power drill

life bubbles

2004-12-14T20:40:00.000+08:00

Notice when you go to get a 2 liter bottle of coke, you see the dark fluids are pretty calm securely contained in the bottle.. but when you open it.. the gases start emerging.. with slight hissing sound.. indicating its potential and that there is more energy stored.. within the initially calm fluid. the problem is some people never even open the cap.. to see actually who the are.. they are suspicous of the outside world that they bottle-up all inside.. they never will experience..what its feels to mix with open air.. create enriching chemical reaction with other people.. nothing ventured nothing gain.. by increasing energy.. give it a little more shake.. will create more excitement.. do things that is out of the ordinary to celebrate life..this will create quite a shower.. touching people in some many ways un imagined.. bringing out the true potential and colorful self..however uncontrolled fun.. by shaking the contents voilently.. without limit.. will spirt-out all of the bottle contents.. leaving the soul empty.... careful not to lose the essence of your life.. sparkle and bubble..enjoy and give joy to other people..in non-desctructive manner:)

loving oneself

2004-11-29T21:43:00.000+08:00

loving one self.. come to think of it.. its not something that is easy to do.. we are constantly comparing to idols and role models in the mass media.. its even worse when we start bench marking attributes that we inherit and can't change like our look.. but the world of plastic surgery has given alternative to change the genetic physical stamps.. that ties us to our ancestros..

a good advice was given.. not to compare with others.. to not aspire to become 100% like our idols.. we all have our own niches.. its up to us.. develope and enhance that niche..and it could be anything you set your mind on.. what is produced is unique.. accepting this uniqueness is loving oneself.. our ability to accept ourself..will enable us to relax.. we will lose the focus on ourself and turn on the spotlight onto others.. try to look into the soul of their eyes and really touch them.. and the more you give and put into relationships.. the returns will be multiple.. when u receive love in return u start to love urself even more.. take off the blinkers.. there is a great person inside waiting to leap out..:)

pen through my heart

2004-11-29T21:21:00.000+08:00

gingerly she steeped into the box car..stealing a glimpse.. my heart pounds firmly against my lungs.. she sat her self in her warm.. soft colored clothes..revealing part of her translucent skin..her weavy bristle like hair covered softy line forhead..she neatly opened her note book..she held another piece of paper..held it firmly..as she wrote gingerly ..with neat strokes..in a language that is foreign..it expressed how she held life, with closeness, warmth and hope....I wonder how her day was..how many people she touched with gestures even without speaking..as she gingerly hooped from thought to thought.. her eyes lite up.. windows to inflowing inspiration... engrossed in her thoughts.. the train speeds away to new destinies, shaping and moulding her.. but for that brief moment I wish time would have stood still... "one brief moment in an angles' life"

Leadership in Action

2004-09-25T14:43:00.000+08:00

Funny sometimes, how something mean the opposite of what they really mean. when someone say leadership.. most of us think of managing a certain group or task force.. making sure requirements are meet.. the work is quality checked.. deadlines are meet.. but if we actually look into it.. leadership has a different meaning.. leaders provide direction.. inspiration.. they empower people.. leadership philosphy believes that all human beings are able and capable if given the motivation and vision to succeed.. it just the opposite to managing ..

Great Travelling

2004-08-25T09:36:00.000+08:00

Many of us dream to travel to different foreign places to immerse in different cultures and experience the different sights and smells. But in all our travels,not all can we term as memorable. Some you would like to forget but the after-effect credit card bills is not easy to do away. Over the years, I have come to realize what elements that make my travels memorable.

1. travelling with your close buddies - i find this the cardinal rule to a great travel. Situation can sometimes be bad during travel. But if you have a great positive friends to flip the bad patches to the light side of thlngs, things turn out to be the best.These travel buddies usually have similar wave lenght, in terms what they seek out travel, their spirit of adventure and exploration. It is always a bummer when you travel with a person who is overly cautious or is off hook that they will do things that will put people in harms way.

2. Keep off the guided tours - I see guided tours as all you can buffets. You can eat too much to the point that you don't enjoy the food anymore. You go on this marathon tour places till you become weary and not remember the places you have been till you see the picture that you have taken. Even worse, the guide might recommend and over promote somethings but you find it just mundane. Its like buying a set meal at burger king and only the curly fries is worth eating.

3. First hand experience - To truly appreciate a place with all its splendour, is to interact and have physical contact with the place and its people. Without doing this you'd only be having a "post card experience" of the place. Probably just admiring how the place look which could be done at home looking at a postcard. For instance if you travel to a beautiful coral island, the least you should do is go for a swim in the ocean or take a cannoe ride around the island.

Enjoy the local cuisine - After traveling to distant locations, some people are still looking for their local food,which is quite unfortunate. The way local cuisine is prepared is a reflection of the culture. Certain spices are predominantly used in certain countries as opposed to others. This gives a wide variety of tastes from one continent to the other.

Jalan2 cari grubs

2004-08-23T09:43:00.000+08:00

Every time when I meet new friends, especially bujang (single) friends, they always pose me this question : Where do you hang out during the weekends? I wonder why they ask me this particular infamous question. Are they trying to asses what kind of weekender I am. I think it can be broken down into two major categories a. Clubber b. Non-Clubber. This is kind of a subtle profiling. But the obvious one for asking such a question would be to find out where are the "cool spots" to hang out. My general definition of a cool place depends on two creterias. It is how good the food is and how attractive is the crowd. So based on my prowling through the night to find the ultimate teh tarik (expresso tea) and limau suam (warm lime juice) . I have listed the follow as my top weekend non clubbing hang-out place. (Rating 1: the very goodddd Rating 5: Stay home eat kerepek (salted banana chips))

1. Uptown - Damansara Food:2 Crowd:4 Focus Area: Steven's, Uchida
2. Bangsar -Jalan Telawi Stalls Food:4 Crowd:2 Focus Area:N/A
3. Sri Hartamas - Damansara Food:3 Crowd:1 Focus Area:Hartamas Square
4. Subang Seksyen 15 Food:4 Crowd:5 Focus Area N/A
5. USJ 11 Food:1 Crowd:4 Focus Area:Charlie's

love at the laundromat!

2004-08-23T09:34:00.000+08:00

I have been guilty of neglecting my blog lately. I guess I have been overpowered by work and it seems block out ideas for new blogs.:) After continuous encouragement from a friend, I am finally putting something down after more than a week of not writing in my blog. Until you start blogging, you don't realize that blogging is like exercise or yoga for the emotions. Its like breathing in the positive energy and taking out that crap that plagues the mind.

Actually for this transmission, I would like to share this cool poem. I have shared this poem with a couple of people before. The poem is written by a talented Canadian high school student.

love at the laundromat!

Down at the
laundromat
I'm watching
my clothes
tumble
and dry in
the steamy heat
grappling and groping
with each other

I watch my socks
fondle the underwear
while my shirt
embraces
the legs of my jeans,
and every item seems to be
getting it on
with the sheets
throwing a discreet cover
over everything

and I wonder
about all this embracing
and why what I wear
does not hug me so hard
nor caress with such care.

Geoff SansomActon High SchoolActon, Ontario

http://www.wier.ca/coolpoems/laundromatlove.html

The words used in the poem are pretty straight forward, but the concept and metaphor used is witty and humorous. If you ponder on the message of the author, it has a profound meaning that relates to most of us at some point of time in our lives. What the writer is trying say is we see romantic love all around us. We can see it on the TV, in the movies, on Billboards, our neighborhood and even amongst our friends. Even though it is all around us, is it possible to understand what love means without ever experiencing it? I think, these might be the thoughts that are going thru the writer's mind and probably in the minds of many people out here to.

Did love mature us?

2004-08-12T16:15:00.000+08:00

I often hear the phrase that the good ones are always taken. But the question in my mind right now is, did they all become this great person (you have been drooling over for months on) before or after they fell in love? I am not discounting the fact that family upbringing and education has a strong influence in molding a person’s character. But can such a thing as love take rough granite and turn into a diamond. I think the answer is quite obvious. There is much 'empirical' evidence out to support this. Like the lead characters in the movie “As Good As It Gets” or “A Walk To Remember. Both films turned a zero to a hero. In ‘As Good As It Gets’, an obsessive compulsive who washes his hand 5 times after touching something turns into a person who can finally step into puddles on the street and faithfully take his medication (to become a better man.:) I myself have to say I have come across younger college kids who are more composed, gentlemen like and more caring, that made me envious two times over. Firstly I have to thank their parents, but I found out that often that not, these dudes were deeply in love. How can love have such a profound effect on people? I think the number by Hoobastank “The Reason” might give some answers. I think because love is still the greatest feeling throughout history of human’s beings. It simply brings the best out of us. It makes us do funny, difficult and politically right things to make good by our heartthrobs. Why we do this?I think because the rewards are indescribably bliss (that good old endorphin rush up in the cranium:). So think about it. Next time a less attractive proposition comes knocking on your door, it might have the makings of a wonderful person. And you might be the key, if you realize it:).

I-robot : WYSIWIF

2004-08-11T11:17:00.000+08:00

Don't judge the book by its cover. But what if we all could look beyond the cover. I was watching the making of I-robot over the weekend and I wondered to myself how interesting the design of the robot was. It was transparent, which allowed you to see its mechanical components. The most interesting component to me was at the center of the robot, which was its heart. The heart would change color based on the emotions of the robot. If it was angry it would turn red and if its was calm it would turn blue. Wonder what would happen if we were like I-robots that we could no longer hide our emotions (What You See Is What I Fell – WYSIWIF). Would it make us more venerable? Will our enemies see us in our moments of despair and use it against us. Or will it be an advantage, where our friends and loved ones can see the emotions we are going through and try to understand. Or will it come in handy when you are pouring your heart out to someone but the words just don’t seem to come out right. But with the help of the glow, it reveals your true feelings. Would it end the game of uncertainty and the fear of rejection in finding for the ultimate mate. But come to think of it, it could also cause a lot of problems if the positive emotions where just temporary infatuations. At the end, I think that a lot more bad comes out if we can truly see people’s emotions. For starters, people always change their mind about things. This could be due to lack of knowledge about a person or something. A person might dislike you at first but might learn to like you later. But base on the negative initial emotions towards you, you might not treat the person well. And this sadly affirms the person’s initial perception. So maybe there is a reason why God made us this way.

On Buying A House

2004-08-05T14:54:00.000+08:00

My elder brother gave me some advice about buying rumah last weekend.. he mentioned these steps

Step 1 : Check how much you have in the your EPF acct 2 - you can withdraw all of it - use this
as down payment plus whatever you have
Step 2 : Calculate how much you can afford to pay for the monthly installment
Step 3 : Search for a house size that meets your family's current needs + room for additional 1 kid
Step 4 : Try to make sure the loan repayment is less than 10 years (lesser the better)

If you cannot achieve Step 4 adjust Step 3 - because remember this is not your last house

Say your repayment is 8 years. Before 40 you have a house, which you can sell and use the proceeds to upgrade to the next house using the same steps only this time you have a bigger down payment.

The main advantage of these steps is you pay less interest. If you take a loan of 20 yrs ..for the first 10 years.. you will only be paying interest. The interest for a 20 yearr loan is usually equal to the value of the house. So imagine giving your hard earned money free2 to someone else (riba la nih). Say if something happen in the 10th year (you cannot afford the repayment). You want to sell your house. You find out that the remaining loan balance is almost the same price of the house initially. You decide to sell. If there is no value appreciation on the property, you gain nothing and you are homeless.

If you take say the 8 year repayment and on the 7th year something happens. You check your loan balance and only about 30% of the house value in unpaid to the bank. You decide to sell and you find you have 70% of the house value in your pocket. That is some breathing money. So the proposed steps is kind of a saving. As opposed to the normal way, you hand over all your money to the bank before the 10th year.

I haven't done the numbers yet. But you can try and see what I mean.

The key points to remember:

1. My first house is not my final house
2. I upgrade my house as my family grows
3. Pay as much downpayment and shorten the repayment period - less interest out
4. I buy what I can afford - not what I can afford monthly (because my monthly pay is never certain down the years)
5. Don't take the bankers advice to take the maximum loan.. it is their business to take every cent you have
6. I buy assets not bank loans - as long the bank holds the grant its not yours

If you are smart you might own your dream home when you retire.

(Maybe we should apply to be employees of the Kelantan State Government where they give housing loan interest free.. is this true?)

Love Is Free Will

2004-08-04T19:25:00.000+08:00

Its common in the malay society to use black magic to get back at someone. More common in relationships where one party gets jilted. The person under the spell usually becomes like possesed, suffers a disease which it effects their looks or cause them to be bed ridden. It shows that love and jealousy can turn people to their lowest. But come to think of it, is it really love that you are willing to cause suffering to the person that dumped you. What chance is there after causing the person pain to win their love back. I always carry this motto with me "when you want love, you have to give love". Not demand love with antagonism or play the terrorist. Love is developes from a person's free will. Love can't be imposed on someone like work (Remember Bruce All Mighty:)). Obviously its hurts, the feeling of rejection and low self worth which fuels the determination to take revenge. But at the end of the day, isn't it just a feeling. There is a very wise saying that we all come under stress, but the difference is how we choose to react to it. We can choose to dwell, play the victim and start plotting and down playing the other party. Or choose to focus our energy somewhere else. Maybe its an indication to look for new friends, new relationships or it could be a welcome break from the dating game to better oneself. At the end, we all have to remember this only a temporary place and that we are just passing through. All that is happening to us is just a test. Just take the worst and make the best out of it. Who knows, it might turn out to be better.:)

Will It Find Me?

2004-08-04T17:34:00.000+08:00

Just want to express something thats been playing in my mind lately. It is the changing perspectives we have when looking for love. I think there is two specturms to it. On one end of the specturm is the hoping that love will just appear out of nowhere like a shooting meteor straight into the heart. Hopefully, after the smoke has cleared you have a keeper.:) But the suitor must obviously meet the high prerequisites that have been set and calibarated with the latest media pop shows and glam magazines. I called this the falling in love spectrum. It is unplanned, coincidental that you happen to meet the dream chum or chick. This person usually meets 80% of your selection criteria.

The other specturm is lets make it work love. Its like taking square cube and trying to fit it into a round hole in the wall. Alot of character shaving and compromising has to be done in order to turn that square of a person into the thorb of your heart:).

So when did we move from falling in love spectrum to lets make it work love. I think initially, we are all at the first spectrum. Its in the nature of all human beings and that god has placed dreams in us to want the best. Interestingly, we already have images our dream dude or dudett at very tender age (toddler). We burn the images of the dream person into our mind based on the people we have positive associations with. This becomes hard wired and we see ourselves going for the same kind of looks even after 20 years. Don't know whether this theory is true but its seem logical if you ponder on it.

I think if we haven't found love, we slowly move from the first specturm to the second spectrum. This due to our innate programming that wants us to procreate and have permenant social associations. This progression is direclty linked our biological clock. As we mature and age, we generally move further and further to the other specturm because of our natural calling to be a socially dependent.

Just an observation:)

Motivate not teach

2004-08-03T16:28:00.000+08:00

Had an intersting conversion with a buddy yesterday over the phone. My buddy here just got a job at a local college as a math tutor. He is actually a reserved guy who has a degree in stats. From the tone of his voice,I knew he didn't paticularly have a great start for his first class. He lost most of the students after the 1st hour. Many of them were busy sending the votes to the UN Security Council to veto US from attacking the middle east via SMS (which I often do during long presentation at work). So the question was posed of how can he get the students' attention in class. Based on my learning experince, I have notice the following strategies to work in getting students to use their noodle in class.

1. Ask students to read the important parts in class.

In my years as a student only a small portion student actually read prior class. I think its like 0.2 microns of a percent ( 0.2 micron is equivalent to a single human hair sliced 500 times). Have them read the openning chapter and ask them to define the important general concepts. This will get the blood pumping immediately to the brain. Get the dazed Mr and Ms Stone to start this reading a loud.

2. Get the student to attempt previous homework on the board with slight alteration to the questions

This is a clever tool to gauge the understanding of students on the concepts they have learnt. By knowing the level of understanding, teachers than can start focusing on the areas that need attention. It is also good way to gauge whether they have attempted the homework or just copied off their friends before class (Manual Photostating).

3. Get them to work in groups

Understand that there will always be a communication gap between students and teachers. Students understand their peers better and usually know the level of proficiency of each other in class. This is because they ask each other more on lessons compared to asking Mr Teach.To leverage on this, organize the students into groups. Also, single out the clever ones and assign them each to a group. When groups are formed, give them questions to solve. The clever ones will usually help the weak. This allows the smarties to revise and solidify concepts. While the rest of the class actually starts learning even when there are no exams tomorrow.

4. Mix the guys with girls

Research has show when the guys sit next to the girls in class, they behave more and pay attention in class. But, the challenge here is to get them to sit together. To do this form groups that have a balance number of boys and girls. Remember to include the smart one for each group. Once the groups are formed, tell them to retain the group seating arrangement because alot of work in class will be done in groups. Saperate the students tables and only bring the tables together when there is group work.

5. Promote to attend class

Indicate that learning and attempting exercises will be done in class. Promote that students need to do minimal work after class. Student see this as beneficial and will want to come to class. Even I like to come to classes where learning starts immediately and I don't have to put a lot of effort after class.

I think the key here is to focus less on teaching and create opportunities for students to learn. The main task here is to motivate them to do so.

Power up

2004-08-03T02:57:00.000+08:00

This is my inaugural entry in my "Power Drill" blog. Other than to express my thoughts as a form of release and contemplation, this blog is a medium to assemble bits of random ideas, ponder on them and see whether they are of any use. Its is the goal of this blogged to evoke the creativity that is locked within. It is suggested that all humans are creativity. We become "less creative" because we accept the suggestion that we are not creative instead of sharpening it. Hope to do the later. Walking around with a super computer isn't much of use until you are ready to burn its circuit. Sometimes we come across a lot of things. But the failure to distill and record them in manner that can be easily stored and retrieved makes the information gained useless. Power drill ultimate purpose is to create a more useful balance individual under god.