April Fool’s Day 2008

Did any of you get fooled by someone today?

Nothing unusual usually happen at work on this day because everyone is so busy with their work.

Most people have OT claims for March 2008 so I took a longer time to do the payroll today. The boss was out in a meeting this afternoon so he will only sign the payroll tomorrow.

Bonuses accrued for Year End September 2007 will be given out at the end of May 2008 so that those who celebrate Harvest Festival will have extra money to use.

Today one of my ex-colleagues who resigned at end of May 2007 upon reaching retirement age and took out a lump sum of more than RM100K from the Employees Provident Fund came back to work. He found that life is boring without doing anything much eventhough at first he wanted to open a post office. He had since given up on that pursuit but he still operates a shop selling mobile phones and accessories. It is good to have him back.

Today’s Happenings

I am very glad that today is the last day of March 2008. Usually this month is the busiest month of the year for me. Thank God for enabling me to finish all my deadlines.

Today also mark the last day of work for one of my colleagues. He handed in his resignation letter in the middle of February but the boss told him to leave half a month later, which is today. From tomorrow onwards, he will be helping out on a part-time basis to finish drafting the drawings for the project he has been involved in as he has been doing this particular project for four years now.

Is turnover of staff rampant in my company since another person gave a 24 hours resignation notice just a week ago?

Very unlikely. I have four colleagues who have been working for more than ten years eventhough two of them resigned and came back later.

I will join the one decade club at the end of the year.

My philosophy is that whichever company one works for, one has to work. We are not employed to just sit there or idling around letting time passes by. And since I still find my work a challenge, I will continue to stay on. Moreover, I do not like to go for interview.

Some of the advantages of working in my company are as follows.

1. Work on a flexi hour basis. Some colleagues start work at 7a.m. They can go home at 4p.m. While those who start work at 8a.m. can go home at 5p.m.

2. For almost a year now, I start work at 7.30a.m. and do OT from 4.30p.m. to 6.00p.m. Some friends were surprised when I told them I can claim OT. I can even claim OT if I bring work home to do at night or on weekends. I really have to thank my boss for trusting me in this way.

3. A few years ago, City Hall implemented parking fee for the parking bays outside my company’s vicinity. At one time, a couple of my friends dropped by to see me for about five minutes and the parking attendant handed my friend a 50 sen parking ticket. Just imagine payment for parking from 7.30a.m. until 6p.m. every weekday? But after a few weeks, for reason/s unknown to us, City Hall stopped stationing the parking attendant.

4. If I choose not to go out for lunch, I can call a nearby coffeeshop and the worker will deliver the food to me FOC. The economy rice with one meat and one veges is only RM3.

This morning my junior colleague arrived work at 8.30a.m. When she started to talk, her voice sounded hoarse. She stayed for only a few minutes and then decided to apply for half day leave.

At 2.45p.m. she still has not returned but she sms one of our colleagues. This colleague told her to inform our lady boss. When she was the topic of conversation between some colleagues, they started to compare notes. Apparently this junior colleague told one colleague she’s going to see the doctor while she told another colleague she was going to re-sit for the Malay Language paper for Fifth Form (at this time of year??? who is she trying to fool???). Most of us concluded that she may have gone for an interview, since her buddy had already resigned and both of them are like twins. Only time will tell whether our assumption is correct or not.

(As for Chloe, she was fit enough to go back to school this morning)

Sunset in the Sky - 23 March 2008 (4)

Easter Monday 24 March 2008 (3)

I sat near the window seat on the left wing of the aircraft. Next to me was a Malay couple.


Left Wing of the Aircraft

The aircraft left LCCT at 6.30p.m.


LCCT Runway


Clouds


Clouds


Clouds

At 7.23p.m., the captain’s voice came on through the PA system. He was telling us we were travelling at 33,000 feet above sea level at 830km/hr and 131 miles to Pekan. We would arrive in Terminal 2, Kota Kinabalu at 9p.m., exactly two and half hours flight.

Dinner at Four Seasons

Tonight my sis-in-law Rosalind, her two boys Barnabas and Alistair, her parents, our niece Chloe and I went to Four Seasons, Lot 11, Block C, Ground Floor, Damai Plaza Phase II for dinner. It is located next to Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.

We shared a large serving of California Rolls. Alistair likes this roll very much but he only eats the egg.


California Rolls


Mushroom Soup


Pumpkin Soup

I shared my Spaghetti Bolognese with Chloe and Alistair.

Spaghetti Bolognese

I also ate a bit of the Chicken Chop since Barnabas is having problems in chewing as two of his teeth will be dropping out soon.


Chicken Chop

We also met some friends in the restaurant - James Voon and family; and Susanna Sim and her husband.

Meeting up with Old Friends

Jason Kerschner and Shirley Mojini got married on 28 February 2004 in Kota Kinabalu. Jason is an Aussie while Shirley is Kadazan. Jason was staying in KK for a few years and subsequently after their son Riordan was just a bit more than one year old, they went back to live in Down Under in November 2006.

This Easter they came back to KK for a short break and this morning Lily Tan, Sophia Tsen, Deborah Tai and I had breakfast with them at Damai Plaza Phase IV, one of our usual hangouts for brunch after church service on Sundays yonks ago.

It was good to catch up with Jason and Shirley eventhough it was only for a short time. They will be flying back to Sydney tomorrow night.

Their son Riordan has grown up to be more handsome and cute.





I had 'char keow teow' upon recommendation from Sophia. But the cook did not cook mine very thoroughly. When my plate arrived, I told Sophia it did not look too appetizing and I was correct. Sophia agreed with me after trying a little bit of mine. I also tasted a bit from Sophia's plate and hers definitely tasted better.


My plate of 'char keow teow'


Left to Right: Spinxie, Shirley Mojini, Riordan Kerschner, Jason Kerschner, Lily Tan and Deborah Tai


Left to Right: Sophia Tsen, Shirley Mojini, Riordan Kerschner, Jason Kerschner, Lily Tan and Deborah Tai

Cyborg Name for my nick

Get Your Cyborg Name

Today’s Happenings

Today I managed to finish filling in all the employee’s EA Form ie. Income Statement for 2007. My boss will be away in Kuala Lumpur for a meeting on Monday so he would only be able to sign those forms on Tuesday. I will give the form out to each individual employee next month with their salary for March 2008.

With the EA Form ready, I have to proceed to file in my Income Tax Return soon. It is due end of April 2008. The faster I get it done, the quicker I will not have to worry about it anymore. I have to start compiling all my documents.

The rain started to come down when I left work at 1.10p.m. When I arrived home there was a blackout. Thank God for the rain so I did not have to suffer. I called the electricity company and the receptionist told me that the blackout was for a few hours because there was an upgrade of links in my neighbourhood.

I was waiting for the water to boil on the wok in order to cook lunch when I saw a few interesting things at the backyard.


Cucumber


Yellow Aubergine/Eggplant


Green Aubergine/Eggplant


Lemons


Custard Apple

After lunch, I managed to have a snooze for a couple of hours. I really needed that. The current came back at 4.40p.m.

Tonight and last night, Chloe, the maid and I had dinner at my sis-in-law's again. Tomorrow night we will be going out to dinner.

Yesterday's Happenings

Chloe did not go to school again yesterday since she was still having fever. She is still trying to get use to having to wear spectacles.

Yesterday when I was having breakfast at work, my junior colleague arrived to have breakfast as well.

The day before I had instructed her to throw the food rubbish but she forgot. (I ended up doing it for her) So when saw me yesterday morning, she laughed about it. I did not know how to respond at the time. Nowadays many people will utter the word 'forget' eventhough they were asked to do something and push away their responsibility.

Yesterday my boss also told me to tell one of my colleagues to do something for him. I never like to give out instructions on behalf of my boss because colleagues do not like to follow through with it. And when the boss queried them, they make it out as if I forgot to tell them.

Easter Monday 24 March 2008 (2)

We left Sunway Pyramid around 3.30p.m. I thought I would not be able to make it to KL Sentral for the 4.00p.m. bus to LCCT because there were major traffic congestion on the road.




The yellow building is the dividing line between Kuala Lumpur and the State of Selangor. Used to be brown in colour. Now the colour is more prominent.

Thank God we did make it with about five minutes to spare. This time round I took the Aerobus (yellow in colour) instead of Skybus (red in colour). The fare was RM8 whereas Skybus charged RM9. The bus took about 53mins to reach LCCT from KL Sentral and on the way to LCCT, the rain came down again.



I was almost the last one to check in at 5.10p.m. eventhough the flight was at 6.20p.m.

After checking in, I went to McDonald's to buy a cheese burger. I was seating alone at a table that fitted four people when a Malay family walked in. I told them I did not mind them joining me. But when I looked over to the next table, a Malay lady who was sitting alone signalled me to join her.

We started our conversation and she said she had just returned from Kota Kinabalu and was waiting for her sister to fetch her. She enjoyed her trip very much and she used to be a student in UITM in Kota Kinabalu. She said Kota Kinabalu has changed a lot as compared to ten years ago. Hotel occupancy must have been quite full in Kota Kinabalu during the Easter long weekend since this lady had to stay at three different places ie. Radius Hotel at Warisan Square, apartment at Api-Api Centre and apartment at Marina Court Condominium for three different nights.

Before I went into the departure lounge, I bought two packets of Hershey chocolates with almond at LCCT.

With the slight drizzle, disembarkation was delayed and as a result, the flight was delayed for 20 minutes in taking off.


Another aircraft waiting to take off


LCCT building

Once again, a big thank you to Tracy for hosting me.