Working on Sat

Yesterday Sat I forced myself go to the office to work. I had to complete some work assignment in preparation for Mon' s project meeting in Rawang. Lately, one thing that strikes me most when I come in for Sat work is that I am almost the only guy in my section working on a Sat.

Why is that so? Am I overworking myself to death chasing so many project datelines while others have no work to do? Or perhaps other people are so efficient that they can complete their work without having to come in over the weekend?

Sometimes I could not help but envy the junior staff. Without having to deal with demanding clients directly there is little pressure and demands on their time other than to complete the work given to them. On the other hand with so many jobs in hand I have to multi-task and juggle the often conflicting job pressures with little time to catch my breath

Topping up hand phone credit

I thought topping up dear wife's Digi hand phone credit balance via maybank2U.com is the same as my Maxis hand phone. Thus, instead of ascertaining the exact procedure, punched in the RM30 credit top up on the keyboard immediately after I received the sms TAC.

When the topping up menu appeared on the screen it did not tell the reader exactly how and what to sms. Later I even found out from the Digi homepage that the Digi call number featured in the Maybank2U.com menu is out of service.

Searched for two hours in the Digi webpage on top up information. The explanation given is not clear and it took me considerable time to figure out the whole process.

From the time I accessed the mobile prepaid section of Maybank2u.com site to the time I succeeded in topping up dear wife's credit balance, it took about 3 hours of searching and comprehending the Digi instructions.

Renewing motor insurance

I felt listless and lethargic the whole morning. Wanted to take the afternoon off but with so much work piling up decided otherwise. Struggled to stay alert the whole morning despite feeling drowsy. However, in the afternoon after lunch I felt my energy level coming back .

After lunch filled up the annual leave form for a morning 1/2 day leave on Wed 5/21/08. My motor insurance and road tax are expiring at the end of the month. Rather than wait until the last moment better get these two documents renewed tomorrow as later I may not have the time to take leave. With so much work and meetings even taking a 1/2 day leave involves juggling with the demands of my work schedule.

Wesak Day in Kajang

Wesak day, or Buddha Day is the most important religious event for the Buddhist. Wesak Day commemorates the birth, enlightenment and passing of the Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism.

Once a year I and my family visit the local temple to pay homage to the Dhamma, Sangha and the Buddha. This morning, the three of us, dear wife, daughter and I visited the local BMS premises in Kajang to pay homage and make offerings.

We arrived at the temple at 10.30am. Unlike last year the temple was rather quiet, with not much devotees visiting the place. Surprisingly, there is a complete absence of smoke and incense burning. A notice placed on a table tells devotees to preserve a clean environment by not lighting incense sticks, as is the customary practice in the past. Thus the sale of candles and incense sticks are noticeably absent this time round. I am all for a smoke free environment though traditionalists may not agree with me.

I saw three donation boxes placed side by side on the table. The boxes are for donations to the temple fund and to assist the victims of the cyclone in Myanmar and the earthquake in Sichuan province, China. I made token donations to all the three causes.

At about 11am, 6 Sinhalese monks arrived at the centre for the offering of food rite. Devotees began to gather around the seated monks who were offered various types of vegetarian food. After that the devotees gathered around the monks to observe the transfer of merits rites. By 12.30pm. all the 6 monks had departed from the temple. Maybe they were making their rounds at other buddhist centres.

The vegetarian lunch prepared by the volunteers were quite sumptuous and filling. Again I noticed that the crowd of people eating there was quite subdued compared to last Wesak.

"Uncle please do not give me so much much rice." I overheard dear daughter speaking while the volunteer was loading heaps of rice on her plate. "Why? You are not hungry?", curious Uncle asked. "I don't want to eat more than I need. There are many hungry people out there who don't have any rice to eat!" dear daughter replied spontaneously in a soft voice. On hearing her reply Uncle was momentarily stunned, and so was I. I never knew that dear daughter is capable of expressing compassion for other less fortunately souls.

After lunch the family left the premises for the weekend grocery shopping at Putrajaya Carrefour hypermarket.

In the past I and my family would regularly visit the BMS HQ in Brickfields, KL for the annual Wesak day celebrations. However in recent time, the celebrations at the Brickfields centre have turned into more of a carnival and commercial activity than a religious commemoration of the Buddhist teachings. Gone are the spiritual significance and dimension of Wesak to be replaced by some sort of crass commercialism.

Thus, one year I decided to stop the annual visit to the KL centre and decided to come to the BMS branch in Kajang. Compared to the HQ branch in KL, the Kajang branch does offer a more spiritual feel and dimension that is completely missing in the former.

Pap smear test report

"The nurse said she is too busy attending to the patents to look for the pep smear report and aske me to call her again on Mon!" dear wife said when I rang her hand-phone while waiting for the mechanic to service the MyVi at the Peroda service centre in Bandar Teknologi. From her tone I could sense that she was ill at ease.

"OK. We will pay a visit to Dr Bala as soon as I get back from the service centre.", I quickly reassured her.

2.30pm. Dr Bala's clinic at KPJ Kajang Specialist Centre. The hospital was quite empty of visitors at this time of the day. Luckily Dr Bala's clinic was still opened. The nurse said that dear wife's pep smear result shows nothing wrong with her cervix.

Her private part has been itching for quite some time and naturally she was worried about her condition.

"Parabasal and intermediate cells display morphology within normal limits. Negative for malignancy." the report says. Whatever the medical jargon means we take it to mean her cervix is healthy and normal. With the doubt about her condition cleared up, dear wife was soon smiling again and so am I.

EPF relinquishes control of the EPF members investment scheme

On 13/5/08, Public Mutual informed me by letter that EPF has relinquished administrative control of my investment in unit trust schemes in Public Mutual. I am a investor in two of Public Mutual's many investment scheme. Being not much of a market player, since the first payments I have not topped up the two funds with additional contributions. Not sure if I am still making money from my initial investment in the two funds.

Not many years ago, I withdrew some money in my EPF to invest in unit trust under the EPF members investment scheme. Now that I am past my 55th birthday, EPF is no longer bound by law to maintain and administer my investment schemes on my behalf.

Carpal tunnel syndrome?

Dear wife has been complaiing of swelling and pain around the wrist of her left hand for several days. The swelling is probably caused by inflammation of some nerves in her wrist. The pain occurs whenever she flexes her wrist when doing normal house work or lifting even moderately heavy loads. On some days, the swelling subsides a little and on other days it flares up again. Besides the pain she also complains of numbness in her fingers and the palm.

The symptom fits the medical condition called carpal tunnel syndrome. According to Internet search carpal tunnel syndrome is compression of the median nerve at the wrist, which may result in numbness, tingling, weakness, or muscle damage in the hand and fingers. I don't think the swelling is an indication of a deep tissue or bone trauma. To put her mind at ease I accompanied her to see Dr Lee in his clinic.

After the physical examination Dr Lee said there is some injury to her nerves around the wrist that causes her to experience pain and inflammation. Carrying heavy loads and doing normal household work chores like cleaning and washing can cause injury to the wrist. She told me that she had been moving some potted plants around the house during the week. The swelling is actually the inflammation of the nerves. The doctor prescribed some nerve relaxation medication to relief the pain and advise her to refrain from doing heavy household chores for the time being.

Although the doctor didn't mention anything about carpal tunnel syndrome, but from his diagnosis it appears to be so. Probably he was truing to explain the medical condition in layman's term.

With her mind at ease now we went to the Ipoh Kopitiam at Metro Point for some snacks and coffee. Later while we were relaxing, dear daughter joined us. She even took some photographs with her digital camera.

Car registration card

Slipped out of the office at 11am to retrieve my car registration book from the bank. My road tax is expiring on 5/30/08 and I require the registration book in order to renew the annual road tax for the MyVi. Although it was my first time driving to Menara Yayasan Tun Razak where the bank is located I managed to find my way to the building.

The building is at the tail end of Jln Bukit Bintang. RHB Bank from where I secured my car HP loan is really a nondescript premises located on the ground floor of the grand building. I have been passing by that road for years but never realised that there is a building housing a RHB Bank branch office called Menara Yayasan Tun Razak in the locality.

Took a number and was called to the counter after about 10 minutes. The counter clerk handed the vehicle registration card to me after checking and verifying my id. The whole transaction with the counter clerk was rather pleasant, efficient and free of hassle. In the release form, I was supposed to return the document to the bank within the next 7 days. I'll keep the card with me until the loan is fully paid up instead of returning it to the bank.

There is no place to park the car except in the building basement. Luckily I was able to find a parking lot without driving round and round the basement. At RM2.00 the parking fee is reasonable.

I headed back to the office immediately after finishing my business.

Mother's Day gift

David bought a Chinese herbal health supplement gift pack from Eu Yan Sang for wife to celebrate Mother's Day. Costing RM168.00 the hamper contains 5 types of herbal medicine. They are VINGEN Honey & Apple Vinegar, American Wild Ginseg Tea, Chinese Cultivated Ginseg, Essence of Chicken and Ginseng 6-Flavour Soup.

Since started work, this is the first time that he bought herbal health supplements for his mom during Mother's Day. Of course wife was very pleased with the gift though she didn't show it.

Replacing a broken washing machine hose

Both wife and me tried to change the original leaking outlet hose of the washing machine. Thought the job was a breeze but it turned out to be more challenging than I had first thought.

Without the washing machine manual, we had some difficulty disconnecting the old hose. Had to turn the machine upside down to inspect the hose socket.

Having found the socket we fiddled around with the hose before it could be disconnected. The wife was the one who finally figured out how to disconnect the hose. Sometimes she is a better handyman around the house than me.

Then to our horror we found out that the replacement hose that we bought from Tesco was too big to socket with the hose connector. Now i realise that the washing machine hose that you see in the market is not of standard size that can fit all brands of washing machine.

Am going down to the local hardware store to get a new replacement hose. This time I make sure that I take along the damaged original hose so that I can buy the one with the correct size.

Check up

Accompanied wife to Dr B's clinic at KPJ Kajang Specialist Hospital for her annual pep smear check up.

Wife has been complaining that her vagina is itching. Application of medication gave some relief, but the itch has not gone away.

Dr B said the itch, together with vaginal dryness is a symptom of hormone depletion in menopausal woman. Ultrasound scanning shows nothing wrong with her. Despite the dryness the doctor managed to extract enough fluid sample sufficient to carry out the laboratory test. The results will be known after the laboratory analysis report come out in about a week's time.

Dr B prescribed a vaginal cream for treating the itch. On closer examination of the product description the cream is not merely a antibiotic medicine to kill bacteria or parasites but contains estrogen compounds. Although Dr B didn't explain I now know that he is is actually prescribing some kind of external hormone replacement therapy for the wife.

The bill for the 15 minute consultant is M198.00. I remember last year when wife visited the hospital she paid less than RM120.00. Like other services the cost of medical treatment has also increased tremendously over time.

Quiet gratitude and satisfaction of a job well done.

1. 

After weeks of frustration and tension finally delivered the 5 sets roof truss appraisal reports to the client. When I handed the report personally to the client's general manager I could see him flashing a big grin and his face lighted up instantly. Obviously he was also pressured incessantly by JKR to submit the reports.

Preparing the report was really a frustrating chore. First I had to wait for the contractor to mark up all the existing trusses and rafters on a piece of paper. With the contractor's sketches I had to get the draughtsman to transform the raw data into a CAD drawing. The previous draughtsman had left the company and the thankless and frustrating task of teaching the new guy the ropes in the shortest time sent my blood pressure soring into space many times.

Then I had to wait for the anti-termite specialist to come on board and to inspect the trusses. After inspecting the trusses the anti-termite inspector took some time to produce a report. Then I had to send the report back for the anti-termite specialist to sign. While all these obstacles were running their course in the background I had to figure out what to write and how to present the report. I have never written a roof truss appraisal report before in my life.

With so many challenges, the contractor, JKR and my employer were breathing down my neck for the report, as if I could magically create it with a snap of my fingers.

It was only after the general manager had accepted the documents from me that I felt a overwhelming sense of relief, satisfaction and gratitude coursing through my consciousness.

I am glad that despite the intense pressure and obstacles the strong desire to keep going forwards no matter the outcome finally paid off. What I have learned from this experience and so many before is that when things get rough, you need to exercise strong courage, belief in oneself and boundless patience to carry the day.

Slow recall

INTi Dojo. "Some of your MAA passbooks are still with me. I will distribute them to you on Wed!", I announced to the students after we bowed in.

"Sensei, the passbooks are with me." J K interjected before I finished the announcement. I must have forgotten about it. I remembered handing over some passbooks to WTJ during the last Aikido seminar in Melaka but not to JK.

On second thought I then recalled vaguely that I had indeed pass the remainder of the books to JK.

I am beginning to notice that occasionally I might forget stuffs that I did a few days before. Is it a sign that old age is messing up my brains? Sometimes I really had to focus intensely on problem solving when in the past it would have been a breeze.

Early start to work

Yesterday daughter almost showed up late on her first day of work at the government veterinary office in PJ. All because she followed me in my car to work in the morning rush hour. Even when we left the house at 6.45am. others were on the road even earlier than us. The traffic crawl at Cheras delayed our arrival at the Mihaja LRT station.

This morning we decided to get up at 5.45am to prepare for the drive to KL. After washing up and breakfast we left the house at 6.20am. When we were on the road, it was still quite dark. Already a long stream of vehicles were heading towards the city. To my surprise we arrived at the Mihaja LRT station at 7.00am. After Mihaja I and daughter went separate ways: i took the LRT to Masjid Jamek LRT station, while she transited at Masjid Jamek to PJ via the Kelana Jaya line. She messaged me later on my cellphone that she had arrived at her work place before 8am.

After disembarking at Masjid Jamek at 7.30am, and with about one hour to kill I adjourned to the nearby mamak stall for the morning coffee and newspaper reading. It has been a long time since I found time to enjoy a cup of beverage before clocking in at the office. This morning's leisure coffee and newspaper time was a pleasant relief from the daily grind of rushing to the office.

After work at about 5.30pm. I and daughter met up again at Masjid Jamek LRT station for the ride to Mihaja. Being weary from work, I asked daughter to take over the wheels. She has improved a lot on her driving skills since the last time I allowed her to drive the My Vi. At least she didn't panic and stalled the car like in the past. So while she was at the wheel I was confident enough to take a nap during the trip from KL to Kajang. Maybe all the driving in KT has turned her into a competent driver.

1st Aikido class of 2nd semester in INTi Nilai.

7.45pm. INTi Aikido dojo. Already 2 students showed up for the training. Jon Ken told me more students were making their way to the dojo.

In spite of general exhaustion, decided to conduct Aikido class. By 8.00pm another two more students came by.

Initially the going was quite slow and uninspiring. As I warmed up to the training the fatigue went away.

Looks like less and less people are practicing this semester. Probably some students are not yet back in the campus. Nevertheless it is time to think about promotion activities to replenish the diminishing membership.

Newest CIMB Kajang branch opened for business on a Sunday

The hairdresser saloon was packed full of customers. There was no seat left available for the customers to sit down while waiting their turn. Not wanting to stand around waiting for their turn dear wife and daughter asked me to take them to the nearby shopping mall to while away the time. While strolling in the Kajang Metro Point shopping complex with dear wife and daughter, noticed the new CIMB branch bank across the road from the mall was operating. I even saw some customers withdrawing money from the bank's ATM machine.

Today is Sunday. Why is a bank doing business on a rest day? Curious, we walked a cross the road to the bank to check out the premises.

The bank officer told us that the bank opened today Sunday as part of its promotion drive to sign up new customers. After today the bank will not open on Sunday again.

Dear daughter said she wanted to deposit the cash that she is keeping in a box as Treasurer of her university's Golden Key society in the bank. Why not open a new account in CIMB bank since it is opened today.

Because dear daughter didn't carry her id we decided to rush home to collect the documents. Despite the heavy traffic we managed to return to the bank before it closed its doors at 3pm to open dear daughter's new savings account.

Working in the office on a Saturday

Although today is a rest day I went to work in the office. As expected I was the only staff in the structural department working. I wonder how other people are managing their work load without coming in to work over the weekend. For me me weekends is the only time that I can get any serious work done without the disruption of incessant phone calls and unscheduled meetings.

RSS Feed

Suscribed a RSS feed to this blog by signing up with Feedburner.com. Don't exactly know what the RSS feed is supposed to do to the blog. Will have to wait and see. I am at the begining stage of learning how to promote Spacious Moments.

Hot and humid

At 29C the weather this morning is particular hot and humid. Tired and feeling lethargic.

After doing the morning groceries shopping at the wet market withdrew some money from Public Bank and later deposited it at Maybank in Tmn Prima.

While banking at Maybank Prima also took the opportunity to top up the diminishing credit in my touch n go card.

Daughter coming home

Daughter texted a sms on my handphone early in the morning saying she was starting the long drive from Kuala Terrenganu to Kajang. She will probably arrived home at 5pm. Replied wishing her a safe journey

28 years of happy marriage

The "Pickles" cartoon symbolises I and my wife's 28 years of happy marriage with a touch of subtle humour. However, daughter who read my blog for the first time thought the cartoon weird. "Pickles" is my favourite cartoon and I read it everyday in the local Star newspaper. It is one of the very few cartoon strips that caters to the older generation of people who are past their 40s.

Chatting online with daughter

Chatted with Amy on Windows Live Messenger. Could hear Amy's voice clip but couldn't record mine and send it online to her even after I have plugged in the mike. Mommy also joined in the chat but she had a difficult time understanding what Amy was saying in her voice recording.

Labour Day holiday

Today is Labour day, a public holiday. Planned to watch a movie at TGV Cheras Selatan but it didn't happen. By the time I and Anna arrived at Jusco Cheras Selatan saw the car park full of cars. It seems that everybody is out having a good time at the local shopping mall. Not wanting to spend one hour looking for a parking space, decided to go to Tesco to buy the weeks groceries instead.