An Open Letter to Datuk Tony Fernandez and The People of Air Asia

Dear Datuk,

You obviously don't know me.

My name is Timothy and I run a blog advertising community in Malaysia called Nuffnang where two companies that you own: Air Asia and Tune Hotels have both advertised on.

As much as I would like to thank you and the people at Air Asia for your support of our humble dotcom, that is however a whole different matter altogether and is not why I'm writing this letter.

About a month ago, I packed my bags and flew Air Asia for the first time on a flight to Macau to visit the very talked about Venetian there.

It was the first time in my life that I ever flew Air Asia.This may come as a shock to many since I for one travel a lot and have yet never before flown Air Asia.

That's not to say that I don't fly budget airlines. I do.

I spent 3 years of my life pursuing a degree at UCL in London. As you can imagine, as a student I traveled a lot around Europe and also as a student... the only flights that I could really afford there were from budget airlines.

I actively flew budget airlines like Easyjet and Ryan Air, coincidentally the budget airlines that I assume Air Asia models after.

Yet whenever I was back in Malaysia I never once set foot on an Air Asia plane because of the ill-advised stigma that a local budget airline will not be very safe let alone comfortable.A month ago however, I finally mustered the courage and boarded an Air Asia plane. I was greeted with a rude shock.

Being used to Easyjet and Ryan Air, I was used to:

1) Massive flight delays: I once waited out a delay of 4 hours in Berlin for a flight to take me back to London.

2) Casually dressed air stewardesses: At Easyjet, I remember their on-flight staff wore casual clothes with an orange vest which really is not too much to complain about since after all, I was flying budget.

3) Small tiny seats which barely reclined: This made me suffer a little bit on the slightly longer flights but hey... I was flying budget!

4) Very very very little leg space: Which made it very hard for me to stretch any time during a flight.

And that was what I expected from Air Asia as well.

After I chucked my bag into the overhead compartment and sat down on my seat, I took a quick look around realized that I was TERRIBLY WRONG.
1) The flight left the airport on time: I may have heard of some delays before but for the two flights I had, there were no delays and everyone I have spoken to so far tells me that the flight is almost never late to leave.

2) The air stewardesses were very well dressed in stunning uniform: Which almost had me forget for a while that I was flying on a budget airline.

3) The seat was of a good size and to my disbelief was LEATHER. I have NEVER sat on a leather seat on an airplane before and I say this even after having been lucky enough to fly First and Business class on some other airlines before.

Finally,

4) There was enough leg space for me to stretch every now and then.
I could not believe it.

The airline that I expected so little from, gave me so much more and for that I felt compelled to write this letter.

What I was even more surprised with was this.

Many companies in Asia grow big with the benefits of being either a monopoly or oligopoly in its markets. Competition for Air Asia exists but in the budget airline industry for this region, it is clear that Air Asia is by far the market leader.

In that market environment, one would expect to see a complacent airline with high prices and questionable service but that is not what I saw in Air Asia. Instead, the prices are low and affordable: everything down from the air fare itself to the delicious Maggi cup noodle I ate on board the flight and the service was fantastic. Really fantastic!

For that I just have to say to you and all the people at Air Asia who put together this wonderful organization (everyone from the stewardesses on board the flight to the ground crew, the admin, accounts, marketing and even sales people),Well done... all of you have indeed built a Malaysian company that I am very proud of as a Malaysian.

From now on, I will no longer look at Air Asia as the airline that simply took after other successful budget airlines in the UK and US.

I will look at Air Asia as the airline that took the budget airline model, innovated it and made it far better than the airlines it modeled after.

I can't wait to fly Air Asia X.

Humbly Yours,
Timothy Tiah

Boss Stewie's Makeover

Let me tell you how Timothy Tiah spends his Sunday mornings.

Sundays are the most relaxing days for me now for two reasons.

1) I can work from home and not head into the office.

2) I don't get too many calls from clients.

So here's what I do on a typical Sunday.

I wake up in the morning, wash up then walk out of my apartment and take in a deep breath of fresh air.

I live right in the middle of KL City so it's only on Sundays where the air feels free of any pollution.

Then I walk towards my car that will be quietly parked in my apartment car park, hop in and turn on my CD Player.

With Michael Buble playing in the background, I shift my gear and take a drive around KL City.

The roads in the city during a Sunday are fantastic.

They're always empty!

I sing away while driving around the empty roads.
"In this crazy life... and through these crazy times, it's you it's you... you make me sing, your every line, your every word, you're my everything."
After I'm done driving past the beautiful Petronas Twin Towers with the sunrising in its backdrop I head a whole different direction to a place in KL where even on Sundays there is a little bit more activity.
Straight for my Sunday morning Bak Kut Teh breakfast.

I have breakfast there with some friends who are more often think it's too early for breakfast and curse and swear at me for dragging them out in the heat.


Like little Samantha here who couldn't keep her eyes open throughout the breakfast.


The food at the Bak Kut Teh breakfast always seems to come in stages.

First, there are the tea cups that you have to wash yourself in hot water.


Then come the tau pok and yau char kuay


And then finally... the BAK KUT TEH ITSELF... a proud Malaysian delicacy.

After my hearty breakfast, I head home and spend the rest of the day watching Las Vegas on TV.

Or on catching up with my reading. I love to read.
And please... that magazine with a naked baby in front of NEWSWEEK ok?

Not Baby porn or something ok (If you even thought that then you are SICK!! SICK I TELL YOU SICK!!!!).

So that's how my usual Sundays are like.

Yesterday however, was not a usual Sunday for me.

Why?

A particular friend of mine whom I would refer to here as Rockingdandy thinks that I dress like a cow and he wants to do a "Boss Stewie Makeover" on me so I sacrificed my usual Sunday morning.

Instead of going for a pleasant drive around KL, I found myself here.

Taken to this nice place to get my hair cut because he says my current (now previous) hair looked like shit.

Rockingdandy did all the talking and telling the hair stylist what to do with my hair.

All I did was sit down and sip tea.

45 minutes and one orgasmic hair wash massage later... I became like this.

But even then it wasn't enough for Rockingdandy.

As far as he knows, I still dress like a damn hippie.

So he took my to Pavillion in Starhill and dressed me up.


So this is how Rockingdandy thinks I should look for the rest of the days that I spend on this Earth.


Ladiesss.... what do you think?

Do you think Rockingdandy just made things better or worse for me?

A Present From a Reader

Long before Nuffnang launched, started reading a blog called "a long and arduous road of an entrepreneur".

That blog belonged to an anonymous Singaporean entrepreneur-blogger that goes by the name of Cobalt Paladin, someone that I have a lot of respect for.

Why do I have so much respect for this man?

Simple

Reading his blog gave me a very good insight on how the life of an entrepreneur is, not so much about the glory after you've made it, but more on the struggles in trying to get where you want to be.

Cobalt is so honest in his writings, it gives you a true depiction of how difficult it is to be an entrepreneur let alone a successful one. Even on my blog I censor out a lot of the struggles .

So why am I writing about him again?

Well...remember the time I lost my bluetooth headset to the washing machine and went to buy a cheap hands free set instead?

Cobalt Paladin apparently is one of the few people who read my blog each day.

He read about my bluetooth so he sent ONE for me ALL THE WAY FOR SINGAPORE.

I first found about what he was going to do when he e-mailed me for my address but I refused to give it to him because I couldn't POSSIBLY accept such a thing.

So he stole our Nuffnang office address in KL and sent it there (Yes, so if you guys want to send any hate mail, anthrax or bombs, go ahead and send it to that address. It'll reach me alright).

Now let me put this in perspective.

First of all, Cobalt is one blogger I have a lot of respect for and actually look up to. It makes my head grow big enough already having know that he actually READS my blog but also that he would send me a bluetooth headset all the way from Singapore?

That's like Brad Pitt telling you that he watches your home videos that you upload on YouTube and on top of that is sending you a contract to have a movie made out of them.

Cobalt dude, I don't know how to thank you enough.

If you're reading this, please at least let me buy you a good dinner the next time I'm down in Singapore.

On another note, the evil side of me is thinking that maybe ... just maybe... I should write about how I lost my iPhone in a washing machine. BWAHAHAHA


Maybe someone might just send me an iPhone... BWHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

So let me try now..

"AUGGGHH!!! I LOST MY IPHONE TO THE WASHING MACHINE!!!"

PS: The iPhone in the picture is not mine okay. I am not loaded. It belongs to a Danny Foo. Yes he's a rich sonofabitch so go find him and borrow money from him or something. He'll probably even forget about the hundred thousands he'll lend you. All chump change to him.

Timothy Tiah uses an old Sony Ericsson ok?
PS 2: If you guys are interested, read about Cobalt Paladin and his struggles as an entrepreneur in Singapore, click here, here and here.

Mathematics!

Mathematics!

Ah that is something all of us grew up doing and some of us grew up hating!

I never liked maths to be honest and I was never really good in it. That didn't mean I didn't always scored in it. I always scored A in maths back in school and even in A-levels but that's ONLY because I practiced so much till I was good in it.

Not like some of you out there who never need to practice much and can still get 100% all the time.

Now somebody e-mailed me something interesting yesterday and I thought I'd share it with you guys.

These are some real life answers that some of our students give.

QUESTION 1

Ok here's an easy one that we all can relate to.
Check out the model answer!

SO EASY!!!

No need for all that

Menurut Teorem Pitagoras bullshit...

QUESTION 2

The next one is fairly easy as well.

GENIUS!!!!!

Why didn't I think of that!!!

It makes perfect sense too... that's right Form 2 students... BURN YOUR BUKU SIFAR...

QUESTION 3

This is something I WISH I could've done in school.LOL LOL!!!

QUESTION 4

This is hilarious...

EXPAND!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

Check out the teacher's comments.

"Very funny Peter"...

QUESTION 5

These kind of questions make me dizzy.

And I can understand the student. I mean, all that dizzyness is bound to make you hallucinate what the real problem is.

QUESTION 6




Now I can really relate to this math problem because as much as I hate maths, I ended up studying a BSc in Economics at UCL where the math was so intense it would make a grown man's balls shrink.

Seriously, they're so crazy over there that if they could speak in Math, they would.

So believe me when I say that I understand how this student feels.




This is the FUNNIEST ANSWER OF ALL.

Read the question first.

THE SONOFABITCH DREW AN ELEPHANT AND SAID THERE WAS AN ELEPHANT IN THE WAY!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

E-mail From A Reader About Entrepreneurship

Last week I received an e-mail from one of my readers and I decided to share it with the rest of you guys.

Now this is a very very text heavy entry (which is not really my style) so I know many of you might not really bother to read it.

But I get a number of these questions sometimes so I thought I'd just share it once and for all.


Hi Timothy,

How are you? I'm XJ and we met at the (was it?) last bloggers meet in KL. Do you still remember I wanted to pass to you some Mac software?

Anyway, if you still do not remember, I'm that guy in HELP doing A -Levels and it would be a great honour if you could spare me some time just to answer a question that has bugged me. To cut everything straight to the point without beating around the bush, I wish to seek the advice of an entrepreneur like yourself to weigh my options.

The question is:
Should I quit my studies to pursue business (work, not studies)?

If you don't have time then a yes or no would suffice for me. I would be grateful for your answer.

Considerations: (If you have time)

1. Mentors encourage me to quit.
Reason:
a. My mentor evaluates that my character is more suited to employer than employee. I argue that his evaluation may not be accurate, and if accurate, then I shouldn't quit studying as a Plan-B in case my business fails I can still work. My mentor argues that I should start working immediately as I'm young and this is the time to make mistakes and gain experience. On the other hand, his idea of a Plan-B is to not have a Plan-B so that it will force me to think and innovate.

b. As I currently have a photography business where I'm self-employed as well as hire a couple of assistants and designers, my mentor encourages me to build the small business and gain experience rather than studying first as it would be a waste of time if business is the ultimate thing I want to pursue. I argue that I do not plan to run the photography business for long and merely use it as a stepping stone to pursue my other interests. He argues that all my other interests only interests profit-making.

c. My mentor argues that the hard way is the easier way to nuture an entrepreneur's mindset. As in, throw you into the deep end to force you to learn how to swim. I argued that I would drown as knowledge is lacking.

d. My mentor argues that studying may not be necessary if I intend to do business in the end. I argue that by going through university I will have acquired a set of knowledge and skills that may be useful. My mentor argues that the more I know, it would have a detrimental effect on my risk-taking spirit. I argue that I may be jumping off a cliff and not knowing it. He argues that better jump off that cliff when I'm still young so I would recognize it when I'm older.

2. Difficulties in financing studies
So far my results have been fair, as in fair enough to obtain scholarships. However, cost of living still has to be taken into account and if I do not manage to obtain a scholarship, I may have to resort to a loan. (For context, my parents refuse to finance my studies as they think it's a waste of time for me.) The problem of loan may be a pending recession and the availibility of jobs for me to finance repayment of it. Other than that, I would have much much less capital for whatever I want then. Another loan may solve the problem but credit restrictions may be even tighter by then, and a whole host of problems one could argue both ways.

3. Lack of direction.
There's no direction for me if I want to start a business. If I want to start a business, what business? If I continue studying, there is that definite course of studies normal people would go through- From A levels to a degree and after that an internship somewhere and a job at last. However if I drop out then I may be stuck with little idea what to do. The arguement against this is that the situation may cause me to think and be creative albeit in a hard way.

Thank you for your time and I'm sorry if this has taken up much of your time. If you have read until this point, my respect for you has really tripled. I apologize once more for taking your time if you had pressing matters. I value your opinion much.

Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
XJ


My Reply to him

Dear XJ,

Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes

....

Hahaha no I'm kidding.

Here's my reply to him.

Hi XJ,

I am terribly sorry I took so long to reply your e-mail.

The truth is, I don't want to be giving you "YES" or "NO" answers, I wanted to take some time to draft out your answers so I needed to find some time between my days to write something.

Here are answers to your questions.

1a) Mentors Encourage You To Quit
There is no right or wrong answer to this question. I finished my degree at university not really because I thought that was a better route to take but more because I never really knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur until a year before I graduated. All along I always thought that I was going to work in an investment bank like JP Morgan or Deutsche Bank.

That being said, my father who is a very successful businessman believes that a tertiary education is very very important. Not so much for what you learn from the books there but more on the character you will build there especially if you go overseas.

b.

I'm not sure what you do here exactly so I'm really in no position to comment about this except that, whatever business it is, it has to be one that can make money. Robert Fong, the CEO of Mojikan once told me something that I felt was true to the bone: "Business cannot be built on passion".

Passion starts you off, but sooner or later when you learn the ugly side of things and you will, you may begin to lose your passion for it. The only thing that will keep you running by then is whether you make money or not.

c.
It really depends on what your business is all about. Some businesses like property, I imagine will be impossible to start on your own if you don't first work for people and understand the basics.

Others like internet businesses are so new that you're not going to learn much from any other existing company. People like to say work experience is important but so is the experience of being an entrepreneur.

Every year you spend working for others is a year that you gain by learning from your bosses and also a year you lose by not learning from yourself by making your own mistakes as an entrepreneur.

Before I took the leap to become and entrepreneur. I asked a few successful businessmen I know for some advice.

One of them is a very very rich man who started off working for a few years before he became an entrepreneur and made millions.

His path has taken him from a nobody to a very rich man, then back to a nobody again after failing in business and today... he lives in a huge mansion with supercars that will make Jeremy Clarkson take his hats off to.

When I asked him whether I should work first before I jump into business, he said
"Tim, during my time, you had to WORK first to be able to see opportunity. Today, with the internet age, opportunity is everywhere and you don't need to work to see it which is why you see so many young entrepreneurs.

The difference however, is that during my time... 1 out of every 10 entrepreneurs actually make it. But in this time and age... only 1 out of 20 will ever make it. Do you like those odds? If you do... go for it".



d.

I agree with your dad but your way is not wrong as well. Like i said earlier, there is no right or wrong answer to this question.


2. Difficulties in Financing Studies

Having no money to run a business is an excuse that I see too many wannabe entrepreneurs use to get away from their complacency.

Take a simple example of Nuffnang for example.

Numerous venture capitalists have come up to us to ask if we need money, not just local venture caps but venture caps that have flown in all the way from China or Hong Kong just to see us to see if they could invest. Now we're not talking thousands or tens of thousands here... we're talking millions and millions that these venture caps are looking to put in.

My point is that today there is so much money floating around this region.

You just got to make sure people believe your dream as much as you do.

Whatever you do, don't take a bank loan though (even if you could get one). Especially if you're running an internet business and expect little revenue in the first two years... the interest will kill you.

3. Lack of Direction

If you don't have an idea of what to do then it's best to wait until you do. Why the hurry.

One thing though, you have to be sure about what you're getting yourself into.

Being an entrepreneur or being self-employed is not about enjoying the luxury of working whatever time you want, keeping all the money you earn for yourself and having all the glamour of being called an entrepreneur (Believe me, there is NO glamour in that and chicks don't DIG entrepreneurs... no they dig investment bankers and lawyers. Do you see me with a different girl every week?).

The truth is, in the past 7 months since Nuffnang started not too long ago, I have experienced the most traumatic stress that I have ever had to deal with in my life.

Nights go by when I can't sleep whether because of the stress that I'm faced with or whether it's because I have so many things on my mind I can't wait for morning to come so that I could go get them all done one by one.

Sometimes I may be out having fun with some friends and I may get a sudden call from a client or from someone with a problem at hand, and my whole night will be gone with me thinking deep inside how I can go about solving the latest crisis I was just handed.

It may be fun having employees and fun having a big team. But you can't help but worry that every move you make now is important because your life is not the only one at stake, you have people who depend on you for their pay cheques to come at the end of the month ON TIME.

Sales & Marketing is an essential part of any business you may run and it is also the most difficult. It is from your sales & marketing efforts that you will face the most degrading experiences in your life with people rejecting you because you are a NOBODY and like it or not, YOU are a nobody to them.

I've had it fairly easy because I got lucky and because I love sales & marketing, I LOVE pitching and I enjoy the rush... but if you don't feel the same way that I do... you're in for a very very hard road.

Imagine this, my partner Ming and I started off without knowing a soul in the advertising industry. The only way we got our advertisers is by cold calling people and begging for a meeting or a chance to pitch.

For every 10 calls we made, 9 turned us down and it is only after perseverance, hope and a lot of LUCK did we eventually manage to land advertisers from the likes of Nike, Air Asia, Nokia, Nestle, HUGO, Media Prima and the list goes on.

Whatever you choose to do.

Going into business is something you have to think about very carefully about.

But the good news is... as much as you will have many ups and downs... the downs will make you feel really really bad...but the ups... the ups will give you a feeling so good that I just can't explain with words.

I can't make this decision for you dude. You have to make it yourself. What's important is.. once you make the leap, don't ever look back.

Also, try to make it a point to ask advice from a successful entrepreneur. I may be a start, but I'm also young, inexperienced, still learning and far from successful.

PS: I get quite a number of these questions, you mind if I clean this up and publish this on my blog? (He said yes obviously :P)


Ok tell me honestly... how many of you actually managed to read this far? I say not more than 30...

One Helluva Birthday Party

One of my friends Audrey actually invited Nicole and I to her birthday party this year.

Now a bit of background on Audrey.

I had known Audrey since she was a reader of Leng Mou in the old days. We've always kept in contact for a bit and now she's starting up her very own events company.

Being in the 'events industry', it was only natural for her to plan a birthday party that had the closest attention to detail.

Audrey held her private party at Maya Hotel's Sky Lounge.

I arrived early enough to take pictures of the beautiful place!

When I walked in, I was greeted by some very nice comfy couches with lovely lighting and wonderful 'chill-out' music playing in the background.

The food there was really pretty as well!

Everything from the nicest satay to the most chocolatey chocolate mousse, so rich and sweet it make any girl squirm in delight.

Now great food and a classy place is something I've seen before in some other parties, but this party had some rather personal touches.

One of which is the photographer that went around with a Polaroid picture to take a picture of Audrey with each guest there, giving them a souvenir to bring home for the night.

My turn for a Polaroid picture with the Birthday girl came really quickly.


But the flash from that camera... seriously... NOT AT ALL FUNNY!!!


That was the brightest flash I have ever seen in my life.

After the painful flash, it was the fun part:

Watching the photo develop!

Wait for it...

Wait for it...


Wait for it...



Wait for it...


Almost there...
TADAAAA!!!!

And I can safely say with proof of photos that... no animals were hurt or injured in the production of this beautiful picture.

How much fun Polaroids are.

Now to add icing to the cake, Audrey wrote a personal message on each Polaroid picture.


And she did the same for Nicole too.


After we were done playing around with Polaroids, a saxophonist made his entrance to play music for the small but close crowd.

He was amazing!

Wish I had brought the camcorder Panasonic had given me the day before but being the turtle brain I was... I forgot!!!Now guys... learn this.... a man playing the saxophone makes the heart of ANY girl melt.

Nicole who was seated next to me had her heart melting away as well but I didn't manage to take a picture of that because... well.. I was melting away too.

But the fun part came when some of Nicole and my readers came over to say hi!.

Let me introduce some of them to you.

MEET DONNY!

Now when I first saw Donny he said
"I actually saw both you and Nicole when I first came in but I didn't dare to come say hi".

I asked
"Why not?"

And the dude said
"Because you're both so famous".

In which point I nearly smacked him in the head and say

"Nicole is the fehmes one... not me.. my personal blog gets about 20 unique visits a day (including myself)".

but I refrained and decided to enjoy whatever fake recognition I was getting.

Bwahaha nevermind... let people think I have a popular blog and enjoy whatever credit that I don't deserve.

You know, life if a pretty hot girl like that comes up to you and says

You don't say..
"HELL NO!!!... what are you talking about?"

You LIE and you say


In any case, let this be a warning to all of you!

If ANY of you see me in public, at least come and say hi okay?

I promise I won't try to borrow money from you or something.

Ok back to the party...

From left.. Audrey (Birthday girl), Ah Ling , me and John the photographer.
At the end of the private party, we took a small group picture.

Oh and please pay attention to the second girl from the right.

Her name is Jess and is one of the most fanatical readers of mine. She has almost every blog entry of mine MEMORIZED in her head.
I wish I had a proper picture with just me and her but the bitch deleted every one of the those photos that I took with her thinking that the photo didn't make her look good.

She is in person the bubbliest person I have ever met! I lup you Jess!

Finally, thank you for the wonderful party Audrey.

Oh and if any of you want your parties or events organized by Audrey, drop her an e-mail at audrey.loh[@]gmail.com

Oh.. and Audrey is single now (bwahahaha)... so if any of you guys want to get to know her.. just drop her an e-mail there too ok?

Pretend to want to do an event if you have to (bwahahahah) ... otherwise she might not see you :P

You know lar... girl in demand... hard to get her attention... hard to impress.

What A Great Time To Be A Blogger

About a week ago I was feeling a little crap.

My camera current camera is getting a bit old... a Panasonic FX-7 is what I use and I've been on it for the past 2-3 years.

I really wanted to buy myself a new camera, something I needed since I post quite a number of pictures on my blog for you guys to see right?

So I went shopping, but as usual, everything nice is expensive and given all the money that I've been spending lately, I decided to resist the urge to spend more and hold back on it.

Just then an old friend who works at Panasonic now gave me a call.

She told me that she wanted me to use a Panasonic camera and nothing else! So I agreed to talk about it and yesterday dropped by their office.There they sat me down and told me that they would like to sponsor cameras for me to use as long as I tell everyone on my blog that I use Panasonic.

I thought about it and said
"Hey.. I'm sure my readers won't mind, since they'll have nicer pictures to look at (you guys don't mind right?)"

Coupled with the fact that I already AM a Panasonic camera owner, I really liked the idea of sticking to Panasonic.

So I said okay.

Then Patricia, who is the girl on the left said to me "Timothy... You will never have to spend a single cent on cameras ever again in your life. Here's what we'll do... we'll lend you a camera to use for 3-6 months, after that you return that camera to us and we give you a NEW model to use. So you will always be using the latest models, for FREE!"

I tried to hide my delight and sound unimpressed.. so I said.. "Ohh... ok".

When deep inside I was jumping in joy and screaming

"A NEW CAMERA EVERY 3-6 MONTHS?!?!?! HOLY #*(%&&(*#$%(&*#$*#*. And all I had to do was tell people that I use Panasonic? But that sounds fine by me!"

So the first "toy" they let me take back was one of their newest Camcorders.
(The next one is going to actually be a digital camera to replace my old one.. bwahahaha)

I left Panasonic's office... a happy man!
Almost as if I had just gone shopping.

I went home, opened up the box the camera was in, threw away the instructions (I never read instructions.. though I often regret not doing so). Now I've never ever used a camcorder before let alone own one.

My only recollection of a camcorder is one of those huge big ugly things that my dad used to own. Not these new small compact ones that you carry with one hand!

So I'm not really sure what I should be filming. This is where I need some suggestions. What would you guys like to see me film?

Nothing scandalous ok?

I mean even if I film something scandalous, it will be in private (HEHEHE).

I won't be able to publish it.... or the next thing Panasonic will ever sponsor me to use are their AAA+ Batteries. Now you don't want to see me blogging about batteries do you?

PS: I'm the first but not the only one okay? Panasonic is going to be sponsoring a few other Nuffnang bloggers so stay tuned for that okay? Heheheh

"Poor Rich People"

I was having a happy morning.

I strolled into the office a little late this morning since I had a late night last night... and I was happy bouncing around until I checked my e-mail and found this.

Yang Huiyan (26 year-old) tops this year's list with a net worth of $16.2 billion, seven times the $2.3 billion that retailer Wong Kwong Yu needed to rank No. 1 in 2006. Yang's father, the low-profile chairman of Country Gardens, turned over his shares to his daughter in 2005, and her wealth has soared with the company's stock price since the company went public in Hong Kong in April.

$16.2 billion.

Wait let me say that again.

SIXTEEN POINT 2 BILLION ($16,200,000,000)

It took me a while to fathom how much $16.2 billion is.

Okay lets say I am really spend thrift.

I buy 50 supercars, all a combination Ferraris,

Rolls Royces,

and Porsches.

And when I say Porsche, I don't mean the cheap Porsche like the Boxster.
I mean the Carrera GT... top of the line one!


Assuming on average, that costs me $1,000,000 a car, I would have spent only $50,000,000.

Money Spent So Far: $50,000,000
Next, a rich wealthy man has got to stay in a mansion.

So say I go buy a huge mansion that costs $50,000,000 to build.

Heck, say I buy 5 of those just for the fun of it.

So all that costs $150,000,000.
Money Spent So Far: $200,000,000.

Then say I am even more extravagant.

I buy a private jet.

Not just any private jet.

Not small ones like these.Those are for fags.

I buy the biggest private jet in the whole wide world!

The Airbus A380 which when used in commercial airlines will be able to seat 586 passengers. for $300,000,000.

Then I'll spend another $100,000,000 just to do up the interior to put in my indoor golf course and all that.

Money Spent So Far: $600,000,000

How about yachts.... every rich man has got to have a yacht.

Well but lets say I'm extravagant again.

So I'll forget about that tiny little thing they call a yacht.
AND I BUY MYSELF A WHOLE MOTHERFRIGGIN CRUISE SHIP!!!

That will probably cost me another $500,000,000 but no problem.

Money Spent So Far: $1,100,000,000.

Then lets not forget football clubs.

Say I buy Manchester United for another $4,000,000,000 or so.

Money Spent So Far: $5,100,000,000.

That leaves me with $11,100,000,000 LEFT TO SPEND!!!

AFTER ALL THE MONEY I HAVE WASTED!!!

Say I put that $11,100,000,000 into FD in Malaysia with a very very low yield of 3%.

In one year, the interest I will earn is $333,000,000.

That's almost $1,000,000 to spend each day just on shopping.

How the hell do you do that?

Think of all the stress that would create.

Every morning you wake up and you think to yourself
"Shit... how do I spend $1,000,000 before the day ends..."

*sigh*

No wonder some people say.. with money comes stress.

I pity the rich people out there.... all the stress they must face.

Boss Stewie in Hong Kong

Okay since I got back from Macau a couple of weeks ago, I never really got a chance to update my blog on the fun I had there so here's an entry on the trip.

Now on one of the days when I was in Macau, I hopped on one of these boats that they call a hydrofoil to take me from Macau to Hong Kong.

One hour and a few seasick projectile puking sessions later, I was in Hong Kong!
Now you know that you're in Hong Kong when you see plenty of young girls carrying LV bags that you will never be able to afford even after you mortgage your home and sell your kids to slavery.

I mean look at that!

Whether it's this type (which people are going to assume is fake even if it's really real).Or this type, where most people would believe its real.


Or this.... LV bags are everywhere.

Just a hunch... but if you took all the LV bags in Hong Kong and China... and sold all of them, the money you raise could potentially be enough for us to feed every hungry child in Africa for 10 years.

Anyone disagree with that?

Anyway, part of the reason I went to Hong Kong was to see a couple of my best bestest Hong Kong friends that I spent my 3 years in London with.

One of them is this guy named Adrian.
Adrian is the only reason why I manage to make it through university. He was my tutor throughout.

After graduating from UCL, Adrian went to Cambridge University to finish off his Masters and left the university with work experience at Goldman Sachs and UBS in London.

He was about to start work with the Bank of England when he decided to go back to Hong Kong for a couple of weeks and I just so happened to drop by Hong Kong in those couple of weeks so he was able to bring my family and I around Hong Kong.

He took us away from the usual busy city main roads and into street like these.

I don't know about you guys but I LOVE these little narrow streets in Hong Kong filled with good food.

We went for a whole eating festival, eating the best of everything.

The one I will always remember is the so called Best Egg Tart shop in the whole of Hong Kong where they made their own egg tarts.
MMmmmmmm...

Let me illustrate how good it looks.
There!

That's how good it looks and take into account that I'm a bad photographer and I normally take bad pictures and that this photo was NOT photoshopped!

But no matter how bad the photographer, nobody can make that egg tart look bad.

It was delicious.
So delicious that it was almost a crime to settle for just one.
The pastry around it was soft and warm.

The filling in the middle melted in your mouth and the aftertaste was.... to die for!

Anyway after we have had enough to eat, Adrian brought us to this place.

I can't remember what it's called.. but it's like a little "Walk of Stars" place where all the famous Hong Kong celebrities of the past and present have their mark and their palm prints.

I was really excited as we started our walk... I mean think of the people that I would see!

At first we came across people like this.
Ng Cho Fan... in which both my sister and I said to each other
"WHO?!??!"

But my mum on the other hand was excited as a little girl.

She went
"OOOOH!!! NG CHO FAN!!!"

My sister and I decided to walk on.. I mean there had to be a Jet Li or Jackie Chan there somewhere... or at least.. someone from OUR generation... not from my mother's or grandmother's.

So we walked to the next star.

"Pak Yin... who the hell is that?"

My sister and I threw blank looks at each other.

But once again. when my mum caught up with us she said
"OOOOOOOOOOOOO PAK YIN!!!!".

This went on for the next 10 minutes of the walk and I was beginning to get bored since I was seeing stars and hand prints of artists I have no clue where even famous.

Heck even the garbage boat out passing by seemed more interesting to me.

And I didn't mean it in a sense that the boat isn't really interesting. I mean it is!

Where else do you see sooo much garbage... ON WATER!!!

Imagine if that boat sunk.

The water would turn black.

All the fish in the water would instantly float up and die.

And environmentalists will be yelling out at that boat's company trying to sue its ass off.

Man there would have been an interesting sight. More interesting than the stars I was looking at.

But soon enough, the "Stars" got "Brighter".

I finally saw a name I recognized.
BRUCE LEE!!!

BRUCE LEE THE MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then it got better.

MICHELLE YEOH!!!

Oh sorry.. I meant.. Datuk Michelle Yeoh!!!!

Then CHOW YUN FATT!!!
(Ok I'm not sure why foot is there... but I think it's because he had his foot print there and I was comparing our shoe sizes).

Then... the moment we had all been waiting for.

JACKIE CHAN!!!

Jackie Chan is by far my favourite actor of all time.

I mean I am SO in love with Jackie Chan, he could even make a documentary about watching grass grow and I would WATCH THE ENTIRE THING!!!

I just HAD to compare my hand size with him.
And uhmm... I realized that my hands were freakishly small his hands were freakishly big!

I was satisfied after seeing Jackie Chan's hands and it was about time.

Since the sun was already setting over Hong Kong.

Adrian then brought me to dinner with his family, and with another friend best friend of mine Eddie caught up with us.

We had a good time catching up, and lots of pictures.

The 3 of us.... all graduating from UCL (University College London) in Economics.


We're a proud bunch... we UCL Alumni.

And it's because we didn't simply come from Doofus University or the University of Stoopid Phucks, we came from UCL, ranked the 25th Best University in the world according to the Newsweek Top 100 Global Universities ranking.

All the people in my class went for great career undertakings after they left uni.

Some like Adrian went to further their studies at Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Princeton and etc etc... some, got jobs at Goldman Sachs earning a disgusting salary package of almost RM600,000 a year.

One of our seniors even went on to be Prime Minister of his country like Junichiro Koizumi, the previous Prime Minister of Japan.
Some went on to start a band like Cold Play.
Some, went on to invent the telephone (No shit... Alexander Graham Bell was from UCL).

And finally, some even went to fight for their country's independence (Yes Gandhi was from UCL too).
All who did great things.

Whereas I decided to forgo all that greatness, come home and do a simple internet startup called Nuffnang.

That didn't stop my friends from loving me.

After dinner, they all took me in Eddie's van.
And drove me back to the ferry terminal where I said goodbye.

I probably won't see the both of them again for another few years.

By then... I know both of them would've achieved something great.

To My Muslim Readers

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI!

Now I know some of you are expecting an update but I'm working on a series of entries now that you should be seeing in the next few days, first one probably coming out tomorrow if I'm hardworking enough!

So don't fret!

Enjoy your long weekend everyone!

The Story Behind One Of My Clients

About 2 months ago I received a text from my brother.

“K is looking for you… call him”.

Now K is a nickname that my brother gave one of his uni friends when they all used to hang out in Sydney.

K’s real name is Swee Yeong which may be familiar to some as one the Malaysian success stories of our time.
Just a brief introduction in case many of you may have missed out on it.

Just a few years after graduating from Sydney, Swee Yeong came back to Malaysia and started a mobile content company called UnrealMind which he expanded from Malaysia to all around the region and subsequently listed on the Mesdaq.

He then moved on to sell his company for millions years later and left the company around the end of 2005. At 32 now, he tells me he spent much of 2006 taking a break and playing DOTA.
Yes, so the next time you see someone sitting next to you in a cybercafe playing Dota from morning till night.

You might think he’s a BUM with no damn life.

But for all you know he could be an entrepreneur who has already made his millions so HAH!!!

I’ve met Swee Yeong briefly before just before UnrealMind’s IPO but we never really sat down to chat until we met for coffee a few months ago.

Over the cup of coffee, Swee Yeong gave me the little history lesson about himself but quickly moved on to talk about his new project and why he was meeting with me.

His new project was Pacmee.com, a Malaysian-like Twitter though I won’t call it a Twitter per say since there are some innovations to it that Twitter doesn’t have.
For example, if I get an SMS from Twitter telling me what my friend is doing, I would have to create a new SMS to respond to him if I wanted to.

But for Pacmee, all I had to do was to simply reply to that very same SMS I got from Pacmee telling me what my friend was doing.

From Left; Me, Swee Yeong and ChoonYew (Swee Yeong’s partner) at Hannah Tan’s recent album launch part at Mardigras 1-Utama.

Since that cup of coffee, we planned out a campaign on the Nuffnang Blog Community together and timed the campaign for just after its beta launch.

Today, Pacmee is used by bloggers all over Malaysia including bloggers like myself, Kenny Sia, Nicole, Xes and their subscriber base is growing strong. Looks like another successful dotcom startup is in the making.

Oh and I am NOT being paid by Swee Yeong to write this.

I enjoy writing about my business associates turned friends sometimes.

*sigh*

I am having a really really bad day at work today and really not in the condition to blog.

But this joke someone happened to e-mail me cheered me up a little.

The following is the transcript of an actual radio conversation in October 1995, between a US Navy ship and The British authorities, off the Scottish North coast. The transcript was released by the MoD on10/10/95.

(MoD = Ministry of Defence)

BRITISH : Please divert your course 15 degrees to the South, to avoid collision.

US Navy : Recommend you divert YOUR course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a

collision.

BRITISH : Negative.You will have to divert your course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.

US Navy: This is the Captain of US Navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course.

BRITISH: Negative. I say again. You will have to divert your course.

US NAVY: THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS LINCOLN. THE SECOND LARGEST SHIP IN THE UNITED STATES' ATLANTIC FLEET.

WE ARE ACCOMPANIED BY THREE DESTROYERS,

THREE CRUISERS AND NUMEROUS SUPPORT VESSELS.

DEMAND THAT YOU CHANGE YOURCOURSE 15 DEGREES NORTH, THATS 15 DE GREES NORTH, OR COUNTER MEASURES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THIS SHIP.

BRITISH: We are a lighthouse. F*ck off.

haha

THEY JAILED JACK BAUER!!!

I was just reading the news today when I read THIS!

(@(*&$&*(#$(#$&#&(*$&*(#$^&*

DOES ANYONE ELSE NOT FEEL THE SAME AS I DO?!?

YOU DO NOT... JAIL JACK BAUER!!!
I mean.. Jack can rob a bank, get caught red handed with a gun in his right hand and a money bag in his left, then plead guilty in court but you STILL DO NOT JAIL JACK BAUER!!!

NOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooo.....

WHO IS GOING TO SAVE THE WORLD WHEN TERRORISTS ATTACK NOW?!?!?!

Boss Stewie Cooks!

I live alone in my apartment in KL.

As a result of that, I always have to find my own dinners and most of the time it's fine because I'm out meeting clients for dinner most of the time.

But sometimes, whenever I find the time, I like to sit down to a dinner I made myself.

Any real man knows how to cook. He may not need to be a good cook but at least knowing how to cook is a sign that the man can survive on his own!

So one day, I left the office early. Went home.

Rolled up my sleeves.
And decided to cook!

I can't say I'm a good cook.. but I can say that I LOVE my cooking.

I never always knew how to cook and it was only in my student days in London that I learned how to cook bachelor like food. Simple meals like Pasta.

So that day I decided to make pasta.

Now I don't like tomato-based pasta and don't quite fancy carbonara as well. What I do like however... is Pesto-based pasta or Aglio Olio type of pasta.

Here's how I did it.
First, you need the ingredients.

Simple stuff.

Sausages, ham, fresh mushroom, garlic, mixed herbs, olive oil and pasta (Duh!).

If you want you can include some vegetables but I'm not a big fan of vegetables.

So after you get your ingredients together, chop them up into however you want it to be.


I don't believe in chopping anything down until it's small small pieces simply because, it takes too much time (that I don't have) and... whatever you do, it's all going into that one frying pan anyway.
So I don't even bother cutting my ham into small small pieces.

In fact I like it a little bigger so I can feel it when I bite it.

Then of course there are the sausages which are easy to cut.

Except for one thing that most noobs forget about.

For some reason, sausages seem to come in condoms.

I shit you not... they really do come in condoms.

So always remember to REMOVE the condom before you throw them into the frying pan.
And when you do... don't hold it up and laugh at it!

Don't!

Just don't do that... especially if you're cooking for your date.

Because she's going to think you're a little kiddo that has never seen a condom before (let alone put one on later in the night).

Now the next thing and the MOST important thing you gotta do is... boil the pasta.

Just chuck it all into a pot, fill it up with water and boil away.

Now why I say this is the most important part is because... I am VERY particular about my pasta. IT HAS to be AL DANTE which means not too soft and not too hard, but a little chewy.

I like my pasta like that... and you can even give me Al Dante pasta with nothing but olive oil and I will eat it.

I get very very pissed off when I go to a good restaurant and pay RM30 for pasta and the damn chef can't even make the pasta Al Dante.

I mean.. how hard can it be!

If a noob like me can make it Al Dante, I don't see why a restaurant chef can't do it.

Here's what I do to make it Al Dante.

When you're boiling the pasta, just remember to stir it and every once in a while try a piece to see if it's the texture you want it to be.

Just right after you feel it is JUST BEFORE how you like it to be, lift it off the stove and pour all the water out.

Now when you're done, chuck it all into the frying pan along with the other ingredients that you should've started cooking 5 minute ago.
Note that this is not the way ALL pasta is made.

Some pasta especially those with sauce just needs you to pour some olive oil around it then pour the pasta sauce on top of it.
But for this particular one, I like to pour the pasta into the pan and mix it.

And before you know it... VOILA.. it's done!

This meal should take you 15 minutes to prepare if you've done it many times before, 30 minutes to prepare if you haven't, 1 hour to prepare if you're a noob and 3 hours to prepare if you're completely hopeless with a frying pan.

Now if you're making this for a date then you can go ahead and beautify it to make it more presentable.
But if you're cooking for yourself then don't bother.

And Voila... Boss Stewie cooks.

RAMBO IS A FAG!

Rambo has had so much influence in my life.

I mean just not too long ago in my Counterstrike days, whenever I felt ball-sy and decided to go alone against an entire team of bad guys (and of course died), my friends will always say
"YOU THINK YOU RAMBO AR?"

And I bet that prior to reading the title of this blog entry, you have never ever heard the words
"Rambo" and "Fag" in the same line before.

Even after I put that line as my blog title you can't believe that I really mean that.... and it's true.. I don't... Rambo is no fag!

RAMBO is DA MAN!!!

And it doesn't matter that his first film debut was in a hardcore porn film called Party at Kitty and Stud's.

I mean, put 1,000 of the most dangerous and violent people in the world on a jungle island.

Give them all the machine guns and bombs in the world and tell them to work as a team and kill anyone else that comes on to that island.

Then, throw Rambo on to that same island and give him nothing but a giant Disneyland lollipop and Rambo will still have them all beaten to death with that piece of candy.
Now Sylvester Stallone is old.... last I checked, he already passed 60.

That's grandpa territory over there.

But I recently came across the trailer of his new upcoming Rambo movie: John Rambo.

Behold!

Watch the most violent movie trailer of all time!



Note to self: Don't phuck with Rambo!
(And don't call him no fag... he has balls so big it makes a bull's nuts look like marbles)

Replacing My Bluetooth that Mati Lemas

Yes some of you may remember that I lost my bluetooth headset to the washing machine just a few days ago.

To make matters worse, I was feeling very broke after spending so much money on booze that night at Velvet but I knew that I just can't do without a headset.

So the very same day, I went straight to The Curve to buy myself a new one.

I walked around The Curve and ended up on the Ground Floor of Cineileisure Damansara.

There were quite a few mobile phone vendors there so I walked up to one and said
"I just killed my bluetooth today... and I need a new one".

The man behind the counter took a quick look at me and thought to himself
"Niama... little boy in a "Mr Happy" T-shirt... don't even know whether he can really afford a bluetooth headset or just playing punk with me!".
But he decided to humour me anyway
"Sure Sir... we have this very special bluetooth. Locally made but it is very reliable. It costs more than the Motorola, Samsung or Sony Ericsson ones but it is very stable. Trust me, so far no complaint!".

I have never used a non-Motorola Bluetooth before.

So I thought about it and said
"Hmm... this one some more is like a clip wan... can clip on my baju wan right? Damn cool".
And there the salesman was thinking to himself
"Stooopid small kid... clip also cool, like never hang baju before".

So I took a good long look at it and asked some questions about the specs.

The nice salesman smiled and answered my questions promptly... but by the look in his eyes I knew he was thinking
"Niama... this smart Alec asking so many questions... he better buy if not I will do something really bad to him".

Then the question that he was waiting for came
"Do you have anything cheaper ar?"

The salesman then struck a look in his eyes that I knew what he was thinking
"AH HAH! I KNEW IT! NO MAHNEY TO BUY SOME MORE WAN TO PRETEND CAN AFFORD!!!"But again on the outside he said
"Unfortunately not sir... this is the only Bluetooth headset we have".

Then I asked
"How about a normal hands-free set? You know the traditional one with wire one?"

The salesman opened a drawer and took this out.

I asked him how much and he said

"RM10".

My parents always taught me that my reaction to a price quote should always be
"WAH SO EXPENSIVE AR?!?!"

Of course, I forget that the rule doesn't apply sometimes, especially when you're buying cheap products like a kilo of sugar or ..... a fake hands free set.

But I forgot about that so I "accidentally" went on to say
"WAH!!! WHY SO EXPENSIVE?!?!? MADE IN GERMANY AR?!"

The salesman said
"No sir, locally made one... and it's not expensive lar".

Seeing that the salesman was still playing it cool on the outside, I went on to say
"Can give cheaper or not?"

I saw that same "pissed-off" look in the salesman's eyes that I saw earlier... but this time he was thinking
"BLOODY HELL THIS MR HAPPY.... RM10 ALSO WANT TO ASK FOR DISCOUNT... SOMEONE SHOULD BUY HIM A MR. CHEAP SHIRT!!!"

But again on the outside, the nice salesman maintained his cool
"Cannot lar sir... I only make very little from this one sale".

In the end I thought about it and decided.

I've been buying so many bluetooth headsets in the past but they always fail on me one way or another. So why not just go back to the basics and buy something that is cheap and works.

Not to mention, Bluetooth headsets have stopped being cool since uncles with flowery shirts started wearing them on the ear everywhere they go even when they're not on the phone.

So in the end I told the salesman with affirmation
"Forget about the bluetooth... I'll go for the RM10 wan".

The salesman took my RM10 and watched me walk away with my new hands free.

I didn't look back but I knew he was saying to himself
"*(@&(@&($*#(&*$&*(#$(&*#&*($#*($ BLOODY MR CHEAP!!! YOU BETTER NOT CUM BAK AGAIN OR I WILL BEAT YOU SO BAD YOUR OWN MOTHER WON'T BE ABLE TO RECOGNIZE YOU"

But after all his frustration I knew he was trying to calm himself down thinking
"Ok lah... sell it for RM10, my cost is RM8 so made RM2 lah... not bad"

I took a few steps away from the counter... then I turned back and said
"Hey... can I have a plastic bag to put this in?"

The salesman grunted and took one out for me, mentally recalculating in his mind
"Cost RM8 + Cost of plastic bag = RM8.10 so made RM1.90, ten sen less... niama this Mr Happy".

Two days later... I kinda figured out why it doesn't pay to be cheap sometimes.
Haih... broken already.
'

Nadnut

Just about any famous blogger in the Malaysian and/or Singaporean blogosphere knows Nadnut.

And you know why they know her?

Because she just loves to make fun of people.

I mean take for example, my partner Ming.

Ming was nice enough to invite her to our Nuffnang office in Singapore to check out our Nuffnang Backend (Nuffnang BE).

The Nuffnang Backend is something that we all have kept Top Secret till today.

It's what the Nuffnang team uses to monitor the entire network, everything from monitoring ad campaigns to selecting blogs into advertiser campaigns and even the minor minor things like checking ad placements on blogs or detecting click fraud.

Yes, Nadnut was one if not the only lucky blogger ever to be invited to the office to view the Nuffnang BE.

And how did she show her appreciation to Ming?

She SPANKED MING IN THE BUTT and checked out his REAL BACKEND!

KETERLALUAN THAT WOMAN!!!

So cruel!!!

So ruthless!!!

Which reminds me of the time when she SPOOFED my "5 Step La La Pose"!!!


Remember that?

Huh?

Well see what she did here... HMPH.

How can a blogger like that NOT get on your nerves ??

Visiting the Office of 88DB.com and JobsDB.com

Yesterday I was summoned by one of Nuffnang's clients to pay a visit to their office.

Now let me explain the concept of the word CLIENT.

A client is a customer.

A customer is someone who pays money so that a company like Nuffnang can survive.

Ever heard of the phrase
"Customer is King?"

Well, it can be almost directly translated to
"Client is KING".

What does that phrase mean?

It means, when the client says to you
"JUMP!"

You DON'T say
"What?"

You DON'T say
"Huh?"

And you SURE AS HELL BETTER NOT SAY
"Why?"

No... you say...

"How High?"

Similarly, when a client says
"Come to our office".
You DON'T say
"Why?"

But you say
"WHEN?"

and if your client says
"RIGHT NOW"

You DON'T say
"But but... I can't right now... my grandma is not well and I'm taking her to the clinic".

You say
"YES SIR WILL BE THERE IN TEN MINUTES! PO PO CAN WAIT!"

and if your client says
"Make it FIVE!"

You DON'T say
"But but... that's impossible! I'm in Subang right now and your office is in KL".

You say
"SIR YES SIR!"

Anyway, this client is 88db.com which coincidentally is owned by and shares the same office with JobsDB.com, a dotcom in Malaysia that requires no introduction.
You will see some of their ads running around the Nuffnang Community this week.

88db.com is one website that you just can't ignore unless you're a fool.

I feel stupid enough for not knowing it exists until they approached Nuffnang for a campaign.

I mean here is a wonderful website that has everything you can ever look for, a huge directory of user posted content that can find you everything from weddings to pets to even home-made cookies for Hari Raya!

There is even this little eBay-like trading area where you can sell your junk and buy other people's junk (Eh! One man's meat is another man's poison).

So anyway, back to my story.

I paid a visit to 88DB (JobsDB)'s office today at Menara UOA and was greeted by a very nice and polite receptionist.

Then my client came out of the back and greeted me with a smile.

Everyone!

Say Hello to Christine!

Christine is the Marketing Manager at 88db and one of the people responsible for giving you your ads!

Christine is among the nicest of our clients at Nuffnang.

Upon greeting me today she asked
"Are you still having a hangover from the other night? Do you want some water?"

In which I replied
"No... I'm okay now thanks" (with my face turning redder than a red tomato).

We sat in a meeting room and chatted while waiting for her Boss, the General Manager of JobsDB Malaysia to step into the room.

And before you know it, Steven opened the door, stepped into the room gave me a handshake so firm I couldn't feel my fingers.

With a smile on his face he said
"Why don't we do this in my office?"

So he brought me through the workstations of the other people at 88DB (and JobsDB) and straight to his office at the back.

Then he sat down on the chair and we started talking away.Steven shared with me his inspirations on 88db.com
"Where do you find a website today that provides a service of helping people find what they need and yet does not charge both users and advertisers for using it?"

And he was right.

In a website like eBay, typically if you were to sell something, eBay will take a transaction fee off your sale but on 88DB.com, it's completely free.

If you're a freelance designer and want to post your services there, you can do so for FREE...

WITHOUT paying a single cent... on a website that is viewed by so many people each day it's almost like putting an ad up in the field of the World Cup Finals. (Okay I kinda exaggerated there, but you get my point).

Why do they do it?

My guess is just like the Founders of Google, they believed in building something that added value FIRST, before trying to earn money off it, and that is the mindset of a rare breed of new generation dotcoms.

After our long chat, I asked Steven and Christine if they would humour me and let me take a picture of them and putting it on my blog since I don't often get to blog about visiting our clients' offices.

They agreed.


Then I asked Steven if he would let me take a picture with him.

And .... he..... AGREED!!!


Now that's not all there is to this blog entry.

I mean sure, I just kinda explained how a typical day for me at work goes... and where I go... but let me tell you something else I happened to see today.

You remember the chair that Steven was sitting on?

Does it look familiar to you?

No?

Ok let me remind you.

Remember this picture?

THAT IS THE VERY SAME CHAIR I SO WANTED TO BUY WHEN I WENT SHOPPING FOR OFFICE FURNITURE A MONTH AGO BUT HAD TO HAVE A PARTICULAR SOMEONE TALK ME OUT OF!!!

AUGGHHH!!!!!

AUGHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

&(*#$&*(#&(*$#&(*$#&(*$&*(#$&*(

And here's the joke.

When I first noticed the chair and started drooling over it... Steven said
"Oh yeah.. this chair... I don't like it... made a mistake buying it.. piece of junk!"

My heart broke into so many pieces, it would take miles of scotch tape to mend it back together.

*sigh*

One man's meat, is another man's poison.

PS: Check out 88db when you guys have the time. There's seriously a lot of stuff going on there.