there are just too many of those 1-800 and 1-888 toll free #s.
for example your credit card company, health insurance, stores, etc.
the only problem that really drives me crazy over the wall when
i first came to the US is that i speak english, but not
DE ENGLISH and those automated system only recognises DE ENGLISH.
yeah, it's the american english aka the yankee english.

nowadays, i do have some problem but it does not drive me crazy
anymore. i kind of recognize how to swing the accent....and it works!!

we went out for a farewell lunch. there were like 20+
people and it was loud and noisy. anyway, we were talking
about pets. erik who is one of our managers said, my
daughter wanted a pet; a dog. he sat down with her and talked
about it and he finally agreed to get her a fish. i think i
should ask for a whale whenever i need to negotiate with him.
nevertheless, he is a great manager and easy to work with;
until he gets u a fish!!

Thanks Erik!!

the more i think about US and Malaysia, the more frustrated
i am. i was watching The Tonight Show and he interviwed
Johnny Depp. He bought an island in the carribeans. that is
so cool. i think that's what i'm going to do.

buy an island!!

1) make sure that when high tide comes, it doesn't disappear.
2) 3km by 3km. lots of banana tree, coconut tree & durian tree.
3) complete with helipad, runway for small planes.
4) a pier for yatch.
5) a chinese restaurant headed by chen kenichi.
6) a sushi restaurant headed by masaharu morimoto.
7) a french restaurant headed by hiroyuki sakai.
8) a malaysian restaurant headed by chef wan.
9) it comes with the pg rd cendol stall.
10) a small chapel with Fr Khee Kit.
11) a White house.
12) a SuperWalmart.
13) a Barnes & Noble bookstore.
14) national anthem of Fresh Island.
15) the crew of Futurama and Planet Express Ship.
16) a Bush rehab center.
17) a brewing facility to make nairud, a beer from durian.
18) like 17............to make ananab, a beer from banana.

i should call up Johnny Depp or Tiger Woods for other pointers.

All welcome. Don't worry, u don't need a visa, says the President.

they are very independent. they have their own wheelbarrow,
shovel, portable drill, ladder, grill, etc. even when they are in
trouble, they refuse to seek advice from their neighbors or
counsellors. the fact is, we need each other to survive and
no one can live alone. we need to sit down and exchange ideas
and experiences to enable each party to be more aware about
things.

remember the control tower and the pilot.

the right decision at the right time = success
the right decision at the wrong time = unacceptance
the wrong decision at the right time = mistake
the wrong decision at the wrong time = disaster.

Fake Gucci, Vuitton bags seized in Italy
Police raid counterfeiting factory in Prato, Italy, said
to be run by Chinese businessmen.
September 25 2006: 6:33 PM EDT


MILAN (Reuters) -- Italian police have confiscated more than
650,000 fake Gucci and Louis Vuitton bags and other branded
accessories in the Tuscan town of Prato in a raid on a counterfeiting
factory owned by Chinese businessmen.

Police said in a statement on Monday the factory was also used as a
dormitory for illegal immigrants who produced the bags. During the
raid two such immigrants were arrested and face deportation.

==

are they dumb or smart chinese businessmen? they should know that
crime does not pay and they know sooner or later they will be caught.
if they know, why are they still doing it.

is it in the blood? is it the environment that is driving them to
commit this kind of illegal activity? is it too show off that they
can do it? so....why?

some of the chinese restaurant only accept cash. they do not accept
credit cards, amex, etc? why? the only think i could think of is to
avoid having a record on how much they make. there is no documentation
on how much they make a day, a month, a yr. when it's APR 15th, they
just hire some professional to come out with something.

crime does not pay and honesty is the best policy.
sepandai pandai tupai melompat, akhirnya terjatuh ke tanah juga.

some friends strongly discourage me from buying at amazon.com.
they claimed that amazon.com supports pornography. here is the
problem. he and some of his friends and me, all of us live
in the USA. as u know, the USA supports pornography, alternate
sexual lifestyle, abortion, stem cells research,
human embryo cloning, etc. i just want to tell them, why are still
here in the USA. of course, i do not support those activities
obviously. i am only a customer at amazon.com.

we had a big project meeting from 10am to 7pm.
lunch and dinner provided btw. it was okay......
VPs, managers, engineers, etc. i observed that
those big bosses, they talked like businessmen;
unlike the rest of the engineers.

the nice way to describe:
1) engineers
they talked about the product. they talked
about how good their product is, it has this
feature and that feature.

2) businessmen
they talked about how good their product is.
not only that, they advertise, market, sell, and
they convince u that u need their product.

the not so nice way to describe:
1) engineers
annoying technical morons who could not figure out
how much to tip the server.

2) businessmen
u better listen to what they have to say.

i finally took my traffic class online on monday.
by wednesday, i got the certificate. i mailed it
on the morning itself since the last day to mail
it to the traffic court is on 9/25. this is what
happens if u do things the last minute.

rewind the time....it was on a friday evening
where i left my office at 7.30pm. i headed to this
junction and i needed to make a u-turn. i made the
u-turn and all of a sudden, lights flashing behind
me. it was the cops and they asked me to pull over.
what have i done????

i was exhausted and ready to grep some burgers until
i was pulled over. the cop came to my car and asked
me if i know why he pulled me over. i said i have no
idea. he said that when i made the u-turn, it was
already red and he is behind me. well, i have nothing
to say but i was exhausted. the truth is out there!!

anyway, he took my drivers license. 10mins later, he
came back and he gave me a citation and it said i have
to appear at the traffic court. he was mean since he
did not give me any chance. sigh!! anyway, i left with
the citation.

no matter what, i have to pay $379 for that ticket.
if i go to the traffic class, this will not be recorded.
if recorded, my auto-insurance will go up. so, there u
go. a dumb u-turn.

i finally took my online class and i got it done in 2hrs.
fan of course, showed me some tricks and she helped.
it was a pretty informative traffic class and some of the
stuff, i don't even know. here is one example.

1) if your car is 18inches away from the curb on a side parking,
u could get a ticket.

2) if u witness a drunk driver, call 911.

nevertheless, that will be the first and last ticket in
California as long as i live here--PERIOD.

In Summary:
1 ticket in AZ. of course, i had 5 verbal warnings.
1 ticket in CA. of course, that was the only one.

AZ cops are more forgiving than CA.

one thing cool about my office environment is that
i can subscribe to mailing lists. i can even ask
around with some folks to create another mailing list.
i think there are over 500 mailing lists in my office.
here are some of my 'involvement' and these are on top
of my compulsory lists.


badminton.mail,
bible-study,
books.mail,
cars.mail,
Christians.qc,
classical-music,
dance.mail,
eating.out,
For.a.Good.Cause.mail,
hiking,
indonesia.mail,
investments.mail,
netsurfing.mail,
sailing.mail,
SanDiego,
sick.and.twisted.humor,
singles.mail,
snow.mail,
snowboard.mail,
SOCCER.MAIL,
travel-info,
travel-share,
volunteer.mail,
classified,


other interesting listings:

honda.mail - Public
A forum for Honda/Acura enthusiasts.

Harley.mail - Public
For the discussion of things related to Harley
Davidson. Including upcoming events, maintenance tips,
good deals, rider friendly establishments etc.

home.automation - Public
Mailing list to discuss home/commercial security
systems, X-10, home-run wiring, wireless home networks,
video distribution, ...
Anything that has to do with a high-technology home.

surf-divas
Sharks Fear Us, Dolphins Imitate Us

sick.and.twisted.humor
Funny, sick, and twisted jokes and stories.
U cry? Say gooby :)
Flaming not allowed (will get you kicked)
If U do not like the joke (use the DELETE KEY)

leftovers - Public
For communicating location of food leftovers for the Main Campus
(for people who don't like to see food go to waste).
This will enable people to be more productive by
eating leftovers on site instead of going out to get
food...which will cause people to get more work done
since they stay here eating in their offices for their
lunch breaks, etc.

i used to bring my moped(small bike) to this mechanic
for oil change and servicing. i liked to go there because
those people are nice and they always do a good job.
on the other hand, i don't like to go there because
every month i go there, they will ask me how much i
am making. every mth!!!! it would be good that i have
pay increment every month and that pisst me off. it's
a family business and there are 4 brothers running
the place with a nephew. i am telling u, this is
annoying. does that really matter how much i am making?
i wanted to tell them, life is more than how much you
are making.

i finally went to another place. i wondered if they
realized what they said. most of all, i wondered if they
ever find out why i did not go there anymore.

fan has cable tv and that is another attraction to me.
from food network to cnn and to cartoon network. i can
watch the 2pid box simply by flipping the channels.
it's fun and it's addictive.

i don't have cable tv. all i have is a tv at the living room
where i watch dvds and another small tv in my study where there
is an aerial/antenna. if i watch dvd, i will watch on my
BIG tv...yeah....27" and crank up my speakers. if watching
jay leno, the small tv will do the trick.

i need some noise, i mean music. when i am the only one in the house,
it's better to turn on some music. just to be sure that de music
is from my speakers esp in the evening. sometimes i got a feeling....
never mind.

i was born with music, i like music. i used to play the recorder and
drums and i regretted that i did not study hard when i took music101.
for one semester, i messed around with the music notes. when the
final exam is here, i realized that .... what i have been doing????
learned something about the piano.......one thing i realized that
my fingers are not long enough thus, no luck!!

i recently bought the white JBL creature2 speakers and it's in my office.
i hooked it up to my discman. it doesn't seem to match. i need the ipod!!
all the time before the JBL speakers, i used my headset.
right now, i am still holding on to my principle:

focus on legitimate needs,
forget on illegitimate wants.

people come to my office and asked, what's that? the white thing?
it's the sub-woofer. i like that!! those are the coolest speakers
around. the sound is outstanding with crisp treble and deep bass.
i did not realize that i was rocking my office until i dropped by
my co-worker's. we have our own office(with a door) and his is
back to back to mine. i was in his office and he told me, your
music makes my desk rumble and the wall vibrate. that was cool!!

new experiences + teaching applications x love = growth

this is algebra 101.

it is a good day. i ran 6.5miles in 1.5hrs from 12 to 1.30pm.
near my office is a state park which is actually a canyon.
i ran up some slopes and ran down some slopes and the weather
was gorgeous. some breeze and they came from the pacific.
the canyon has a lot of shades and everything just seems to
fit together today. of course, the gatorade propel helped a lot.
took a bottle before i run and another after. of course, i am
working today, if some of u are asking. the last good run like
today was in 2001, before i moved to tucson. and that was in
gurney drive penang. anyway, running the half marathon is one
of my dreams in my dreams journal. yes, the dreams journal was
inspired by matthew kelly. anyway, there is one half-marathon
coming up in jan and i am running out of time. HELP!!

I had Matthew Kelly's autographS on my 3 books. WOW!!

I was so glad i left my office early, 6.30pm. Traffic
was good and no problem. Hmm, or probably it was
because of my NOS speed that i pass here and there.
whatever. It was a beautiful sunset when i drove along the
coronado bridge. i arrived at the church at 7.10pm.

here in america, people are very good at marketing.
before i headed into the church, there was a kiosk,
selling matthew kelly's books of course. it's something
like a gift shop. well, most of the places u go,
tourist spots, there are always...the GIFT shop. yeah!!

so anyway, i got into the church and have my best seat
and within minutes, his thunderous inspiring voice
stormed the church. yep, he and his thick aussie accent.
it was a little tuff in the beginning to try to understand.
it was all right later.

he was energetic and he spoke to the crowd. he would walk
around to attract attention and he even sat 2 rows behind
me next to an old lady. everyone enjoyed his active
participation and of course due to his aussie accent, i am
pretty sure ladies were obsessed and hook onto his talk
and and in addition, he talks about feeling, faults, etc.
man....the dumb chicks must have went crazy!!

it was a good talk and last nite was his last nite of 3 and
the talk is based upon his book, the 7 levels of intimacy.
i read the book, attended 2 other talks about it, but last
nite was the .... uumph part u know.

the best part was he mentioned about the dream journal. just
put whatever dreams u have on that book and review it
occasionally. with some effort and dicipline, the dreams will
turn into reality. yeah!!

matthew kelly also reminded me about steve irwin, the croc hunter
who passed away recently. the world will missed him!! Salute!!

my 3 books that he autographed were:
1) the rhythm of life
2) the 7 levels of intimacy
3) rediscover catholicism.

Helluo librorum
— A glutton for books(bookworm).