ah ok lah

My hybrid tea roses

2008-10-05T11:27:00.001+01:00

Really nice colours

You can understand why Roses are my favourite flowers.

Join

Do visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Malaysian owned British companies

2008-10-01T12:19:00.009+01:00

Malaysians are taking over the UK. I guess that might be a little bit of an exaggeration really but you might be surprised to learn the number of high profile companies which are actually owned by Malaysians/ Malaysian companies or in which they have a large share. Given below is a list of the companies:

1. Group Lotus Plc - Automobile / Sports cars / Engineering
Owned by Proton Holdings Berhad

2. Star Energy - Energy / Petroleum
Owned by Petronas

3. Wessex Water - Utilities / Water
Owned by YTL Corp

4. Laura Ashley Holdings Plc - Retail
Owned by Malayan United Industries (MUI) group

5. Jimmy Choo Ltd - Retail/ Shoes
Malaysian born Jimmy Choo owns 50% share

I am sure there are more but that's all I can think of for now.

Selamat Hari Raya 2008

2008-09-30T00:29:00.004+01:00

This is the third time we are celebrating Hari Raya here in the UK. However, it's going to be a strange one this time. It's not a holiday which means that my kids will be going to school. My wife has an appointment with her supervisor as well.

This means that we won't be having an open house tomorrow. However, that won't stop us from visiting some of our friends' houses. Looking forward to eating some good home cooked Malaysian food.

Wishing everyone

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri
Maaf Zahir Batin

Importance of thinking positive

2008-09-28T15:37:00.004+01:00

Just finished helping out at our office, packing bags for the new PhD students who are about to start their new life here are the Warwick Business School.

Anyway, this has been a fabulous week. First of all the weather was mostly great - bright and sunny.

The week started of quite slow and I was busy with a temporary web design job. Quite boring as all I had to do create several pages with lots of text and interlink each other but I made some good money.

Then on Thursday I attended the E-Business 2008 conference organised by the National B2B Centre based at The University of Warwick. Learnt a lot of new things which I am already putting into practice. Highlight of the conference was meeting "eMarketing Guru" Dave Chaffey. It is always nice to talk to the author of books you have been using.

Then on Friday, I attended the Introductory Workshop for Tutors in the Humanities, led by Mary Johnson (ex-Head of Learning at the Royal Shakespeare Company). It was an amazing experience. It introduced me to different ways of teaching. Some of the things I learnt included amongst others, the significance of space, movement and vocal quality. We even had to act out a small part from Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Another important thing covered in the course was the issue of self-esteem. Mary used a simple experiment to show the importance of eliminating negative self talk. Saying positive things to ourself can do wonders. In the evening I had the chance to see the effects. I was in a bad mood because of something and I remembered the stuff I had learnt earlier. Eliminating all the negative thought and talking positive to myself improved my mood almost instantaneously.

Yeah! It has been a great week and I hope it gets even better next week.

Caro Prangenberg the idiot

2008-09-28T15:27:00.003+01:00

There's someone who calls himself Caro Prangenberg, who keeps leaving comments on my blog or should I say spamming. It's ok to comment but this guy is so lazy he just copies some sentences from one of my posts and pastes it to the comment. I am not sure what's he is hoping to gain by this. My guess is that he one of the guys employed by one of the SEO companies out there who pays people to go blog hopping and leave comments with a link back to their client's website.

They don't realise that sooner or latter, the websites are going to be blacklisted as spam origin sites.

Working and studying

2008-09-22T14:42:00.007+01:00

A quick post from the office. I am helping one of the centres in the University of Warwick, update their website. It's a temporary job but the pay is not that bad. It is but one of the various temporary, part-time and short-term contractual work that I have taken up. I need to work to pay for my fees which has unfortunately increased. It's no wonder that UK Universities love non-EU foreign students.

The only problem is that it is adversely affecting my studies. My research has been left on a back burner. I had planned to complete my PhD in the stipulated three years but that is slowly looking like an unrealistic dream now. Considering the fact that NO ONE has ever completed his/ her PhD degree from the Warwick Business School within 3 years also adds to this possibility.

I don't know how I am not going to manage once the classes start in full swing and I start teaching. And I am supposed to be a full time student with no possibility of converting to part time.

Wonder how I am going to manage. Completing my PhD in time is still my top priority.

Nasterium flowers

2008-09-21T19:04:00.004+01:00

The only remaining plants still flowering in my garden is this Nasterium bush. There are a few roses as well but can see that the cold is getting to them.

I planted the Nasterium last year and it withered in winter. I thought they had died but they miraculously sprouted up again in summer this year.

The shiny streaks on the leaves in the picture are the slug trials.

This is my Green Thumb Sunday post for this week.

Join

Do visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Deregistered from Surgery

2008-09-20T00:58:00.004+01:00

My daughter was suffering from an allergy and I called up our Surgery (they call the clinic a surgery here in the UK though I have no Idea why as no surgeries are carried out at all). Imagine my shock when the lady on the line told me that we had been de-registered from the surgery and that our records had been sent to the Coventry Teaching Primary Care Trust.

For a few moments I didn't even know what to say - I was totally speechless. After the initial shock, the anger came. No! I had not joined another surgery nor had I moved my home address. The lady told me that there was nothing she could do and I should talk to the manager next day.

Called up in the morning and had a chat with the manager and she told me that we would have to register again by filling out some forms. She was really helpful and told us that I could still bring my daughter to see the doctor. She told me that I am quite lucky I found out about this by chance. Our names were still in their computer even though we had been deregistered.

I had emailed the Coventry PCT the night before and I received an email reply from them. They found out that our records had been recalled by the Coventry PCT because we had not replied to an immigration check which had required a response. Not responding to the letter results in an auto recall of the medical records from the surgery. I can't recall receiving any letter from the Coventry PCT.

Took my daughter to the surgery today after school and filled up the forms. The doctor saw her and prescribed a cream. Hopefully our names and our records will be back in the surgery soon.

Are bedrooms important for you

2008-09-19T00:00:00.005+01:00

It's quite funny when I found out that the for most people (at least people I know) the kitchen and bathrooms are the main rooms that make them decide whether they want to rent or buy a house. I guess we don't fall into that category because the rental was the most important thing in our head plus we didn't cook that much (that has changed now). Now coming back to the rooms, the two rooms I mentioned above are the rooms that we spend the least amount of time during a day (of course may be different for people who love to cook). Most of us tend to ignore the room we spend the maximum time in - the bedroom. I read somewhere (can't recall the source) that we spend around 25 years of our lives on the bed.

Also ignored are the Bedroom Furniture. We simply don't care about the bed we sleep on. I have been reading up on how important a good night's sleep is. I can sleep almost anywhere but my wife has been complaining about our old bed and I think it's time we go and look for a new one. And it's not just about comfort. I am not sure about you guys but I prefer Modern Bedroom Furniture. Unlike a lot of Malaysians I know, I am simply not into period furniture - antique or reproduction.

If you are thinking of renting out or selling your property, I would recommend going for Contemporary Bedroom Furniture. I learnt this from watching various home improvement shows on TV. Of course it all depends on your own taste of interior design.

AIG and Turmoil in the Financial market

2008-09-17T12:08:00.004+01:00

Following the collapse of Lehman Brothers yesterday, I was wondering whether the US Govt. would allow the same thing to happen to AIG, the country's biggest insurance company. Well today morning I learnt they didn't. I guess they couldn't.

When I learnt that US Federal Reserve was bailing out AIG with a $85bn (£48bn) rescue package this was something big. According to this 2 year deal, the US government will receive a 79.9% equity interest in AIG. A case of nationalisation of a financial body in Capitalist America.

I recall that during the Asian crisis, the US Government was against Government intervention and to let "market forces" rule. They were particularly angry when the then Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad defied the International Monetary Fund and put in controversial capital controls. I have often heard Western economists talking against Government intervention in the markets, of denationalisation of businesses as the only route to economic development. I agree to some extent but as this case shows, sometimes Governments have to intervene against market forces to protect the interest of the people. As the Board of the Federal Reserve mentions about the need to protect "the interests of the US government and taxpayers". It's quite interesting that they don't see it that way if similar events happen in other countries.

Looks like it is going to be a time of turmoil for the financial market as several companies go under or are bought over. JPMorganChase acquired Bear Stearns recently and Bank of America has announced that it would buy Merrill Lynch & Co.

Your postcode and your life span

2008-09-15T20:36:00.004+01:00

The Thursday issue of the Coventry Times carried a very interesting report. "..where you live can have a crucial bearing on HOW LONG you live", it said.

I guess I am lucky because I live in Radford where the average life expectancy of Men is the second highest (77.3 years) in the Whole of Coventry after Sherbourne. Earlsdon came out on top with Men and Women live to an average age of 77.2 and 83.5 years respectively.

Foleshill, where most Malaysians reside came out on the bottom, with the average life expectancy of Men and Women were both below the average.

Not surprising that people live longer in the more affluent areas of Coventry. Besides standard of living, genetics does play a role as well. The population in Foleshill is predominantly made up of south Asians and as Dr. Zifhiri points out in the report, they tend to be more prone to type-two diabetes, blood pressure and cholesterol problems.

I wonder whether the lack of green spaces may have something to do with this as well. Unlike Earlsdon, there's not a single nice park in the entire area. A healthy lifestyle is essential of course but the environment does play a big role in your life expectancy as well.

ah ok lah not on MSN search

2008-09-13T00:13:00.003+01:00

Quite disappointed with MSN's Live Search. Searched for the keywords "ah ok lah" (the name of my blog) there and my blog was nowhere on the first page nor on the second page either. This is strange considering that it is the first result on Google and Yahoo for the key words.

Going through the MSN Live search results, I discovered that the #1 spot has been taken by www.ok-lah.com owned by someone in Singapore. However, #4 is a widget linked to my site provided by Netvibes. #6 links to my MyBlogLog page.

This might indicate that MSN search gives preference to top-level domain names, viz., .com, .net, .org, etc..

Vistaprint business cards

2008-09-12T16:29:00.009+01:00

Just realised that I have almost run out of my business cards. It's been slightly more than a year since I took Vistaprint's "250 free business cards" offer.

This was before I commenced my PhD studies and was a stay-at-home husband taking care of the kids. I was a full time blogger then and my blogs were my sole source of income. One day I happened to come across the above mentioned offer and I thought "why not". All I had to do was pay for the delivery cost.

Though initially I was wondering what I would do with the cards, they have proved really useful. Before this, people would give me their business cards and I would have to explain that I didn't have one - I was unemployed, blah, blah, blah. That doesn't happen any more.

Unlike some bloggers who prefer to put only the blog url, I put in my home address in as well. Great to give out to friends who always forget your house address. It's definitely better than writing it down on a loose pieces of paper which might get thrown away accidentally. Besides, it is a great way to create awareness about your blogs.

Anyway, I was thinking of ordering a new set of business cards from Vistaprint and was delighted to find out that you can still order 250 cards for free (you only pay for the delivery). The free option has 42 designs you can choose from. There are many more ways you can further customize your card such as by uploading your own designs and so on.

The great thing is that they have slashed prices for a number of options. For example, However, by paying a little bit more (£8.24 instead of £11.99) you can opt for the Premium quality cards. Do check out their range of products including cards letter heads, sticky notes, etc.

However, make sure you do read the fine print before you order and don't rush while going through the ordering process. Decide whether you really want to join the VistaPrint Rewards scheme or accept any of the offers or extras as the costs can add up.

Five years blogging

2008-09-11T14:00:00.004+01:00

Was reading Liew's post on how he has been blogging full-time for three years when I suddenly realised that my own blog is now five years old. My first post on this blog was on September 8, 2003 and as they say, the rest is history.

This is how my blog looked in 2003:

The CERN rap

2008-09-10T11:09:00.003+01:00

Everyone seems to be talking about the Big Bang experiment now taking place at the HQ of the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) on the Swiss-French border. No! The World has not ended (yet). However, very few people actually understand what's happening there and how the Large Hadron Collider works.

23 years old Katherine McAlpine, has become famous for her "CERN Rap" video, which has had over 1,700,000 views on YouTube. Even my daughter understands the Large Hadron Collider now. Thanks AlpineKat.

Visit to Warwick Castle 2

2008-09-09T12:36:00.008+01:00

Last Saturday we visited Warwick Castle along with some friends. We got in free thanks to Saiful who gave us free entry vouchers. This was my second visit and it was definitely more crowded this time, probably due to the fact that it was a weekend. Unlike the last time we visited Warwick Castle, we didn't go inside the buildings. There were just too many people.

However, this time I got to see the "Flight of the Eagles", the Jousting tournament and the firing of the Trebuchet - which I had failed to see last time.

Here are the pictures.

The "Flight of the Eagle" show

Imaan enjoying himself

Watching the Jousting tournament from across the stream

Mozard, Nana, yana and Saiful's daughter

My son with mother feeding the ducks

the Trebuchet

Duck's butt

Castle walls

With the lady of the castle

Do check out Nana's post as well.

First day at school

2008-09-08T14:44:00.003+01:00

It was my daughter's first day at school. She starts reception - an important milestone. With uniforms and rules. I saw a lot of other kids crying their hearts out. I am so proud that my Princess didn't cry.

Vote for Adam Ok

2008-09-08T12:22:00.002+01:00

My tech blog Adam OK Dot Net has been nominated as the bbest geek blog for the Blogger's Choice Awards. Please check it out and vote for me if you like the blog. The voting ends on October 1st.

Thanks.

Michael Moore to release new documentary on the web

2008-09-06T17:41:00.007+01:00

Michael Moore, director of the controversial documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11", is set to release his latest film, "Slacker Uprising" on the web for free. It will be released on the 23rd of September.

This documentary is about Michael going round the country trying to convince young non-voters to vote. According to the Reuters' report, Moore was quoted as saying

"The only return any of us are hoping for is the largest turnout of young voters ever at the polls in November."

Sign up at Slackeruprising.comto download the movie for free when it is released.

This is his way of saying thanks to his fans.

Renting a house in Coventry - tips for Malaysians

2008-09-01T14:59:00.006+01:00

Every year, a number of Malaysians contacting me every year enquiring about accommodation here in Coventry. Most of these were from people who were coming over to the UK to pursue a PhD at the University of Warwick. Despite it's name, the University is in Coventry. A lot of people are not even aware that there's a "Malaysian Coventry Society" here.

As I had mentioned in an earlier post of mine, "Newbie in the UK", most Malaysians prefer to live in either the Foleshill or Stoney Stanton area of Coventry. The rent there is unlikely to go down as the demand from families looking for affordable accommodation (read cheap) is quite high. Apart from a few exceptions, the condition of many of the houses are in a bad state of repair with leaking bathrooms, ancient looking decor and tatty and old carpets.

Most Malaysians who thought that they were moving into 3 bedroom houses are surprised to find that the third bedroom fits only a single bed with no room to move. Most end up moving to another house later. Also, if you were seriously thinking of converting one of the rooms into a office or study, you might have to reconsider.

If you are moving to the UK to pursue your PhD, you might want to consider moving into a partly furnished house. The reason is that you are going to be here for at least three years (four in most cases) and usually the furniture provided are of such low quality or old, that by the time you get ready to leave the UK, you would have replaced most of the furniture provided with your own. In the end you are paying for a fully furnished house but the furniture are all yours.

Some of the rental rates are quite high considering the condition of the houses and quality of the furnishings. Maybe it's time we moved away from these localities and looked elsewhere.

A few of my friends have been able to find houses done up to a good quality and nearer the University. They usually have to pay a higher rent but the difference is more than made up by the money saved on transport.

For those planning to come over this year, I think there might be some good news. I have been hearing rumours that rentals were falling in the city but brushed them off as I am aware that some new comers who moved into houses previously occupied by Malaysians had the rents increased. However, a look at Gum tree and accounts of some friends who have been able to secure cheaper rentals, might indicate that rentals are indeed falling. This might be due to the present economy whereby many house owners have entered the rental market instead of selling.

Yesterday evening, I went to take a look at a house for a friend who's moving here soon. It's just a short distance from my house and because the rental was quite low, didn't have high expectations. Imagine my shock when I found a really spacious house with good quality furnishings - for example, two comfy leather sofas, solid wood dining table, display cabinet, etc. Furthermore, every bedroom has a wardrobe fitted and even the smallest bedroom has a double bed with enough room to fit a table in. A lot of Malaysians were amazed when I told them about the house and I can guess, a lot of them are now currently house hunting on the net.

Long Marston car boot sale

2008-08-30T23:34:00.003+01:00

Haven't been to a car boot sale in a while and last week we went along with some of our friends to the Long Marston car boot sale in Stratford upon Avon.

It took us about half an hour to get there from our house but it was worth it. We missed a turn and got shouted at by a guy for parking on the grass in front of his house. Entry to the car boot was only 30p.

I hadn't planned on buying anything much but like always ended up with a car boot full of stuff. This includes the strimmer I was talking about in my previous post "Clearing up the front of the house".

There's also a aeroplane museum "Jet Aviation Preservation Group" nearby. However, didn't get a chance to check it out.

Here's the address: Campden Road, Long Marston, Warwickshire, CV37 8LL

The landmark is an old airplane covered with graffiti visible from the road.

Will be going to CJ's car boot sale in Leamington Spa tomorrow. It is their last week at the Rugby Club.

Choosing a web host

2008-08-29T01:09:00.002+01:00

If you are really serious about earning money from your blogs, it goes without saying that you should get your own unique domain name. After that, you would then have to decide which blog publishing platform to use. Most of my blogs (yes, I blog on more than one blog)are hosted with Blogger. Finally, you then choose a place to host your blog.

Choosing a good web hosting company can be one of the most important choices. With all the offers out there, it can get real confusing. I have found out from experience that the costliest is not necessarily the best. The choice depends on the system requirements of the platform you choose, whether you prefer to host on a Linux or Windows based server, your bandwidth and of course how much you are willing to spend.

You may want to take a look at the "Top 10 Web Hosting Providers - Best Web Hosts 2008" on the webhosting rating site. They have some really useful articles as well. For example, check out their "Tips For Choosing A Domain". A must read before you go ahead and buy a domain name. I definitely agree with them when they say "Choosing a domain may not be as simple as perceived.." Finding a name for a new site I was planning on proved to be quite frustrating when I found out that most of the names I had in mind were taken. After reading the article, I decided that the name was too long and finally found a short varient to the name I had in mind.

Gardening in a rented house

2008-08-25T21:57:00.004+01:00

This post is kind of related to my previous post. I have had several guys ask me why I spend so much time, energy and of course money on my garden, when it's not even my real house. One of happened to be a former neighbour of mine. He was renting the house next door (the house on the left in the pic below).

This pic was taken in June last year and you can see the mess in the neighbour's garden. It's worse now and looks like a jungle. He told me just before leaving, that one of the reasons he was moving out was because the landlord didn't want to clear the mess at the back. "The landlord should clean it up. It's his house", he told me. A lot of of my friends who are also renting houses here in the UK seem to agree with that. Of course, there's always the excuse that they are too busy with their studies or work, that they don't have the equipment and so on but I guess the main reason is that gardening is not simply their thing. It's different in my case. Some people play golf in their free time, I do gardening in mine. Plus the hobby does not cost as much.

Even though I know it's not my own house, it's where I live and I would like to live in a house with a well maintained garden. I don't want to feel like I am living in a dump. I am also thinking about my kids. At least they can go and play in the back rather than on the road in the front.

It's wonderful if you have a landlord who cuts the grass (or has someone do it for him) regularly but even if you don't, I think you should do it yourself. After all, you are living there and it's your home.

Clearing up the front of the house

2008-08-24T23:18:00.003+01:00

The small patch in front of our house (can't call it a garden) have been neglected for a while and was slowly turning into a jungle. I had been planning to do something about it and today I finally got the chance. I bought a used strimmer today at the Long Marston car boot sale and like everything you buy at car boot, was not sure whether it worked. Well, it worked and the garden (I can call it that now) looks much better now.

My Green Thumb Sunday post for this week.

Join

Do visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Trip to La Rochelle 3

2008-08-23T01:25:00.006+01:00

Here are some more pictures of our trip to La Rochelle. Most of them were taken using my 3 Skypephone and the quality is not that good.

On the Bus de mer again.
This time in the evening on the way to the old port.

Boats docked at Les Minimes

At the Aquarium.
They have an amazing collection but didn't really enjoy the visit there as there were too many people. The queues stretched nearly 100 metres from the entrance. Fortunately we had already bought the tickets from the tourist information centre. Saw some really strange fishes.

Jaws

My daughter

Sharks

Starfish sticking to the glass wall

A strange yellow fish

Horseshoe crab

???

|A fish with a horn

Plage des Minimes.
The beach just a short walk away.

You can see "the lighthouse at the end of the world" (Le Phare du bout du monde) in the distance.

Place de Verdun
The bus stand

Big merry-go-round

Natural History Museum
Photography not allowed in here.

La Rochelle airport

The small "Aeroport"

Our small family - finally a picture all together.