Pics taken by yours truly one fine Saturday afternoon.

Feel free to use as wallpaper. No royalties But pardon the datestamp, forgot to turn it off.

As the Chairman of the Social & Charity Committee for the State Ministry of Finance Cooperative I have to organise at least a dinner or a family day before June.

One I planned is an annual dinner with a difference: on a yacht/ship/boat or whatever you call it. Got the idea from Smokehead of mysabah.com.

I’ve never organised an annual dinner before - it would be an interesting experience.

For family day, I organised for the cooperative several years ago at Pan Pac. It was — too noisy — I dont think we will ever be allowed back in there again.

I was secretary of the cooperative for several years, but from 2006’s AGM I requested to change due to too many commitments. True, you have people under you but still the time and energy commitment are there. Chairpersons of any committee, the secretary and treasurer are automatically members of the Board of Directors for the cooperative. Being part of the responsible team to chart the activities (investments etc) for a mid-sized cooperative is definitely a challenge.

I am not thinking of going for “reelection” during AGM this year as I’m thinking of concentrating other things.

I went for the post to get more exposure and garner experience in handling a cooperative (and perhaps more importantly, dealing with shareholders) - it’s a stepping stone to greater things, having moved up from being president of my department’s sports and recreation club.

I will be heading to INTAN Bukit Kiara again on 27th March for the above course.

Updates and sharings to come.

Watch this space.

I’m in the process of applying to MMU, UTM and USM.

The most troublesome is contacting my ex professor at the University of Sheffield for references. Last time I contacted him was almost 5 years ago when I tried for the Chevening Scholarships (didn’t make it).

Lucky he still remembered me then.

While at it, I discovered some weaknesses in our IPTA websites:

- lack of updates, some info is severely outdated
-  link do not work eg, UTM’s online application  at http://ledang.sps.utm.my:7778/pengambilan/apply/index.jsp

Looks like a strange way to enable a site - why the port?

No more long queues, no more sourfaced rental clerk.

This machine uses touch screen.

Renting a DVD only costs USD1.50 per day, and USD1 on subsequent days.

You pay by credit card or debit card.

You also return the DVD via the same machine.

Apparently already available across the causeway. The one above is available in the US.

One question: how does it know I returned the actual DVD that I borrowed?

pic source: mstar.com.my

I still remember watching this live on TV. If I’m not mistaken, this was when Jamal was belting out the highest notes of Alleycat’s “Berirama Senandung Semalam.” He dropped on his knees, and went for it with everthing he’s got:

ku berdoa agar dikau, aman bertemunya

It’s an effective finale for tearjerker songs.

Ethan, 3 proves that it’s the spirit that matters, even though the only prop you have is a plastic clothes container. Plus, why do you need backing music when you can make your own?

This video was taken by yours truly a few evenings ago.

I scribbled this thought when I was waiting for a conference to start a few days ago. The initial seed was planted during an EQ training a few years ago in which the facilitator said: “most brainstorming sessions have a lot of storm, but very little brain.”

What I mean by straight-away brainstorming: after initial instructions, participants are required to participate in a brainstorming session straight away, without giving them a chance (and enough time) to think about the matter(s) being discussed first.

The session will tend to be dominated by strong-willed/aggressive individuals. Other participants, who haven’t had a chance to think deeply about the matter being discussed and haven’t formed their own opinions about it tend to be swayed or influenced easily and end up going along with the general consensus, when later they could’ve had different opinions. Hence, I would let participants go away and give them time (amount of time depends on complexity of subject, but a week should be plenty) to form their own ideas and set the foundation for discussion when all participants come together for a meeting.

Q: Why face to face meeting is still necessary, instead of just via letter/email/phone?

A: Action tend to be more urgently done if told face to face.

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