Unrelated to the previous post.

It's about the coming trip to NY.

My seats for the NRT-ORD sector have been automatically upgraded to First Class! Both ways!

Weeeheeeee!!

Seven levels of Jannah.

Seven levels of Nar.

Seven, malam tujuh likur.

Seven wonders of the world.

Seven deadly sins.

Se7en, the movie.

7 Up.


Tomorrow, our 7th year of togetherness.

How time flies.

Happy 7th anniversary babe.

I'm tired.

Not from the fasting but more from my lack of sleep. I can't hold down a decent sleeping pattern eventhough I vowed to sleep earlier every night. It still ends up the earliest being midnite after a commute, the cool down, the late shower and prayers and the habitual hot drink.

Even before leaving the Kompeni, that would've been my sleeping pattern. At least, I have a room of my own to sneak in a good afternoon nap. Heck, it even had a 2-seater sofa before it was moved to the reading lounge. Over here, it's only a cubicle. Not even a surau for me to sneaky-sneaky. Yesterday, I only realized I had dozed off after I had dropped my handphone onto the desk. While reading a message. Ughh.. And today, I have a 2 o'clock meeting. A double ughh.. I can bet my hairy armpits that I'll be having a hard time trying to stay awake, or at least to show that I'm listening with my eyes closed.

I've always wondered how some people can boast that they only needed 3 hours of sleep, or even 2, and yet still be superachieving or active. Caffeine? Red Bulls? Viagra? I can barely function with less than 7 hours of sleep every day. Okay, I still can but with a miserable, groggy mood. But with 2-3 hours of sleep?

There was this time while travelling on my summer vacation during the student days that I was microsleeping while driving. It had been a long night, we were driving from Boston to Ottawa. Now that I remembered, it was more like New York City to Ottawa, with a day stop in Boston. The hotels were full and we were behind schedule. My shift was from NYC to Boston, late night. Arrived in Boston dawn, had a brief R&R at a lake somewhere before subbing the duty with another buddy. I was a zombie during the whole Boston tour. Then somewhere between Boston and the Canadian border, I was back on driving duty. Late night again (back then, I prefered night driving). We passed Montreal on the way to Ottawa just after day break, only stopping at a petrol station for a fill-up and pee-break. Noticing that the alternate driver is still dozing and I was still feeling 'fresh', I continued with the driving. Only to be shouted at minutes into driving on the interstate by my wife (my 'crush' back then, who was on navigator duty) when she saw me driving with me eyes closed. I had microsleeped. Luckily my arms didn't pull the steering wheel to the side. A quick pit at a trucker-gas-station-park-thingy, and seconds later I was happily dozing away at the back seat.

Heh..

Deja vu. Had I written that before?

Lack of sleep.

It's infectious.

It's irritable.

Friday.

Unofficially casual wear day.

Jeans & t-shirt.

2.30pm.

Balik, bas pukul 4 petang!

One of the benefits in the Kompeni that I used to work for was a subsidized housing loan for all employees. At a flat rate of 4% p.a., similar to what all government employees are enjoying. A very lovely perk to enjoy, you get cheap house loan, the property is insured for by the Kompeni and there's no floating BLR to worry about.

It goes without saying that if you resign, you have to forgo this benefit. Settled in lump sum, or refinanced to a commercial bank. Meanwhile, in order to hasten your action, the Kompeni will revise the rate from 4% to 7% upon your resignation.

Fine by me, it's not for me to enjoy forever. What irks me the most, is the Kompeni's lackadaisical attitude towards it. I'm sure I'm not the only one going through this because it was whispered to me by one of the banks when I was shopping around for a loan that even if I were to ignore the settlement, there's no way the Kompeni can claim it from me in the court of law.

Why?

It's an open secret that the Kompeni's lawyers never really put a claim on the property at the Land Office in favor of them by virtue of being the financier. Especially for refinancing cases like me when I refinanced it from a commercial bank to the Kompeni. Since the Kompeni did not put a claim at the Land Office, the land title still bears the earlier bank's name as the favored party. Which, I don't have any house loan balance anymore to begin with. Which means, I could just say adios to the Kompeni, not a pay single sen to them, not having to refinance to a new loan and definitely no more monthly installments.

At all.

Forever.

But I'm not gonna do that. It's not my money to begin with. So now, I've got to ketuk some kepala at the Kompeni to hasten this icky procedural thing so that my new financier can release the payments. So that the Kompeni won't be charging me this 7% until God knows when. So that I can be at peace knowing that I've settled my hutang with the Kompeni. I also have to knock some senses into these people on why should I be charged with the 7% beyond my 30 days obligation when I've done all I can to get a new loan yet it's being delayed by the Kompeni's own stupidity? Lawyers who didn't do their work, bosses who never check what is going on in their offices. Nyusahkan orang lain je adanya.

If you're still with the Kompeni and has a company provided house loan, go check with the legal office. Force them to show proof of the land charge is still in your name and in favor of the Kompeni. I bet you my hairy armpits that the document at the Land Office only bears your name and non in favor of the Kompeni.

Beyond that, it's up to you.

.. [URL="http://me-lana.blogspot.com/"]new site[/URL].. you'll find me here, see ya!

Only now he's telling us. Refer [URL="http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/8/26/nation/20080826163531&sec=nation"]here[/URL].

After bermillion dah masuk akaun bertahun-tahun.

And PAPA as always, is in denial.

Ceh..

D-Day at Permatang Pauh today. I'll just catch tonight's news for the score. Not that it really matter who's the winner going to be. Politicians are politicians, no matter what their flags are, or their colors, or their skins. To me, they're all alike.

Merdeka is around the corner, and I only got to watch this year's Petronas ad over at NST's site. It has become an event on its own every year. Everybody is excited as they wait to see the latest ads. Not just for Merdeka but also for many other national and religious events. It is one of the best ad series, with good storytelling and the messages are protrayed subtlely yet clearly. This year's Merdeka ad is of no exception, combining the messages that we need to save for the future, live within our means, dream big and work hard to achieve that dream. I was awed after watching the ad.

Will the Merdeka message penetrates the minds of my fellow countrymen?

I am..
31 years and 1 day old.
With a thinning head of hair.
And streaks of white hair on the sides.
Not forgotten, a swollen waist and and love handle (the stomach, you dolt!)

I am..
Blessed with a sexy and loving wife.
Entrusted with two cheeky boys.
Thankful to be where and who I am today.

I am..
A work in progress.
With mortal sins.

For all of my imperfections, I am still a superdad to my kids and a hero to my wife.
For all of these, I won't trade them for anything.
For all of these, I am thankful.

I am..
The idiot on a Monday morning who still hasn't started his tasks yet.

I am..
31 years and 1 day old.
With a thinning head of hair.
And streaks of white hair on the sides.
Not forgotten, a swollen waist and and love handle (the stomach, you dolt!)

I am..
Blessed with a sexy and loving wife.
Entrusted with two cheeky boys.
Thankful to be where and who I am today.

I am..
A work in progress.
With mortal sins.

For all of my imperfections, I am still a superdad to my kids and a hero to my wife.
For all of these, I won't trade them for anything.
For all of these, I am thankful.

I am..
The idiot on a Monday morning who still hasn't started his tasks yet.

It's Friday again, but I won't be going back to KL as I'd normally do. No meetings, no trainings, no nothing. DIdn't walk up to the office with my usual weekend bag. I'll be here for the weekend.

The new iPhone is now available here from today. It looks cool, and a few thousand people have registered to be the first few owners of the unit. Too bad no unbundled units available, one must sign up with a mobile plan in order to get a unit which costs between $0 (yes, free) and $500. Maybe I should just get a PSP to be my commuting buddy instead.

A few of us who are quite new in the office have a lunch appointment today with the office's Big Kahuna at a nearby Italian restaurant. It's either this or Chinese food. Pasta for fuel, plus from the menu they seem to have a wider choices of non-non-halal meat for me to chew on. I just have to excuse myself 30 minutes before the end to run off to the mosque for Friday prayers. Sempat, sempat. It's about 10 minutes walk away. Oh yeah, I was confused about eating crayfish so I tried searching the net which made me off-kilter a bit. The sentence read "Crayfish is a shellfish, the same way crabs, prawns & lobsters are so it's haram". I was like "huh?", only to realized that I had stumbled into the other sect's forum. No wonder I was confused about crayfish all these while. Someone must have given me this misinformation and I've never bothered to confirm it since I'm not a fan of the shellfishies due to my resdung. So pasta with lobster and crayfish for me today, wuhooo!

My first 'unofficial' official lunch with a few of the team members here was at a Peranakan place. Non-halal place of course, but I had fish, otak-otak and some veggie with the rice. I was almost turned off with the sup itik-&-kaki babi on the table, but pejam mata saja lah.

Some people may scoff at me joining the colleagues at these places, but once in a while you just have to join them. It's a social and an official thing, plus you don't want them to see you as an anti-something-something. As long as they understand that meant no non-halal food for me, which they appreciatively do. They got used to me declining their invites for the daily lunch at the nearby foodcourt, what with the non-existence of a proper halal stall. To make it easier for them, I just told them I tend to have my lunch after my mid-day prayers at the mosque so I don't want to impose on them.

It's easier here because there are halal eating places for me to choose. It's totally different when I was studying, sometimes to a point that a few who studied at the Commonwealth countries couldn't understand. Where we studied, it's not easy to really find a proper halal place unlike the UK or OZ where there are in abundance. So we had to 'close one eye' to the kitchen: the grill, the pan, the spatulas (ngeh?), the glove. As long as what we see on our plates are veggies, eggs, plants and fish. Same as when we're travelling on our vacation, or like when I'm on an official business trips. Larat ke nak cokek maggi, instant Campbell's and roti tiap hari?

Luckily it's the final 2 weeks of Ramadhan when I'm in NY for the training and meet-my-real-boss session. One less 'hassle', no lunch required. I could hop over to the American diner or the Persian/Arabian (wasn't too sure) place near the hotel later in the night.

Have a good weekend, y'all. I'll be taking the family to the Singapore Zoo tomorrow. Yes, they're here for the weekend. Nyeh! Nyeh! :P

Just as I was about to go see the big boss (for the office, not my immediate boss) about something he asked me to cuba-try-test-tengok on Friday, he got a conference call. Wuhooo..

A great weekend was the pick-me-upper that I needed after last week's emotional conundrum. I still got to learn to ignore some of the ill-thinking. Spent time with the family. Met my relatives at my cousin's wedding in Kg Melayu Ampang, although for a short while because everyone was busy. It took me only 30 minutes to drive from Subang to Ampang, in a Viva with 4 other passengers. Wuhoo! Caveat: toll was RM6.70 heheh.. The bride's kenduri was last weekend near Jalan Kuari. It could be on tv, my cousin, the groom, is now happily married to one of the Channel 3's show host.

Sunday, went to Gart's regular Pasar Haiwan, Sayuran dan Pelbagai for the weekly fridge updates. A former mate (office, not any other) mentioned earlier that another former mate (office, again) is holding a house warming event on the same day. Couldn't attend, sorry. Besides the berpasaran, we had other things to do in one day before my return trip later in the afternoon.


Forgotten about the new EPL season starting on Saturday while me and the wife was out bercanda. And totally bummed out when I came back down here that there's also no free EPL matches on the telly. Must subscribe to a pay tv channel. This, and the broadband service that I conveniently didn't even bother to shop around.

Meet-my real boss-and-training trip to Schenectady is on for mid September. 2 weeks of puasa for me on my own over there. Good news 1: shopping raya at malls and outlets over there. Good news 2: my boss has already pre-approved my raya leave. Good news 3: I can stop over in KL on the way out and back from the training. Now, that saves a lot of money and one less hassle to plan for raya trip. This is so cool.

Heh.. Who cares who wins in Permatang Pauh. From a non-partisan viewer like me, all the circus going around the by-election only further proves my thinking that politicians are all the same. Plus, a lot of my countrymen are becoming even more taksub-er by the day.

It's been a while since I last posted entries here, and *this* entry will highly likely be the last one. I need to do this now, in case efx2 goes MIA again.

*hugs blog tightly*

With mixed feelings, I have decided that it's best for me to move on. You can find me at http://famygirl.blogspot.com from now on. Hope to see you there! :)

Bad news:
I got the flu. Viral flu.

Mild news:
The doc gave me an MC for 2 days.

Good news:
Monday's a replacement holiday, so it's going to be a long weekend break

Very the hampeh news:
My bus departs at 5.30pm, and all earlier ones are sold out because of the above.


Gotta go, before the office kicks me out for spreading germs and virus. Have fun people.

My throat was slightly sore towards the end of yesterday. Stopped at the mini mart near the apartment but there was no orange juice except for lime and lemonade. I settled for the lemonade. Popped 2 paracetamols after a late dinner and I went to bed after having my usual hot drink before bed.


As expected, I woke up with a slight fever and runny nose. The weather wasn't so kind the past few days. It was extremely hot, no rain at all. At least the night was still cool, but that could be because my apartment is on the 6th floor. At least, no haze yet over here.


If the fever worsens, I might have to hop over to the nearby clinic. Hopefully they'll give me the day off and I could sleep through the fever. Should I dare to dream that they'll give me two days instead, and I can swap the bus ride to an earlier one? heheh..

The wife too woke up with the same symptoms this morning. Can viruses be transferred over the phone lines?

The weekend was great.

Spent time with the family.
Dinner and movie date with the wife at Chilli's and TGV KLCC.
Dark Knight was great even though we were about 2 weeks late.
Sunday's body scrub and massage at IREE was great too.
Bus ride back down south was trouble and jam free, even at the checkpoints.
Catching a cab back to the apartment with no midnight surcharge was a bonus.

All else being fair, I am thankful.

But then, Monday morning blues hit right at you in the face.

Ughhh...

It's a cycle that's going to be a norm.

Monday blues, Friday wuhoos.
Solo activities on weekdays, group on weekends.
Train to work on weekdays, bus to home on weekends.
See office, leave office.
See family, leave family.

If you're an engineer, you should know that anything cyclical will need routine inspection, check ups and maintenance. With neither, things will breakdown.

Let's see how long we'll last with this North-South cycle.

Find me here
See you there...



*Locking door and gate... hang a notice... "This house is not for rent or sale!"

To all our friends! It is not that we do not love efx2blogs anymore but we now have moved to our own home aka domain. So, if you still like to read about our stories, please go to:

Drive myself deep inside Hulu Langat to get to Lembah Azwen to pick up my wife who'll be attending her company's weekend motivational camp. I have never been so far into Hulu Langat before, let alone to this resort. The closest was to Batu 9 to accompany a friend due to a sudden death in his family. That's like, 8-9 years ago. A quick search using wikimap showed it's about a couple of kilometers away from the IKBN, with a turn off that goes through a kampung. I'd better give myself more than 1 hour to get there, in case I miss that junction.

Another task: pay my Citi credit card balance. I ran up the balance (and Tiger's) quite high the past few months due to my not-so-smooth cashflow. That should leave me with about 2k more to go for the Tiger's. Excluding the huge sum I'm owing my mum, I'm on track to liberate my credit card balances. Wuhuu!

Another no less important task is to sit down with my wife and work out our finances. The current house, the new house completing next year, the plan for the family, moving to down here or not, current and expected budgeting, those stuff. That's gonna be a big headache.

For someone who used to work as a planner, I don't really have a proper plan for me and my family. Financially. That includes my wife. We're ad hoc and reactive. We don't plan what or how to go for the next step, most of the time we reacted after the event. Family vacation to OZLand: sell shares after purchasing the flight tickets and booking the accommodations. New house: scrummage through our savings (or whatever there is) and roughly go through our expenses after signing the S&P. Moving down here: still no definite plans although I've been here almost a month. 3rd kid? Family car replacement? Adam's school plans for next year? Other stuff? Ouch! We're that bad.

At least, we've planned for a couple's spa and massage for Sunday at our friend's [URL="http://www.ireetouch.com"]boutique[/URL]. Wait, which pocket are we paying this from?

I no longer have the luxury of time and the energy to maintain a blog, let alone two.

I've been blogging for more than three years now. Four blogs, several friends, hundreds entries, millions lessons. God knows how much I appreciate all that, and how blessed & honoured I feel.

Thank you for everything. My sincere apology for every mistake I made all the way. My time is up.

Intan

[URL="http://drsinaps.wordpress.com/2008/07/30/dear-all/"][SIZE="1"]Have your say![/SIZE][/URL]