Family

I ran into a stranger as he passed by, 'Oh excuse me please' was my reply.
He said, 'Please excuse me too; I wasn't watching for you.'

We were very polite, this stranger and I.
We went on our way and we said goodbye.

But at home a different story is told.
How we treat our loved ones, young and old.

Later that day, cooking the evening meal,
my son stood beside me very still.

When I turned, I nearly knocked him down.
'Move out of the way,' I said with a frown.

He walked away, his little heart broken.
I didn't realize how harshly I'd spoken.

While I lay awake in bed, God's still small voice came to me and said,
'While dealing with a stranger, common courtesy you use,but the family you love, you seem to abuse.
Go and look on the kitchen floor, You'll find some flowers there by the door.
Those are the flowers he brought for you. He picked them himself: pink, yellow and blue.
He stood very quietly not to spoil the surprise, you never saw the tears that filled his little eyes.'

By this time, I felt very small,
and now my tears began to fall.

I quietly went and knelt by his bed;
'Wake up, little one, wake up,' I said...

'Are these the flowers you picked for me?'
He smiled, 'I found 'em, out by the tree.

I picked 'em because they're pretty like you.
I knew you'd like 'em, especially the blue.'

I said, 'Son, I'm very sorry for the way I acted today;
I shouldn't have yelled at you that way.'

He said, 'Oh, Mom, that's okay.
I love you anyway.'

I said, 'Son, I love you too,
and I do like the flowers, especially the blue....'

Are you aware that if we died tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us ina matter of days.
But the family we left behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives.

And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more into work than into our own family, an unwise investment indeed, don't you think?
So what is behind the story?

Do you know what the word FAMILY means?
FAMILY = (F)ATHER (A)ND (M)OTHER (I) (L)OVE (Y)OU


Marco's comment:

One of my friend, who feel it is an obligation to stay late at the office. With or without outstanding task, he normally stay until 9:00 to 10:00pm during every work days.

He is in the midst of getting a nanny to take care of his less than one-year-old daughter. I heard that he informed the prospected nanny that he and his wife need to work very late every day and expecting the nanny to take care of his daughter until night time everyday. I really doubt if he can get a right nanny that can give good care of his daughter and at the same time accepting the ridiculous request which is to take care of the baby from 7:00am to at least 9:00pm everyday.

The upbringing process of baby is extremely important. It is the parents duty to take care of the babies, not the grandparents nor the nanny and Indonesian maid. What is the point of having children while you are not taking care of them but your job? It is kind of selfish and irresponsible for giving an excuse that you have a day time job that need to work very late and push away the parenting responsibilities to the maid and nanny.

If you can't give your children and family the priority, it is better to stay bachelor. Agree?

HP Designjet 'True-to-life' On-line Quiz

I participated the HP Designjet 'True-to-life' online quiz on end May 2009 with the intention of winning one of the fabulous prizes offered by HP.

Among all the prizes, the most attractive prize is the Sony Ericsson mobile phone. HP Designjet is the brand name of HP wide format printer, similar to Canon imagePROGRAF and Epson Stylus Pro large format printer.

As wide format printer or plotter is not a consumer product, I guess the odd of winning one of these prizes is going to be on my side.


Yes, a month later, I received a phone call from AD Innovation (M) Sdn Bhd (HP program centre) that I won a Sony MP3 player. Within a week, the Sony MP3 player received.


Below are some brief specifications of the Sony MP3 player NWZ-B135:

• plays MP3, WMA, and protected WMA files
• 2GB embedded memory holds approximately
  • 32 hours of music at 128 Kbps (average MP3 quality)
  • 16 hours at 256 Kbps (higher MP3 quality)
  • other bitrates also supported
• 3-line backlit LCD screen
• repeat and random play
• FM tuner with 30 presets
• voice and FM recording
• high-speed USB interface
• earbud headphones
• up to 16 hours playback with built-in rechargeable battery
• weight: 1.02 oz.
• 3-9/16"W x 15/16"H x 5/8"D

Besides playing songs, this gadget serve as radio and voice recorder as well.

American doctor vs Chinese doctor

While in China , a New York businessman is very sexually promiscuous and does not use a condom all the time he is there.

A week after arriving back home in the States, he wakes one morning to find his penis covered with bright green and purple spots.

Horrified, he immediately goes to see a doctor.

The doctor, never having seen anything like this before, orders some tests and tells the man to return in two days for the results.

The man returns a couple of days later and the doctor says, 'I've got bad news for you, you've contracted Mongolian VD. It's very rare and almost unheard of here, we know very little about it.'

The man looks a little perplexed and says, 'Well, give me a shot or something and fix me up, Doc.'

The doctor answers, 'I'm sorry, there's no known cure. We're going to have to amputate your penis.'

The man screams in horror, 'Absolutely not! I want a second opinion.'

The doctor replies, 'Well, it's your choice. Go ahead, if you want but surgery is your only choice.'

The next day, the man seeks out a Chinese doctor, figuring that he'll know more about the disease. The Chinese doctor examines his penis and proclaims,
'Ah, yes, Mongolian VD. Vewy ware disease.'

The guy says to the doctor, 'Yeah, yeah, I already know that but what can we do? My American doctor wants to operate and amputate my penis!'

The Chinese doctor shakes his head and laughs. 'Stupid American doctor, always want to operate. Make more money that way. No need to amputate!'

Oh, Thank God!' the man replies.

'Yes,' says the Chinese doctor, 'Wait two weeks. Fall off by itself!'

Charity donation for Loke Kai Xin

I came to know this news from a forwarded email. Please read on and spread this news out as it will save one precious life.

Loke Kai Xin was diagnosed with Biliary Atresia when she was three months old and a Kasai procedure (hepatoportoenterostomy) was done way back in February 2009. Unfortunately, the procedure did not cure her condition and she was advised to go for a liver transplant as her last and only option.

Due to underweight, she was advised by UM Specialist Centre (UMSC), Malaysia to seek medical help from Singapore. After the first pre-assessment at National University Hospital of Singapore (NUH), both parents were found to be suitable candidate donors for Kai Xin. Both parents were in NUH on 1st of June 2009 for the second pre-assessment to confirm and determine their suitability to be the donors.

The total cost including post-operations and follow up is expected to be around RM500K which is equivalent to 200K Singapore Dollars (pre-assessment, liver transplant, post operations, follow ups & etc) or more due to her age.

This amount is just too expensive for them to bear in full; therefore they are appealing for your help. Follow the latest progress at: http://kaixindevelopment.blogspot.com/

How to donate?

a. via Maybank Berhad

A fund has been set-up for Kai Xin with the following bank account details. For those who are keen, kindly deposit your donations (cash or cheque) in favour of:

Name: Loke Kai Xin

Maybank Berhad A/C No.: 1-14013-213313

Note: If you are transferring via ATM or Maybank2u, you will see the name Lee Huey Jing appearing for confirmation instead.

b. via Yayasan Sin Chew

1. Issue a cheque to Yayasan Sin Chew.

2. Behind the cheque, please state beneficiary name's, in this case, Loke Kai Xin; and donor's details ie. Chinese/English name, NRIC, address and contact number.

3. Yayasan Sin Chew will mail the donor the official receipt for the contribution after clearance of the cheque. For cash donations, receipt will be issue immediately.

4. Send or submit your cheque to:

Yayasan Sin Chew

19 Jalan Semangat

46200 Petaling Jaya

Selangor Darul Ehsan

Yayasan Sin Chew opens from Monday to Saturday, 9am to 5pm.

For enquiry, please contact: 03-79658888/79658675 (Yayasan Sin Chew).

Yayasan Sin Chew will facilitate the contributions received and will liaise directly with the hospital on the payment of the costs. In the event there is any excess after the payments have been made, the balance of the donations received will be channeled to other charity.

Blood donation

There is a blood donation drive at the company I work for on the coming 2nd July 2009. It was almost 10 years since my last donation of blood.

I've asked around a few of my peers if they will join me as a blood donor. The feedback were just very negative as they seems to be not keen at all. I was turned down by them totally.

I look at this blood donation campaign as a golden opportunity to do some charity as the hospital crew is coming to the doorstep and what we need to do is just lay on the bed, relax and you're done. Honestly, I've forbear towards blood, but it can be easily overcome by keeping my eyes away from the red color precious human fluid. End of the day, there is not a big deal of some small pain where in return it saves life.