March 2007

The Archives

• Mission From IRB

  03.30.07 | Permalink |Myself, Service| 4 Comments

  I thought I am done with IRB. I have gotten my PIN and even completed my e-filling for 2007. A “mission” letter came from them yesterday asking me to declare my PCB for 1995 & 1996. It was not asking me to fill it in but to request my ex-employer to complete it.

  Now it is really a mission, first of all, if you want my ex-employer to fill it in, they should send the letter to my ex-employer directly. Hey, I am not even sure whether they are still around. Secondly, they want record dated 1995, that is 12 years ago. I thought the policy is to keep 5 or 7 years record? I am not sure they even have that record. In IT, most systems survive at most 5 years and later will need to be upgraded or migrated. Imagine, 12 years ago, they were running on first version of Microsoft Windows, not it is going to VISTA. Worst case is the companies all have close shop and where are we going to get the data? My children will say “So Silly!”

  Being a “collector”, I do keep everything all the tax documents, just in case something like this happens. Imagine I have all my pay slips from my first job till now. Anyone knows how to write a good letter in Bahasa Malaysia? I will tell them that I cannot get hold of my previous employer and these are the documents I have. By the way, I already settle it in KL tax office before I moved to Penang. IRB oh IRB, when will you improve your service and not give us any paperwork?

• Tag: Where I Want To Go

  03.29.07 | Permalink |Tag, Travel| 3 Comments

  It is not even Friday yet and I got the same tag from Jess, GiddyTigers and Angeleyes. I want to go to a lot of places. Here is a picture of where I want to go. Get it?

  
  
  

  I want to go around the world and visit the wonders of the world, now I think there are more than 7. So far, I have been to Great Wall of China and Grand Canyon. I would love to visit the Pyramids, Taj Mahal, Eiffel Tower, Niagara Falls, the Great Barrier Reef and many more. Countries that I have visited are China, US, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Taiwan and Singapore. I love to visit Europe and New Zealand. Opps sorry, I am a little too ambiguous but I just love to travel and see how wonderful God has made his creation to be.

  **********************************************************

  **Start Copy**

  Proposition : Where do you want to go Next, OUTSIDE OF YOUR COUNTRY, for tourism, work , study, whatever.

  Requirements: Find some info about the place, itinerary etc, pics if possible so you get MORE Traffic coming in, and maybe some people can find somewhere to go to. Excludes your NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOUR, ie Singapore,Malaysia,Brunei, a country that borders yours.You must register for MyBloglog so we can blogwalk ah…..get it?

  Quantity : FIVE PEOPLE.

  Tag Mode : Chain Link. 15 of them.
  You leave 15 people and their DEEP LINK of their Blog Name and TAGGED POST and hit out for five more. So it will look like

  Azrin going Down Under

  MaRLinda in Disneyland Paris

  Athira Baby and her Balamory Antics

  Msau to Japan

  Shoppingmum to Europe

  Angeleyes off to Bora-Bora

  Giddy Tiger snorkelling in The Maldives

  Jess to Europe

  **Add in the blog you got the tag from and tagged post.** (In this case, for example, you should add “Mybabybay wants to go Round The World“) 

  Extra Rules: you cannot Tag another person who has performed the Tagging Rights to Travel. Check yr commentators.
  You MUST PASS this tag within 7 days of receiving it , or lose a day’s worth of Blog Revenue or $10 to charity. Can?Makes it interesting anyway.So no Lazy Tags running about, and yeah, eventually, there will be less than a 1:3 chance you can’t tag that someone. And pay those people in the list a visit, you never know if you can pinch / recycle some ideas for your next entry!

  **End Copy**

  **********************************************************

  This is the first time I am tagging people:

  Zara’s mama – Since she loves to go places.
  Julian
  Shooi
  Annie-Q
  Chanel

• Bank Mergers Causing Turmoil

  03.23.07 | Permalink |Finances, Management, Service| 6 Comments

  The first bank account I had in Penang was Ban Hee Lee Bank. Later it merged with Southern Bank and now it became CIMB. Imagine, how many times I had to change my ATM card and bank book. This is not the major problem, it is when they merge systems between banks. Do you know that the records from the previous bank are all gone? Ok not gone but it is kept some where and at times goes, it will not be retrievable.

  What was my headache? The bank sent me a letter stating that on March 16, I will not be able to access my old bank Internet banking. I need to register on March 18 to hop to the new Internet banking. No problem there. I did that and found out that there are no transaction historical records. Sigh. I called up the helpdesk, the agent told me the IT team cannot transfer the data from old to new system. Hey I am from IT, I know it can be done, just the matter whether they want to do it or not.

  Worst is the bank manager called me up to say he cannot simply send out account statements. I told him other banks are sending me monthly statements, why is there a problem? I guess not in their process. :snooty:

  If you want to change system, please do not create problems for your customers. You can send out statements for that month to all your users. By the way, my account is a passbook account. I cannot change to statement account. Actually I can, I need to close the passbook account and create a new statement account. Sigh.

  I tell you, the old Internet banking system has a very terror feature, if you want to transfer money to other banks, you can key in all the info. The back office will actually take that info and generate a bank cheque to send to the other banks. Thumbs down service.

  Let’s hope the CIMB Internet banking is good that I don’t have to enter the bank ever again. The queue in the bank is just crazy.

• Old Brand New Car

  03.22.07 | Permalink |Car, Service| 14 Comments

  My hubby decided to spray paint our old car. It is still in good condition after 6 years but there are scratches here and there. Honda is a reliable brand, hardly got any major problem. We do maintain it probably and service it constantly.

  A few years back, I was tempted get a Honda Civic, but the trade in price wasn’t very attractive. Later we decided that we do not need a new car but put the extra money into some investments. I kind of like the previous design but not the current one as the back doesn’t look as grand. I heard the new Camry looks better and very spacious. Let see how Honda tops that. If ever I strike a lottery, I may buy a Honda Accord.

  I must say the mechanic did a good job of spraying the car. He put a special coat on top and baked it to make it shinier and longer lasting. Another mechanic quoted us cheaper but he is spraying it in his backyard with no garage. We pay a little more so that the color will maintain for another few good years. If you want to spray paint your car in Penang, let me know, I can recommend you my mechanic.

  Anyway, my hubby took some pictures of the before and after look.

  
  
  

• COACH Haunting ME!!

  03.19.07 | Permalink |Hangbag, Shopping| 13 Comments

  This is not a sponsored post but hoping it will be sponsored. :giggles: When I was in US, someone msg me, asking me to check out the price of COACH bag in US. Huh? What coach, sofa ah? Knowing me, I was not in trend with the latest handbag brands as I don’t carry one. The only time when I do carry one is when I am attending a dinner function.

  Anyway, this person got me very interested and I found out that the COACH bag is very popular in US and Hong Kong. It is almost like LV, a very expensive piece of accessories. Vien and I went to the factory outlet at Gilroy to take a look, we were disappointed because the bags were not very attractive. The signature was hidden on all the bags. *kiasu look* Hey you want to buy an expensive bag, make sure the brand is in view right.

  As we were shopping at COSCO, I was surprised that there was a booth selling COACH bag there, mostly above US200. COSCO was the last place I would see any expensive bags for sale. I was surveying at the SFO and HKG airport, minimum was at least US230. Well, for me, I will not spend so much for a hand bag. At first, if the price is right, I want to get 1 for my aunt.

  During CNY, I saw my aunt carrying a COACH, gee it is haunting me again. My aunt told me that my cousin got it for her from Bangkok. Ha! Imitation and it looks like one too.

  Finally, I think I almost forgotten the word COACH. A week ago, someone msged me telling me there is a sale and all bags going for 75%. Another temptation, it is like COACH is not giving up on me. So I surfed in the COACH website and with the recommendation from my friend, came up with 2 choices within my budget. Which one do you like and guess which one I am going to buy?

  
  
  

• The View Buffet Lunch

  03.07.07 | Permalink |Food, Special Day Event| 6 Comments

  

  My department has a mini celebration and we had a scrumptious meal at Equatorial TheView. It has a view of the BJ Golf Course and part of Penang. We had limited choice in Penang for Lunch Buffet, not as many as KL. We also need to choose somewhere nearby. The meal, no words can express. You have to see it yourself. I love Oysters, look at those oysters on the bar. Someone joked that we have to calculate how many oysters we consume to breakeven the cost of the meal. The buffet had different salads, soup, different seafood, smoked salmon, lots of delicious dessert. Then there is the main course. After the meal, it was so difficult to concentrate with my work. Fortunately time flies through and it was 5:30pm.

• Kirigami

  03.05.07 | Permalink |Craft, Hobby| 4 Comments

  
  
  

  Kiru meaning to cut and gami meaning paper. Kirigami is a variation of origami. Origami is folding of paper. Kirigami is an art of folding and cutting paper into a myriad of interesting designs. I got this Kirigami hobby pack from Times Bookstore in Changi Airport. As you know I like hobby which involve hands. It is fun as you can cut many different patterns, animals, ribbons and etc. You can keep the pattern papers for card making, gift wrapping, stenciling and scarpbooking. I like to cut papers when I want to do deep thinking or when I am not in a good mood. Here are some of the patterns I created. By the way, the pack that I bought, it has 365 patterns, one day one pattern for the whole year. I am three months behind. :giggles:

  
  
  
  

• A Taste of KrisFlyer Bad Service

  03.04.07 | Permalink |Service, Travel| 13 Comments

  I am so very frustrated with KrisFlyer (SIA Frequent Flyer Program). Here me out and if you are in my shoe, see you will steam up. When I return from my US trip, while I was in Changi Airport, I tried to register my miles. First the SIA agent told me that they are not train to do KrisFlyer, requesting me to call the customer line. I requested them to help me to call. The agent did and she waited for 30 minutes and she didn’t manage to get through to any customer representative. Worst is they tai chi the problem instead of helping, claiming that SIA and KrisFlyer is a different entity. *faint*

  I requested to see the manager. He is very helpful, helping me to reach the KrisFlyer staff. On the other line, the KrisFlyer agent told me my card expired and I need to apply for a new membership number. They didn’t send me any notification for cancelling my membership. The agent ended the conversation with “I will put an investigation and call you back”, which she never did.

  As I am told, I went online to register for a new account and deposited my miles online. Guess what? I received a notification stating I cannot register my return flights. I called the agent again. First she told me, there is a name mismatched, I told her how come my departure flights had no problem as I have the same names on all the tickets. :think: Then she told me, it was a coach sharing flight which miles are not given. It doesn’t make sense, the price of the tickets were the same. It is like a student who doesn’t know how to answer an exam question and kept guessing (pakai hantam).Finally she ran out of excuses and told me she will investigate further and get in touch with me.

  Today, I received a mail stating they have deposited my return flight on my old card. I am back to square 1. Now I have miles on my old and new card. I want to strangle someone already. What kind of system do they have there I wonder? It is just a simple process and they cannot get it right and they represent SIA.

• Silly Spams

  03.02.07 | Permalink |IT, Technology| 2 Comments

  I don’t really understand some silly people who create spams. I know some spams have some sort of benefit to the spammers like using your blog to advertise their links or educate you on their product or services information. However I received many of these spams below:

  New comment on your post #433 “Emopoetry”
  Author : bsevfo drocy (IP: 221.178.36.188 , 221.178.36.188)
  E-mail : zrwl@mail.com
  URI : http://www.ytvmu.nvbfd.com
  Whois : http://ws.arin.net/cgi-bin/whois.pl?queryinput=221.178.36.188
  Comment:
  ahnue czgoasnhy okjsp goxscrt hfil uqbkzas sqhgajl

  The URI and email are not valid and the comments are gibberish. What are they trying to do or advertise, what benefit do they gain by creating this spam? Are they loving me so much to give me high traffic? Maybe they are trying to bring down my hosting server by creating massive traffic. I wonder how many of these spams can really bring down the server. It is so delinquent. If you want to spam, please spam wisely. Don’t get me wrong, I am not encouraging spams but telling these spammers that they are below silly.

• Best Workplace in US – Google

  03.01.07 | Permalink |IT, Management, Technology, US| 3 Comments

  I received this a few days ago in my mail box. Wow, Google voted the best place for employee to work for in US by Fortune 5000. You have to see it to believe it. Google workplace is like a vacation home for employees. It is like a new generations or new age workplace. As long as Google is making a huge profit and successful, they can naturally do whatever they like. They claimed that the Google workplace builds employees loyalty, motivation, creativity and drive performance. See for yourself and support your jaw.