Six Months And Still Going, Baby…

I mentioned that two days ago marked the 6-month anniversary I started blogging. It’s not really a big deal, a lot of people have been blogging for many years like Sashi and Reta, and most certainly many more do a better job than me.

Well, you could probably say that the landscape of the Malaysian blogosphere was very different when I started, even though it was not very long ago. There were fewer well-known blogs (who knows how many blogs are there in Malaysia?) and I guess it was easier to get to know the people you read and those who read you.

But this past six months have been a thrilling ride for me. You probably know I express myself a lot better in lists, so here goes.

In the past 6 months I’ve been blogging, I’ve:

• Read and explored many, many cool blogs out there in Malaysia. Like this one. And this.
• Met too many wonderful fellow bloggers that for some strange reason, find my blog interesting…
• Discovered and become part of PPS, the veritable Malaysian institution (tell me when that phrase starts getting old)
• Attended the PPS 2nd Anniversary Bash, met a whole lot of happy fellow bloggers, and won some obscure prize.
• Met Jeff, TV, Peter and Mack. Whoa!
• Found some one or two more fellow Gooners.
• Seen my fellow blogger make the front page of Star Section Two (who has a wickedly funny blog!)
• Ranted online too much.
• Learnt a whole lot about CSS, RSS, FTP, XML, WP, MT and other things with acronyms.
• And use one too many emoticons.

New Layout … OK aa?

Thanks for all the comments so on the layout so far, I’ve actually been testing different looks, so if its disruptive, I apologize.

At the moment I’ve settled on this one, coz i like the white background.

The new posts will have bigger text like this, the older post will still have the smaller font size because of the html in the old blogger code. Unless I go back into the 200+ post to manually remove the codes. Ick.

Anyway, I realize there isn’t a perfect WP layout out there for me, unless I customize one myself (!) so any non-default one will do for me.

I’ll be updating the blogroll and buttons soon, so don’t worry if you don’t see yours yet!

WordPress rocks!

Simon has Migrated to New Site

I’ve you’ve come here via my old blog on Blogspot, please update your bookmarks, blogroll and links.

This will be my new home:

http://simontalks.com

The new name for the blog is “SIMON TALKS” blog will still temporarily carry the old name “Like That Also Can Ah?!!”

Thanks to all who have supported by blog in the past 6 months (actually, yesterday marked the half-year anniversary).

WordPress rocks!

Tun Mahathir, Proton, Mahaleel and the AP Saga

I finally read the two articles on Tun Mahathir today during my lunch break. The first article was his press release regarding the AP and Datuk Seri Rafidah issue. The second was an interview by the tabloid with him on Tengku Mahaleel’s dismissal.

I won’t be giving you a political or economical commentary here, I think many other qualified people have done so (Like MackZul and Paul Tan).

What I’d like to say is my humble observations on Proton, our former Prime Minister, Tengku Mahaleel and the AP saga.

• Tun Mahathir is an angry man. Any bystander can notice that. For those of us who have been observing him for more than 20 years, the way he speaks and answers reporter questions is typical, vintage Mahathir. Some find it dismissive, irrelevant and temperamental, others call him a PR genius.

• Not only that, he is also annoyed with some of his ministers in his former cabinet, especially the UMNO ones. Of course he won’t say who, but he makes that reference a few times. On Rafidah, he neither defends or openly criticizes her, but you can guess they won’t be teeing off together this Sunday.
• For an 80-year guy, he sure looks good. My tea-lady insists it’s because of… oh, never mind.
• I don’t think Tengku Mahaleel’s is the end of the world for him. Hundreds of other companies, bumi or non-bumi will be knocking on his door to get him on their board of directors.
• Perodua makes better quality cars than Proton. Those who have driven both models can attest to that.
• About the AP list. For years everyone in the industry roughly knows who’s on the list. So why the fuss? Because I think the release of the list was a knee-jerk reaction to the pressure. Now that it’s out, what’s next?
• With all this brouhaha, will someone tell me when are they going to reduce the excise tax for imported cars?
• The Wira model is more than 10 years old. The Iswara is nearing 20. Kind of weird to be paying more than RM40k for ancient models, wouldn’t you say?

Top Twelve Important Reminders to Drivers from Simon

Some pretty good advice I learnt along the way, for new drivers and old hands, road hoggers and F1-wannabes, for kancil cili padi‘s to Mugen/Nismo racer boys.

Top Twelve Important Reminders to Drivers from Simon

• When you hear a loud noise from your engine, turn your radio louder.

• Pump petrol in the cooler parts of the day, like in the morning or in the evening. Anytime in between, it’s just too hot to get out of your car air-conditioning.
• Remember, if you collide with a motorbike, it’ll hurt him physically. But it’ll hurt your wallet even more.
• Always keep your car boot empty, or store your junk in boxes. Don’t dump everything in. When you ever need to change your tyre, taking all the stuff is a pain.
• When you buy a new car, read the manual immediately. When your car gets older, you’ll never want to read it again.
• When your car breaks down at the side of the road, put one of the reflective triangles behind your car. If you don’t have one, break off a tree branch and stick it out of your boot. If you drive a bus, use one of the detachable passenger seats.
• Wash your car every week. If not, it will become temperamental and answer back.
• When you see a stain of black oil on your porch after you reverse out, it’s a big deal. It’ll take about RM300 not to see it anymore.
• Keep an umbrella in your car, even if you’re a man guy. You’ll need it the day you drop off your girlfriend for her important job interview. And the office building is 200 meters away across the pedestrian park – in the pouring rain.
• Drive carefully. Remember, most other drivers are morons.

What Is It With Malaysians and Freebies?

What is it with Malaysians and freebies?

Every time the supermarket gives out samples of any new products for tasting, we swarm over it like ants to honey at a picnic.

Even if the product is some disgusting herbal root juice extracted from the bakau mangrove fermented in tapai. If it’s FREE, we must get it.

Each time I see one of these booths at the Tesco or Jusco, (usually manned by some poor promoter on the 2nd day of her job) I see these aunties and grannies grabbing 2 or 3 portions, apparently ‘for my children/grandchildren/nieces/pet Chihuahua.’

Then they turn the aisle, drink one cup, discover that it tastes horrendous, then leave the two untouched cups on the aisle shelf displaying women’s undergarments.

If I were the marketing company, I wouldn’t judge the popularity of the product tasting by the number of cups I give away, but the number of un-drunk cups I find in the aisle around the tasting booth.

Send Your Kids To Squash Classes

Remember when Malaysia won the Thomas Cup back in 1992?

Every kid in my neighbourhood got their wooden / 2 kg steel rackets out of the closet and started playing badminton. In fact, in the evenings, the entire stretch of my 200 meter lane was lined with boys and girls and makciks playing the good old hit and pick. Never mind the wind blowing the shuttlecocks like a kite.

The winners were awarded tracts of landed and spanking new Proton Sagas (they were new then), corporate prizes, bottles of isotonic drinks, etc.

Now, forget about badminton.

Send them to squash classes. Squash is the new badminton. Look at Nicol David. Ong Beng Hee. Well, that’s about it. We have other players, but the darling of the media at the moment is of course the Penang girl Nicol.

(Not to be confused with Peter Nicol, the former men’s world champion).

So, if you’ve got lots of spare money to burn, drag your kids from watching too much English football to squash classes with the country club while you’re teeing off at the green.

Forget about tennis or hockey or bowling already.

Oh, wait. Maybe in ten years time ping-pong will be the new squash.

Disturbing My Weekend Siesta

Weekend afternoon. Sleeping at home. Only time in the week I can enjoy some peace and quite.

(Well, not actually, those pesky kids next door are always raising hell, anyway.)

But, OK, still relative peaceful siesta.

Then this bloody annoying van horn comes round. (horn sound from a van, not some dutch guy.

Teet-teet-teet. Teet-teet-teet. Teet-teet-teet.

My God, it’s like getting a root canal. And worse still, it’s driving slowly and coming nearer.

I hate getting jolted out of bed. Especially in the afternoon.

I went to my window to see what the hell it was (my window, by the way, has an awesome view of the oxidation pond).

I couldn’t see the van, it had turned the corner. If it isn’t those vans buying old newspaper (unlikely, there wasn’t using a loud-hailer), it was probably selling mattresses or gas cylinders.

Anyway, I drop down back to bed.

My God, it turned to corner and its back again!

Teet-teet-teet. Teet-teet-teet. Teet-teet-teet.

Why can’t they get some soothing music like the ice-cream truck?!

Arrgh…!

Another Face From the Past

Finally, after 15 long years, I met Sivin again.

He was at our Young Adults gathering last night, and it was great to see a familiar face after so long.

I first met Sivin and May Chin at KJK and SFC back in the late 80′s. I visited Christ Lutheran twice, but I don’t think he was there at that time. From then until now we didn’t meet again, but I often heard news about the dynamic young Sivin. May Chin, too, was in the same CLP class as my good friends El and Dave.

A few months ago we’ve been contacting again via e-mail and yahoo groups, so it was almost inevitable we could meet again.

Sivin hasn’t changed much, still the down to earth, funny guy. Too bad his family didn’t come along…

Ringgit De-Peg: Get the Odds!

The big news of the day is the ringgit un-peg. Or de-peg. Or no-peg. Read it here.

So what’s the new exchange rate gonna be?

It used to be this:

USD$1 = RM3.80

So what’s the new, ‘stable’ rate going to be like?

The talk on the street is somewhere between RM3.20 to RM4.00.

According to our central bank:

Since Jan 1, the ringgit has appreciated by 11.3% against the euro, 7.29% against the yen, 9.82% versus the pound sterling, 6.35% against the baht and 1.5% compared with the Singapore dollar.

So if we calculate using my RM9.90 Snoopy calculator I bought at the SS2 pasar malam:

Based on the rise against the euro, the new value should be RM3.41;
Based on the rise against the yen, the new value should be RM3.54;
Based on the rise against the pound sterling, the new value should be RM3.57;
Based on the rise against the euro, the new value should be RM3.74.

(Feel free to make fun Simon’s understanding of the money market. He failed his SRP)

So, feeling confused, Simon called his bookie, Ah Fatt. (Not to be confused with Ah Keong, his mechanic or Ah Long, his friendly loan-shark)

According to Ah Fatt, there is already a betting odds are already out! The odds are as follows:

(Based on exchange rate of USD$1 on September 1st, 2005)

Below RM3.00 = 25 to 1
RM3.00 to RM3.19 = 10 to 1
RM3.20 to RM3.49 = 5 to 1
RM3.50 to 3.79 = 2 to 1
Maintain at RM3.80 = 7 to 1
More than RM3.81 = 15 to 1

Special buy :

RM3.88 = 8 to 1

(Minimum bet RM100, please check odds daily before booking. Money up front, Maybank2u)