Oh, and other than that, I am going to announce the future of GeminiGeek’s Online Journal.

As of today onwards. I will be officially rambling about my life and other personal stuff on my other blog. The link? Well, it’s for you to find out. It’s actually up since April, and I’ve been blogging over there for since then.

And as for this blog, it will still be here, up and running, pinching every cents from Adsense and other Ads provider. I will also use this blog to satisfy the geeky side of me. I’d probably write about all the website design stuff and techniques over time, as I still have to finish my building GeminiGeek’s Online Journal series.

So… yeah, it’s not really dead yet. I could probably turn it into a political blog and blog as my alter ego.

Let’s see. I kick start my year 2007 with nothing special. Seriously, year 2007 isn’t as happening as my years in secondary school. It’s all about going to class, meet the great lecturer, do a little revision, and go back home. Sometimes a little lim teh with friends, but that was just about it.

February was a great month, because there’s Chinese New Year. However, while everyone is happy celebrating it, I was in front of my computer, waiting for my December 2006 exam sitting result. I passed, and I was very happy This is also a romantic month for those couple celebrating Valentine’s Day, but it’s a SAD (Single’s Awareness Day) day for me I am single and available at the moment, and enjoying my bachelor life .

March was a bad month indeed. For a computer geek like to have no access of computer for a month is absolutely killing. I smoked my CRT monitor and my parents didn’t bother to fix it. I only got my new monitor after around a month during a PC Fair. Nothing much happens in April, other than my first TLA cheque and also the news where Miri will have free WiFi across the city for free for one whole year. But the free WiFi was quite disappointing. Frequent disconnection and slow speed. Perhaps the area I was in have lousy signal

I moved from a free hosting to a paid local hosting in May. It was good for the first few months, but now it’s getting slowed down and sucked up because the server is getting over crowded. If they don’t plan to get a new server next year, I am not renewing my hosting plan next year. I’m moving out. Well, I guess shit happens, and perhaps I should take out the post that praise them on their service. Their tech support are still bunch of nice people, but their service are getting lousier.

Oh, I also happen to know a girl from college and she happens to be a distributor in an MLM company. I got annoyed by her calls and I eventually confronted her that I would stop answering her calls if all she talks about is MLM and buying her products. She changed, and now we do hang out once in a while, which is a good thing .

And of course in June, I celebrated my 19th birthday. I also sat for my exams, and I remembered how tough it is to study in the eleventh hour. Well, I guess it was all worth it because I passed the exams and now I am to proceed to the next level in ACCA Qualification. Wish me luck as I will be doing the Skills Module starting next year .

I was pretty inactive the few months after I finished my exams. I was busy looking for jobs and I guess that’s how I stumble upon a funny ads on the newspaper. Putting that aside, I manage to get myself into a job interview which I failed deliberately. Their offer was bad and their staff smokes in an air-conditioned office. Other than looking for jobs, I have a friend who kept on dragging me to go out for movies. But I hate it because the cinema in Miri sucks.

Few months later, I manage to get myself a job in a local accounting firm. Working life is fun, with all the colleagues and all but when you’re with an accountant boss, you’ll know what is it like to be there. Oh, I also manage to get myself a new phone, thanks to the online income I got I also managed to get a web design project, but it turns out to be a scam.

December was quite a happening month. I went to the Miri Bug Fest where I get to see the classic Volkswagen Beetle. It was a lovely event. I also went to probably one of the biggest bloggers gathering in Miri, thanks to Uchu Keling for organizing it and Advertlets for the sponsorship. I didn’t blog about the event because I didn’t take any pictures. If you’re looking for posts on the event, go over to Uchu Keling write up on the event. He’s linking everyone who blogs about the event.

Photo thanks to Ian.

My Year 2008 Plans

Living without plans and goals is pretty pointless to me. Like any other years, I usually have my sets of goals and work my way up to achieve them, only this year, I decided to blog all about it

Goal 1: Earn more money, and invest them.

This year, a large percentage of my online income goes into my new handphone. This year, I plan to make more money online, and invest them in mutual funds. I earned around RM1,500 this year, and I am hoping to double the figure next year, and invest them. I know, the amount is little compare to all the big shots. Well, I guess its worth a try I never intend to blog full time. It’s just my side income.

Goal 2: Get at least a Web Design project.

It’s time for me to build up my portfolio. The scam case never fails to stop me from trying and hoping for another project to come. No harm being optimist on this, right?

Goal 3: Launch MiriBloggers.com

This project is not dead yet. Not just yet. I plan to launch by Chinese New Year. I guess I still have one month plus to work on it.

Goal 4: Finish at least 3 papers in Skills Module

Finish 3 papers in 2008, and finish another 3 papers in 2009. Well, I am hoping I didn’t fail any of the papers. I want to work my way up and get the ACCA qualification as fast as possible, while working at the same time.

Goal 5: To stop putting on weight

I have to start exercising. I am getting fatter each year, which is not a good sign.

I guess this is all for this year. See you next year?

Merry Christmas and have a Happy Holiday

And that’s exactly the same SMS I send to around 50 people in my phone book.

I actually went there to see the SPL battle. But the SPL battle doesn’t turn out to be what I expected. I thought they will be showing off their sound system. But it turns out the battle is just few cars running few test to see who’s woofer can blast the highest sound pressure. Or something like that. Quite meaningless to me. Fairly disappointed. Looks like what I am looking for is car showcase, not the SPL battle. Well, the Bug Fest is worthwhile. Looking at the classics preserve until now is something to be proud of. Kudos to the beetle enthusiast.

Enough the crapping. I am sure you all just wanna look at the picture. I have not much to write either. More pictures after the jump

I always thought that all advertising program works like this:

1. The agent (like Nuffnang, Advertlets, Adsense, etc) approach potential advertisers (or vice versa) and discuss together to come up with a deal.
2. They agreed on a deal. The advertiser agrees to pay RM10 for every 1,000 impression on say, 50 bloggers they chose.
3. The advertisement campaign is on. For that one week, the advertiser gets 1,000,000 impressions from the 50 bloggers, and paid RM10,000 for the campaign.
4. The agent takes 30% from the campaign. The rest is shared between the 50 bloggers based on the impressions they contributed to the campaign.

The logic is here. The RM10,000 is their sales, and the payment to the 50 bloggers is their cost of sales. With 30% gross profit from sales, I wouldn’t say it’s a lot. They have an office. They have staffs. They have to look for advertisers. They have to post all the cheques to bloggers nationwide. All these are expenses that are incurred to make sure their operations goes on smoothly.

But Danny’s post makes me think, how does companies like Nuffnang make money IF they’re not using a revenue sharing model? How do they make profit? I doubt the advertiser are willing to pay extra agent fees. I seriously doubt that.

Anyways, here’s it is

Simple instructions :
Use the first letter of your name to answer each question. Must be places, names … nothing made up. You can’t use your own name for the boy/girl’s name question. If you get stuck, skip to the next one.

Famous Singer: Greenday, Gorillaz… Band is counted right?
Four Letter Word: Geek!
Street: I’m not from Penang, but got such street as Jalan Gurney kah?
Colour: Green
Gifts/Present: Guns! :sweat:
Vehicle: Golf Buggy
Things in Souvenir Shop: Glass decoration
Boy Name: Giovanni
Girl Name: Gabriel
Movie title: Gladiator
Drink: Green Tea
Occupation: Gem Digger
Celebrity: Gong Li
Magazine: GamePro or something
U.S. City: Georgia?
Pro Sports: Golf. That’s the only letter G sports that I can think of. Is that pro sports?.
Fruit: Grapes
Reason for Being Late to work: Gangster blow up my car… :sweat:
Something you throw away: Garbage lor…
Something you shout: Gah!

And I don’t want to tag anyone. Here’s the list of people who did this meme.

• G for GeminiGeek (That’s Me!)
• K for KennyLJS
• M for Mariuca
• P for Pang KimFei
• T for Tak Feng & Li Li
• Y for Yung

So, just do the meme if your name starts with the alphabet that nobody do. I want to collect all 26 alphabets!

Here’s the details:
Theme: We are one Big Family
Date: 29th December 2007 (Saturday)
Venue: Halo Cafe, Miri
Time: 6.00 – 8.00 pm (auspicious hours)

Main Sponsors: Halo Cafe
To be confirm sponsors: Advertlets.com

Interested to join? Register yourself by leaving a comment at Uchu Keling’s entry and you’re in I am definitely not going to miss the fun and probably free foods!! Mee Kolok naik, nasi kari naik, gaji haven’t naik lah… so free food all the way lah..

Flying Pan!!

Now you see, the letter L and R is pretty far away from each other in the keyboard. It can’t be unintentional, isn’t it?

To make things easier, I’ve listed the stuff that is happening to me for this past weeks. Everyone love lists right?

1. I’m Employed!

Yes. I finally got a job. Not related to the job interview last month though. It’s a local accounting firm, an approved ACCA Employer. I am employed as a Tax Auditor, but currently doing Accounting Audit as part of job training. The company is willing to train me for 2 years, and I think I will do so while studying my ACCA Skills Module part time. So I guess I will still be in Miri for the next 2 years.

I have yet to discuss this with my family, because I do know that my brother really wants me to go study and experience college/uni life first, then start on my career. But I think I will see first because I believe accountancy is a job that relies mostly on experience and training. My respond at the moment is; “See if this company is good or not”. I’ll just see if this company is worthwhile for me to invest my time in. If not, I will just quit next year and study full-time as my original plan.

And this is the main reason why I can’t even find the time to read my feeds and go blog-hopping. I got so tired after work and I go to bed at 10. Perhaps another reason is that I am sick for the past few days. Getting sick for the first few days in your work is definitely not a good idea X/

2. I’m hired for a Web Design Project

I will not reveal much on the project, but just to tell you all briefly. I am currently working on a simple selling e-book website, and it is schedule to finish by November. I am currently behind schedule, but I think I will pick up and go according plan next week. I still need time to adjust myself for this transition of jobless to employed status :sweat: That said, I am not available for any web projects for this month.

3. Sickness

I was sick, but I feel better now other than my throat. I got antibiotic from the speedy doctor, but my throat isn’t getting any better. I tried all sorts of alternative methods such as taking honey lemon, salt water, “Ubat Batuk cap Ibu dan Anak”, throat lozenge and gargle mouth antiseptic. Doesn’t help. I hope my throat feels better tomorrow.

4. Hari Raya Visiting

I went to visit my friends who are celebrating Hari Raya. I see all sorts of delicious food, BUT I didn’t eat any because of my sore throat. Those currys and rendangs looks so delicious!!! Well, the food isn’t as important as being able to catch up with friends that I have lost contact with for almost a year. :happy:

I guess that’s all for now.