I am tired

I have been working until midnight since Tuesday. It’s a strain on the mind and body. I need to work during this weekend as well. Time to get some zzz. Good night.

Paper Shredder and Fax Machine

My boss has asked me to start acting my title in the office. By that, he meant I should stop wasting my time at the paper shredder and fax machine. He “caught” me recycling some paper at the shredder a few days ago. Today, I wanted to fax a proposal to my prospect but the fax machine was stuck. Hence I had to unstuck the paper which was located right in front of my boss’ office. That was how I received my second reprimand.

What does acting my title mean? I consider myself as middle management in my department. So does this mean I should get someone lower than me to do all the mundane work? Does this mean I need to suck up to my bosses more often? All sounds very foreign to me. I guess they don’t teach such things in uni.

I remember I learned something from some company training programme where it was all about work when I first started work which is kind of true. As you climb the corporate ladder, you manage lesser work and more of people. Does this mean I need to spend more time with my peers and subordinates? Once again, I hit a dead end since I am still managing a lot of work. You can’t really inspire and motivate anyone when you are struggling to stay ahead of your workload.

One thing for sure. I better shred the paper only when my bosses are not around, ignore the fax machine when it is stuck and stop reloading the water dispenser even though it is empty.

Family - Yasmin Ahmad

Classic Yasmin Ahmad. I am a sucker for such tvc.

NBA Finals 2008 Boston Celtics vs LA Lakers Game 3

I didn’t follow Game 2. So I won’t comment much about it except for two things. Leon Powe had a great game and the Celtics nearly lost Game 2 after leading by 24 points in the 4th quarter. The Celtics do not deserve to win the series if they had lost Game 2.

It was Sasha Vujacic’s turn in Game 3. He helped the Lakers to take the lead in the 4th quarter and won the game by 6 points. Yes, Kobe played better by scoring 36 points, much better than the 24 and 30 points he had in the first two games. I believe the Lakers were more desperate to win Game 3 than the Celtics. As much as I would like to see the Celtics sweep the series by 4-0, I suspect a 4-0 scoreline is not healthy for the NBA. Then all the hype about the rivalry would come to naught.

Ray Allen came and played but Paul Pierce was nowhere to be seen. Kevin Garnett had a slow start as well and only came alive in the final minutes of the game. The 87-81 score is the lowest by far in this final series. Could be due to the jet lag.

I share Ray Allen’s confidence in the team. I hope the Celtics can win one game before we head back to Boston.

p/s: Congratulations to Rafael Nadal for winning his 4th French Open Tennis title.

NBA Finals 2008 Boston Celtics vs. LA Lakers Game 1

Celtics got off to a good start by beating Kobe in Game 1. It was a close match. I think Kobe led for a short period of time in the game but it was basically the Celtics all the way. Kobe had a poor shooting game by his standards (FG 9-26). I am glad Ray Allen shot down 19 points in this game. Paul Pierce was hurt but he came back to the game. I hope he recovers quickly for Game 2. While everyone is talking about how many games this Finals series would take before Kobe wins his 4th ring but I am inclined to think that Pierce, Garnett and Allen would win their first NBA ring as long the Celtics win all their home games. In the mean time while waiting for Game 2, I hope Roger would beat Nadal on Sunday.

Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary

The school is having a 2 weeks holiday. This means traffic will be lighter on the road. This also means the family is going somewhere for a short trip. I have chosen Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary after hearing and reading so much about it. The journey took 1.5 hours and we reached our destination by 12.00pm. It is important to arrive early if you want to participate in the activities. We registered ourselves and gotten a yellow sticker which indicated we could participate in all activities. The yellow sticker is only limited to 120 persons per day.
Since we were early, we took the opportunity to visit the Deer Park nearby. There is nothing much to talk about the Deer Park. So let’s go back to the Elephant Sanctuary. The video about the elephant relocation started at 1pm. The video lasted for 30 minutes inside a hot room. Basically, the entire sanctuary is hot and humid. The rangers bought the elephants out for a bath at a river nearby at 2pm.

The first activity was the elephant feeding. Some tourist brought some bananas and fruits were also provided at the feeding area. Everyone could feed the elephants as this activitiy is not limited to the yellow sticker holders only.

The elephants only liked to eat papaya and bananas. They were not too fond of the watermelons. 

The next activity was elephant riding. This activity was divided into two groups, adult and children and this activity is confined to the yellow sticker holders only.

The final activity is swimming with the elephants. Now I didn’t allow the kids to swim with the elephants as the river looks too filthy to me. This didn’t stop the foreign tourists of course. I guess this is the main highlight of their trip to this sanctuary. We didn’t stay to watch the final activity as I wanted to reach home for dinner.

Overall, it was a nice trip. I think the sanctuary should charge some entrance fee. Not too sure how many visitors would actually donate after all the activities. This is definitely the place to visit if you would like get close to elephants.

NBA Finals 2008

The Boston Celtics are back in the NBA Finals for the first time since 1987. Interestingly enough, the Celtics faced the same foe, the LA Lakers back in 1987. After two successful 4-3 wins over Atlanta Hawks and Cleveland Cavaliers, I am glad to see the Celtics gave a turnaround performance to win the Eastern Conference finals in 6 games. The team deserves some rest. Finally, Celtics won twice on the road in Detroit.  Unfortunately, Celtics has also lost one home game in this series.

The first game starts on Thursday night or Friday morning in Malaysian time. Will Kobe has his off moments like LeBron? Can Kobe win his 4th NBA ring on his own? Yes, LA Lakers = Kobe Bryant. Hopefully, the Celtics have enough firepower to stifle Kobe like the way they did to LeBron. I will just to wait and see.

Here in My Home Video

I liked the part where Awie sung in English. I also liked the rapping in different languages.

UEFA Champions League Final Moscow 2008

Yes, Manchester United is the king of Europe again. It was a close match with plenty of drama with the results decided on penalties. Here are the key highlights:

Man U dominated the first half by scoring first through a Ronaldo’s header. Man U could have sealed the game with 2 near misses. However, Chelsea got lucky and struck back via Frank Lampard when the ball bounced onto his path after 2 deflections.

The second half was a scrappy affair. The typical English long ball affair started to rear its ugly head in Man U’s game. There was a sense that things were not going Chelsea’s way after both Drogba and Frank hit the goal post. Man U also went close during extra time when Terry had to clear Giggs’ effort off the line. For reasons known only to Drogba, he got sent off for slapping Vidic.

I thought Man U cause was lost when Ronaldo hesitated and missed his penalty kick. I thought the game was gone just right before John Terry’s kick. Fortunately, Terry slipped, the game swung back to Man U’s favour and the rest was history.

Perhaps Sir Alex can retire now. Perhaps Ronaldo can leave and play in La Liga now.

Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament 2008

As expected, Malaysia lost 2-4 to Belgium and 1-2 to India to finish last in the round-robin group matches. Malaysia has gone from finalist during last year tournament to the bottom of the table in 2008. In an earlier match, India has shocked Pakistan by a score of 2-1 and will now take Pakistan’s place in the final against Argentina. Pakistan has to contend for the third place against New Zealand while Belgium and Canada will play for the fifth spot.