As Malaysia celebrates it's 52nd year of existence, a religious (and in Malaysia- that almost always equates to racial and political) situation is brewing just outside the capital of KL. Intolerant religious, political scumbags are objecting to the relocation of an Indian temple to the area on the grounds that the area is a Muslim majority are.
For all the reasons they have put forward (noise being the prime one), we can apply them to the mosques all over Malaysia.
And what will that get us as a nation??
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Do you know where your food comes from?
Do you know who is preparing your food??
For many months now since this particular franchise was offering a sandwich and a cup of java for a reasonable price, many of us have been patronizing the outlets nearest to us. And since these are just franchises, the food is presumably centrally prepared and then sent to the outlets.
Ever give a thought about the places preparing the food that is being sold? Are they like, preparing the food next to the toilet or rubbish chutes? Are the workers practicing personal hygiene? Or are they the ones who may be having flu like symptoms and still working? Wiping their runny nose with the back of their hands and then touching the food during preparations?
I ask this because today, one of my colleagues ordered a sandwich, brought it back to the office and just as she was about to take a bite, noticed that the "raisin" looked a little hairy!!
Before she brought it back to that outlet, I took some shots so that I can share this with you.
By the way, that outlet gave her a voucher for any drinks - no limit on the cost stated. Is that all they are doing? Should they or are they even going to review their food preparations??
Your guess is as good as mine.
For many months now since this particular franchise was offering a sandwich and a cup of java for a reasonable price, many of us have been patronizing the outlets nearest to us. And since these are just franchises, the food is presumably centrally prepared and then sent to the outlets.
Ever give a thought about the places preparing the food that is being sold? Are they like, preparing the food next to the toilet or rubbish chutes? Are the workers practicing personal hygiene? Or are they the ones who may be having flu like symptoms and still working? Wiping their runny nose with the back of their hands and then touching the food during preparations?
I ask this because today, one of my colleagues ordered a sandwich, brought it back to the office and just as she was about to take a bite, noticed that the "raisin" looked a little hairy!!
Before she brought it back to that outlet, I took some shots so that I can share this with you.
By the way, that outlet gave her a voucher for any drinks - no limit on the cost stated. Is that all they are doing? Should they or are they even going to review their food preparations??Your guess is as good as mine.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
More FOOD gorging last week
As with any events where we have visitors from overseas, it is almost a guarantee that we would be gorging ourselves. Last week's Lab Asia event was not an exception.
On the first day - 11th Aug - we ate at the hotel next door - at the Japanese restaurant. Standard fare - nothing that would be interesting enough to blog about.
That evening, we had dinner at Mum's place at Damansara Perdana. Mum's place is now high on my list of places to go to when there are visitors. The place is a little pricey but damn, the food is good!! The food is also halal (kosher).
Tel No : 03 -7727 8443/8449
My favorite is still the cencaru fish with petai.
It is deceptively mild looking - none of that fiery red color that you might expect from a spicy hot dish. As Hwee Sian found out- looks can be deceptive. The spiciness crept up on her and within a couple of minutes, she was gulping her beer like a fish!
That was followed by FRIED otak otak ( a fish paste).
Normally, Otak otak is served wrapped in banana leave and barbequed. The fried otak Otak was heavenly!!
Then there are the soft shell crabs.
You eat all of it including the shells. The chef does it just right.
The prawns.
Ah.... the prawns have to be eaten to be believed. Looks just don't do it any service.
And you must eat your vegetables.
We had sweet potato leaves fried with prawn paste and chillies. Yummy.
The Tom Yam soup was so so only. Just take my word for it.
After all that, the next meal at Fatty Crab on the next night just don't come up to par.
And finally, on Friday night, we had dinner at Oriental Pavilion at Jaya 33. I have written about this before. So i just want to say Roger is so taken by the food we had, he wants to bring his family and friends there ASAP!!
On the first day - 11th Aug - we ate at the hotel next door - at the Japanese restaurant. Standard fare - nothing that would be interesting enough to blog about.
That evening, we had dinner at Mum's place at Damansara Perdana. Mum's place is now high on my list of places to go to when there are visitors. The place is a little pricey but damn, the food is good!! The food is also halal (kosher).
Mum's Place
31-39 Jalan PJU8/5A
Bandar Damansara Perdana
Petaling Jaya
Tel No : 03 -7727 8443/8449
My favorite is still the cencaru fish with petai.
It is deceptively mild looking - none of that fiery red color that you might expect from a spicy hot dish. As Hwee Sian found out- looks can be deceptive. The spiciness crept up on her and within a couple of minutes, she was gulping her beer like a fish!That was followed by FRIED otak otak ( a fish paste).
Normally, Otak otak is served wrapped in banana leave and barbequed. The fried otak Otak was heavenly!!Then there are the soft shell crabs.
You eat all of it including the shells. The chef does it just right.The prawns.
Ah.... the prawns have to be eaten to be believed. Looks just don't do it any service.And you must eat your vegetables.
We had sweet potato leaves fried with prawn paste and chillies. Yummy.The Tom Yam soup was so so only. Just take my word for it.
After all that, the next meal at Fatty Crab on the next night just don't come up to par.
And finally, on Friday night, we had dinner at Oriental Pavilion at Jaya 33. I have written about this before. So i just want to say Roger is so taken by the food we had, he wants to bring his family and friends there ASAP!!
Saturday, August 15, 2009
How time flies!!!
The past week, Lab Asia 2009 was held in Putra World Trade Center(PWTC) in KL and Agilent had a booth there to show off some of the latest technologies and instrumentation. 
I volunteered to help man the booth for all 3 days as well as to document the event through photography.
A few key lessons could be gleaned from the event.
First lesson, as we age, we build relationships and networks. They span the range of the good, the bad and the neutral. I am glad to say that most of the lasting relationships and networks that I have built up over the years have been more good than bad.
During the event, I met up with so many people whom I have not seen for quite a while. There was Mr. Ooi from Chemopharm, who now have Khoo Teng Liat and Lim Teck Thai
working with him. Khoo was instrumental in hiring me into HP back in 1981 and Teck Thai was a Pengarah (Director) of one of the departments in Chemistry Department then. 1981!!!! That's like a millenia ago!
There were ex- staff who continues to move around in the same industry and circles. Lip Woon Thiam and Teh Teong Soon still work with us. Koo Siew Ling
and Dr Law Khoon Huat work on the competitive side and some are kind of neutral.
There were the customers who have gone from being students - like Dr Tan Soo Choon
( in 1981 when I first made his acquaintance, he was studying for his Masters in NDRC, USM) to being key customers who can influence purchases.
There were many whom I have not met for more than a decade since I no longer work directly with the customers in Malaysia, who still remembers me clearly as the engineer who can lift the GC by himself from floor to table during installations. The ones who came by the booth were people like Mr, Jeevan who heads the chemistry dept now, Danny Daulan based in Kedah and a bunch of ex Petronas people who are now in different companies.
Secondly, such events provides the opportunities to work with your colleagues from different countries and fucntions. I mean, one knows these people, but in the normal course of work, you normally do not interact with them in any significant way. We had our Marcom ladies Lynn
and Sirada. 
The AE manager Hwee Sian 
Rob Solazzo, Miji Lee 
and so on.
Third key lesson of such events - you can still make new acquaintances despite being around for dinosaur years. As I look at the other booths, I see many are manned by much younger people whom I do not know.
It's time to turn on the charm!
I volunteered to help man the booth for all 3 days as well as to document the event through photography.A few key lessons could be gleaned from the event.
First lesson, as we age, we build relationships and networks. They span the range of the good, the bad and the neutral. I am glad to say that most of the lasting relationships and networks that I have built up over the years have been more good than bad.
During the event, I met up with so many people whom I have not seen for quite a while. There was Mr. Ooi from Chemopharm, who now have Khoo Teng Liat and Lim Teck Thai
working with him. Khoo was instrumental in hiring me into HP back in 1981 and Teck Thai was a Pengarah (Director) of one of the departments in Chemistry Department then. 1981!!!! That's like a millenia ago!There were ex- staff who continues to move around in the same industry and circles. Lip Woon Thiam and Teh Teong Soon still work with us. Koo Siew Ling
and Dr Law Khoon Huat work on the competitive side and some are kind of neutral.There were the customers who have gone from being students - like Dr Tan Soo Choon
( in 1981 when I first made his acquaintance, he was studying for his Masters in NDRC, USM) to being key customers who can influence purchases.
There were many whom I have not met for more than a decade since I no longer work directly with the customers in Malaysia, who still remembers me clearly as the engineer who can lift the GC by himself from floor to table during installations. The ones who came by the booth were people like Mr, Jeevan who heads the chemistry dept now, Danny Daulan based in Kedah and a bunch of ex Petronas people who are now in different companies.Secondly, such events provides the opportunities to work with your colleagues from different countries and fucntions. I mean, one knows these people, but in the normal course of work, you normally do not interact with them in any significant way. We had our Marcom ladies Lynn
and Sirada. 
The AE manager Hwee Sian 
Rob Solazzo, Miji Lee 
and so on.Third key lesson of such events - you can still make new acquaintances despite being around for dinosaur years. As I look at the other booths, I see many are manned by much younger people whom I do not know.
It's time to turn on the charm!
Sunday, August 9, 2009
A family outing and Mum's early birthday celebration
My good friend AS, gave me 4 complimentary tickets for Sunway Lagoon Resort. The last time we were there was a few years ago. Despite the fears of crowded places and the likelihood of Influenza A (H1N1), we went ahead with our plans. Jessie and her maid, Amy were invited to tag along. That meant that we were short of one ticket. Never mind - I could afford to pay for just one ticket!!
We were at the park by 10am. Certain things have changed. Instead of that piece of paper, you now need to pay a deposit of RM10 to get a watch like ticketing/ tracking device that you strap on your arm.
As I write this, I wonder why I did not snap a picture of that?? Luckily my camera has enough resolution that I could just pick one of the photos and crop it down to show the tag!!
The dry park did not change much. The group went to the Pirate ship first.
My wife and Jessie backed out after witnessing the 360 degrees turn made by the ship. 
Amy reluctantly went to accompany Alex. 
I swear I saw her cross herself before the ship started moving!.
After that, it was the Tomahawks. These are similar to the pirate ship, except that there were 2 opposing vessels that also does 360 degrees turns.
This time all 4 of them went (I am the photographer - so I get to opt out) as the cages were covered. 
When they had completed the ride, they all said that their butt came off the seat when the vessels were upside down during the 360 degrees turn.
After that, we walked the entire length of the suspension bridge. 
The other end was the Extreme park. That's where you can find the go carts, ATVs, Paintball, etc.
There were too many people waiting for the flying fox ride which deposits them in the surf beach pool. 
So we walked down and into the surf beach area.
And for the rest of the day, everyone was in the water more than they were out. 
We spent about an hour at the surf beach before heading to the other pool area. 
You are not allowed to bring in outside food (the bags are checked before you can enter). 
So be fore-warned that you need to have quite a bit of cash as drinks cost RM4 per can and meals can be between RM6 to RM15 (hot dogs or Fried glass noodles).
Next day (Sunday), we went to Reunion Restaurant to celebrate my mum's birthday (which falls on the end of August). 
Besides the Hiews (Vincent, Madeline and Justin, together with V's parents), 
we also had Madeline's brother and sister invited for lunch. 
Madeline and her siblings had stayed at my house for many years during their school days, 
so it was only appropriate that they came to celebrate my mum's birthday lunch.
And at the end of all that food, what can one say but BURRPPP!!!
We were at the park by 10am. Certain things have changed. Instead of that piece of paper, you now need to pay a deposit of RM10 to get a watch like ticketing/ tracking device that you strap on your arm.
As I write this, I wonder why I did not snap a picture of that?? Luckily my camera has enough resolution that I could just pick one of the photos and crop it down to show the tag!!The dry park did not change much. The group went to the Pirate ship first.
My wife and Jessie backed out after witnessing the 360 degrees turn made by the ship. 
Amy reluctantly went to accompany Alex. 
I swear I saw her cross herself before the ship started moving!.After that, it was the Tomahawks. These are similar to the pirate ship, except that there were 2 opposing vessels that also does 360 degrees turns.
This time all 4 of them went (I am the photographer - so I get to opt out) as the cages were covered. 
When they had completed the ride, they all said that their butt came off the seat when the vessels were upside down during the 360 degrees turn.
After that, we walked the entire length of the suspension bridge. 
The other end was the Extreme park. That's where you can find the go carts, ATVs, Paintball, etc.
There were too many people waiting for the flying fox ride which deposits them in the surf beach pool. 
So we walked down and into the surf beach area.
And for the rest of the day, everyone was in the water more than they were out. 
We spent about an hour at the surf beach before heading to the other pool area. 
You are not allowed to bring in outside food (the bags are checked before you can enter). 
So be fore-warned that you need to have quite a bit of cash as drinks cost RM4 per can and meals can be between RM6 to RM15 (hot dogs or Fried glass noodles).
Next day (Sunday), we went to Reunion Restaurant to celebrate my mum's birthday (which falls on the end of August). 
Besides the Hiews (Vincent, Madeline and Justin, together with V's parents), 
we also had Madeline's brother and sister invited for lunch. 
Madeline and her siblings had stayed at my house for many years during their school days, 
so it was only appropriate that they came to celebrate my mum's birthday lunch.
And at the end of all that food, what can one say but BURRPPP!!!
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