Limitation

All of us have our own level of limitation in everything we do. When we are requested to do something that we are not very capable of, the typical answer that comes out from our mouth would be "I cannot do that." or, "I do not know how to do that." Without realising it, we have already set our limitation to the lowest level without giving the task a try.

I am the type of person who believe that as long as another person is capable of performing a particular task, then there should be no reason for me not to be able to perform the exact same task as the other person.

I can play basketball, but not as good as Michael Jordan.

I can dissect mouses, but not as good as a surgeon.

Get the picture? From here, we can easily reanalyse all the tasks that we have rejected in the past. Was there any particular task that is completely impossible to perform? Difficult? Yes but certainly not impossible.

Recently, I got to know about the Penang Bridge Marathon which will be held on June 26th, 2007. I used to be pretty good in long distance run while I was still studying in secondary school. That was ages ago and I do realise that my stamina is no longer as high as it used to be.

Therefore, I made it a point to wake up early this morning before work to do a test run at the Air Itam dam. Previously in Form 6, I was able to circle the dam for 1 round. This time I succeeded in making it 2 rounds, which in my opinion, was a pretty good progress.

While I was warming myself down, I asked an uncle how many kilometer have I covered for the 2 rounds. Apparently, the perimeter of the dam is more or less 3.x kilometers and therefore, I have ran for approximately 7 kilometers. Reaching home, I browsed to the Penang Bridge Marathon website and guess what I found?

42.195 kilometers!?

The full marathon is 42.195 kilometers long while the half marathon is 22.3 kilometers away from the ending point!

After considering for 2 minutes, I think I rather sleep than waking up in the ungodly hour JUST TO RUN. Limitation? Let us forget about limitation for now, shall we? :P

Let's Talk About Work Episode 1: Technical Support

"Every job is noble", one of my friends once said but I say, "No job will get you any further away from weird / funny people."

Since the very first day I started my work as a technical support specialist, I have met all sort of people through the telephone and email. However, since this is my very own blog, I believe that it would not be wise for me to reveal too much about my work.

Therefore, I have attached a series of comic strips below that will give you a glimpse into the everyday life of a technical support specialist. I can safely assure you that all the scenarios pictured below are based on true experience.

Last but not least, credit goes to Barry Chang for sending me these comic strips.


Newbie computer users.


I rarely met PEBKAC customers.


Once in a blue moon weird customers.


The usual "do-it-for-me-or-else" demanding customers.


One of the "impossible" cases.


I shall add "Eng Hong would not be working as a technical support specialist."

In the end, nothing beats the satisfaction when the customers sincerely thanked you for the assistance and support that you have provided them. :)

UUM very mini reunion # 1

I went out with my ex-coursemates yesterday since 1 of them owed me a meal. This might sound strange but apparently, you can exchange a keyboard for a free meal.

Going out with girls is definitely not something you can take lightly upon especially when you are the only guy in the group. The girls will shove all the decision making responsibilities to you and expect you to bring them to somewhere nice and cozy. We ended up touring around Queensbay Mall before we decided to settle down at Sushi King for our dinner.


Spot the Frog? :D

Sushi King was pretty suitable for this type of reunion since there were only 4 of us and we could have the whole table to ourselves.


Roommates.

Moreover, the atmosphere in Sushi King is neither too noisy nor too quiet, making it easier for us to catch up on each another's updates and recent happenings.

Overall, this outing was very much enjoyable and if you girls are reading this, would you mind completing the array below?

Sushi King → Starbucks → Wan Ching's house → ?

As I have suggested in Starbucks, those with cars can fetch us to Tambun. :D

Why 31 but not 1312?

Have any of you ever wondered why the number 31 is so important to Baskin Robbins? I understand that the abbreviation of Baskin Robbins is BR and BR looks like number 1312 combined but why is it that only the 2 numbers in the middle that are so important?

Last March 16th the Friday, I went to have my first taste of Baskin Robbins ice cream in Queensbay Mall. I got myself a 3-scoop sundae ice cream (Jamoca Almond Fudge + Chocolate Chip + Very Berry Strawberry) that cost me RM17.12.


"We dip. You drip"? Make it "You feed. I eat." or even better, "It's free. I'm happy."

To be frank, I had pretty high expectation on it since this was the very first time I ever pampered myself with such expensive ice cream.


Looks can be deceiving.

The ice cream was pretty okay. But when you have 3 different flavoured ice creams mixed together, the outcome is not going to be something pretty.


Sh*t?

My verdict? I really cannot differentiate anything special about this ice cream compared to those normal Nestlé ice cream. Of course, Baskin Robbins has more flavours for you to choose from but it is not like I can have them everyday, can I?

Maybe I just need to have my tongue checked but in my opinion, nothing beats McDonald's Chocolate Sundae. Yummy!

Engineer vs Management

I received an email from my friend quite some time ago and the content was pretty interesting. Credits go to Chee Hong as I do not know who the original author is.

Once upon a time, a man in a hot air balloon realized that he was lost. He reduced altitude and spotted a woman below. He descended a bit more and shouted. "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."

The woman below replied. "You're in a hot air balloon hovering approximately 30 feet above the ground. You're between 50 and 51 degrees north latitude and between 114 and 115 degrees west longitude."

"You must be an engineer," said the balloonist. "I am," replied the woman. "How did you know?"

"Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically correct, but I've no idea what to make use of your information. The fact is, I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help at all. If anything, you've delayed my trip."

The woman below responded, "You must be in management." "I am," replied the balloonist, "but how did you know?"

"Well," said the woman, "you don't know where you are or where you're going. You have risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise, which you've no idea how to keep, and you expect people beneath you to solve your problems. The fact is, you are in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but now, somehow, you've managed to make it my fault!!"

Convocation Episode 2: Bye Bye UUM

I just came back from UUM a few hours ago for my convocation. As much as I hate to say it, I have to admit that I missed UUM for the tranquility and calmness that I have grew to love throughout the 3 years that I was there.

There is nothing much to blog about for this special event. After coming out from the hall, I spent most of the time snapping photos with my fellow coursemates, friends and relatives.

Here are a few of them that have suffered and tolerated my procrastination for 3 years long. I just want you guys to know that I am very much grateful for your kind patience and trust that you had in me.


Darren Soo.


Phaik See (a.k.a. GunBound queen).


Shih Jung (left) and Ai Choon.


Wan Ching.


Chee Hong.


May Fang.

If you pay attention well enough, you should notice that I had a bouquet of flowers with me in nearly all of the photos displayed above.


My preciousss...

This might sound gayish to some but seriously, I am speechlessly happy since this is the first time I ever receive flowers.


Thank you very much for the flowers!

I still have many photos to brag about but unfortunately, I am currently experiencing a space constraint issue. Therefore, I hope you guys understand that it is practically impossible for me to list out all of them here.

For your further information, I have been trying to upload the compressed folder of photos into my UUM's Personal Web Folder for the past 2 hours without any success. I can only guess that the size was too enormous to fit into the minuscule space allocated for me. Great, another space constraint issue to handle.

Anyway, if you are interested in receiving a copy of the photos, do leave me a comment along with your email address.

Last but not least, a big CONGRATULATIONS to those whom it may concern.

Convocation Episode 1: The Redundancy of the Camera

Today I was forced to travel all the way back to my university to get my graduation robe for this coming Sunday's convocation ceremony. Since my girlfriend was idling around in Penang, I brought her along to let her have a taste of the environment in UUM.

As I have promised to post up some photos and pictures in my blog, I made it a point to bring along my digital camera as well. However, as we were departing at 6am where most of us would still be cuddling in the warm bed, we felt that it would be more comfortable for us to catch up on some sleep in the bus as well. Therefore, no photo and a not-so-enthusiastic start I believe.

Upon reaching UUM, we rushed to the robe store to snatch 1 of my size. We were so focused on trying out the different sizes and making sure that the robe was in perfect condition that we totally forgot about the camera that was tucked away in my bag.

On the other hand, none of you out there would believe just how money sucking this convocation ceremony registration was with all those "compulsary" fees that graduates have to pay up.


Pimping myself to pay up all those convocation fees.

I met a few of my coursemates pimping themselves too for the exorbitant fees that we had to come up with picking up their robes as well. I do not know how those bloggers out there initiate the move but I still find myself too shy to ask them for a few snaps with me for my blog. Maybe I should be a little more aggressive next time?

My girlfriend claimed that UUM has more trees, which was a good thing. Now, I am sure everyone would agree with me that more trees would be equivalent to lower temperature. Then why the heaven is the weather SO HOT?!


Come rain or shine, umbrella is a must in UUM!

Friday is more or less a Sunday in UUM and therefore, there was nothing much I could show my girlfriend around. The new UUM bus payment method was another disappointment since my girlfriend did not possess a UUM student matric card to board the bus.

With nowhere else to go, we ended up having our lunch at Guthrie residential college where one of my cousin is staying at. Any of you ever had the experience of being nagged to death for not paying your friend a visit when you were somewhere near? That was the sole reason why I had to have my lunch there instead of somewhere else with tastier food.


Right: The "death-nagger".

The journey back to Penang took us 5 hours TOO long. I might be dreaming but I believe the bus driver was TOO kind enough to bring us for some sightseeing tour around Alor Setar. Too bad we got too bored and fell asleep halfway through.


Home sweet home.

Overall, my girlfriend enjoyed the trip even though it was not as pleasant as she initially imagined it to be. The only thing that I have to keep reminding myself in the future: USE THE CAMERA!

KNNMCB!!~! Why no picture?

I'm an avid blog reader. Some of the blogs that I never miss out on are Kenny Sia's kennysia.com and Timothy Tiah (a.k.a. Boss Stewie)'s An Entrepreneur I will be. By reading their blogs, I came to realization that pictures played a relatively important role in getting your thoughts across to the readers.

However, as important as they can be, I have to apologize for there will be no picture for today. I am still struggling to purchase myself a Bluetooth dongle to retrieve photos from my mobile phone. Laziness, procrastination, work-fatigue. These are just some of the reasons why I am still sitting here complaining.

But nothing to be worried about. No picture, no problem! Who needs picture when we can have VIDEO? I have attached here one of the funniest Jacky Wu video clip. If you are able to understand Hokkien and accept vulgarities, then do enjoy laughing yourself silly.