jelas, dia sendiri minta ke hospital. Saya renung matanya, langsung tidak berair, maknanya dia hanya menjerit bukan menangis. Ya Allah, kuatnya semangat anakku ini. Sememangnya sejak malam tadi saya berkira untuk ke hospital pagi-pagi esoknya.

Namun, saya dan Siti langsung tidak terlintas Syafiqah akan berangkat ke alam lain, meninggalkan fitnah dunia. Rupanya Siti sudah memandi dan membersihkan tubuhnya. "Bagai bayi saya mandikan Syafiqah, cuci rambutnya. Nampak kakinya kuning, tubuhnya sejuk, tapi langsung tidak terbayang dia mahu pergi selamanya," cerita Siti kemudiannya kepada
kawan-kawan yang menziarahi.

8.00 pagi. Suara Syafiqah tetap jelas bila meminta saya memapahnya keluar dari bilik solat. Bersama Siti, saya menuntunnya ke ruang tengah. Selepas didudukkan, saya perhatikan wajahnya seolah-olah tanpa darah. Ketika itu baru lintasan hati mengilhamkan sesuatu yang
pedih dan perit. Syafiqah masih sempat minta saya papahnya ke kerusi panjang di depannya, mungkin dia mahu berbaring. Saya cuba mengangkatnya tapi tidak terdaya, Syafiqah terasa berat. Semasa sibuk mengemas untuk ke Hospital Ampang Puteri - 4 km dari rumah kami - saya, Siti dan anak-anak terpandang Syafiqah seperti menarik nafas panjang, dua kali. Lehernya terlentok. Subhanallah, janji Allah sudah sampai. Mata saya dan Siti berpandangan, namun kami tidak sempat memberi reaksi lain kecuali mempercepatkan Syafiqah ke hospital.

Hati saya berkata-kata sambil cuba menatang tubuh Syafiqah yang masih terasa hangatnya. Selepas menghidupkan enjin kereta saya memanggil jiran sebelah, William, sama-sama mengangkat Syafiqah. Berkali-kali namanya dipanggil. Syafiqah nampak seperti nyenyak tidur. Dalam kelam-kabut itu saya pandangan saya letak ke wajah Siti, ibu yang mengandungkan Syafiqah dan Syafiqah membesar di depannya sehingga menginjak usia 11 tahun. Harapan ibu tetap tinggi. Sambil memangkunya di kerusi belakang, Siti tidak putus-putus menyebut nama Allah. Air mata tidak sempat tumpah lagi. Tumpuan saya ke arah jalan raya yang sibuk pagi itu. Perjalanan ke hospital terasa begitu aneh, kiri kanan jalan seperti sunyi sepi. Degupan jantung kuat sekali. Tangan kanan memegang stereng, tangan kiri menjamah tubuh Syafiqah. "Panas lagi," harap Siti walaupun menyedari tiada apa yang bergerak di tubuh Syafiqah.

Mulut saya terkunci. Mata terasa panas. Bergenang air mata Siti tapi harapannya tidak pudar.
Saya memberhentikan kereta di lobi kecemasan. Hon dibunyikan bertalu-talu. Melihatkan reaksi awal kakitangan hospital ketika mereka mengangkat tubuh Syafiqah, jawapannya jelas dan pasti. Syafiqah sudah pergi meninggalkan kami. Ketika saya memimpin Nurin dari kawasan letak kereta, dan Siti sedang menemani Syafiqah, saya belum dimaklumkan secara
rasmi tentang kehilangan jantung hati kami itu. Namun berat sekali kaki diheret menaiki tangga. Saya mendukung Nurin sambil menciumnya: "Kakak dah tak ada Nurin."

Sebaik melangkah masuk hospital, saya nampak Siti sedang mengisi keterangan peribdi Syafiqah. Saya dengar hampir semua maklumat penting Syafiqah yang diberikannya salah. Siti menoleh ke arah saya, wajahnya tenang walaupun ketara pucat. Saya tidak perlu bertanya lagi. "Fiqah dah tak ada, bang," getar suaranya jelas. Berdepan jasad kaku Syafiqah, terlintas, bagaimana sewaktu tiga tahun saya menderita sakit misteri, terlantar di rumah, tidak mampu
bekerja, saya sering terhibur dengan celotehnya, gurau manjanya, malah puas terasa bila dia mengurut lenguh badan. Kerap dia teresak- esak menangis bila melihat saya mengerang kesakitan. Tapi, ya Allah, apabila dia menderita sakit, saya tiada di sisi, malah tidak pun sempat melayannya dengan baik, dan banyak janji tidak tertunai, walaupun sekadar nasi Ayamas yang selalu disebutnya. Air mata mula tumpah dan hingga kini, selepas seminggu, air mata itu belum mahu kering lagi. Al-Fatehah. - UM

Open Cholecystectomy or Open Chole (as described by the Dr.)

Friday Oct 14, 2005, 5 am... Join the family for Sahur, and as per advised by the hospital, 2 slices of bread with Milo. Wrote my "will" and told my wife where to find it if something goes wrong. Well, .... you don't really know what's going to happen, right?

10.50 am .... The Ampang Puteri Specialist Hospital called, saying that they are ready to admit me "You can come now" "Now?" "Yeah, now" "Ok, gimme half-and-hour"

11.30 am ... Ampang Puteri, single-room number 5xx, just beside the VIP suite. Looking from the outside...;VIP Suite - nice-looking high-quality wood-door, Mine - looks more like an emergency exit door. Ha, ha. Wife, daughter and Ma were with me.

12.00 noon.... Dr Shuaib...Surgeon, kinda cool...
" Doc...minor surgery?"
" Nope...but not major...only not minor...Open chole...the stones are big.."
"Local anesthetic?"
" HUH!???, General.... Never done any open chole with local..."
"Just joking Doc"
" Doc, when do u think I could go for golf again? After raya ok?"
" You can just forget about it la, golfer melayu.... two months, minimum...but if you wanna try, go for it, then, Please, Puhleazzee, tell me if it doesn't hurt"
"Huh?!?"

12.30 noon ... Lunch.
"Huh???? I'm not supposed to eat anything, supposed to be fasting...first becoz it's fasting month, 2nd becoz I'll going through the surgery at 3.30pm, today".

2:30 pm.... Solah Zohor, Solah Hajat, Yassin and Du'a...That's all I can do. The family were all there.

3.20 pm.... It's time to go to the OT. Nervous. Gave kisses to my kids, wife and ma. OT. Very cold, in fact TOO COLD. The anesthesian came in. ............ ZZZZZZZ

5.XX pm ... " Golfer Melayu!!!!! He's not responding!!"
" I can hear you...I just can't respond now, gimme some time la....very dizzy...and ..the pain is coming " - In my mind-.


5.50pm ... In my room.... In pain...Need pain- killers. Can't sleep, move, or do nothing the whole day. No food, only drip until the next day.... even then, only drinks. I wanna go home.


From Saturday - Monday, 2 doctors came by to do the post-review, Dr Shuib(Surgeon) and Dr Mazlam(the Original Specialist), and 1 exchange doctor came in Sunday for Dr Mazlam. Same q's by both, same answers from me. The BILL???? Let's just say that the "Hari-Raya" celebration will not be as planned .... and neither does the SUV. ARGHH!!!!!!

(click on the pic to get better view) The Surgery-Scar on me....I'm back at home...but would need at least two weeks to recover. Still have the V-shape, with traces of stomach-muscles...he,he.. Golf? Maybe if I'm lucky, within two months. Arghhhhh!!!!!

I'm in pain!!!!!!

2 am last night. I was in pain. Excrutiating pain. It was bad. I felt it just below the right sternum. I thought it was gas. The 2nd attack within two weeks. I went down stairs, took some ENO. The pain did not stop, it became worst. I can't sleep.

4.30 am, right after sahur....pain continues. Can't stand it no more. Asked my wife to take me to the clinic. The general doctor did his check-up on me. Don't think he knows what's wrong with me.
"I can gives you a jab, pain killer je, if you can't stand the pain...and I'm giving you a referral letter to the Ampang Puteri specialist, Dr Mazlam"
"Just do it, Doc....gua tengah sakit ni".


8.50 am . Ampang Puteri. The specialist was not in yet. His assistance asked me to go for a blood test and the ultrasound abdomen test. My wife was with me during the ultrasound abdomen test.
"It is boy or a girl??? kah,kah"
They found gallstones at the neck of the gallbladder, the largest measures about 2cm in diameter.

10.50am. Dr Mazlam turn to check my condition. Nice guy. He wanted to do "SCOPING", just to be very sure . Scoping? "I'll be looking into your internal using a microscopic video camera"
"ok"

11.30am....kena la buka puasa...chisss..tak best nyer. They need to get me to "sleep" for the scoping procedure. Into my vein....zzzzzzzzzz.

1:30pm... my wife woke me up. Still very dizzy. The nurse asked me to go get something to eat.

3.00 pm.. Dr Mazlam office. " Red-cells ok, white cells ok, cholesterol ok, blood pressure ok, heart ok, liver ok, gallbladder not ok....suggest to go for surgery...when do you wanna do it?
"ASAP"
"Ok, I'll admit you"
"What???? today??? Can it be tomorrow?"
"Ok"

4.30pm. Payment counter. RM1,456.94. ARGHHHH!!!!!!!! This is going to cost me BIGGG. With the surgery and all...easily RM7K. Help!!!!! The pain is coming back.


Something about Gallstones in Gallbladder (All info from the Internet)
1) Symtoms

When the symptoms of gallstones occur they are often called an "attack" because they occur suddenly. The typical gallstone attack includes:

• Steady, severe pain in the upper abdomen that increases rapidly and lasts from 30 minutes to several hours.
• Pain in the back between the shoulder blades.
• Pain under the right shoulder.
• Nausea or vomiting.

Gallstone attacks often follow fatty meals, and they may occur during the night.
Other symptoms of gallstones include:

• Abdominal bloating.
• Recurring intolerance of fatty foods.
• Colic.
• Belching.
• Gas.
• Indigestion

Treatment

People can live without a gallbladder, and the most common treatment for gallstone problems is surgical removal of the gallbladder, known as cholecystectomy (pronounced co-lee-sist-ect-omy). There are several surgical options:

• Laparoscopic cholecystectomy (keyhole gallbladder removal). This is the most common treatment. After a general anaesthetic, a number of tiny cuts, usually four, are made in the abdomen, through which surgical instruments and a miniature video camera are inserted. The gallbladder is removed without cutting through any abdominal muscles, and if necessary, ERCP (see above) can be used to locate and remove stones in the bile duct.

• Open surgery. Sometimes, keyhole surgery is not possible and an "open" cholecystectomy is necessary. This involves the removal of the gallbladder under general anaesthetic through a larger cut in the abdomen.

These operations are generally safe, and for most people the benefits are greater than the disadvantages. However, all surgery does carry some risk. The most common complication in gallbladder surgery is damage to the bile ducts, which may require additional surgery.

-tive ion

"Negative ions are odorless, tasteless, and invisible molecules that we inhale in abundance in certain environments. Think mountains, waterfalls, and beaches. Once they reach our bloodstream, negative ions are believed to produce biochemical reactions that increase levels of the mood chemical serotonin, helping to alleviate depression, relieve stress, and boost our daytime energy." www.WebMD.com

While waiting for "buka puasa" yesterday, I wondered off into ISETAN... sport-section ... golf, to be exact. I was not planning to buy anything. Just wanna do a bit of putting on the putting-mat. While I was there, there was this promotion of "Negative ion generator" stuff, Made in Japan...from bracelet to necklace to back-pack. Nowdays, it really takes a me a longer period of time to get my energy back after a round of golf and this -ve ion stuff claims that it will relief strain and pain faster.

"Abang..nak try, bang?"
" Saya tak sakit tangan, yang sengal-sengal tengkuk saya"
" Ha!!!, abang pakai rantai ni, pas tiga hari sure dah tak sakit punyer"

Aiyo...can't wear necklace no more.. I'm no longer the "mat rock" of yesteryear..with my long hair, necklace, bracelet and earing. In the end, I decided to buy a bracelet ... and being me, I bought a -ve ion bracelet that looks a bit different than the others. If it works, than my golf game will certainly be better, if not, it can be just another fashion accessories.

I'll be spending my "buka puasa" time with my customer tonite

Today, I'll be having my "buka puasa" with my PREMIER CUSTOMER at Biba's Cafe, Mandarin Oriental,KLCC. Booked 30 seats. Good thing about the place, easy parking...easy to get out...less jam ... and if I'm early , bole lepak-lepak kat Kinokuniya. Check-out Biba's Cafe website. Hmm...menu looks good, looks REALLY goood. At RM75 per person, it better be.....

I'll miss my "buka puasa" with the family tonite and another thing,... I would have to do my tarawikh, alone, at home tonite. Sucks....

OVERKILL....PORSHE Cayenne....Hey!!!, if i'm gettin this, my wife might think that I'm going through mid-life crisis and will try to get another ehem,ehem... As what my kid told my wife about a malay-telemovie last friday..... "Citer kelakar tu pasal bapak dia trick mak dia...kata nak gi golf tournament kat Melaka..padahal dia kahwin satu lagi!!!!!!!!!"

Don't worry la wife3d...I'm not like that one-laa...I'm no womanizer...I'm just a golfer.

BMW M-5 looks good...too!!!!!

If I have a bit more....Volvo XC90 

Toyota Harrier wud be my second choice....

With the PDA-phone outta way...now come my latest conquest. A new SUV...or maybe second-hand SUV...before the end of the year...choices will be...1) Kia Sorento 

Tiger Woods ; World Golf Championship and Kimi Raikkonen;F1

Been a good week for sports, especially for the fans of Tiger Woods and Kimi Raikkonen. Both of them won from behind. Kimi started 17th on the grid. Tiger was 3 strokes behind the leader, John Daly. Both needed some last minute grit to win their event. Kimi on the last lap, while Tiger on the last 3 holes....and then went on to win on the second-playoff hole. Tiger has won 11 outta 20 WGC events that he has participated in. That's more than 50%!!!!!

Been up the whole night to catch this event. Now...... I'm very sleepy...... plus hungry ...... zzzzzzzzz.......zzzzzzz.....zzzzzz... ....KFC for "buka puasa".....

My new PDA-phone......canggih oooooo.... hp-IPAQ 6515. Fully loaded. 

An email from a customer

Early in the morning, I received a nasty e-mail from my customer, Mr HM. I guess sometime the customer needs some excuses for an internal failure??? I was quite pissed and upset with the email, especially when it touches our "circle of concern" , which in a way, is their "circle of influence". Not wanting to sound pissed in an email, I called Mr HM on the phone.

"H, what's this all about??? I'm sure you know that most of the stuff written in the mail is not true....bla,bla,bla,#$$$%,***"
"Golfer Melayu..relax, bro....ok..ok...I'll write another email to straighten things out"
"Ok H"

A few minutes later, H sent another e mail;

"Our conversation just now refers.
Thank you for highlighting your points, we appreciate it and take note. On our part, we will address some of issues that contributed to the delay of problem resolution."


Mr HM, Thanks Bro. My apology if I'm a bit harsh, ....but you got to do what you gotta do, man. This is what I call professionalism. I'll see you for "buka puasa" next week.

Pasar Juadah Taman Melawati 2005

Tengok harga tak de la naik sangat. Kuih still 3 seringgit. Tauhu Anura naik from Rm1.00 ke RM1.20. Murtabak Kg Pandan still Rm1.50/sekeping. Ikan terubuk bakar; RM 10/seekor. Cuma saiz dia ada sikit kecik la. Still not to bad. Semalam was my first day at the Pasar Juadah. Mak datuk, jam gila...bukan saja nak cari parking, kat pasar juadah pun jam ngan orang ramai.... Tapi semalam "berbuka" memang best. Tak tau sebab apa, tapi memang la "best". Everything tasted soooo good. From the "sour-sop" juice to the murtabak to the tauhu sumbat to the ikan bakar to the rendang limpa and daging. Excellentto. I'm still smoking. Around 3 cigarettes, after berbuka... and 1 cigarette after sahur. Getting there....

Some good news....managed to convince Mr YKS to attend the briefing in Jakarta , next monday, so, .......I don't really have to go to Jakarta next week. Yee Haa!!!!

Some bad news... my friend , HH, can only pay 20% of the 20% that he has agreed to pay initially. Everything's done and delivered. Sometime it's just difficult to do business with friends. Maybe after this, we'll just play golf together, no business among friends la. Hampeh.

My thoughts....

We were shorlisted for the Indonesian job. There will be a briefing session at the prospect office to the two shortlisted vendors on the 10th of October. The Proof Of Concept is schedule to go life by October 24th, for a week. I hate travelling during "Ramadhan", ....but it looks like I've got to do quite a bit of that this year.

We will be doing two "buka puasa" for our customers. One will be on the 11th of October, the other will probably be on the 18th of October. Again, I don't really fancy doing the "buka puasa" at a hotel/restaurant. It just feels good to do it at home, might not be home-cooking though,...with the family, and then going to the mosque together for Isya' and Terawikh. Anyway, still gotta do the 'buka puasa" thinggy. The list of the "buka puasa" places, to be chosen from....

1) Mandarin Oriental Hotel
2) Nikko Hotel
3) Crown Princess Hotel
4) Restoran Seri Melayu
5) Corus Hotel
6) Prince Hotel (opposite Seri Melayu)
7) Hotel Maya (Jln Ampang - opposite BSN)
8) Saloma Bistro
9) Rennaisance/New World Hotel
10) EDEN Restaurant (Jln Raja Chulan-new building behind Seri Melayu)
11) KL Convention Centre

I think I'll go for KL Convention Centre and EDEN.


Kak Pidah... did a marvelous job answering the MPs on the AP issues. I guess the other MPs, especially the one that comes from the government la, can only talk behind her back, or "boo-ed" the lady while she's giving her speech....given the chance to drill her in parliment, everybody became tight-lipped. Kah,kah,kah. The lady really knows her economics and facts, the rest of the MPs are just like "toads". I wonder what her mentor , which was involved with war of words with her, about the same issue, thought of the other MPs. Hmmmm....

Michelle Wie .... teenage golf prodigy/phenom is set to turn professional this week...at 16!!!! with endorsement deals with NIKE and SONY worth US$ 10 million per year!!!!! wooii yooo.

Golfer Melayu......No endorsement, no nothing......got to buy everything using mah own pocket monay!!!!! but next month, at PTGC.... 21st Nov to 24st Nov, a 4 day tournament, 72 holes stroke-play, cut-off on the 2nd day, after 36-holes play .... Malaysian Amateur Closed 2005 ... handicap 12 and under... will join.

Corporate Lessons : from the internet

Corporate lesson 1
A crow is sitting on a tree doing nothing all day long. A small rabbit saw the crow, and asked him, " Can I also sit like you and do nothing all day long?". The crow answered: "Sure, why not." So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the crow, and rested.
All of a sudden, a fox appeared . Jump at the rabbit and ....ate it.

Moral of the story:
To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.


Corporate lesson 2
I would love to be able to get to the top of the tree, " sighed the turkey, " but I haven't had the energy."
"Why don't you nibble on my droppings? They're packed with nutrients." replied the bull.
After a fortnight, the turkey found that the dung really gave him enough strength to reach the top of the tree. Soon , he was spotted by a farmer and shot out of the tree.

Moral of the story:
Bullshit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.

Corporate lesson 3
A bird was flying south for the winter. It was cold, the bird froze, and fell to the ground. While it was lying there, a cow came and dropped some dung on it. As the frozen bird lay there in the cow shit, it began to realize how warm it was. He lay there all warm and happy and began to sing for joy.

A cat heard the singing, discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, promptly dug him out and ate him.

Moral of the story
1) Not everyone who drops shit on you is your enemy.
2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.
3) And when you're in deep shit, keep your mouth shut.

Ramadhan Al-Mubarrak

Musim Puasa datang kembali. Alhamdullilah. Insyaallah, malam ni akan start sembahyang sunat Tarawikh. Insyaalah gak, malam ni, my wife will join me for tarawikh at the mosque. Dedulu anak kecik-kecik, sekarang bole tinggal la. I hope to quit smoking within this month. Harga rokok naik lagi. Maybe by quiting, my golf will get better. As for golf, seperti biasa, kena rest gak selama sebulan. Plan to play again on the 5th day of Raya. So, PTGC....see u after Raya, Insyaallah.

WOW!!!!!!KAPOWW!!!!! 

Golf Prizes

My golf-prizes are getting more and more interesting. There was the matching luxury comforter and bedsheet. Kingsize. Won the prize at the Peransang Masters. Then, yesterday, at the alumni golf tourney, I won this;

Built-in Hob
( PGH - 502N )

+ Inner : 668 x 403 x 92.5 mm
+ 2 burners with glass top
+ durable trivet
+ Accurate ignition system
+ Low gas comsumption
+ LPG use

Nice, ....but I need to build a special cabinet for the build-in Hob. Same as the Comforter. Nice...but I need to buy a new KING SIZE bed, ...I only have QUEEN-size bed at home. Why can't they just get simple things like a TV or a new DRIVER as prizes??? Duhhhh.....

Where's dad/uncle????? DIA GI MAIN GOLF LA!!!!! 

Home Water slide ..... The cousins havin' fun

I am still in a MEETING!!!!!!!

Meeting started at 9:30am today. Now, its 8.20pm and we're still at it. Strategic meeting ...... must it be this loooooong. Am getting really tired. My brain is burning. Probably it will end by 10pm...I hope. At least I know I'll be relaxing at Genting tomorrow. No golf this weekend. Need some time with the family. Everything's is set. Common my friends...let's us finished this meeting quick. The real issue will be about numbers. .....Anyway I know damn well we need to resolve all the discussion points ...TODAY. ARGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

The eldest and youngest cousins in the family...rambut serupa l 

AJ, mana lu..part 2

Aku tanya Miss F pasal satu proposal yang tak siap-siap sampai sekarang ni. Aku tau dia kena gi borak ngan AJ to finalize the proposal.

"ko dah call AJ ke belum?"
"Can't reach the guy la, send him SMS, never answer, I pun nak habiskan proposal ni cepat-cepat" Miss F
" Be persistent la , I never had a problem calling the guy...ni takkan since last week tak dapat contact"
" Dia cakap dia cuti la" Miss F.
"I'll call him depan ko, I'm sure he'll answer my call"

Gua pun call AJ. Depan-depan Miss F, just to make a point. After a few seconds, AJ picks up the call.

"Hellooo AJ, how are you Bro? How's everything? Anyway, Miss F has been looking for you high and low la...mana u pegi?"
"Aiyoo Golfer Melayu....I'm in Mekah la, doing my umrah, be back at the office this Thursday"
"Oppps...sorry Bro...didn't know...I'll see you later...Assalamu'alaikum"

So, am I going to see a different AJ? Only time will tell. He he....

In the Business Times today...

MAS Chairman aims to spring a surprise... Wow!!! Interesting. Let's see what he wants to do.

1) Slash costs
- cut fuel cost by 10% (hmmm...unless you cut down the routes this might not be possible Sir...Have you seen the cost of fuel lately?)
- implement a programme that could save up to a third of procurement cost ( possible, ...how? Don't buy "original parts" lor... You go buy some so-call certified Taiwan or China-made spare parts. Sure cheap one... I"m REALLY getting worried to take MAS flight now.

2) Improve revenue
- another RM200 million over 12 to 18 months. How? ...not very clear la...

There was also a Q&A article between MAS Chairman with Business Times. A few comments that he made in the article, made me raised my eyebrows ..eg...

when asked about his new MD...
"...he's an oil man, therefore he can manage the fuel cost and so on. That one, I'm not too sure whether we'll get a discount from Shell....I do not know at this point" ( he must be expecting the 10% cut in fuel cost from this...)

"He plays the guitar; for someone who likes Eric Clapton, can't go wrong with him" (Yikess...what a reason..)

something about the plan in improving the revenue

"....But revenue is not profit" (True...) "

In summary....nothing creative in trying to turn-around the airline performance. Same old management mantras and philosophies. Yawn...ho,hum...I wanna go to sleep.

Reached another milestone in my golf..

Saturday was hectic. Gotta help my mum in the morning, for the "kenduri tahlil" gathering that night. Arranging the house needs strong arms, legs and back. Usually family gatherings will end late,... very late at night. At 3pm , gotta go to another "kenduri tahlil" at my uncle's house. I was not even planning of joining the PTGC club monthly medal on Sunday....but in the middle of doing the sitting arrangement, I felt the urge of calling the club, asking whether there are still avalaible place to join the competition.

"Who's there? ...Golfer Melayu, just drop by, man!!! I'll make sure your name will be there.." PTGC sports center.

The Kenduri ended at 11pm. Went home at about 1am. Have problem to sleep. Whatever I try, I just can't sleep that night. Can't do nothing with the wife la...red flag. When I finally dozed off it must have been around 5am.

6am, woke up. Took a shower. Sembahyang subuh. Cooked my own breakfast. In the meantime, the head feels like "I can fly". Headed over to the club. Registered.
Tournament starts at 8am. I started from the 10th tee-box. Gotta bogie on first hole. Rain started to drizzle at the end of that hole. On the 2nd hole, rain came pouring down. The siren blows. Stop play for half and hour. After play resumed, I got another bogie...on a par 5. Doesn't seems to be my day.

"Screw it...I'm here to enjoy my golf game"

Then the par started to come. Par, after par, after par...mix with a birdie. I scored 39 gross, front nine..."Hey, not bad!!!!"

2nd Nine...started well...scored 39, back nine. Came back with a 78. At last, I broke 80 in a competition!!!!!! Got 2nd in the medal A category. The prize..a cheap-looking trophy with RM210 Jaya Jusco voucers. The wife loves the voucers. I like the fact that I broke 80 in a competition, eventhough I hate the alcheapo looking trophy. Well....you can't win them all.

She sells sea shells by the sea shore. The shells she sells are surely seashells. So if she sells shells on the seashore, I'm sure she sells seashore shells...........
who cares!!!!!

Something to ponder .... Warning : some serious sh#&%

A few days ago, a friend of mine asked me about my view on the new CEO and MD appointment in Malaysian Airline System. Let's look into the matter a bit. Malaysian Airline System, or fondly known as MAS, a Government-link company, the 1st airline company of Malaysia, has been at the losing end lately, to be exact, RM280 Million in their 1st financial quarter. That translate to about RM 90 million a month. Phew!! The previous MD quit after sitting in the office for less than a year.
Then, there was this big BRU-HA-HA about their largest investment arm, in this case, Khazanah (another government owned investment company) who intended to lure big foreign names in the airline industries into MAS, in order to turn it around. The idea was quickly critized by the so called nationalistic and patriotic politicians. "Hellooo!!!, we should be able to find suitable candidates for the job, locally!!!!" That idea was quickly flushed into the toilet and thrown out of the window.

They found the candidate allright. A local guy which previously held a management position in an international Oil and Gas company. Hmmmm???? Do I think he can turn the company around? Dunno. Coz if you asked anybody that's been in a management position they will probably say that they could do the job better. I really wish him luck. He needs it.

I believe he will follow the basic management principle.
Management principles 101, when going into financially troubled company
1) Quickly find ways to cut cost
2) Find areas where it can be run in a more efficient manner
3) Find ways to increase market share
4) Get good people to be around you .... hint.... your buddies

1,2 and 4 are easy. Concentrate on areas where it's in your "circle of influence". 3 is the tricky part. The person needs to understand the industry. He needs to have the creativity, the "think out-of-the box" mentality, as the leader, to come up with vision and various ideas to move the company to a new height. And that's probably the reason why I felt that the initial idea of getting a big-gun of industry-specific foreigner to head MAS is the right thing to do. I am not un-patriotic or un-nasionalistic. It's just about getting the right person to do the job. Before handing the CONTRACTUAL job to the foreigner, proper KPI needs to be agreed between the employer and employee. A local should shadow the guy, so as , there'll be business acumen and creativity transfer.

But again maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it's just bad karma to be the pioneer of anything in Malaysia. Just look at the pioneer Malaysian airline and auto company. Both are not in healthy financial position. And yet, another BUDGET Malaysian airline company and another Malaysian AUTO company has been raking in the profit. Both are lead by locals. So, What gives???

Checking and Paying Car Summons Online

Yesterday, I received a link purportedly will enable anybody in Malaysia to check and pay their car summons online.

http://www.rilek.com.my/pdrm/IPC/PDRM_SummonsInq.jsp?login_name=RHB&loc

I have my doubts. First, the URL doesn't sound serious. What kinda name is www.rilek.com.my. Sounded more like a crapy lifestyle portal to me. Maybe I missed the news about this site. Anyway, I gave it a try. Looks legitimate. Simple, clean and direct to the point. Queried the summons using my IC Number. I'm not that worried coz my driving is good. he,he. Waited for a few seconds...... and....
Walawehhhh....got 7 summon tickets ooooo...All for speeding. #&%%. That's RM300 x 7 = RM2,100.00. Discounted 50% = Rm 1,050.00. Still a huge amount for me. Enough to buy a new driver. But, hey, the site has this facility to pay online. From RM300, reduced to RM70. Sounds good...but......... there's JUST NO WAY I'm paying online to a site that call themselves "rilek"

ARGGHHHHH!!!!!! Just my luck. Gotta go to the POOOLIZEE station and make my payment on-site.

Oii yooo....Kuatnyer budak ni...tidur kat katil berpaku..Ouch!!!! 

Bakal jadi Kelasi kapal..... 

Golf etiquette 101

Yesterday, Sunday......My usual golf time with my golf buddies, handicap 9, 10,10 and 14., at the Club. At the tee-box of the first hole, ZAB, a golfer that used to be a single handicaper, now a ten, gets ready to hit his first drive. You see, in golf, the lowest handicap player will always gets the honour to hit first and ZAB has always been the lowest handicap player in the group.

"Ehem, ehem...." cleared my throat. Not a very ethical act in golf. Gotta be quiet while the other player gets ready to hit the ball.
" Oiii, diam le sikit, aku nak pukul ni"
" Aisay, bukannyer lowest handicap player ke yang pukul dulu?" Tanya aku.
" Ko sepuluh kan, sama ngan aku, tapi aku dah lama jadi single, so aku pukul dulu lah" Jawab ZAB.
" Aku sembilan la....."
"Chisssst!!!?"

After that ZAB's game became haywired. Menjadi gak "Psyco" gua. he,he

Whoa...got a mail from MGA online

Today;
Dear Golfer Melayu(NHS No: 221916)

We are pleased to inform you that your official NHS index as at
1st September 2005 is: -

Previous NHS index: 8.5
Current NHS index: 7.9

Your calculated handicap for your primary club: PERANGSANG
TEMPLER GOLF CLUB - (SEL) is as follows:-

DEFAULT - BLUE:9
DEFAULT - WHITE:9
DEFAULT - BLACK:9


You can always check your latest NHS scores and your buddies
scores at www.mgaonline.com.my.

Ahh, at last I'm a single handicap playar...ha,ha,ha... Sekarang bila masuk tournament cuma harap bole menang on gross aje la nampaknyer...hmmmmm

A trip to Aquaria, KLCC

Cuti-cuti Merdeka, gua rasa baik bawak family berjalan-jalan . Takkan asyik nak main golf ajer. So, pikir punye pikir, aku pun terasa nak bawak family ke Aquaria, KLCC, the latest and trendiest KL showcase...depa kata la. 31st August is the last day of the promotional admission price. RM20 adults, Rm10- kids above 3....pas tu RM38 adults, kid RM26....Ouch!!!

Since hari tu hari merdeka, gua cakap to the family, "jom pergi cepat, nanti petang ramai orang la, pagi-pagi ni dia orang still tido lepas tengok bunga-api and berpartay malam tadi"
Pukul 10.30am, gua suda bertolak dari rumah. 10.50am dah sampai. Gua park kat tempat biasa ajer. Naik escalator, turn left at "Tower Records", ikut the terowong to KL Convention Centre. Macam ramai je orang. Tiba-tiba the walkway became a queue.

"Ni jauh lagi ni...dah kena queue, cam na ni???"

Aku gi tanya mamat Aquaria yang tengah sibuk mengontrol queue . Dia kata, orang dah start queing dari pukul 7.30am lagi. "Aik, pagi nyer!!!!"

"From here, agak-agak berapa lama nak masuk Aquaria?"
" 2 Jam setengah"
"Hampeh!!!!!!!!"

Argh!!!!! Sudah. Kenala tukar plan...tak kan nak berdiri kat situ selama 2 jam setengah....pergi Petrosains ajer la nampaknyer.

Hmmmmm.....

Came back from Jakarta last Saturday evening. The presentation went OK. Eventhough notebook gua meragam a few minutes before I"m about to deliver the speech, gua sempat reboot the notebook and get it back to normal working condition. And then in the plane, sempat gak aku sound sorang mamat yang tak reti nak meng"off"kan handphone dia bila dah masuk kapalterbang. Dia kata "one last sms, gotta do this, very important". Aku sound balik "then you should not be in this plane". Mencuka muka dia. He reluctantly turn-off the phone. Peduli apa gua. Eventhough, from the REAL study, memang tak dak bahayanyer HP ni tu the operations of the plane. Kalau memang very bahaya dah lama syarikat-syarikat penerbangan ni beli HP jaming device yang harganyer tak seberapa tu, tapi ikut le undang-undang. Macam tak reti bahasa plak.

Sunday aku tak join the alumni golf tournament...Aku dengor 17 orang ajer main kali ni. Aiks, apasal turn-out kali ni very poor?? Niat memula nak spend time ngan family, tapi gian punyer pasal, aku main gak kat my kelab with the usual kakis. Played well, menang game and pool. Kira-kira, aku main free ajer golf minggu ni.

Malam plak, I've got a call from Mr Az, THE PROJECT MANAGER from my largest customer, saying that I could pick up the PO from him monday, ....then I've got news saying that the same customer has paid all the invoices expected from them while I was in Jakarta. Hey, hey, hey not a bad start to the merdeka week. I hope it gets better......

Dinner @ House of Sunda, Balle Air, Jakarta

Garumi goreng tumis - best giler
Udang Mentega - above average
Cumi goreng tepung - biasa aje
Tahu/tempe goreng- lagi biasa
sayur campur best jugak - best
Sup buntut - cukup best
sambal mangga - best
ess kelapa cincau - kureng

Itu la menu makanan dinner aku malam ni kat House of Sunda, Balle Air, Jakarta. Bertambah dua pinggan gua makan....nak buat camner, gua lapar. Tengahari tadi kat Air Asia, gua duduk kat belakang. By the time, the stewardess cum penjaja barangan cum penjual makanan sampai, nasi lemak dah habis. Aku makan le turkey sandwich plus minum soya. Pagi gua breakfast ngan Mrs. makan roti canai ngan teh ais aje. Sampai Cengkareng, take a cab, tapi pasal "macet' yang teramat teruk, kena la duduk taxi selama sejam setengah. Hampeh bebenor.

Sampai ke hotel pas check-in, Indonesian partner gua suda sms kata dia kat lobi. Aku call Mr YKS to join me. Beborak lama gak pasal presentation yang perlu diberikan keesokan harinyer. Aku citer aku nak mandi dulu, so, Mr YKS kena la layan mamat2 ni. Aku saja take my time. Last-last diaorang call ajak gi dinner. Aku pun kata okla. Tempat makan ni cuma 2 Km from the hotel, tapi ambik masa 25 minit gak nak sampai. Tah apa-apa ntah. Anyway, the dinner was good..........Now aku nak tido. Good night

Nak gi Jakarta lagi.....

I'm going to Jakarta again this coming Thursday 25/08 to Saturday 27/08. No golf this time. All work and strictly business. We have been shortlisted to do consulting and system implementation for the 4th largest bank in Indonesia. This presentation will strictly be on the technicalities and functionalities aspect of the system. I'm bringing in Mr YKS with me. Both of us are consultants....that means we know how to talk, write, and propose on operations, project management and business processes. Implementation is definately not one of our strength. My technical team is stuck with the curent workload. Mr YKS is taking the responsibilities to present the system and will talk about the system implementation. Hopefully our Indonesian partner will give valuable inputs before the DAY. This is the 1st time I'm travelling to Jakarta with Mr YKS.
Selalunyer aku bawak si H. Budak aku yang berbudi bahasa, lembut tapi tak bole tengok perempuan lawa, sure nak kacau punyer. Masa memula aku jumpa mamat ni, aku ingat dia tak normal pasal lembut semacam ajer. A good proposal writer. Bole diharap untuk buat account management. Bawak si H ni membuatkan travel aku menjadi senang. Dia gi carik trolley, dia gi check-in and check-out plus getting the cab to the airport, he knows Jakarta and the best thing is that he plays golf. Ada gak kaki kalau aku nak main golf kat sana....

Mr YKS? Dia tak main golf da....

Semalam Kimi Raikonen menang F1 Turkish Grand Prix. Aku teramat la suka, pasai dia di sponsor oleh Tag Heuer. Jam Tangan cam kat atas tu. Hari tu, jam tu naik harga...bila Kimi menang, lagi la harga dia naik...melambung plak tu. He, he, untung la gua...masa gua beli, harga dia tak la semahal sekarang ni. Yesssssss!!!! 

Road-Hoggers.....get off the road, Moron!!!!

Hari ini aku rasa teramat bosan. It's just one of those days. Coming to the office, my car was behind two of the most sickening drivers I've ever seen....road hoggers. The one on the left, memang le slow, kira bole la di maafkan. Worse, the one on the right pun lebih kurang sama aja speed dia. And paling yang aku tak tahan dia bole buat bodo aja. Flashed my headlights, honked him a a few times, tapi dia memang buat selamba. Kereta kat belakang aku pun macam tak sabar gak. Nak cilok no space. Last-last, aku potong ikut emergency lane. Terasa plak macam berlakon "Italian job". Ewah. But I guess today was not my day...a few minutes later, I was again stuck behind another moronic road-hogger. Hampeh!!!!!

Bad Presentation Day....

Sucks....big time. That's how my presentation went today. I looked and sounded like an amateur.

Two days ago, the customer which came from the BANK, wanted me to present to their new owner , a system that we have implemented at the customer's place. The subject is something that I know like the back of my hand. Confident as hell, I cramped on a lot of materials into my slides....why?...coz I'm the expert Bro.... in between , there were a lots of other thing that I've got to do.

The presentation was at 4:30pm. Finished doing the slides at about 2.30pm. Run through it, for about 10 minutes and then off I went. No dry run, no nothing. I've done a lot of presentation before this. Spoken in seminars before. Should be routine.

Once the presentation start, I seem to lost all my presentation skill. I was really struggling. The flow of the presentation was very unfamiliar. It's not as smooth as my previous presentations. It was bad, I was even reading the text on the slides...a real no,no. My messages were distorted, I was going all over the place and was not getting accross to the audience by the looks of their body language. If this was the "American Idol" audition, I would have gotten the boot just 10 minutes into it. The presentation lasted for 2 hours. The next will be a presentation to the Group Resource Director. I was lucky today. I scraped through the presentation...barely.

Next time...don't be over-confident. Give yourself enough time to be familiar with the presentation flow. AND a new Xda beside me while giving the next presentation will probably help to impress the audience.....you think?. he,he

I'm getting bored with the old PDA. I might as well shop for a new one. Choices are as follows;
1) O2 Xda IIs, priced at around RM3,700.00....loaded with features which I"M NOT GOING TO USE....
2) HP iPaq 6515, priced at around RM2,888...also loaded with features which I"M NOT GOING TO USE....

Maybe I'll just get the RM99 Mp3-player....hmmmmm

PTGC Captain's Trophy and PGA Championship

Did quite well in the PTGC Captain's trophy. Shot an 80, for 2-under par of the handicap. Not bad. No 13 out of 136 participants in Gross Score. Dapatla hadiah yang menyukakan wife gua. Set of "Luxury Comforter" with a matching bedsheet...tanda harga kat situ, RM430. Kira Ok la. The flow of the tournament were tremendously slow. In some holes, there were 3 flights waiting to tee-off. Sucks...Big time. My flight mate, Mr Z Misai was having a real-bad day. He was the "joker" of the day by shooting a 10 at the par 3 no.13.

PGA Championship...Tiger Woods...1st day, no 126, 2nd day, no 64, 3rd day no 20, last day tied for 3rd, just before they stop play due to weather delay. Oii Yooo....Dasat!!!

Today....

Hazy...but decided to play golf with two of my golf buddies. PTGC. Started the game quite bad. After only five holes, I was already 11 over, 1 over my handicap of ten. On the next hole, I got a birdie. Then a par. Then a birdie again, followed with an EAGLE... Hey,hey, hey.. I'm back on track. 7 over on the first nine. Not bad considering the lousy start on the first 5 holes.

The second nine was something else. I was really in the zone, man. EIGHT PARS , with a BIRDIE on the finishing hole. 35 on the back nine. 1 under. That was the first time I've ever played a whole nine, scoring 1 under gross. Total of 6 over gross. 9 pars, 3 birdies and 1 eagle. 4 under my HC. 78...Made my day...HAZY MAZY... Oh, and one other thing, won quite a bit today.

YEE HAAA !!!!!!

N, get well soon...banyak kerja ni

I've got a message saying that N collasped at the customer's place during a meeting yesterday. Ambulance were called to take him to the emergency ward. His blood pressure shot up to 170. Hypertension close to a stroke. He was immediately admitted to the G hospital for 3 days thorough observation. The doctor diagnosed that N has a hormon disorder that results in his blood pressure to shoot up. When that happened, his body will just ceised to function .

Visited him yesterday. He looks ok but I know that he's not really okay. N, get well soon, buddy.
Kerja banyak...gotta reshuffle the resource schedules....ARGHHHHHHH!!!! SOMEBODY HELP......

Pening..

Ada salah seorang customer aku yang selalu pening. Aku panggil dia Mr AA. Boss dia aku panggil Mr H ajalah. Both of them comes from a large Malaysian bank, which becomes larger when they bought an Indonesian bank and then become even larger when they were bought over by another Malaysian bank. Masa memula aku masuk as a consultant kat sana, him and his boss were only interested to start the project pasai it effects their KPI . Masa tu kening aku dah berkerut. " cam mana nak make sure project ni jalan, this is not really a technology project, it's about resource improvement ... needs a lot of coordination and buy-in from different divisions, the tecnology is just a tool to get to where you wanna be. To ensure success, I need the customer to be passionate about the project"

After the first meeting...Mr H cakap...
"We can do it ourself, why do you need the other divisions involvement?"
"All I want is for that to be installed in our system!!!!"
"Don't want to do that workshop, waste of time!!! I need to show results to management NOW, got that!!!"


Anyway, after a lot of guiding and consulting plus pushing, dia orang ni ikut jugak cakap aku and my team.... cuma yang teruk buat kerja kat sana bukan la depa, tapi bebudak dia orang especially si J, minah gym. In a way, kira okay gak la, J nampaknyer telah banyak loose weight sejak masuk project ni. Makan hati kot... lagipun Mr AA asyik carik dia aja. Dapat la jadi orang kepercayaan Mr AA.

Mr AA akan call aku bila ada problem. Sometime kecik jer problem tu, tapi when it comes from Mr AA, the problem will become very big. First word; " Golfer Melayu, aku pening la!?" After 3 hours, aku plak yang jadi pening....

Venture Cap....you guys look more like vultures

Let's look into your mid-year company performance review...

1) Invoice amount-Projected : RM X millions
Actual : 85% of RM X millions
Strategy moving forward : gotta think of how to invoice 1.5 times of RM X millions, we are going for IPO , remember...gotta show healthy profit, my man
My answer: Yikes!!!????

2) By 2005, what are the Contracts amount secured?
Target Vs Actual ; x%
My answer : the actual is really the target, ha,ha 100% achievement ....can I have my 25% pay raise now?

3) Target Pipeline
What's the ideal qualified pipeline size?
= 5x 0f RM X million
What are the strategies to get there? What are the resources needed?

My answer: Have to get 2 more quality and good strategy and business consultants and on top of that, can I have more money to spend on branding and marketing???

Venture Cap ; " NO bro, that's a big no, no........ we need to think of the cashflow. OUR business fundamentals and disciplines needs to be adressed. Be prudent. Bla,bla,bla"

Duhhhh......

Jadi bujang???

Minggu ni gua jadi orang bujang. The wife kena gi her alumni gathering in Muar. Budak MRSM. Pergi Sabtu , balik Ahad. Anak-anak plus the maid nak hantar ke in-laws. So, this week , aku nak balun main golf puas-puas. Sabtu with the same flight mates yang main ngan aku since the last three weeks. Ahad, PTGC Captain's Trophy. Wow!!! This is going to be interesting. Khamis ni nak main kat Sri Selangor kot. Relax la kan. Company quota dah achieved. Kita cuma perlu prospects ... GOOOOOD PROSPECTS for next year. So apa lagi nak buat..main golf aja la. What a life?!!

oii yoo, abah tough la!!!! ada muscle.... 

Dengar cakap abah la...apa senyum-senyum??? 

AJ, mana lu....

Pepagi hari ni , aku dapat a frantic call from my sub. Last week aku suruh dia gi ke Kuala Terenganu, to my customer's subsidiary, to do job scoping. Supposed to go with AJ. Told her to communicate directly with AJ for logistics.

"Golfer Melayu, I dah kat KT airport, batang hidung AJ tak nampak pun, I tengah geram ni!!!!, I nak balik KL the next flight"

"Miss F, relax..bawak bertenang..call le AJ's HP"
"Dah call, tak berjawab!!!"
"Ok, i'll get back to you"

Argghhhh..sudah, ni problem ni. Sudahlah flight ticket company tanggung. Kalau tak da hasil, dah kira membazir ni.

Got another SMS from Miss F
"His mobile is off. If the trip was cancelled last mnt he didnt mention it tis mrng whn i calld him. now im still at the airprt waiting dnt knw 4 wat. sorry kacau u but i tgh geram ni. tak pro lansung siAJ ni"

Gua call AJ, berkali-kali, tak dapat. Last-last aku call office dia. Tanya sub si AJ, kalau-kalau dia tau ke mana mamat ni pergi.

" Aku pun problem ni , Golfer Melayu...Semua call aku...tanya pasal AJ...customer aku call..AZ call.."
"OK, ko suruhlah AZ call Miss F kat airport, suruh dia ambik , and then , go to the meeting...pas tu baru le ko cari AJ"
"Right, I'll do that"

SMS Miss F, said somebody will call and pick her up. Aku tak tau apa yang jadi pas tu.

Last SMS from Miss F

"Ok, meeting dah habis. Thx"

Phuh....lega gua. AJ, lu mana pergi?

Last Friday....

Gila punyer busy...sampai time-management aku pun lari. Pepagi dah kena gi jumpa "the big customer" kat KL Tower. Kena lak borak sikit...."Golfer melayu, lu ingat, next week Tuesday, kena kasi presentation tu our boss"....Ok...
By 11am, aku dah kat office, menghabiskan proposal to an Indonesian Bank. 12.45...Solah Jumaat.....2pm Balik dari solah...Menghabiskan proposal plus chat through Yahoo Messenger with my Indonesian partner plus tengok-tengokkan proposal yang sedang dibuat oleh budak aku. Dapat plak a YM from my alumni sista..."mana dia gambar-gambar yang you cakap nak upload for viewing tu". Opps sorry, very busy...Sunday night gua buat...Aku siap hisap rokok dalam bilek aku....dah tak da masa nak keluar. Everybody's looking at me....Arghh, lantak la. Aku kena balik by pukul 5pm, patutnyer la, pasal rumah in-law aku ada kenduri pas maghrib. 5.40pm baru dapat keluar...aku suruh si N, communicate ngan the Indonesian. Sampai rumah..6.20pm...mandi, solah, pas tu, masuk MPV, with the whole family, went over to my in-laws..A journey that should have taken 45 minutes became 1 hour and 20 minutes...due to jam. Sampai sana majlis dah start. Solah magrib...gi borak-borak...tolong-tolong sikit..12.20am..saturday...balik, left the kids with the in-law, coz I've promised the Indonesian that I'll be on-line at 1 am....7 am, gi pasar...petang lepak...suruh wife ambik bebudak...

Ahad....Main golf la...yahooooooooo!!!!!!!

Lagi gambar "Alumni Birthday-bash" at Eagle's Ranch Resort. 

Credit Card

Everybody uses plastic. Bukan sebab apa, satu senang, satu lagi, senang nak berhutang. he he. Sejak kat US dulu aku dah pakai credit card. Credit limit pun limit student la. Now, I have 4. Credit limit pun kira bole tahan le. I gave one supplementary card to my wife. Credit limit for the supplementary cuma RM1K. Kena control le sikit, betul tak? Wife aku pernah gak ngomel suruh increase the credit limit, aku selalu buat tak dengar aje.

Semalam pas aku balik dari main golf, dia tunjuk aku a brand new "digital camera".
"Wooiiyoo, ni bagus ni... Berapa?"
"RM1,500 , 5.2 megapixel, ada zoom, storage pun ok.."
"Aikkk, banyak plak duit you?"
"Pakai Credit Card le...."

Ooooo... rope-ropenyer dia baru ambik credit card sendiri. Caya la. Nanti bole le bawak aku ke "San Francisco Steak House" KLCC. Candle light dinner ke. Pas tu bole makan "Haagen Dazs" yang 1 scoop RM14.50. he he

Dato'.......

Ramai gak kengkawan aku yang dapat "Dato'ship" baru-baru ni. Salah seorang adalah kawan sebilek gua masa aku belajar di USA. Aku panggil dia ML. Peminat Rod Steward. Masa aku kat sana, sempat le tengok mamat ni joget style Rod Steward. Mat smart jugak. Musti nak pakai jacket kulit warna coklat kemerah-merahan dia. Sesekejap tengok cermin, nak betulkan jambul dia. Bila dia balik ke Malaysia, bergiat cergas dalam politik. Last "election" dia menang di kawasan dia. Jadi YB le. Jadi lak Exco kat negeri tu. Jaga hal ehwal infrasruktur and pembangunan negeri. Baru-baru ni , sempena Hari Keputeraan Sultan Negeri ML, aku nampak le nama dia . Dah dapat Dato dah si ML. Aku cepat-cepat hantor SMS congratulating him.
"Thank you Bro...Bila bole jumpa borak-borak?" Dato jawab.
Allright YB Dato' Ir ML, caya sama lu.

Sorang lagi adalah ex-boss gua. Dato MAS. Orang yang memperkenalkan golf kat gua pada tahun 1996. Masa tu dia dah main Hcp 7. Gua baru terkial-kial nak cuba pukul bola. Sekarang dia kerja as "President Director" of an Indonesian Mining Company. Last sekali aku jumpa dia about five months ago kat Jakarta. Gaya cakap still like dulu. Very "Stylo".

Gua cukup happy kalo kengkawan yang memang "down-to-earth" dapat darjah-darjah kebesaran ni. Manalah tau, bila ada problem, BIGGGG problem, ada gak tempat nak mengadu.
he he

Marketing strategy...brilliant

As I watched "Akademi Fantasia" last night, there was an announcement by the "pengetua" that there will be a double-elimination this coming Saturday. Hmmmm...brilliant. What it means is that ASTRO and the TELCOs will make more mullah this week. The fans will be sending in their votes like crazy, just to ensure that their favourite contestant would not get the boot this week. I'm pretty sure the "SMS gateway" of the TELCOs will be jammed with queues of X thousands of SMSs and text messages.

And I'm also pretty sure that there will be no elimination this week. Why???? Business, Brother, business.....

p.s. let see whether ASTRO will prove me wrong on this.

Management

"I gotta go to Penang tomorrow...." the wife mumbled at me.
"OK, bila balik?"
" Masaalahnyer, company I suruh gi beli "flight ticket" sendiri kat Sentral, pas tu plak, claim tak masuk, En M, refering to her boss, tak sign plak duit untuk beli flight ticket tu, kalau tak gi meeting ni, nanti client complain, tulis surat ke company, I tak da duit ni, so camner?"
"Bior le client tu tulis surat complain ke company you, bior le boss-boss kat company you tau that they are responsible for the running of the company, jangan harap employee aja nak jaga nama baik company".

Kadang-kadang aku pun pelik kat company-company yang management dia should not be there as management... Aku ni in the management team jugak, but I know, I'm always concern about the employees well-beings....as long as tak lebih-lebih sangat le. Maybe those "so-called" managers should read, or learn and be trained about management. Kalau malas buat yang tu, just "emphatize".

Got this article in the mail today,

Management Lessons from Star Wars By Maureen Ryan
Tribune staff reporter May 23, 2005 1:49 PM CDT: Bad 'Star Wars' bosses

I took a break from TV obssession this weekend to see "Star Wars: Episode
III -- Revenge of the Sith." And despite all the whizzing lightsabers, dazzling space battles and political drama, it was clear what "Star Wars 3" really is. It's case study of bad management. Why does Anakin Skywalker turn bad? It sure seems like it's because he didn't get a promotion. He really wanted that title, Jedi Master (and the company car would have been
nice).

But, you say, maybe Anakin wasn't ready for that promotion. Maybe he was still too immature, too easily angered, too likely to furrow his brow at the slightest provocation. So why didn't his managers give him a clearly defined path to promotion? Not a bunch of Jedi mumbo-jumbo about using the Force and examining his feelings, but a concrete list of job skills he needed to improve (Using time more wisely? Prioritizing better? Keeping the Jedi break room leaner? Thinking up better dialogue?)

The worst Jedi manager had to be Mace Windu, who, when things got hairy, essentially told Anakin to just stay put,don't worry, and by the way, we don't need your help right now. That's not the way help an employee feel empowered and invested in the task at hand. And it was disastrous for Yoda to tell a troubled Anakin to give up that which was most important to him. That sounded suspicously like "Don't expect a raise any time soon."

Obi Wan Kenobi wasn't much better. A boss should know enough about an employee's life to know what they're worried about. Obi Wan didn't realize his apprentice was having a child (well, twins, actually) with Padme until it was too late. Those sorts of personal issues worried Anakin to the point of obsession, yet Obi Wan was mostly oblivious. And sure, Palpatine
appealed to Anakin's ego. But what smart boss doesn't, from time to time? It's not enough to tell an employee that he's the chosen one, yada yada. Obi Wan should have realized that the constant "you've got more to learn, young apprentice" stuff gets old after a while.

If Obi Wan and the council had chosen Anakin for a few crucial solo missions, maybe he would have been too focused on Jedi business to be tempted by Palpatine's Sith pitch. Still, Anakin must bear the responsibility for his eventual decision to join the staff of Dark Side, Inc. He was seduced by a boss who promised much, but actually withheld vital information that would have affected Anakin's most important decisions. Those kinds of bosses -- the ones to hold on to information and use it like a weapon, all in an effort to manipulate employees into doing their bidding -- are usually very articulate and seem like your buddy at
first. They seem like they're looking out for you. Then, one day, you're cut off at the knees. Dependent on them for everything. And have nowhere to turn, especially if your old bosses kind of want you dead. So the lessons for bosses and employees everywhere? Give your employees a stake in the enterprise, and if they want to move up, use constructive feedback to tell them how they can do so. Motivate their best qualities by giving incentives
for good behavior, but be willing to accept criticism when it's warranted. And don't become the kind of boss who rules through fear, intimidation, secrecy and appeals to greed and arrogance. Unless you're really good with a lightsaber.

Bila orang nak pinjam ....

Last Friday, masa aku tengah lepak-lepak kat Chillies KLCC, aku dapat phone call from my ex-schoolmate, ZK. Dia kata nak jumpa. Important katanyer.
"Let's meet at 4:30pm, Chinoz?"
"Ok, I'll be there."

Around 4.40pm , aku pun gi ke ke Chinoz. After borak-borak , ZK pun citerle tentang masalahnyer. Masalah kewangan le. Dia kalau boleh nak pinjam duit aku sikit, masalahnyer, kewangan gua pun tak berapa bagus, aku baru ajer beli "life-membership" of a golf club, ni tinggai cukup-cukup ajer with some spare, cuma aku tak sanggup nak citer time-time tu jugak yang aku tak bole nak meminjamkannyer duit tu.
"ZK, gimme time to check out my financial, I'll get back to you"

Aku bayar bill and left the place with a burden on how to break the news to him. Aku pernah takda duit. Memang perit. Nak pinjam memember memang malu. Nak mintak duit kat family, lagi malu. Maybe , I'll just break the news through SMS. Sorry my friend, not this time, maybe next time around.

How to become a successful politician...aku rasa la

Minggu ni ada perjumpaan parti politik terbesar di dunia, (terbesar ni mengikut kata depa la). Serba serbi besar. Dewan besar, orang besar,rambut besar,isu yang diperbincangkan pun besar. Jolok sana, jolok sini. Cucuk sana, cucuk sini. Ada sorang budak muda yang powerful, handsome gak, penolong kepada ketua tapi maybe more powerful than the chip la, pun kena cucuk dan jolok dari belakang. Dia cerita pasai agenda DEB, 30% musti hak bangsa KITA!!!! Tak payah malu , tak payah selindung. Kita musti tuntut hak kita 30% hak bangsa kita , 80% of the 30% plak mustilah hak (D+1,E-2,M) _(Scorpio-1 bulan). he,he..
Ada plak Makcik yang jadi tak keruan bila ditegur oleh Bapak dia, pas tu PEMUDA plak tekan and then kena plak suruh buat public apology ke ayahanda kerana dikatakan bersikap "kurang ajar". Seronak gak tengok, dengar and baca pasal benda benda ni. So, aku rasala, pasal aku ni golfer bukan politician, to become a succesful politician, kita kena
1) Pandai bercakap, buat lawak and mengutuk , kalo tak, ramai delegates yang akan tido, and you will not be featured in any of the media.
2) Citer pasal memperjuangkan hak melayu.....every year hak melayu...hak melayu....muka musti toye, pasal dalam hati, hak aku.
3)When you're in trouble, relax, and do a diversion by talking about something else.
4) kalo ni tak jadi jugak, and you're still in BIG Trouble...... cry..cry and cry somemore...get some sympathy, just make sure the tears looks real ...and bersumpah with the Quran as a witness (pls, pls and double pls....jangan le buat cam ni). Anyhow, the MENTOR did the same thing before.

Morale of the story: Kalo dah tua, memang tak lawa menangis, apa lagi kalo gambar full face shot letak kat front page. Mengerikan.

Gua sedih.........

Hari ni gua rasa nak tulis pasal leadership plak. Bila jadi leader, lu ada kuasa, tapi janganle menyalahguna kuasa. Gua terbaca suratkhabar hari ni, citer pasal ex-CM Sabah yang terasa teramat sedih pasal hutang judi dia telah diketahui public. La, buat apa nak sedih, lu memang kaki judi, cam tu la jadinyer. Pas tu pinjam duit tak nak bayor, kena sue le. Nak sedih buat pe nyer. Gua rasa lu tak sedih tapi malu kan? Padan muka ko. Dulu lu kepala Agama Islam kat Sabah. Masa pilihanraya, gi ke masjid sana-sini, pakai songkok, ada komen pasal Islam Hadhari. Ni sekarang lu sudah kantoi. Nak buat-buat sedih plak. Lu ingat ada orang nak simpati ke?

Hari tu plak, aku terbaca pasal bekas PM sudah tak puas hati pasal ketelusan pembahagian AP. Yang dia tak puas hati tu, pembahagian AP masa last year ajer. Maybe dia patut tanya apa jadi on tahun-tahun sebelum tu jugak. Baru ada telus. Ni sumer berlakon aje. Bila dah tak de power baru nak melalak ke sana sini.

Semalam gua pergi driving range, mamat single handicap ni tanya sama gua, "Lu masuk Peransang Masters tak?" Gua tanya dia balik " Lu dulu main 5, sekarang main berapa?"
Dia jawab "gua sekarang main 10"

Ha, pasai tu le aku tak nak main peransang masters. Banyak sangat orang cam ko yang merepair handicap. Apa kena-mengena perbualan kat driving range ni ngan benda kat atas tu? Tak dak kena mengena langsung. Saje aku nak melalut pagi-pagi ni. Otak aku tengah "jam" nak menyelesaikan masaalah payment from the customers.

"Hello Mr Customer, bole tak cepatkan payment tu sket?????? and one other thing, hari ni Birthday gua la!!!!!"

Mr ASH call aku last week. Dia cakap si Mr K nak gi Qatar. Aku tanya berapa lama. Dia jawab 2 tahun. Mak oii, lama tu. Aku gi call Mr K. Borak-borak sikit and tanya hal-hal berkenaan hal Qatar. Katanye kena gi dalam belas-belas haribulan July ni.

"Aiik, sebelum ko gi , kita kena main golf le dulu, nak harap aku gi Qatar main golf kat sana buat apa, ada satu je padang golf kat situ, baik gi Jakarta"
"Ok, bila dan di mana, pasal aku nak beduk ko sebelum aku gi Qatar ni, baru le aku puas hati"

So nampaknyer aku akan kehilangan sorang member golf yang bole di SMS dan di "ayam" kan kalo aku nak main golf. Be cool Brother and have fun in Qatar. But for now, Jumaat ni aku nak belasah ko jugak. 

The Open 2005.....

This week will be interesting. British Open. Tiger Woods and the gang will once again go into battle with each other at the home of golf, St Andrews-Old Course. Gua dah selalu main course ni, siap bole hafal lagi, kat computer le, Tiger-Woods PGA tour 2005.
My pick will be on Tiger, Sergio, Phil Michelson and Retief Goosen. Tiger and Sergio, two players with a lot of emotions,fun to watch. Phil, gooffy smile, genius on short game, except maybe on putting. Retief, no emotion, boring player with a very nice swing.

Emmmm, tapi ada ke tournament ni tunjuk kat ASTRO? Yesssss, gua suda check...memang ada kat ESPN. Best nyer.

Wau!!!! Ini awek mana lak bergambor ngan aku ni???? Aisay, itu le wife aku yang tersayang... dasat gak aku main ngan effect ni. Effect ni diberi nama "soft focus" 

Tournament of the "BUAYAS"

Inter-alumni Challenge 2005. I was there at Kota Permai as early as 7:05 am. As usual ,in any golf tournament, there were a few familiar faces. Met my alumni brothers for breakfast and during this time that I read through the official booklet of the tourney that list the names and handicaps of the players.

"Aik, cam lain macam je handicap bebudak yang aku kenal ni? " citer aku ke alumni brothers. " Si MG, yang badan besar, pernah plak jadi goalkeeper malaysia ni, cam mana bole main handicap 10...Kat PTGC dia main 4... and sometimes jadi "coach" to ZAB yang jugak single handicapper"

Arghh, Lantak ko la nak main ngan handicap apa, I will still play with my official handicap. TEAM A of the alumni consist of the "so-called" top golf playars. There's FIB @ Mr Yezza, the top-ranked golfer in the 2005 alumni golf tour, our ayam tambatan, handicap 18, tapi selalu main cam 12...FR, memang bagus mamat ni, gua and Bro AJ, the most serious golfer I've ever played with.... concentrate on his golf game the whole 18 holes.

The VIPS came in on time. The golf started on the dot. I played quite well. Came back to the club house at 2 under. Met Bro AJ, dia kata main 1 over. No prob, FR will cover, and he did. Came back with 4 under. Takpa Mr Yezza ada, dia musti bole cover punyer. Pas tu nampak Mr Yezza, lambai-lambai tangan ngan senyuman manis sambil geleng-geleng kepala.

"Hello Mr Yezza, camner? ada OK?
"Ayoyo, sorry aa Brother, gua main 15 over ari ni!!!!! Hancus, gua tak bole main la, mamat yang main ngan gua kasi gua tension, dia main par-birdie, par-birdie, came back with 38-38, 4 over gross"
"Aiks, teruk nyer ko main, jang oii.... habis le harapan kita nak ambik hadiah.. Siapa mamat yang main 4 over gross tu?"
" Tu budak badan besar tu, orang panggil dia MG"
"Cheists, ....."

In the end, satu benda pun tak dapat. 2 under aku tu cuma layak dapat no. 21 dari 106 players. Hadiah plak sampai no. 15 ajer. Si MG? Dia dapat jadi Champ la. Kureng Asam betul.