Retro Entry : Wifey's mini birthday celebration

I better get this publish before 2009 comes eh. Since wifey's birthday fell on a weekday, we have already celebrated her birthday much earlier during friday night dinner at Gombak. But to make it a suprise, i decided to do a little extra for wifey.

During lunch hour that day, i walked to Sogo to survey for a small cake that we could eat after dinner time. So after looking around for quite sometime, i found the perfect cake. A chocolate cake with pecan and the size of that cake was stated as 15cm. Hmmm, my guess is that must be the diameter of the cake. So i decided to purchase it as a dessert after dinner.

Before that, i did manage to run around sogo to look for the perfect birthday card and what do you know, it's perfect. It makes me feel that my marriage is normal as it was depicted in the card. If you wanna see the card, contact wifey directly ok.

Before coming back to the office, as an extra for my wife, i bought her 3 roses at Masjid India. Well, you just gotta guess why i just bought 3 instead of a dozen.... Give up? The roses are for her as a suprise when she gets home as i put them much earlier at home before we come back home.

So right after dinner that night, we sang song of happiness wishing wifey happy birthday and eat the cake.

Retro Entry : Dinner at Victoria Station

This was the weekend before wifey's birthday. Earlier that day, Sofea was kidnapped by Tok Ma, giving us a little bit of time to pre-celebrate wifey's birthday dinner. Well, you don't get that kind of privacy and romantically anymore when you have one kid that will not stay still for even as long as a minute. Believe me, talking to experience.

Birthday girl

So before we picked up Sofea, we had wifey's birthday dinner at Victoria Station. Luckily it was quite easy to get a seat there, oh and yeah they valet park my car too. Woohoo.

What did we have. Well, basically wifey had lobster vs chicken steak ( i think ) and i had the salmon steak vs tenderloin steak. They are a two different kind of dish put on a single plate. Though not the normal regular size, you get to enjoy the best of both worlds. For drinks, a bottle of Sparkling Juice, which eventually we tapau coz i couldn't finish it all by myself as wifey couldn't drink it because of it's gassiness.

So overall, a delicious meal indeed and kudos to Victoria Station.

ps: Victoria Station was the first venue we celebrated wfey's birthday as a couple, 6 years ago.

Smoke over KLCC

These pictures were taken on our way to KLCC on 21st December 2008 at around 3pm. Until now, i am not sure which building that actually caught fire as there were no news that were reported during the news nor the newspaper the next day. Anybody knows, please tell me.

By the time we reached KLCC, the fire was already out. There were a few fire engines near the LGM building. But for certain it ain't the LGM building that caught fire.

Selamat Menyambut Awal Muharam 1430 Hijrah

Selamat menyambut Awal Muharam 1430Hijrah kepada semua umat Islam tidak kira di mana anda berada sekalipun.

Barangsiapa yang membaca doa awal tahun ini, insya Allah dirinya akan terpelihara daripada gangguan dan godaan syaitan di sepanjang tahun tersebut.

Doa awal tahun

Maksudnya:
Allah SWT berselawat ke atas penghulu kami Muhammad SAW, ahli keluarga dan sahabat-sahabat baginda dan kesejahteraan ke atas mereka.
Wahai Tuhan, Engkaulah yang kekal abadi, yang qadim. yang awal dan ke atas kelebihanMu yang besar dan kemurahanMu yang melimpah dan ini adalah tahun baru yang telah muncul di hadapan kami. Kami memohon pemeliharaan dariMu di sepanjang tahun ini dari syaitan dan pembantu-pembantunya dan tentera-tenteranya dan juga pertolongan terhadap diri yang diperintahkan melakukan kejahatan dan usaha yang mendekatkanku kepadaMu Wahai Tuhan Yang Maha Agung dan Maha Mulia.
Wahai Tuhan Yang Maha pengasih dari mereka yang mengasihi dan Allah berselawat ke atas penghulu kami Muhammad. Nabi yang ummi dan ke atas ahli keluarga dan sahabat-sahabatnya dan kesejahteraan ke atas mereka.

Sumber dari: http://www.darulnuman.com/mhikmah/muharam.html

Happy Birthday to Wifey

Today is my lovely wifey's birthday. Age??? Hmmm, it's just mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter. So this entry is a special dedication wish for wifey and sofea's mommy.

How do I begin to tell you how lucky I am

to have you in my life?

I'll start by saying what a gift you gave me

the day you became my wife.

You're my best friend in the good times

and my rock in times of sorrow.

You're the reason for sweet yesterdays

and my promise for tomorrow.

I never thought I could feel this loved

until you became my wife.

You made this year and every year

the best one of my life.

ps: Poem tu cilok punye, but with good intention :)

Punky Brewster vs Sofea

For some, punky brewster might trigger their memory way back to the 80's. It did have some effect on me as i have seen the sitcom way back in the 80's. Not much that i remember on the story, but i do remember that there was a little girl who had freckles on her face with her hair being tied up and always seen in purple. ( ikat rambut kiri dan kanan).

Just a few days ago my daughter's hair had been tied up just like punky brewster. It reminded me of the once famous tv show. So, what do you guys think. Any similarity? : )

Nasi Lemak

Gambar perhiasan - not actual product

Nasi lemak,

nasi lemak,

mari makan nasi lemak

Kita makan tiap hari,

Biar sihat di siang hari,

ada sambal, ada telur...

bla bla bla...

Forgot already about the whole nasi lemak song that i used to song back in Standard 1, which was basically 22 years ago. Anyway, this morning we got a nasi lemak treat from one of our colleague, because she won an award in the Departmental Recognition Program. Thanks Ms Tai.

ps: Who remember this song from the beginning till the end?

TV in a Waja?

That's right folks. My Waja is now currently equipped with a tv tuner. Besides that, it can also play dvd, div x movies via cd/dvd/usb thumbdrive, mp3, mp4 and also listen to that radio. With this thing, it does make my car feel a little bit of that bond and continental feeling again. Cool eh?


But everything does come with a price. With my new toy, i no longer have steering button controls but i do have touch screen though. Take a look and tell me what you think? Not even the Waja CPS can match this baby. It's worth the money spent. I just hope this thing can last for a long time.

Hari Raya AidilAdha 2008

It may be a bit late but i'm just gonna write it down anyway. As the usual practice, we don't have a lot of activities to do during the AidilAdha Raya. As usual early in the moring we headed to the mosque to perform our Raya prayers. This time we prayed at the temporary mosque at UTM KL as the old mosque has been demolished to make way for a new mosque. Lucky for us this time as we made it just seconds after the prayer had started.


After prayers, we then headed out to the Kent's house. As usual the satay goreng and lontong was served for the day. Aiman and the gang and Jie arrived a bit later. It was also raining the whole day. Not the usual weather on Hari Raya. We just had breakfast, talk about the latest issue and whatever things that we could talk off.

Later in the afternoon as the rain was still pouring, papa gave me a coupon to take the daging qurban as he said that he was lazy to take it as it was raining. Okay then, it's kinda of a routine every year for me to take the meat. On the way back, Sofea felt asleep so after sending the meat, we headed home.


As we didn't tapaui anything from the Kent's house, we decided to have our dinner at the Pizza San Francisco at Wangsa Maju. Hmm, there i had salmon steak which was on promotion while wifey had steak. Both of us had iced chocolate. Hmmm, ice chocolate. Sofea however just could stay put and was already making headline at the place. After finishing our meal, we headed straight home as the situation there couldn't be control anymore.


Note:

To my bro in law who is now a Hajj, we have to start calling him Tuan Haji Zekri now. Fulamak, Tuan Haji beb. Power!!!Sofea, you could call hime Uncle Haji Gagie. Congratulations and Alhamdulillah.

Cuti - Cuti Malaysia - Port Dickson Day 4

It’s day 4 and our last day of our Cuti-cuti Malaysia 2008. We began the day as early as 8 in the morning where all of us headed down to the coffee house at Glory Beach Resort. Again the number of people there were so high that the food on the counter were all swooped in as soon as they were replenish. The food served for breakfast there is considered to be the standard breakfast meal which includes, mee hoon goreng, nasi lemak, sosage and baked beans, bread, cereals and fruits. There were also an egg station plus coffee and tea.

Me and wifey decided not to have a go at the swimming pool. The number of crowd at the pool was the same as the day before which means damn crowded. At first we wanted to have a walk at the beach but the crowd there was no more less than the crowd in the pool. So we just took Sofea for a play in the playground and hang out by the pool for a while till 10am.

Before 12noon, we had already checked out from the resort saying bye-bye to Glory. Our destination is to the PD Ostrich Farm. The ticket entrance is RM8 for adult. But if you have a Jusco J Card, the charge is RM7. Hey, membership do have it’s advantages. Well, at ostrich farm, there are ostrich, ostrich, ostrich and more ostriches. Besides ostrich, they also have other animals such as lamb, monkeys, chicken, peacock, rabbits and also crocodile, though I didn’t quite see one except for it’s cage. Hmmm, I wonder where it went to?

At the souvenir shop, we bought ourselves a fridge magnet as usual. We also tried out the satay ostrich which is priced at RM10 for 6 sticks. Well, at least I can tell everyone else that I’ve tasted ostrich meat. Overall, the stay taste like usual satay meat. I don’t think I could tell the difference if given both choices.

As it was already lunch time, wifey suggested that we go to the pisang goreng stall. So we went there but unfortunately, they will only be opened for business at 3pm. So where else to go except for a nearby mamak store. So all of us had a go at the mamak store, Ashraf. The clock was only 210pm after we finished lunch. Because wifey wanted so bad to have a go at the pisang goreng, so we told the others that we would wait till 3pm. We didn’t force them to wait but voices coming out from their unser finally made them to stay with us.

To kill time, I wanted to go at the Tanjung Tuan Lighthouse which will require a few puffing to reach the lighthouse itself. All the young ones didn’t want to follow. In the end there were only 3 of us that made the journey. Myself, mama and babah. The climbing took us about 20minutes. Along the way, we could see the beautiful greenery forest and many types of trees. You could hear crickets along the way. We also saw a few monkeys along the way.

Once we reached the top, there it was, the lighthouse. A breathtaking view can be seen way up there. You could view the entire Melaka Straits right from left to right. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see the Sumatera island as claimed by the review. But I’m quite sure I did saw it once when I was visiting PD during my schooldays. After taking a few photographs and admiring the view, we went back down. The rain started pouring down and we were soaked up. But it was fun alright. It made me feel like a kid again. You get to play in the rain. Woohoo. How cool is that. Salute to Mama and Babah for managing to reach the top of the hill.

The clock was already 3.30pm meaning that the pisang goreng stall must be opened by now. So we stopped there to tapau some pisang goreng before heading back to KL. I think the stall is called Click click Poly based on one of the banner there.

Along the way to KL, there was a few traffic at the highway but still manageable. We stop over at the KFC drive thru for Sofea’s dinner and also 2 glass of Ice Chocolate from San Francisco Pizza.

Overall, we did have fun for our trip to PD. Besides the usual swim at the pool or sea, this time we visited a few interesting places at PD. During our entire trip the weather was ok. The people visiting PD was also another problem as almost all of the hotels were fully booked. But overall, it was an enjoyable trip. I forgot to calculate the budget but I think we did manage to keep it below RM300. I guess we can match the tv show Destinasi Bajet eh?

Cuti-cuti Malaysia - Port Dickson Day 3

It's Saturday and it's time for us to get packing again. And again today Sofea only woke up at 10am. I guess all this packing and swimming has really drained her out as she needs the extra time to recharge. Strange enough though, she seems to be very energetic at night and does'nt show any sign of tiredness.

After finished with breakfast and packing, we checked out from the Bank's resort at 12noon. We then headed straight to the PD common beach. Sri Rusa i think. Well, you know the one with the Pasar Malam and Petronas station. We met up with my in laws and the rest of the gang there. Wifey and Sofea had their lunch first before i had the chance to take Sofea out to sea to build our plan sand castle.

Eventhough the weather then was quite hot, the wind that blew the waves from the sea managed to cool us down. Hmm, i guess not really knowing what a sand castle is, Sofea just took her sand castle tools and shoved the sands. As for me, digging and did trying to make the castle appear nice went disastrously as the final product look like the Bukit Antarabangsa landslide. Oh well, i guess you could blame it on the hot weather :). After about an hour playing in the sand, we finally hit the showers and headed towards Glory Beach Resort where this is our final destination stay in PD.

The check in process did take quite a while as there were so many guests checking in. There were also many functions that were held here in conjuction with the school holidays. Sofea only took her evening nap for just a few minutes. She woke up about 5 minutes after i put her down to bed. Overall i think she must have slept around 30mins.


That evening, me, wifey, sofea, shana, syarul, mai and adiq hit out at the beach. The water that was not as clear looking as compared to telok kemang or the sri rusa area. Plus there were so many people there. Each and everyone doing their own activity. There was even a vollyball match and a sukaneka i guess. Talk about the pool, the crowd there reminded me of the crowds that used to hit Sunway Lagoon when the free ticket promotion by Berita Harian took place. Basically, there wasn't much place that you could go in the pool. But hey, let's just make the best of things huh.

For dinner, we head out to the infamous Pasar Malam at PD. We all cramped in Tok Bah's Unser. Lucky for me as i wouldn't face a problem to find a parking spot. Each of us bought our own meal to eat. As for me, char kuay teow and ayam percik was my choice.



As the clock reached 10.30pm, it was time to put Sofea to bed. It took a lot of persuasion before she finally agreed to go to sleep. It didn't take that long to put her to bed as she was tired. To wifey, sorry because we didn't manage to go on a date, just the two of us. As long as there is the si kenit, it's gonna be tough to go on a date.

Note
Sofea seems to be good in trying to injure me. First when she bumped the back of her head straight at my nose which resulted in a severe nose bleed when we were at De Palma at Kuala Selangor. It took a while to stop that nose bleed. When i was carrying her back to our spot of picnicing, she suddenly dropped one of her toy ( a Barbie watering pot) right at my left feet toe which resulted to bleeding. It was quite a pain at first (salt water + sand effect) until the system stabililised. Hey, i'm no cheerleader that could heal instataneously.

Save the cheerleader, save the world

To Sofea, if you are reading this one day, know this that you always have a way of making me injured, especially with blood injury. But i forgive you anyway cause you're my daughter and I love you.

Cuti-cuti Malaysia - Port Dickson Day 2

As we were suppose to check out and check in again at the same place but at a different room, we decided to do a little sight seeing in PD. Plus I guess Sofea was so bumped that she woke up that morning at around 10.15am. After we finished packing up, we then checked out at 12 noon.

First on the list was a PD Mini Zoo. This is a paid entrance. It’s A RM 7.00 per person. Luckily Sofea was not charged. The mini zoo lived up to it’s name which was mini indeed. But overall there were quite a lot of animal you could see. The environment set was in a jungle or forest so beware, you might get ants or even mosquito bites. Among the animals that we could see are Ostrich, many types of chickens and ducks, peacocks, monkeys and their cousins, rabbits, cow, goat, camels and horses, tortoise, snake and not forgetting mother goose. I think Sofea was a bit scared with the ostrich because of the size. But there was one thing that she was really scared of which is a giant ostrich replica.

Next stop was to recee the Glory resort in which we are suppose to stay the next day with my in laws and the family. After finished surveying the place we proceeded towards Central Market. We didn’t set foot on this place but just see the shop from inside of the car. There doesn’t seem to be much shop of interest to us. There were a few shops that were selling clothes, and souvenirs but hey, we don’t need them.

Since wifey was already feeling hungry, at first we wanted to search for the KFC at PD Town. Along the way we saw a place called the PD Walk. Hmmm, sounds interesting so we checked it out. There were a few shops selling a few stuff like clothes, food and etc. Sofea fot herself a barney bolster pillow while wifey settled for luch at the Station Kopitiam. The food was quite okay.

Since there was a small shopping mall right beside the PD Walk, we decided to take a look. There was the Store there so we browsed through. I bought myself a ¾ pants for tomorrow’ day out which is playing sand with Sofea. After we finished our little shopping, we decided to head back to the resort. But before that we stopped for a while at Telok Kemang to buy some stuff.

The previous day, Ain had told wifey that there was a delish pisang goreng stall situated under a tree, near the Guoman junction, behind a house that has a horse. What the hell?? A house with a horse? Could you be more specific? Hehehe. But hey, what do you know, we actually found it. So wifey bought the pisang goreng. And what do you, the pisang goreng was really delicious. It was the small type of banana which was very sweet and it also comes with the sambal kicap. The sambal kicap was nice. I highly recommend it for those seeking out pisang goreng as ther tea time snack. Oh by the way, it is located at Taman Tiara.

Later that evening we all jumped in to the pool. Only this time Sofea seems to be quite scared at the adults swimming pool even though we hold her all the time. She would run go back and fourth from the wedding pool and then back to the adults pool and back again.

For dinner, we had already tapau ourself from the kopitiam shop. Since Sofea was acting rather hyperly, we took her to the playground downstairs and finally took her for a car ride. We drove as PD town. But because Barney was on, she just wouldn’t sleep. It is just after Barney finished and we turned it off she would go to sleep. That night after putting her on bed, we watched a 3 episode Heroes season 3 marathon played on my MSi netbook before retiring to bed.

Cuti-cuti Malaysia - Port Dickson Day 1

We are currently enjoying our Cuti-cuti Malayia trip to Port Dickson. I considered myself very lucky in managing to grab the Bank’s resort when it was opened to everyone for grabs. Luckily I tried myself at the right time and managed to book 2 nights in the banks resort eventhough we will be moving from different rooms every night. But what the hell, better 2 than 1 night eh?

We departed from KL around 2.30pm after having lunch at Mash Nasi Ayam in Keramat. To It was a clear road to PD except for a very heavy rain when we were approaching Seremban. Luckily it was a by the time we entered the Seremban – PD highway. We stopped by the road side to tapau some goreng pisang before heading out to the resort.

Check in was smooth as there were no hastle. After finishing enjoying our goreng pisang, Sofea was already anxiously to get herself wet in the pool. So we finally hit the pool around 5.20pm and went back up around 6.45pm. And I’m telling you, it’s not easy to get a little child out from a water even though her fingers were becoming more like the experiment of hypertonic liquid towards a potato. Get what I mean?

Later that night we headed out towards town for dinner. For the convenience of everyone, we decided to tapau. We headed towards the Mutiara Seafood. It’s right infront of the Sri Rusa Pos Malaysia. The food was okay, but service and time taken to prepare the food, well let’s just say it is not for those preferred to be treated as a king and is always in a rush.

We enjoyed dinner and finally put Sofea to bed. At first we wanted to watch heroes which I have already downloaded to my lappy here, but hey, just can’t resist the bed plus we were quite bumped.

Dikala bulan tersenyum - Smiling Moon

As the journey to Sri Kinabalu began at about 8.35pm, suddenly a sudden scream from a little girl at the back of the car.

" Moon, .... moon,..... moon".

"Nampak..... ada ..... ada..."

" Tuu....." said Sofea

We quickly gazed towards the window and finally saw it. The MOON... Smiling down on us.

Well, actually it's just the ordinary bulan sabit moon. But only this time, the moon was in the shape of a smile. And then we also saw 2 bright light at the top of the moon. At first we thought it was just the ordinary star. But it was brighter than the usual star you see every night.

Only the next day we found out at the newspaper that it was a special phenomena and it only occures every 5 years. The two birght lights were Jupiter (Musytari) - fifth planet from the sun and the other one is Venus ( Zuhrah) - second planet from the sun. And we got to see it. Woohooo. Score!!!

Smile everbody

Equipped with my Nikon D60 at the boot, we stop for a while by the road and snap some picture. Maybe it won't win me best photo of the year, but i guess it's something. Well, what do you expect from a standard 18-55mm Kit Lens with no tripod eh?

X-Files - Bayi 9 bulan hilang dalam kandungan?

This article is taken from Berita Harian ( www.bharian.com.my) dated 4 December 2008. So what do you guys think? Any thoughts? Alien abduction, orang bunian ?

Bayi 9 bulan hilang dalam kandungan
Oleh Ridzuan Ahmad bhnew@bharian.com.my

ALOR STAR: Impian seorang anggota tentera untuk menimang cahaya mata sulung hasil perkongsian hidup selama dua tahun dengan isterinya tidak tercapai selepas bayi yang dikandung suri rumah itu disahkan hilang selepas sembilan bulan mengandung. Pasangan Mohd Fazli Samsudin, 27, dan Nurul Shuhada Mat Isa, 20, tidak dapat menahan kesedihan dan terkejut selepas dimaklumkan doktor pakar di sebuah pusat bersalin swasta di sini bahawa rahim wanita terbabit kosong ketika melakukan imbasan terakhir, Isnin lalu sebelum dijangka bersalin semalam . Nurul Shuhada disahkan mengandung pada Mac lalu selepas menjalani pemeriksaan di Hospital Angkatan Tentera (Resat), di Kuala Lumpur dan dijangka bersalin pada 29 November lalu.
Nurul Shuhada berkata, sukar baginya menerima kenyataan apabila bayi yang dikandung selama sembilan bulan hilang dengan sekelip mata sehingga menimbulkan satu misteri kepada dirinya, suami dan keluarga. “Kerana tidak berpuas hati, saya kemudiannya dibawa keluarga ke sebuah lagi pusat perubatan swasta di Jitra untuk membuat pemeriksaan kali kedua namun keputusan tetap sama. Malah, doktor mendakwa rahim saya normal seperti wanita yang tidak mengandung,” katanya ketika ditemui Berita Harian di rumahnya di Kampung Masjid Lama, Hutan Kampung, di sini. Nurul Shuhada yang menetap di Kuala Lumpur untuk bersalin di rumah ibunya di Kampung Masjid Lama, Hutan Kampung, di sini sempat membuat rawatan terakhir di Klinik Kuala Muda dua minggu lalu sebelum diarahkan merujuk ke HSB, semalam.
Beliau berkata, sebelum kejadian, dia tidak berasa sebarang perubahan cuma mengalami lenguh pada anggota badan selain perutnya memulas. “Saya pernah bermimpi ada objek seperti kapas putih berada di tepi badan saya seolah-olah seperti sedang menyusu dan objek itu sentiasa mengusap badan saya. Mimpi itu terjadi selama tiga malam berturut-turut selepas itu saya mengalami demam panas,” katanya. Sementara itu, Mohd Fazli yang bergegas pulang dari Kuala Lumpur kelmarin selepas dimaklumkan berita itu oleh isterinya, masih terkejut dan menganggap ia sebagai dugaan Allah kepada mereka berdua.

ps: my sympathy to the couples

Retro Entry : Happy Birthday Papa aka Atok

A bit outdated but not totally outdated :) We celebrated my papa's b'day on 14th Nov. This is hist 72nd birthday. I repeat 72. Woww, talk about oldskool. There were 7 Big candles and 2 little ones. So, go figure.

The celebration was held small and simple. My sis Suzy brought the cake from KLCC while the rest of us brought our empty stomach for some Laksa Pahang and cake. Earlier that day, i went to Guardian to purchase the Sugar level device checker thingy. As usual, the gift is not from me but from Mama. I'm just the guy that goes to the shop and buy it for her. "Papa, your gift kita hutang dulu ek".

My sis offered my papa and mama an umrah trip for next year for his birthday. Hmmm, Alhamdulillah la. The dates are not confirmed yet, subject to free of schedule.

The cake was very filling and delicious. Though small but very Rich in taste. Overall, it went well. So happy birthday to papa again.

Allah selamatkan kamu,

Allah selamatkan kamu,

Allah selamatkan Tuan Haji Shuib,

Allah selamatkan kamu!!!

Semoga dipanjangkan umur, dimurahkan rezeki, diberi kesihatan dan hidup diberkati Allah.

ps: cum papa's birthday, It has been 17 years since my trip to Europe and 13 years since my trip to Umrah

RM 10 withdrawal - finally

Look at the bank book. Oldskool baby!

After nearly 72hours, i finally managed to withdraw my RM10 from CIMB Bank. You see, it's not that hard to request a signature sample from the Dayabumi branch. All you need to do is request it earlier and by the time i get to the bank, everything is in order. So no issue. That's all i ask for. Customer should come first eventhough i'm just the ikan bilis type of customer.

Now according to the teller, my account should be active by tomorrow. Let's just hope she's right. Thank you to the CIMB Bank Jalan Tun Perak branch for a job well done.

How hard is it to withdraw RM10?

A simple answer would be easy and a shorter version would be ez. All you have to do is que to the atm machine, punch some number and there you are, RM10 deducted from your savings account. For those not in favour of the ATM machine, fill up form, take your que number and walk up to the counter and there you are, a RM10 bill.

I have a Bank Bumiputra savings account since in 1996. The Bank was later transformed to Bumiputra Commerce Bank and finally to CIMB Bank. I was Given a Juwara card and then later to the ugly coloured BCB ATM card. When the bank was transformed to CIMB Bank, they say the customers could continue using their old card.

Since started working in 2001, the tiger head bank was my primary account that i used and therefore the balance i had in BCB was made as some sort of backup in case there were any emergency. Since there was no emergency and the lack on Internet Banking at BCB, i just kept the card in my wallet as a backup if i needed some extra money. Unfortunately, no such situation ever occured. As far as i know, i still had a few ringgit in there.

Came one day when i was curios about my account, i used the ATM facility machine. I tried to withdraw a RM10 but it said that the account is not active. Ok, fair enough. I tried to deposit some money via the CDM machine. Unfortunately, it said that the card is inactive and please see the bank.

Right after Friday prayers today, i went to CIMB branch at Masjid India. The teller updated my book and according to her, i must withdraw some money to get the account active again. So i filled up a form and started queing up again. By the time my turn came, the teller was looking rather curiously at my savings account book. He went to see his supervisor (i think) and he told me that he couldn't see my sample signature at the book. What the hell? It's not my problem. All i had to do was sign that damn thing and the bank staff would laminate it. How the hell should i know whether could i see it or not under the UV light. The person that did that should have some sort of QC control. So the supervisor then told me that it's better for me to go up to the CIMB at Dayabumi where i first opened my account. The other way was that i would have to wait 1 or 2 hours time to get a signature specimen from Dayabumi branch. What the hell? 1 or 2 hours time just to confirm that I am Me. I gave up hope and left.

On my way back to the office feeling unsatisfied, i then went to the CIMB Jalan Tun Perak. This time the que was a little bit longer. When it's finally my turn, the same process went on again. The staff said it's easier for me to walkup to Dayabumi. Hold on, i don't have all day to go to Dayabumi just to confirm that I am Me. Easier said then done.

I then asked them whether could they request the specimen now and i will come by next monday. She then said, tunggu "Isnin lah" ( Wait till monday then ). I questioned them why couldn't you just request for the specimen now rather then wait till monday. If i walk up on monday i will have to wait again and again just to get that stupid specimen and they themselves will have to request it anyway. It's just a phonecall and a fax away. After arguing then finally she agreed to it but they will require my biometric finger print and keep my banking book. Well fine, it's not that i could do anything with it anyway. After all the comotion i finally walked out and said thank you. I will comeby again by next monday.

What did I gain after all this.

1- Anger

2 - Tired and pain

What didn't I gain

1 - My RM10

2 - My account reactivated

3 - Confirmation of I am Me.

What do i have to do again

1 - Come by to the Bank again to get my RM10

2 - Take back my banking book + activation of account status.

What did i learn.

According to one of the banker, if i deposited money through the counter, my account status will still be inactive. Therefore to keep your account from being inactive, you have to withdraw money. Hmmm, quite weird don't you think so. It reminds me that i have not withdrawn any money from my ASB since a few years but continue to deposit money. Wonder whether my ASB itself is inactive because i did withdraw any money.

So conclusion, withdraw money to get your account activated. Depositing in money doesn't count. Banks, please have a better QC when asking for signature specimen.

ps: should have just put in RM1 to withdraw in the withdrawal form. That would really brighten up the day.

Congratulations Nizar

I was at APSH waiting for wifey's turn to be called to be checked up by the doctor. Then suddenly a familiar face went in to the clinic. It was Nizar, my friend and neighbour since primary school. Seems that his wife's waterbag already broke and i guess it was almost time to deliver. Wow what a day for the good old doctor. After the doctor checked his wife out, i guess they had to go straight to the delivery room.

I received a text message saying that his wife has safely delivered their second baby with a whooping 3.12kg in weight and 55cm in length at 8.30pm on 26 Nov 2008. Hmm, much bigger than Sofea.

Anyway, Alhamdulillah that everything went well. Congratulations again to Nizar and Sharmila for being blessed with their second child.

Putrajaya Waterski World Cup 2008

We were over at Presint 6 Putrajaya last Saturday for the said event. It seems that wifey’s company was some sort of involved in ammending one of the booth. So once again Sofea and me have been forced to go the said event. We reached there around 10 am heading up there via the KL – Putrajaya highway. It’s my first time there. The road were very wide and there were not many vehicles on the road. Only setback is the toll is quite pricey. It’s a RM4 for one way.

Upon reaching there, the sun was way on our head. Luckily the booth had fans running that in a way helped us to cool down. Wifey’s booth was responsible for handling games. One of the being the famous buzzer sound if you touch the track, the one you could see Mr Bean playing.

As wifey was busy manning the booth, I took the opportunity to see a few stunts from the water-skiers. Hmm, they are really good. I’ve never seen an event like this before. All the participants were from overseas. While I was into watching the game, little Sofea was also busy exploring the palladium seats. Luckily it was not full house so there was quite a number of place where she could explore. The hot sun and heat did not slow her down

Right in front of the booth was a small man made beach complete together with the sands. As we did not know they were such a thing, wifey made the move by putting Sofea into the “sea”. At first it was just a little “water tasting” but hey, who could resist water. Finally she was stripped down except for her diapers. Oh well, as long as she’s happy and doesn’t get sick, I’m okay with it.

After her “gedebushh”, she was rather feeling sleepy and finally fell asleep on my shoulder. That gave us an excuse to go back a little earlier than scheduled. It already 3.30pm by then. So we headed back home after that.

I never knew there were such place in Putrajaya. The facilities and landscaped there was rather excellent as well as their cleanliness. There were also a public pool there where they charge you RM2 for 2 hours. Not bad eh. For that, I respect the architecture of Putrajaya. You rock!!!

The event management that managed the game booth ( including the clown )can be contacted at:

Desantris Maya Sdn Bhd

8-1, Avenue 1, Avenue Ampang,

68000 Ampang

Selangor Darul Ehsan

Phone : +60342925001

Fax : +60342925002