Cyza Sector

Will this inspire you to work harder?

I saw the news at 8pm and 12 in the morning and could not help it to check on how this guys managed to be so damn rich…  If you analyze, you will see most of them are senior citizen categories. But check out those in their 40’s… In that category, I only know Tony Fernandez of Air Asia and the son of Tun Mahathir. Wow… they are so successful financially in that age group. What about me… What about you?

This is a follow up post for my new hobby and the answer to the question at the end of the post.

I got myself a new Blackberry Storm 9500

Before this, I have been using with full heart my loyal Sony Erickson K810i. It has been such a tremendous servant to me and I believe I have really maximized K810i to its full potential. I used  almost every features available from basic call and SMS to listening to radio, browsing the web. However, lately, my beloved Sony Erickson has shown signs of fatigue after being actively used for 2 years and 3 months. I cannot key-lock it and sometimes some of the keys do not function well. I have repaired the hand phone twice and  I think it is about time to get myself a new toy.

I was aiming an iPhone 3G all this while but I don’t want to waste myself 2K plus. I know iPhone 3G is the most popular choice and I love it. My brother Budeen and sister Rina use iPhone. I love iPhone because of the available features and unbelievably numerous applications it possess. No need to mention all those aps here. But, if I own one, I’ll use it for reading hundreds of my .pdf files, audio files and others.

I surfed and searched for iPhone in Mudah.my. I found some good offers but I did not try to ask further. However, last week I saw somebody uploaded an ad to sell a new Blackberry Storm for RM1450. I thought it was a really interesting offer but I still let it go. Yesterday, I read a post by my good friend, Rohaizad who is also thinking to get himself a new set of smart hand phone. After reading his post, I surfed to my new favourite site, Mudah.my. Then, I saw the advertisement again. The Blackberry Storm price was now reduced to RM1250. Hey… that smart phone is still there. I immediately sms Andy, the advertiser whom I initially thought was a chinese (he’s a Malay).

I asked numerous question about the Blackberry that he is selling. I need to know the detail. I asked him again what is his final offer and he said RM1200. Hmmm…this gets getter and better. All his answers and responses satisfied me and finally I decided to meet up with him 1 hour after the first sms to him. We met at Plaza Angsana in front of McDonalds. I checked, tested and tweaked the new set of Blackberry Storm with some good help from my more gadget savvy wife. After 1 and half hour checking out the BB 9500, I finally agreed to take the set. We made a final bargain and we got it at RM1100. I paid him all in cash and he handed me the box.

In the car, my wife explored the new blackberry while I drove home. I strongly feel that I had just made a wonderful and sweet purchased. I got a new Blackberry storm 9500 for RM 1100. What a bargain… A good bargain from Mudah.my…

Now… we’re still exploring the functions… I think it will take me some time to fully optimize the full function of the sleek elegant Blackberry Storm…

Somehow I think, some of you may want to ask me questions about this hp… is it real? original etc? Throw those questions and I’ll answer them honestly…

Since the past few weeks, I realized that I have ventured into a new hobby. This hobby sometimes took most my profitable online time, but I really don’t mind.

What is the hobby?

Surfing into Mudah.my…

It’s such an unbelievable website. You can find lots of stuffs there and you can search according to the items and state. If you want to find something specific, you can key in whatever you want inside the search box.

Last year, I only use Mudah.my to advertise our homestay business. That’s all. But now, it seems interesting to see what others are selling inside Mudah.my. You won’t believe what stuffs people sell there if you are not a regular…Just go into it and surf few pages…

Among interesting stuffs that I found here:

people selling earth, toys, motor boat, make website service, malfunction TV etc…

What I always look for?

Handphones/gadget, Cars especially mercedes and BMW…

And today…I found something I wanted from mudah.my and I just purchase it. It was my first purchase from mudah.my

Do you want to know what it is?

This is a new movie that has just been release and are currently available in major cinemas but with maybe no promotions at all. Not like transformers, 2012 and Avatar which were massively promoted like nobodies business.

We (me and my wife) coincidentally walked to MBO in Giant Pulai Utama and spotted a new movie casted by John Travolta. The title reads “From Paris With Love”. I thought it was a romantic comedy movie, but the poster suggested it might be an action pack movie because Travolta was holding a bazooka while the other co-star was holding a Beretta  92. Well, let’s watch this movie… My wife told me. We looked at the show time and the timing is just perfect. It will be showing in the next 10 minutes. We bought the ticket and at the counter we saw that there were only 3 people including us buying the tickets.

I’m not going to tell you the story line because you can read it here. But I’ll just share with you what I feel about the movie.

It was initially unclear what is happening. James Reece appeared first but I was unsure whether he is the good or bad guy. But soon after that we know he is one of the good guys but still unclear who is he reporting to.

Then, Travolta came in the picture as Charlie Wax. He looks like a crazy guy and he is the partner of Reece.

Reece is new in the business but Wax is very impressive. He knows the strategy and game plan. He is very good in martial arts and likes to use various types of weapons. Travolta looks very cool. I think I also want to be as cool as him .

There are definitely lots of shooting, drugs and killings. The story is not that complicated. It’s the type of movie that you want to watch to relax from your busy and tight schedule. After the movie, I can get back to my work as usual.

However, I don’t really like the storyline because it, again, involves terrorist and shows the bad side of the Muslims…the fundamental hard core…

But Travolta is such a cool macho guy… one of my favourite actor

Overall personal rating: 3.5 star

Have you been scolded before? I believe you have been at least once. Maybe by your mother or father or siblings. Maybe scolded by your friends or relatives. But what I want to share or maybe trigger is have you been scolded by your boss? Or your superior at work or in on organization (I’m aware some of you are still students)?

I would like to share top 3 of my experiences being scolded by my boss in my previous place that I worked for. I worked in this private manufacturing sector and I was a process engineer back then. Working in a private sector is far, I repeat, far different than working in the government sector/agency. In a private sector, you need to work your ass out. You need to really perform. Everybody have their own Key Performance Index (KPI) and their department’s KPI. As for in the government sector, KPI has just been introduced but I’m not sure yet on the success of implementing it. But, anyway, it is good that KPI is now being implemented by the government.

Back to my story…

First chapter

I first joined this company which I shall call it is “M” on the 8th of June 2005. The first day I joined, I was already brought to Singapore to meet up with the owner of the business at his head quarters. He is old, fierce, fat, like to scold and shout at anybody around him and always like to cursed… For example, his favourite word is “f**k” you…  Meeting him is a nightmare for any staff of M. I have no idea and no experience yet, and that’s why I don’t know. But my manager who brought me there warned me to be cautious and relax. With me, there are another 3 new engineer who have already worked in M for 2-4 months period. I have not worked yet. They were all frightened by the idea of meeting this big boss. During the so called informal meeting (not interview) he asked silly questions such as why the sky is blue? and also shouted and cursed… He also throw files here and there and kicked chairs and table. His daughter, who is also part of the managing staff tried to calm him but he is just like that. He asked me why I left my old company. I gave him an answer but he said that I’m a very good actor, as if I’m pretending giving good and nice excuses of why I left my old company. At the end of the day, I survived, we survived. However, the next day, one of the new engineers resigned although he has already work for 2 months already. When I asked him in the canteen, he said he cannot work in this type of environment….

Second chapter

One of my responsibility is to handle a factory project of tank auto gauging installation. If you don’t know what the hell is that, please ignore it. The project is very big and an expansive one. It’s tough to manage that project because it involves a lot or people (that’s fine) and the operation of the company (buy, sell, stock of oils, storage tanks which need to be dealt with the Operation Manager – another very fat and fierce character who always like to shout and scold anyone under him when he has the chance. That’s fine, I managed to handle that, with some agonizing mental strength, off course. However, due to the company’s tight operation schedule, the completion of this project was delayed, and that was not my fault. One day, in the canteen, while eating a plate of nasi lemak, the factory manager, the big boss (No. 1) in the place I work at shouted and called for me. I was surprised and stopped eating. Suddenly, he was already at the canteen door and shouted at me why the project has not completed yet? He shouted and scolded me in front of other staff there which include technicians, apprentices,  plant operators, supervisors, executives, engineers and the canteen people. I stood up still and tried to answer nicely. But, most of the time I kept quite as he was very angry. When he left, I felt very bad and embarrassed. The factory manager scolded and shouted at me in front 3 dozens of people. I could not continue to finish the half eaten nasi lemak. It was a really bad day for me. My friends tried to cheer me up. I appreciate that but the damage was already done and the scar stayed firmly there.

Third chapter

In a meeting to discuss the project that I handled (the same project as above), we have our contractor, executives and the fierce operation manager. We discussed on how to avoid the delay of the project and why the instrumentation installed showed problem. Instead of backing me, the person handling the project and a staff of M, the operation manager accused, blamed and shouted at me for all the problems. I tried to defend myself explaining but the bullets kept coming in and I could not hold it anymore. I was very furious and at the same time disappointed. I almost cried but I tried to be strong. Luckily that painful tears managed to remain inside my eyes . If not, it will be very embarrassing and humiliating.

Scolding terminology in private versus public sector

Well those are the top 3 interesting, painful, sarcastic and horrible experiences of mine at my previous work place, M. I think I have other experiences being scolded, but I barely remember. I resigned from M and worked in a public university under the government. The funny thing is the “terminology of scolding” in the government sector… Just imagine when a boss (head of department) complain with a moderate voice tone, the subordinates claimed they are scolded badly!!! Oh common… what the heck is that? That’s barely being scold. That, for me is just a simple conversation or correcting some improper work or poor quality work. I’ve been scolded and shouted far worse than that, and I have the guts to remain in M for 3 years and 6 months. I resigned not because I cannot stand to be there, but purely for career development. Instead of JUST being an engineer, now I can do teaching, lecturing, supervising, research, publication, consultation and much more. It’s all about the mental strength. You need to be strong and brave and know how to defend yourself. Of course you need to perform well to avoid any event of being “f**ked up”!!!

What about you guys? Any bad experience(s) getting scolded? I would love to here them

Do you have a Facebook account? I believe yes. Most of those in the online community like you and me have a Facebook account. A lot of those utilizing Facebook like to share experiences, status, photos, videos, quotes, opinions etc in Facebook. When I ask my wife who is a regular in Facebook, she fancy reading the status of her friends and  see the photos being uploaded. Others like to play games such as Farmville and other games that I’m not familiar with at all.

There are also users who have a Facebook account but rarely keep updates in Facebook. I belong to that category. Honestly, I have better things to do rather than spending my time in Facebook reading other people status. Please, don’t get me wrong. I’m not condemning those Facebook enthusiast. I still read other people’s status when I’m in Facebook, but not that often. I’m just prioritizing my time because I have studies and research to do, consultation works to dwell with, blogs to take care, family to be with and others.

My moderate Facebook activity

I’ll normally log into my Facebook account when somebody tagged me. I’ll be curious and log in to check out why I’m tagged. Normally, I’ll leave comments if it is necessary and to interact with others. In other occasions, I’ll log in once in a while, maybe around 3-5 times a week. I rarely leave my status, check my notifications and messages. Currently I have 50+ notification and 60+ messages which I don’t read. So, please don’t send me messages on my Facebook (because I don’t read it). I prefer communication via email. I’ll normally accept friends in bulk process which means, I’ll allocated once a month to accept those who want to be friend’s with me. I normally won’t accept recommended friends by others. It’s better if those people sincerely want to be friends with me.

Should you focus on Blog or Facebook?

If one like to share, I strongly believe it is better to share stories, activities and anything in a blog rather then Facebook. Why?

1. Total control

You have total control in your own hosted blog. You can back up your blog and its content and keep it. You may not have total control in your Facebook account. Can you back up your facebook? It is better to have something that we have total control. Isn’t it?

2. Make money potential

You spend time online sharing this and that. Why not work smart and make money in one shot. This can be done if you have a blog. You spend countless hours writing in your blog and your visitors (loyal and first timer) read them. At the same time, you can add in advertisements and enjoy the money from it. Can you do this with Facebook? You can share this and that, but you cannot place your own advertisement codes from any make money program inside your Facebook page. However, Facebook is a good place to market your products, services, blogs and websites. It can be a powerful marketting tool but not make money. So, you can promote your blog via Facebook.

Think about it…

So, it’s your call. I’m not an expert to say which is best for you or me. Those 2 points mentioned above are just two issues that I found crucial because it involves time and money. If you opt to spend more times sharing in ablog, you need to invest little money to get your own domain and hosting; and a lot of time building the blog, but the rewards may be sweet. If you blog with a free platform such as blogspot.com or wordpress.com, you still don’t have the total control. However, using blogspot.com, you can place advertisements in your blog and wait for money rolling to you.

Facebook is a free account. You are free to share anything, make friends and build massive networks. You can continue sharing your updates, status etc. You can also create groups and start various activities include playing games.  If you are not inclined to making money online and the hassle to manage a self hosted blog, then by all means, continue  being an active member of Facebook.

My Stand

I’ll keep my account in Facebook. I use Facebook to keep up with other friends activity once in a while. I use Facebook as one of my marketing strategies for some of my blogs. It has proven to be an important tool and it works well. I also created a group and once in a while communicate within members. The members of the group  keep growing and that’s a good sign because I can send traffic to my blogs by leveraging Facebook efficiently. Estimated percentage of my online time spent on Facebook is around 3-5%.

I’m still focusing on my blogs most of the time. I’m working on to create a residual passive income with my blogs. It works perfectly but of course it needs a lot of time, passion and patients. I prefer spending 4 to 6 years now to establish all my blogs and after that earn a cool 4 to 5 figure monthly income from it.

Conclusion

As a conclusion, both blog and Facebook are very important tools in Web 2.0 in this era. Both have its strong points and it is clever if you can integrate both of them. Focusing ONLY on blog and ONLY on Facebook is considered under utilizing the beauty and power of both of them. With that I rest my case. It’s all up to you…

Since I followed Biggest Loser Asia reality TV program which is aired every Tuesday night, my motivation to lost weight increased. I have not followed the Biggest Loser reality TV show before although I have heard about it. Maybe I’m too selective of the TV shows I watched in a week. I personally think The Biggest Loser is a very good show and it has help overweight people like me to realize that it is possible to reduce weight by eating correctly and burning the calories consistently.

Last Tuesday, we went to my wife’s supervisor’s house to check her Ph.D thesis. We did chit chat a little bit about our current weight. It was strange because both of them (husband and wife) were very particular in their food and both were on diet, although we saw they are just doing fine and do not look overweight at all. They highlighted that they are overweight and beyond the ideal weight according to the body mass index (BMI).

I declared that I weight is 76kg and he asked me to use his digital scale. Wow!! Oh gosh… the digital scale showed my weight to be 80kg!!! That shows that our scale at home is incorrect all this while? I know it was never calibrated and we trusted the scale 100%. Let say that the digital scale is true, that means, I’m extremely overweight.

Since that, I’m now controlling my diet, commencing on Wednesday. I need to only consume about 1300 calories per day. If I have the time, or if I consume more calories in a day, I need to burn out that calorie. Do you have any idea how much calorie of food is available around us?

Let me give some simple examples…

A plate of chicken rice = 600 calories
Curry puff (2 piece) = 256 calories
A place of rice with 3 types of lauks = 620 calories
A piece of fried chicken (any part, average) = 290 calories
Soft drink = 120 calories
Briyani rice with mutton curry = 630 calories

(I have a complete list… anybody want it?)

So, those are just a few examples. Yesterday, it was the first day, I tried to control the calorie intake and it was seriously not easy. I’m hungry almost all parts of the day. Now I understand how those people who have gorgeous curve suffer when they control what to eat and drink. No matter how hard it is, I need to control the calorie intake and food I consume. I need to get back to my ideal weight (based on my BMI).

Before getting married, I was 65 kg and my height is 170 cm. I should at least be 70kg to be in the healthy BMI range. If I get back to 65kg, I will look very skinny J . But that’s not my goal. 70kg should be good enough for me.

I don’t know when I’ll get there but let say I can reduce 2 kg per month (o.5 kg per week). Now is February and I weight 80kg now. Then, my estimation is by this July this year, I hope to reach 70kg. That will be a huge achievement for me as health is concern. My BMI will be within healthy range.

What about you?

As a person who are always hooked to the net, in other word, often staying online, can you stand a day offline? Or 1 week offline? I’m throwing this question to learn and comprehend how extreme netizen like me and you can cope without the magic line (internet connection)? I’ll share my experience on how I managed to overcome the situation, the emotion and strength during this long festive break. I’ll share it later when i reach home and united with my wired broadband… I’m now in Kuantan…

……………………………………………………………………………………………………….

One day after the above entry was written…

Now, I’m in my wife’s supervisor’s house, in Kuantan and the beautiful part is he has streamyx wireless broadband installed in his house. So, I took the opportunity to do some work that I have to do before checking my emails, updating my blog etc. I found that my blog was badly attacked with spam since I was away for 2-3 days from the internet. I hate spam!!! This shows that I need to installed a more powerful plugin to inhibit bad spammers from bombarding my comment box with a dozen of links.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………….

OK, back to the first paragraph above about what to do and how to overcome yourself when you don’t have the magic internet connection with you. This tips do not apply to those who have celcom or maxis wireless broadband… You are always connected to the net whenever you want. People like me don’t have those broadband yet because I already have streamyx at home and also wireless internet at office. But, I do plan to get myself a prepaid broadband soon so I won’t suffer the way I am now…

Allow me to share my experience on how I spent my time and how I managed to leverage my desperation from the the absenteeism of the net.

1. I must be mentally strong This is very important. I think I managed that well enough.

2. I use Celcom service from my wife’s hand to stay connected to the internet using your handphone (if your handphone can browse the internet). I chose to surf 1 day (RM6) or 7 days (RM20) and send an SMS to 28882 and wait for further instruction from Celcom. Surfing from the handphone may not be as satisfying compared to surfing on a pc or laptop, but it is still a better alternative rather than not knowing what is happening in my email, Facebook and blog…

3. Now that I don’t have that much time to spend online, I can do some house keeping in my laptop. That simply means clearing what is not needed in my hard disc, sending documents to the most suitable folders and so on. Now, my desktop is clear and I’m happy.

4. I also now can spend more quality time with my kids and family. This can be done via several ways such as watching TV together (done that), brought my family to a mini zoo in Kuantan (done that)… and others…

Well that’s it… I’ll still be in Kuantan without the true internet connection till Friday, possibly. After that, then I’ll be in my house in JB and back to business…

I’m still in my working do or die mode and that’s why I’m still pushing myself to the limit. I need to keep the faith. I need to get the spirit and self motivation moving on. I need to stay focus… Laser focus… huh… Besides focusing on my goal, I need some tools to help and inspire me walk my way there, to the final destiny.

One way of me doing that is by listening to some songs that I believe and feel can inspire me to strive harder. By comprehending the lyrics and songs, it helped me realize and stay focus on my target.

Do I sound like I’m desperate… I hope not. I just want to perform my very best with all resources available. Here are 4 songs that I listen to light up my motivation once in a while. Check them out…

Songs like this are important when you and I have short to medium term goals to achieve. Let’s see some examples:

Excel in studies, getting degree, masters or pH.D like me

Working on some business part time or full time. Can be online business, insurance, unit trust, your own business, problogger or what ever businesses that you want to establish to achieve financial freedom.

Achieving something or status in your career, maybe a pay rise, to be a manager, or professional engineer (like me).

What about you? What are the sort of songs that keep you moving on… Please share them with me. Maybe I can use those song to strengthened my motivation…

This is a very interesting topic, for me. Why?

Because, I think I’m pushing myself too much! I’m pushing myself too much that although my heart can tolerate, my eyes cannot anymore. My present work requires me to write a technical paper about my research work and to submit it to a very high quality journal with high impact factor. I have not done that before, but I’m trying my best now to accomplish that. After I completed this technical paper and hopefully managed to get it published, I’m going to carry on working on my next technical paper which I plan to cover about the thermodynamic feasibility of my process. That is not easy… I need to study a software and use it to simulate a modeling of the reaction processes in my reactor. Oh God…. it’s so tough that sometimes I feel like vomiting and just sleep. And after that, I need to write 3 more papers as I proposed in my research proposal. Being able to at least published 3 technical papers in quality high impact factor journal means Ph.D is (halfway) inside my hand. Oh God… please help me and give me the power and strength…

My wife always say that I push myself too much! Is that so? Am I like that? I just want to get this Ph.D study of mine settled once and for all. I don’t want to delay and drag it any longer. I’m too old already to be a student. Am I?

When I try to continue this work at home, I can’t. I lose to the battle. The battle of my interest at home which is pursuing my online ambition. I have no motivational problem on that. It’s fun and I feel great enhancing my technical knowledge on the engineering part of the search engine. Plus I need to spend time with my kids…

So what now?

I need to stay focus and focus… to complete my Ph.D… as soon as possible. It’s a personal challenge. I need to work smart and hard.

The same goes to all of you. Stay focus in whatever you are doing to succeed with flying colours…