Memorable Weekend

I've had a lot of things on my plate recently and I've been wondering if I had bitten off more than I could chew. Its been quite a while since I've been this stressed out. Fortunately, last weekend saw an end to one of those things. I've finally moved into my new house...heheh.

No words can describe the feeling of how it is when you first move into your new house...though if you really insist, 'tiring' or 'stressful' can be used. Yes, its tiring but I'm happy. I'm currently living out of cardbox boxes at the moment (literally), that is until I can unpack everything. It will take some time. That's why I've only showed the one place that is the least messy to look at...heheh.

I also had one of the best 'moving-in' presents ever...

Liverpool beat Man U 4-1 at Old Trafford!!! Woohooo! I couldn't have asked for more. I did not watch the match as I was still cleaning up the house at that time, but I had a good friend text me goal updates. Ironically this good friend of mine is a die-hard MU fan... and I was wondering for a while if he was trying to pull a fast one on me as he SMSed me the third and fourth goals. Now at least when people ask me, 'Oh, when did you move in to the new house?' I can always reply with 'The day Liverpool beat MU 4-1 at Old Trafford.'

Heheh, I know there are a lot of MU fans reading this blog...and most of my friends are MU fans as well, so I won't say much. Hey at least you guys are still top of the league with 1 game on hand...

Silver Wedding Anniversary of Joseph + Lili (Renewal of Vows)

The Silver Wedding Anniversary (25 years of marriage) of Joseph and Lili was a very timely shoot for me. Having been caught up in so much preparations for my own wedding and for the house, it is refreshing to see firsthand the life of a couple that has made it through 25 years of thick and thin, ups and downs and coming out with such a deep love and respect for each other and their own children. I would like to congratulate Joseph and Lili for having reached a big milestone in your lives and hope that you will have great years ahead of you together!

Pang Sai Chua

How were your Chinese New Year break everybody? Heheh... I hope you all had a great time (With lots of food too) cos I definitely did. I found these Zimbabwe dollars when I was going through some of my old stuff last week...


Thats $4 Zimbabwe Dollars there. As of today, the rate on the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe's website listed the currency value at:

FOREIGN CURRENCY RATES 30/01/2009

Interbank Exchange Rate ZWD 7 039 188 034.00 per US$1

USD$1.00 = Z$ 7,039,188,034.00!!! Holy Cow! That means the toilet paper I used last night is even worth more than these 2 sheets???

7 million dollar man

I've always wanted to try my hand at the stock markets, but because of commitments to my house, I've delayed entering it so far. Recently I was given a link to try my hand at trading, just for the fun of it.
Things I have learnt so far from playing this game:
1) Play safe, earn little. Risk more, earn big... (not promoting irresponsible handling of finances, mind you)
2) Technical analysis alone is not perfect. Prices can swing for many reasons no one can ever predict.
3) Money makes more money. How to make money if you don't have a lot in the first place?

I thought I did pretty well so far (LINK)... making $7 mil so far. That is until I saw the number of days I've spent investing...4873 days!! =.=''' Thats like $7 mil in 13 years... money dont come easy also yea...

Antibiotic use and globalisation

There was a very interesting article recently published in The Economist regarding the link between antibiotic use and a country’s views on globalisation. Some of the excerpts from the articles below:

- A poll last year asked Europeans whether globalisation offered an opportunity for better growth. The map of the result is similar to the map of antibiotic consumption. Comparing countries that use the most antibiotics with those most sceptical of globalisation, four of the top five countries match and six of the bottom ten match.

- Greeks are the heaviest users of antibiotics while the Dutch are the fewest.(LINK)

- Greek paediatricians said 85% of parents demanded antibiotics for their children with the common cold virus. 65% of parents insisted till their doctors gave in.

- In the Netherlands, if somebody has a nasty cold and their doctor gives them antibiotics, they will say’ my doctor is a coward, he goes straight for the strong drugs’.(*Grins* Heheheh….)

- One study found that 40% of Germans disliked antibiotics fearing they weaken the body’s natural immunities.

If you are practicing as a health professional in Malaysia, surely you would have come across people asking for antibiotics for many ailments that do not require their usage – many people ask for antibiotics for flu but in reality antibiotics cannot fight viruses. Even after explaining to them that antibiotics are for bacterial infections only, they will still want antibiotics. I’ve encountered an elderly lady who will not leave until she gets a course of azithromycin for her headache. Another uncle told me he takes ampicillin almost everyday to prevent any ill health and rejected my advice that what he is doing is actually causing harm instead. Many people think antibiotics can cure anything and they will resort to using it if they think that nothing else can work for them.

Out of 10 of these cases, probably around 2 of them will follow my advice and opt for a more suitable medication…and interestingly they are always young adults. Elderly people are hardened in their ways and very difficult to persuade while younger people tend to be more open. They tend to stick with what they feel is ‘safe’ knowledge (I always buy antibiotics for flu what!? Why only you don’t sell to me but all the clinics and other pharmacies I go to give willingly?).

So what does that have to do with globalisation you ask? In times of uncertainties and rising unemployment, governments throughout the world will face calls from their people to ‘protect their interests’ by erecting trade barriers. Look at the automobile industry in our country. It is very obvious that our national carmakers are given an advantage over foreign competitors but do you see them making use of that advantage to compete with their competitors seriously? Hahah, in fact they are asking for more protection.

KUALA LUMPUR: The International Trade and Industry Ministry has received requests from bumiputra motor traders that the approved permits (APs) system be extended until 2020.

Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the Government had plans to review the bumiputra motor traders’ industry and a five-year plan was in the works to help them improve their operations.

According to sources, the Government had tentatively approved for the APs to be extended to 2020. Under the National Automotive Policy (NAP), the AP system is to be phased out by Dec 31, 2010.

Sad to say, like using antibiotics indiscrimately, trade protection will cause more harm than good. I drive a proton, but not by choice lar… My next car will probably be something Japanese. Come to think of it, what happened to AFTA in the first place?

Progress : Dry Room

When I went to check up on the progress of my house recently, I saw a lot of elderly people working on the renovation. I was taken aback a bit lar... but they all seem strong and capable. Progress is coming along fine... guess it won't be long till it will be completed judging by the rate they are going.

Mr Uncle working in front of what will be a 'humidity controlled dry room' ...heheh

Book of theYear 2008

If I were to choose a book that I would consider as the best book that I have read this year, two names spring immediately to mind.

Jared Diamond’s Collapse – an analysis of past great civilizations that are…well, not so ‘hebat’ now or have already been wiped out except for mysterious evidence testifying to their existence (think Maya ruins and Easter Island stone heads).


Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers – a book on why some people are so successful in their lives while others struggle to make ends meet. Are they born with something that the rest of us lack? Or is it due to sheer determination and hard work?

Both books are well written and held me captivated from beginning to end. However, Jared’s book is more academically oriented with the author needing to explain a lot on a civilization’s past, its culture, how they came up with methods of testing and data collection to support their hypothesis and that makes it slightly harder to read as compared to Outliers which was very straightforward in their examples.

For that reason, I choose Outliers as the best book that I have read this year. I’m not saying it is a better book than Collapse, don’t get me wrong, I highly recommend Collapse as well but I’ve had more fun reading Outliers.

Now, back to the question I asked earlier – are successful people born with an advantage or do they achieve their success by their own hands? The answer is both. The book is divided into two parts, Part 1 – Opportunity and Part 2 – Legacy. I’ll just leave you with an example from part 1 and who else to better measure success than one of the richest people in the world, Bill Gates. Part 2? Go buy the book ler...

This man was for most of my student life, the richest man in the world. His father was a wealthy lawyer and his mom a banker. Bill was easily bored by his studies as a child, so his parents enrolled him in a private school. As fate would have it, the school started a computer club and bought a computer terminal for $3000 funded by the school’s ‘Mother’s Club.’ What is extraordinary about this is that this is the 1960’s and computers weren’t easily affordable or plentiful.

Opportunity 1 - Bill Gates had the opportunity to do programming while still in high school!
Opportunity 2 – Computer fees were not cheap those days but the ‘Mother’s Club’ continued to raise money for the computer club.
Opportunity 3 – One of the parents from the school happened to work at a company (C-Cubed) which needed people to check on the program codes during the weekends in exchange for free programming time and Gates volunteered.
Opportunity 4 – After C-Cubed got bankrupt, another company ISI needed people to work on their payroll software and Gates jumped at the chance. In exchange for his work he got more programming time.
Opportunity 5 – Gates happened to live within walking distance of the University of Washington and they found out that the medical center and the physics department had free computer time between 3am and 6am. He would wake up at that time and either walk to the University or take the bus.

There were many more opportunities for Gates and when he dropped out of Harvard University to start up Microsoft, he already had tens of thousands of hours of programming under his belt. How many teenagers at that time can claim to have that kind of experience? He was not born a genius, but he had right opportunities presented to him at the right time and he reached for it sacrificing his sleep, comfort and also worked for free. (This is actually called the 10,000 hour rule and my friend Min Shen has written something about it on his blog... do not believe the evil part though)

This book may be a witty and smart book but it lacks something. Malcolm gives you many insightful jabs but lacks the killer punch at the end. He has challenged my thoughts and changed the way I look at life but I was hoping for something more from him at the end. Yes, I do agree there is something wrong with our system, the way we work, the way our schools are run...but I was hoping that Malcolm would be able to offer some more practical advice on overcoming these. Nevertheless, this is still a great book and I will highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good read.

Oh...and a very Happy New Year 2009 to all of you!!!