Double Parking Bugger- Naza Ria WNN1627

It is just too much! I remembered few weeks ago, my car was blocked by a double parked Naza Ria with vehicle plate number WNN1627. There was the driver contact number left at the dash port, but nobody was picking up the line. Ended up, I've to borrow a car from my colleague as I need to attend to an important appointment.



Since that incident, I've been noticing that the car driver of the Naza Ria WNN1627 was double parked almost everyday and even though there were many empty car parks just a few steps away.

Just imagine, what will be the consequences if someone is rushing for an important event that matter a life and death and the car is blocked by another double parked vehicle?

If you are against double parking as well, please forward or share this posts to all your friends just to put the driver of WNN1627 at shame. (Please help to send this post to the driver if you know who is he/ she).

Hope this will also helps to stop the double parking culture among Malaysians.

Tips to clean and green

Every household can do their part and all it takes is a small change of mindset everyday. Daily practices and lifestyle choices must center around the need to promote a more sustainable atmosphere. Here's how you can adopt a more eco-friendly lifestyle.

1. Save electricity by using a broom to clean your house instead of a vacuum cleaner. Instead of using a dryer, hang your washing on the line. It saves electricity and your clothes feel fresher!

2. Switch off TVs and DVD players. Never leave things such as phone charger in the socket. Standby mode uses more energy than its name implies.

3. Recycle your waste by having a recycling bin at home. Instead of throwing away plastics, glass and paper containers etc, throw them into the recycling bin so they don't just go straight into the garbage.

4. Shift to natural or biodegradable cleaning products. Many cleaning products contain dangerous chemicals. Disinfectants, oven cleaners, floor polishes, anti-mould preparations and window cleaner can contain potent mix including solvents, bleach, ammonia and chlorine. Replace chemical cleansers with natural alternatives. Garbage enzyme is an environmental friendly multipurpose liquid used for household cleaning. It is a complex solution produced by fermentation of fresh kitchen waste from fruits and vegetables. For a nicer fragrance, try pandan, citrus fruit peelings or perhaps lemongrass in your mix.

5. Use a water filtering pitcher system and a reusable container to avoid buying individual plastic water bottles.

6. Open the windows for cross ventilation from cool breezes, and close against hot winds.

7. If you are privileged enough to have the luxury of a balcony, you have got the perfect place to get a little green fingered and create a sustainable green spot for your home. Otherwise, opt for indoor plants.

8. Whether you realise it or not, the products you use on your face and body will also affect the environment and your well being in the long run. Look for products that use natural or organic ingredients.

Non-money making pro-blogger

I've been blogging for 3 years. The traffic of my blogs has grown from zero visitor to approximately 50 unique visitors per day as of now.

To make my blog even better, I usually will surf around the blogsphere looking for pro-bloggers blogs hoping that I can learn some tricks from them.

Without fail, all the posts and topics discussed among there so called pro-bloggers are make money online, blog for money, how to monetize your blogs and so on. I've had over dosage over these topics already.

Today, I would like to recommend one of my favorite blog that is gaining its popularity without doing anything like SEO, page rank, backlinks, etc. The author of this blog who is also a friend of mine has built his blog purely for his hobby as well as one of the channel to speak out.

Visit http://canonmalaysians.com and see the difference yourself.

砍柴的故事

A very meaningful story that worth sharing. In Asian countries, work hard is perceived to be more important than work quality and efficiency. This is also cause that many white collars are hesitate to leave the office on time even there is nothing urgent to be rushed for that day.

In long run, the workforce of the Asian countries exhausted. But achievement wise, we are still far behind advanced country like US and Europe. One of my ex-colleage of Sweden told me that most of them started their work at around 7:00am and got back home at 3:30 to 4:00pm. During lunch hour, they don't pick up the phone. Most of them make their own dinner with their spouse. Even there is any so called very urgent matters, they will only look into it the next day. And yet, they are leading the industry in term of technology as well as market share.

Why? This is all about focus in quality, respect time and work life balance

Enjoy reading and share this article around.

有一個年輕人到山上工作,每天到森林面去砍木材,他非常努力的工作, 別人在休息的時候,他依然還是非常努力的在砍材,非得到天黑,否則絕不罷休,他希望有朝一日能夠成功,趁著年輕多拼一些;可是來了半個多月,他竟然沒有一次能夠贏過那些老前輩,明明他們在休息,為什麼還會輸他們呢？

年輕人百思不解,以為自己不夠努力,下定決心明天要更賣力才行; 結果隔天的成績反而比前幾天還差; 這個時候, 有一個老前輩就叫這個年輕人過去泡茶, 年輕人心想: 成績那麼爛! 那來的時間休息啊？ 便大聲回答: 謝謝! 我沒有時間! 老前輩笑著搖頭說: 傻小子! 一直在砍材都不磨刀, 成績不好遲早要放棄的, 真是精力過剩。

原來,老前輩利用泡茶、聊天、休息的時候,也一邊在磨刀,難怪他們很快的就能夠把樹砍倒;老前輩拍拍年輕人的肩膀說道:年輕人要努力!但是別忘了要記得省力千萬可別用蠻力!哈……老前輩閃著他剛磨好發亮的斧頭!

你呢？別忘記!你要的是效率, 不是有事情做就好。提昇你的技巧、能力,你才會有時間做你應該做的事情。不然就是去唱「沒時間」吧!

學習解壓的方法很重要,提供幾個舒緩壓力的要訣:

1.深呼吸
當自己覺得有壓力時,先做幾個深呼吸,讓自己稍微平靜一下。

2.暫時離開
有時短暫的離開壓力情境,事情反而更容易處理。

3.笑一笑
不管目前如何,都讓自己笑一笑,不管是假笑、苦笑都好,讓自己看看微笑的自己。

4.動一動
讓自己活動一下,身心是一體的,讓身體藉由運動放鬆,心理也會有同樣的效果。如果能讓自己養成運動的習慣,自己的身體健康及抗壓指數,都會有大幅提升喔!

5.一次一件事
有壓力,常常是自己同時面對很多事情,而正困擾其中的時候。此時,讓自己一次只想一件事,一次只處理一件事。

6.整理一下再出發
讓自己整理一下再出發。有時事情無法處理,常常是因為自己慌了,讓自己靜一靜, 想一想究竟發生什麼事,過程中有哪些方法會是有幫助的。

A day off- Medical leave

It's a day off for me today due to a very bad sore throat that started one day ago. I guess my fever was due to the sore throat as well. I just felt I am not fit to work today while I was half way through to my office. I made a decision to visit a clinic and have a good rest for a day.

It was almost 30 months since my last medical leave (due to chicken pox). Medical leave is not common for me as I will still try the very best to make myself available to my boss, colleagues, staffs, customers and suppliers even though I was caught by mild flu, fever, cough and etc.

If you follow my blog, you will know that I am someone that stress very much on quality instead of quantity. Today is just the first work day of a week, knowing that there are several important tasks that need to be accomplished by this week, sacrificing 1 lousy work day and in return gaining back 4 quality work days would be a good option.

Upon reaching home, I saw my mom washing the car porch while my 2 daughters 4-year old and 2-year-old) were trying their best to give some help. They were surprised to see their dad coming back home before the moon replaced the sun. I just felt happy to see them enjoying themselves at home.

After taking the medication, I was prepared to take a good rest as it will defeat the medical leave if I don't do something that could boost up my immune system to fight the disease. I woke up naturally and it was already lunch hour. It was a golden opportunity to have lunch with my dad as normally all of them (my parents and kids) already taken their dinner while we reached home. I enjoyed the moment with my dad even though it was just something very simple and affordable (economic rice).

After lunch time, it is bedtime for the kids. This is also the very first for me to witness how my mom put these 2 babies to bed while we (my wife and me) are working. It was not easy as both of them are hyper-energetic.

I had some chats with my mom after both of them slept. can I call this as a quality moment? Yes, I seldom spend time to talk to my parents due to the hectic schedules.

My wife had also manage to make herself off the day on-time for today. In result, both of the kids manage to see their parents while the sun is still around. We have a early dinner, and in a relaxing mood. Unlike normal day, we reached home at around 8:00pm, it's just an hour before the kids bedtime. To prepare kids prior to bed, there is a lot of works to be done.

Yes, while my wife preparing the kids to bed, I am writing this post. I just want to tell you that how much I enjoy today even though with a very bad throat and some dizziness now. I can tell you that I am stress free now and in very good mood. In short, I believe, at least for me, mentally and emotional healthy is equally important to physical fitness.

Through a day off of medical leave, I found a better living style. To be more analytical, the reasons are as below:
1. I am able to spend quality moment to my parents.
2. I am able to join my kids while they are still naive and growing up.

The above 2 points just matched the reason of me keeping myself occupied:
1. To ensure my parents post retirement living quality.
(I believe money alone will not make them happy, some cares and time spent with the family is also vital.)

2. To ensure my family (my wife and kids) living quality.
(Again, after the monetary issues are fulfilled, we are looking for intangible aspects like love, care, attention and other values).

I think a lot today, about my life, my direction, the future of the family and stuff like that. I believe work-life balance is something that I shall focus on. To achieve work life balance, we must first learn to respect times as well as stress on quality on every tasks. Agree?

别每次都打满油！

在美國油站的每一支加油槍上，都有標示 DO NOT TOP OFF，意思是說，一般我們都會把加油槍，放進車子的加油孔，然後用扣環 hold 住，加滿的時候，扣環跳起來油槍自動會停住，這時候不要再硬加油到你車子裡。
但是在大马我们都會繼續加到整數，對吧？扣環跳起來以後，還是努力的按按按，用點放式的方法，努力的加到整數。

以後你去加油的時候，請不要這樣做了，因為你們都在花冤枉錢！
不要這樣做的理由我現在告訴你：

加油槍的設計是這樣的，你加滿油的時候扣環會跳起來，是因為有一個感應器在油槍前端的金屬部分，包在前面橡皮套裡面，在加油的同時，加油槍回收從你油箱回吐的油氣，當 hose 集滿了油氣之後，扣環會跳起來停止供油，這時候你的油箱已經加滿到一個安全的程度了。

而在這之後如果你繼續硬加的話，這時候的汽油並不是進到你的車子裡，而是跑回到 hose 裡面，你說這樣不是在花冤枉錢是什麼？

而加油站每個星期都需要 drain the hose，你會嚇一跳有多少汽油從裡面跑出來，有開車的朋友，下次加油的時候，别讓油桶加到滿，加到整數！

油池到加油機之間有二條看不見的管路，一條是油管──即車子加油時，「油」所走的管子；另一條是氣管──在車子加油時產生的油氣，回收進入油池的管子。

加油不應加滿的另一個真正原因是：
一般加油站都已經使用加裝油氣回收設備的油槍，在油槍加滿油自動跳停後，當我们將油槍提起、強迫加油時，造成油氣回收功能無法發揮，令人不舒服的油氣就會開始外洩，這就是我們經常在加油時所聞到的「汽油味」。
我們聞到的「汽油味」，是因為汽油揮發到空氣中，使空氣含有揮發性有機物 (VOCs)，通稱為「油氣」；油氣的部分成分（例如：苯）已被證實有致癌性。

記住：除了不花冤枉錢外，為了保護自身的健康和減少污染空氣，當下一次加油时千万别加满。加到油槍跳停就好！

Marco's comment:
I noticed that all the Perodua Myvi will be petrol smell in the car every time after petrol filling. What we can do to reduce the smell is do not on air-conditioner after petrol filling for 5-10 minutes.
Is this a manufacturing defect or design defect?

再富，也要窮孩子

A very meaningful article about parenting. Read on and share it out!

前些天，帶兒子去逛書局，他吵嚷著要我買一個精致、昂貴但不實用的鉛筆盒給他，最後我只買了一個麻雀雖小，五臟俱全的給他，他的嘴頓時呶了起來。

接著，他看中一個設計小巧玲瓏，曲線優美，尺面圖案喧賓奪主地蓋過刻度的精美塑膠尺，但我買給他的卻是一把木尺。他的嘴嘟得更有'克夫'（curve）了。

我不作聲，打算晚上臨睡前才透過故事開導他。

自升為人父之後，我一再提醒自己要貫徹一個與東方社會價值觀反其道而行的育兒理念 ──「再富，也要窮孩子！」

但幾年下來，我漸感難於堅持下去，直到有一天我輾轉讀到南京大學一佈告欄上，一封署名為 ' 辛酸的父親 ' 寫給其上大學兒子的' 匿名信 ' 之後，才又深感無論如何都得貫徹這個理念。

這封信很有轉述的價值，茲摘錄如下：

親愛的兒子：
儘管你傷透了我的心，但是你終究是我的兒子。 雖然，自從你考上大學，成為我們家幾代裏出的唯一一個大學生後，心裏已分不清咱倆誰是誰的兒子。

扛著行李陪你去大學報到，掛蚊帳、鋪被子、買飯菜票，甚至教你擠牙膏，這一切，在你看來是天經地義的，你甚至感覺你這個不爭氣的老爸給你這位爭氣的大學生兒子服務，是一件特沾光特榮耀的事。

在你讀大學的第一學期，我們收到過你的三封信，加起來比一封電報長不了多少，言簡意賅，主題鮮明，字跡通篇潦草，只一個 ' 錢' 字特別工整、而且清晰。

大二以後，從你一封接一封的催款信上我們能感受到，言辭之急迫、語調之懇切，讓人感覺你今後大學畢業時可以去當個優秀的討債人……。

最令我痛心的是，今年暑假，你居然偷改入學收費通知，虛報學費…，你竟也運用這招，來對付生你、養你、愛你、疼你的父親母親，僅僅為了能出入卡拉OK及酒吧…。

我一想起這事就痛苦，就失眠！這已成為一種心病，病根就是你──大卻又倍感陌生的大學生兒子。不知在大學裏，你除了增加文化知識和社會閱歷之外，還能否長一丁點善良的心？

閱畢整封信，我想起妻懷孕時一位辛酸的父親，第一次上超音波做掃描時，我最關心的不是胎兒的性別，而是他到底是孤身上路抑或結伴而來 ──雙胞胎甚或四胞胎？

我執教的學校，有二男二女各取名為 '歡、樂、新、年 ' 的四胞胎兄妹。我常看到他們的爸爸拎著四份一模一樣的便當盒，在籬笆外分四次塞給四名可愛的孩子；而每次看到他們蹦蹦跳跳地回課室享用，便知道他們對便當的 ' 內涵 ' 相當滿意。 我身為窮教員，如果孩子是結伴而來，我所能給他們準備的便當的內容，恐怕會顧得了量而顧不了質。

我之所有這種顧慮，主要受華人「再苦，不能苦了孩子！」的傳統觀念所影響。直到有一天，我那移居澳洲多年的老同學回國探親，及時給我來個當頭棒喝。

據他說， 澳洲人民生活富裕，然而他們在信奉上帝之餘更信奉 ：「再富，也要 '窮 '孩子！」的教育理念。 他們認為， 在過份呵護下長大的孩子，將無法自立並且不懂感恩！

他回國的第二天 ，我陪他冒著風雨出外辦點事，他指著一個被包裹得像棉花團的華人小孩說：「孩子應當比大人少穿一件衣服！」他說在澳洲，即使冬天時也很難見到「棉花團」；如果是艷陽高照，母親們也會別有用心地、故意不撐開嬰兒車的遮陽棚。

我們東方家庭「再苦，也不能苦孩子！」的做法，看來有糾正的必要了。 那天晚上，我思前想後，決定等將來孩子入學了，為他準備一些 ' 其貌不揚 ' 的便當，以窮他物質，富他精神。

我手頭上有這麼一則資料：美國費城納爾遜中學門口有兩尊雕塑，左邊是一隻蒼鷹，右邊是一匹奔馬。雕塑所要表達的不是我們耳熟能詳的鵬程萬裏和馬到成功，而是象徵一隻餓死的鷹和一匹被剝了皮的馬。

原來，那只蒼鷹，為了加速實現飛遍五大洲七大洋的偉大理想，練就了各種高超優雅的飛行本領，結果忘了學習覓食，只飛了四天就活活餓死了。那匹奔馬嫌第一位主人─磨坊老闆給的活多，就乞求上帝把它換到農夫家；而後又嫌農夫餵的飼料少，又要求與其他馬對調，最後到了皮匠家 --不必幹活，飼料又多，好不愜意。然而沒過多少天，它的皮就被皮匠剝下來做了皮革！

由此可窺見，一個缺乏起碼的獨立生存能力及不懂感恩的人，無論他有多大的才華，日後有多了不起的成就，都不算是一個健全的人，都是一個生命有缺憾的人。

動物界有一套超越萬物之靈的育兒理念，許多動物在它們的幼兒很羸弱時，會把它的幼崽含在嘴裏或護在翼下，怕它們遇險而夭折；但當它們的孩子長大些，它們會毫不留情地把孩子趕離自己身邊， 讓它們獨自去經風雨、練本領，甚至不給孩子留下回頭路！只有這麼做，孩子才能經得起任何風浪之襲擊，才能夠絕處逢生。

含在嘴裏護在翼下和趕離身邊，都是父母對孩子不同的愛的體現，連動物也深懂「慣子如殺子」的道理。

再富也要窮孩子，才能逼孩子學習獨立前行，學會感恩惜福。畢竟…孩子的後半生我們已不能參與了……。

Mortgage Loan- Term Loan and Flexi Loan

The interest rate of mortgage loan in 5 or 6 years ago was at around 6.75% to 7.75% (BLR + 0.25 to 0.5%, BLR at 6.5%) depending on loan amount and bank. Since the financial crisis in year 2008, the interest rate gone down to around 3.5% to 4.0% (BLR -1.5 to 2.5%, BLR at 5.55%).

Thus, it is the right timing now for house owners to refinance the mortgage loan to enjoy better interest rate. The benefits would be either one of the below:
1. Shorten the repayment period if you maintain the repayment amount.
2. Ease the monthly repayment commitment by maintaining the repayment period.

Generally, they are 2 types of mortgage loans in the market.

1. Term Loan
(It is a traditional mortgage loan account where the repayment period and repayment amount is determined and changes is allowed with some administrative charges if any.)

2. Flexi Loan
(It is an all-in-one account with the integration of current account allowing one to withdraw money from it. Even though the repayment amount and loan period is pre-determined, the account owner could either opt to pay more or less in accordance to the financial situation. In short, the flexi loan account has the overdraft facility in it.)

The question now is which account is suite you?

Take myself as an example, I have opt for term loan instead of flexi loan as the refinancing package due to the rationals as below:

1. There is no reason for banks to offer flexi loan packages without hoping to make more out of you. If you are not discipline enough in controlling your expenses, you will ended up utilizing the overdraft facility and paying the minimum repayment. (I believe this is the ultimate objective of the bank.) In result, you will need to extend your mortgage loan repayment period. (Do you notice that the mortgage sales officers always value your house at the maximum market price and ask you to take up as much loan as possible with the highest repayment period that they can offer?)

2. The interest rate of the term loan is normally 0.15-0.20% lower.

3. The repayment period and commitment is certain. Certainty is something that very important to me.

Believe it or not, more and more people will ended up in financial dilemma with the so-called flexi home loan package. Let me draw up a scenario as such.

House value: RM 300,000

The mortgage sales officer will advise you to loan to the maximum RM300,000. Even that you said RM 250,000 is enough for you, they will ask you to park RM50,000 at the account where it is interest free. (By this, you have already have RM50,000 overdraft facility in the account.)

In 2-5 years time, very high chances you will have already utilise part of the RM50,000 for reasons like renovation, new furniture, new car, share market and stuff like that. Hence, instead of owing the bank RM250,000, you may have already in debt of RM300,000 with them.

Very soon after that, the locking period of your mortgage loan is up, the existing bank or another banks will call you up for refinancing purpose. What do you think they will tell you then? They will happily inform you that your house value has appreciated, now you can refinance it at RM320,000 + RM50,000 overdraft facility.

Hope you got my message. Happy refinancing!