What a day!

Engaged my self a new secretary whom I interviewed at abot 8.15 am today (hmm....never have I scheduled interviews in the morning let alone this early) and yeayy...- Hopefully this one doesn't do the "no-show" on the scheduled commencement date, like a couple of candidates I had the past three months.

My "baby" almost got flooded today...The landlord actually changed the faucet to the wash basin when we moved in....The water couldn't stop flowing and we did not know where the stopcock was.....! Manually my accounts girls drained the washbasin using a plastic jug! Can you imagine the mess? Luckily it didn't wet the newly installed carpet.

I was locked out after coming back from a meeting....My keys were in my room and all my staff decided to knock off early today thinking that I would not come back to the office....! Luckily managed to get, yet again, my accounts girl to return to the office and hand over her set of keys so that I could finish an agreement to email client.

Knackered now...and time to knock off, myself. Adios!

7 7 7

IT'S 7TH JULY 2007 today.....Translated 07 07 07...

What tickled me yesterday was when wifey told me, after her monthly check-up (27th week of gestation) that her gynae has to work extra hard today because of scheduled deliveries in the form of C-sections and induced-deliveries as it is 07 07 07 today. Believe it or not!

He had to cancel all his clinics today in anticipation of those scheduled deliveries so that he doesn't need to rush between his clinic and delivery room/OT. There was one lady, apparently, who was scheduled to be admitted on Monday for the birth of her child - scooted back home after the check up but came back to see the gynae after realizing that today is 07 07 07 and re-scheduled her admission to today...

Mmm...... would you disturb the workings of Mother nature? I know wifey and I wouldn't!

Be cool DOF!

Panic! panic!

All my clients decided to bomb me this week when we are in the midst of packing and moving:-

this is the time when they want to sign and complete the whole transcation within 12 hours after a meeting with bare information....

this is the time when documents are finalized and engrossed and needed to be sent via courier overseas to meet impossible deadlines (managed to get extension, though)

this is the time when a few transcations are completed en masse

this is the time when new urgent instructions come in

this is the time when calls are made to the office to locate old files which we have packed

YOU GET THE PICTURE.....?

But I'm not complaining.....I'm counting my blessings and Praise to God for all these...!

BTW, carpet has been laid; cabinets are coming in today; covers for network and telephone cables are being fixed today; telephone and fax lines have been commissioned. Phew....1/4 more to go!

Mish Mash

Wifey's finally back from Singapore and all I got was Murtabak from Zam Zam....Her time for shopping was rather limited and 3/4 of her shopping time was spent with her colleagues at Arab Street (it was a first time for her colleagues there and they'd chosen Arab Street over Orchard!?) for fabrics...

My brother is recovering....Poor thing my nephew..he's a double dose of Malaria and dengue; but he's recovering too!

Finally my baby's taking shape (see pics below). I have this inclinatoon for choosing red as the wall colour (more like an ad agency than a legal firm, I know...Hey..trying not to be stereotypical here!). This time is "cranberry". Khadijah and Yusof loved it! Contractors have finished laminated timber flooring (for the reception area) and starting to carpet today....! Aargh...back to office today to give moral support to my staff who are doing the packing! Taking a break to buy timber looking venetian blinds from Ik*a first!

Umar our clown

We thought Yusof is the most playful boy on earth I have ever met and how wrong I have been....

Umar has now earned the title "friskiest boy of my lot" from me!

Upon my return from my slightly more than a short trip, Umar has picked these cheeky lines from school:-

"Kena Tipu Mintak Seribu (he pronounces it as "syeribu")" i.e. you've been tricked so give me 1000 - and top it all it's spoken with a melody!

"Kalau sakit makanlah Panadol" i.e. if you are not well pop a Panadol.

When I heard him said them for the first time, I couldn't help but laugh.....And now he thinks that it's an entertainment for me and repeats them all the time...

Aaargh......! Thinking of ways to make him stop repeating them! I suppose by ignoring him he'll stop blabbing.....

Come to think of it, I think it's part of growing up and he should grow out of it when he's ready....What say you?

Am Back

I have been back for 3 days now....Been catching up with wifey and the kids for things which I missed in my absence; loads of visitors to entertain; had a good rest over these couple of days AND back in the office today facing piles of letters and documents to go through. But my mind is still in Mecca and Medinah.

Spritually uplifted I must say after the trip and I pray to God that I shall remain the same or if not be a better Muslim....

Ib and Umar at the airport sending me off

Knackered

I'm sooo tired. been working the whole day non-stop save for the break for Friday prayers. I've not changed money, I've not packed, I've not listed down what to bring, I've not...I've not...I've not.....

Need to go home now and have a hot shower.....But I have a dinner to go to!

200th Post

Yeayy...It's my 200th post and it dosen't seem like it! I never knew I could post this many entries..

Yeterday, I declared an off day for the staff..But I went in anyway to finish some work with three other staff until about 2 pm. Wifey was supposed to bring the boys to a park to play footie but it rained. Parents-in-law came for a vist with my nieces and I arrived home as they were finishing lunch. Took a nap and my parents arrived. So there went our plan to bring kids to Kinokuniya...

Have you ever been to Queen's Park in Cheras (near Taman Maluri)? It's our fave place mainly for our organic food stuff and the outlet stores there. There's Esprit, FJ Benjamin, Annakku, TeddyTales, FOS, Jerasia (Nike, Naf Naf & Calvin Klein) outlets selling off season stuff.

Initially we thought of driving all the way to Ikano to get Mukti moisturiser (purely organic) for my mum from Justlife and bring the kids for meatballs at Ikea but since mom and dad were around, we left the kids at home and went to Justlife Queen's Park instead, which is a lot nearer.

Went to Guar***n to get some supplies for my Umrah trip and wrapped up the night with the new Pesto sandwich (which a friend recommended) and Nantucket Pineapple, Orange and Passion Fruit juice at *bucks.

Bought vegetables, black bean and oatmilk drink for the kids, organic passion fruit mayonnaise for me and Mukti moisturiser for mom.


I like the simplicity of the display at Justlife.

You can get off season Nike, Naf Naf and Calvin Klein from here.

Had this fantastic new Pesto sandwich from S***bucks

Supper with friends

Just came back from supper with some good friends (three other couples to be exact)....! There was a communication breakdown though....Wifey and I ended up at Leha Kelfood (dunno what that means..may be "Ke L" as in Kuala Lumpur) in Melati Utama whilst the rest were waiting for us in Desa Melawati! We have not done this for quite some time now.....So you can imagine the sharing and exchanging of information within 2 hours!!! And one of them did not realize that wifey is pregnant! LOL! Anyway she's always the last to know in anything....

We had Penang fried kuey teow (flat noodle), extra crispy cucoq udang (prawn fritters) and laksa utara (rice noodle with fish based broth originates from the northern state). Somehow the quality of food didn't matter in the company of good friends whom we can rely on during bad times or good times. That said however, the food was good; the prawn fritters especially.

This group of friends we have, have been an intrinsic part of our lives since five years ago...We ferry each other kids to school, have fun times together and share our challenges with....etc etc... True friends are difficult to come by in this age of "dog kill dog" and racing to accumulate material wealth. We are really blessed to be in their company! Looking forward to more years ahead with them and the rest of our good friends out there!

Quickie....

One of the streets in Muar

I had no internet conection over these few days which explains my absence....Connection at home should be up by this evening.

Well just a bit of an update! Been busy at the office - accounts audit, work, train new staff etc. I'm using lunch hour to make a quick update.

Went back to Muar over the weekend for a khenduri (prayers plus a small feast) for the upcoming umrah trip.

Made a dash to Johor Bahru on Sunday for another feast (birthday, retirement, anniversary etc etc) and returned to Kuala Lumpur on the same day. Home sweet home by midnight!

Gotta dash now!

What else...maid story

Well...we had a sumptuous feast at Thaba Village last night. There were nine of us! Tricked my mate (he is not a lamb person) into eating lamb briyani by pre-ordering and told him it's beef (he's a sucker for anything beef. Doesn't he realise that Indian Restaurants don't serve beef?)...I could do that because the lamb at Thaba Village is cooked so well that there is no taste of lamb at all! He almost p*ked after I told him that his briyani was lamb! He admitted though, this morning, that it tasted like beef.

Where was I? Oh yes the maid.....

When we got back about 11.30 pm we heard a funny noise coming from the kitchen. Initially we thought it was the sound of our old fridge going to explode and had resigned to the fact that we had to replace it. No....it wasn't to our delight! That funny noise came from the maid's bathroom. Immediately she said there's something wrong with the "toilet" (exactly the word word she used!). I don't know what happened but some parts in the cistern were broken. How the **** it happened still remains a mystery. Apparently when she couldn't flush he called Yusof to mend it. What a p*a brain she has....Yusof has not graduated from a plumbing school for heaven's sake! Then of course the passing-the-buck session had to start by my dear maid....She blamed Ib and Yusof!

Aah....need to call the plumber! There's no point probing further!

Over the Hedge - Zooview chapter

I'm sure anyone with kids would have watched Over the Hedge produced by Dreamworks summer (if my memory serves me right) last year. What I'm about to reveal in this posting is Over the Hedge, the Zooview chapter!

Where we live is an old suburb (about approximately 30 years in existence) but is now surrounded by new developments which we once thought would be left as the city's green lung because the National Zoo is literally our neighbour. Before the hills adjacent to ours were raped by unscrupulous and moolah-minded developers, we lived peacefully alongside nature and the wildlife co-existed in harmony. Yes we do get snakes slithering through the house may be once a year (the last time was a couple months back); we had a slow loris moving about in our master bedroom, some years back, mistakenly thought as a panda by my then 4 year old boy, Yusof while wifey and I were having dinner at a restaurant some 45 minutes' drive from home and later caught by our dear neighbours and good friends Chr*s and Cha* Yi* and put in our rabbits' cage which we later surrendered to the zoo; an injured wild fox resting on our backyard pergola; tiny orange frogs leaping in our open-air-in-a-garden kitchen; countless of toads in our bathrooms; muti-cloured dragon flies and butterflies in the house etc etc....(apparently there are wild boars too which we have not seen with our own eyes). This is what you get when you want to be close to nature! That's the choice that we made! I don't find it disturbing at all since this is what nature is all about...My philosophy has always been, if you don't disturb them, they'll reciprocate (superwomanwannabe :- you may disagree)!

Look what happened when the hills were barren in the name of progress and development - the landslide which killed a couple of people last year near our house is a testament to nature disturbed and nature retaliated....!Whoops this posting is getting a bit serious which is not my intention...

So you might ask, what's the relevance of Over the Hedge?

When we first moved to Zooview some 7 years ago, we could open our windows and sliding doors all the time letting fresh air in and watching monkeys swinging from trees to trees trees around the housing estate without any disturbance.... Like I said, we co-existed in harmony!

The problem started a few years back when all the surrounding hills were developed in to housing estates...The monkeys lost their natural habitat and obviously are trapped within the concrete jungles created by us. The nearest green lung is our housing estate because our area is the oldest housing estate which is surrounded by matured trees. What happened in Over the Hedge is an exact duplicate of our lives now...The monkeys run amok whenever they are hungry and steal our food!

A couple of years back, they only rummaged through what's edible in our garbage bins... In recent times, they even have become more daring entering into homes when the inhabitants are out of sight or not at home.

Over the weekend wifey wanted to bake banana muffins using flowerinthedesert's recipe or halwafy's recipe (she can't remember she got the recipe from which blog but definitely from either the two) over the weekend. Much to her horror when she came back to bake - all her bananas were gone....None other than the monkey's job! There went our banana muffins for the weekend. The monkeys at Zooview have acquired quite good taste....If there are other fruits placed together with bananas like kiwi fruits, apples, mangoes etc....they'd pick the latter than their staple food! Last Eid, they even took the nicest cookies of the lot which were the pineapple tarts made by my step grandmom.They took the whole glass jar of tarts with them!

Last December was the worst attack so far. My daughter forgot to close one of her windows and we were away for the whole day for my cousin's wedding. When we got back - the whole house smelt urine and monkey pooh....They had a gala time the whole day in our house feasting our food - bread and fruits. When the food ran out, they emptied my organic soy powder can and sprinkled them all over the house - even the piano keyboard was not spared; traces of their feet were all over the keyboard! There wifey was with the maid cleaning the mess......

I can go on and on about Zooview monkeys....I think you have gotten the picture!

Massage Parlour continued

In continuation of my earlier posting - new statistics today!

Yeayy a new phone

Wifey just told me that she bought me a new phone but I will only be getting it next Tuesday (Thanks dearest darling if I forgot to say it earlier! : ) ). I'm not a gadget person, by the way...!My kids are better versed on what's the latest in the market; what's in and what's uncool....! To me as long as, with it, I can take pics (to update my blog), mms, sms and email (not forgetting to call and receive calls) it ROCKS!

I'm sick of my phone now which is only barely 1.5 yrs old....I have spent close to 0.5k moolah since January this year to get it repaired! I suppose what motivated wifey to get me a new phone because there have been a lot of times my phone/network (which I have yet to determine which one) will give a "the number is not in service" message! I myself get frustrated because my clients have been bombarding me with a series of complaints that I could not be reached most of the time (thinking that I'm avoiding them...Heloo....? They are the ones who pay for my house car etc etc and why should I avoid them?) ! We'll see with this new phone next week!

p/s Owh...Khadijah is having her end of term French test today and her definition of flunking, when I asked her about her entry in her blog about "flunking", is getting a B (nice to know that she sets high standard for her.... :)!)

Y A H O O at Jalan Melaka

"How can young people be

more responsible in

their relationships?"

I took this picture while walking to Masjid Jame' Kuala Lumpur for Friday prayers yesterday. There were three youth toga-clad complete with goggles and headgear (but with white tops worn inside) street advertisers for Y A H O O !. Mmm.... Y A H O O! advertising in the streets? Not seen before here in Kuala Lumpur!

It appears that they were promoting Y A H O O! Answers (with the tag line Real people. Real questions. Real answers.) in the streets of Kuala Lumpur to get more participation.

What's on the placard is the question above....! This topic may be debated till the cows come home. But, I personally think that our youth can be more resposible in their relationships if they have solid foundation in their religion couple with the fact that they are being raised in a happy and close-knitted family environment...! What say you?

Massage parlours in my blog?

This is the latest graph for referrals/search phrase for my blog.

I'm quite perplexed that the search engine points to my blog for the phrase "Massage Parlours". And this, by the way, is not the first time!

I had "Masage Parlours in Kuala Lumpur" "Massage Parlours in Petaling Jaya" searches which suggest my blog..Weird or what?

Did a bit of investigation and whaddaya know...the culprit is this entry (my entry on my visit to an Indian barber)! Mmm....must be extra careful with my choice of words.....!

Final 7th

Mad about Potter? Khadijah and I are no. 1 fans of Potter. We have each installation of the chronicles of this young wizard (erm...not so young anymore). We are so looking forward to the final 7th installation of his adventure. We have pre-booked a copy! So 21st July here we come - a loong night for me, then!

The latest teaser is the release of the cover of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" yesterday. Wonder who's the important character whom Rowling has terminated...She's not giving any hints!

Pictured above is the US edition for children (for the uninitiated, they have different covers to suit the US and British children and adult market (yes adults get a chance to read it without the embarassment of having a children-looking-illustrated cover!).

UK adult cover

UK Children cover

Salt Design, Persian dinner and Norouz

Had to leave work slightly early yesterday, about 7 pm to meet up Elaine who is the co-owner of Salt Design (an ex-graphic designer who was sick of staring at the computer every day and started Salt Design making handcrafted stuff) at City Square (the other half is Queenie whose sample art work I posted as the first picture above). Queenie's focus is now in fine art and cats and children are her subject interest. I had the opportunity to view her art work at Bon Ton Resort in Langkawi early this year where she is currently the resident artist.

Wifey and I have been sourcing for a guest book for my parents' anniversary bash and practically painted the city red the last couple of weeks, what in the end proved to be a futile foray. Tired of guest book hunting, last Saturday I texted M**g, my friend, who ordered tonnes of handcrafted note pads, albums and guest book from Elaine for her wedding in Bali last year to get Salt Design's phone number. (BTW Salt Design products are sold at X-tra in City Square and were sold at the now defunct Aseana, KLCC).

I was 45 minutes early for the appointment as the traffic was exceptionally ok. Decided to have dinner first at an Iranian restaurant called Aria on the ground floor of Ampang Plaza aka Yow Chuan which I have spotted for years but always slip my mind whenever I'm there. I love middle eastern food! Just the day before wifey and I had Lebanese food for lunch! To digress a bit, you should try Maandhi briyani at Sahara Tent (near the once controversial Arab square).

Ordered lamb Koobideh (Persian kebab) set which came with two pieces of lamb Koobideh, Saffron rice served with butter (huge portion which I could not finish) and Barley and Chicken soup served with lemon juice. The Koobideh was moist and the lamb tasted fresh!

As I was paying, I noticed a display of plates of garlic, grains, berries etc at the counter table which apparently is set up for the Iranian new year, Nourouz and the display is called Haft Sin (i.e. the seven 'S's items). Communication was a problem as they only could speak smattering of English. Had to leave for the appointment whilst they, 5 of them, were trying very hard to explain.

Elaine showed me five guest books which she made and immediately liked one which has a tie-dyed cover (hand made nonetheless). Salt Design can custom made stuff but they take seven days to make one, the luxury of time I have none!

Barley and chicken soup.

The Haft Sin table (each item symbolizes differnet things like love, affluence, age, patience etc)

Aria Restaurant located at G43-49 Ground Floor Ampang Plaza

Blessing in disguise

Drove all the way to Hulu Langat again Saturday evening to discuss and finalize on the layout of the tables etc for my parent's ruby anniversary dinner. I was told to collect the floor plan from Iskandar who mans the information counter and cashier's booth. I sort of suspected that something was amiss when he said the Marketing people did not leave the floor plan for me....but I just dismissed my suspicion! He promised to contact the Marketing people immdiately and would meet me at the restaurant once he got some news.

And off I went excitedly to the restaurant showing my best friend and his assistant, Yeh, the venue of the bash. Whe he saw the restaurant, from his face, I could tell that he wasn't all too happy! I just ignored and explained to him what we really want and ran the event sequence with him!

Whilst discussing animatedly, this PR person from the resort interrupted us saying that there's a huge problem with our booking.....WHAT? With one more week to go and he said there's a mistake? I almost blew my top........! Luckily, my parents always taught me to be patient and not jump to conclusions.. Listened, I did, to his side of the story...

Apparently, there is a certain political party group of people who had booked the restaurant before us....and even paid before we paid ours! That's a load of bu**! I had cleared with the Marketing people before we paid and the Marketing people has the booking diary with them! Yes they told us that there was another booking by another group but not firmed. I was further told that if we paid first, we got the place...And paid we did! But now.......?????

He suggested I look at the other possible venues within the resort which I flatly rejected as I didn't quite like the rest of the places (e.g. the main hall which has low ceiling and no windows). The only place which I immediately liked when I first recce the place is the lawn which has a pavillion cum stage. But there's extra cost to it like tables and chairs, canopies etc.....if we had boked the lawn. He then suggested that we used the lawn!

He assured me that the resort will subsidize the cost......I said no. It's either full costs to be borne by them OR the restaurant it is!

I was then ushered to see the MD cum owner of the resort who diplomatically said that it'd be nice to have the bash at the lawn area and can have a garden dinner concept etc....I told him, yes of course it'd definitely be nice to have it in the garden rather than the restaurant BUT what about cost? He wanted 50/50 but I said no......Finally he gave in and offered to pay for the 2 canopies, throw in banquet tables nad chairs for free, PA system for free, a couple of staff to hold bunga manggar, a gong (whatever for?), an Imam to recite the du'a, call in journalist from a local wedding magazine to cover the event ( which I doubt.....) and the list goes on.....I have to see their floor plan and what they are throwing in for free tomorrow!

It's really a blessing in disguise, don't you think?

Did a trial run for the main table today, with my daughter, and the above picture is what it's going to be like roughly (without the flowers and tall candles)!

A week to go

I was driving along some where in PJ after a meeting that I spotted this place which sells porcelain, bone china and synthetic bone china called Vantage.

I was supposed to source for a nice plate so that my sister can print (per the design above - done by Sheryne of Vantage) my parents' pic at Mid-Valley to give my parents during the anniversary bash. I felt like I was in Stoke-on-trent for a moment when I entered the outlet - they have a factory outlet at the back of the premises (check out for bargains). And what do you know Vantage does print on porcelain and the like! It's as cheap as RM89 for a 10" plate (on bone china that is!). We chose an intricate fine porcelain plate which costs RM96 (inclusive of printing) - definitely heavier than bone china!

Vantage, apparently, according to one of the staff who attended me, has a china factory in PRC. Printing and firing the design is done behind their outlet premises, yes right in PJ ( a cheaper alternative to Spodes, Alberts and Doultons!).

Yes with 7 days to go.....we are all stressed up! Got the gifts for table games, karaoke competition, best dressed male, female, couple and children - the headache is to wrap them up! And to make it worse my best friend, Nasa, who's emceeing the night and managing the "show" wants little gifts so that each and every one who participates in the games etc will get a consolation prize each - that's a lot to pack, dear Nasa!

Flowers have not been ordered but the centrepiece designs (lifted from the internet- what would we do without internet!) for the main table and guest tables have been finalized, sort of (no approval though from wifey who's the florist of the family)!

As to music, I have given about 5 cds of 60s music (about 100 songs) to the music man! Meting up with the emcee and music man cum lighting man, this evening at the resort since they couldn't make it last week!

Wish us luck!