Awesome

Through good and bad times... You are still awesome.

I am most grateful to you, Lord.

For my wife...
For my family...
For my job...
For my friends...
For my finances...
For my every need you've met...
And last but not least, for my life...

Amen.

God of all things

Don't just trust God for big things, big issues.
I realise that He is also a very meticulous and detailed God (Come to think of it, He is a melancholic, phlegmatic, choleric and sanguine all rolled into one. After all we are made in His image right?) and often its in the small things that He affirms His presence and love for us.

I thought I'd lost 2 of my pen drives yesterday. Very likely that I dropped them yesterday cos one of my pouch's zip was open. Then I thought maybe I'd look at a place in the office that never thought to look. Lo and behold, there they are! :)

Another lesson I'm learning... listen to your heart. The Holy Spirit speaks to us through it. Sometimes, it'll remind us of something that we may have misplaced or forgotten to take, it'll remind us to slow down and be more careful. It'll remind us not to say certain things. It'll remind us also of the good we need to do. I am so glad I don't have to walk through life blindly.

So remember, God is God of big and small and also, listen to your heart ya...

You know something?

This is rather belated but I am actually quite excited about my coming wedding.

And I can't wait to start my life with the girl whom I fell in love, and is still in love, with 6 years ago (wow... 6 years... felt like it was only yesterday!)

I've been thinking alot about it. Its exciting and yet I am also kinda nervous b'cos its a big, big deal starting a new chapter in your life together with someone who's been entrusted to you.

This can only work IF we do it together... with God. Its not something we can shoulder on our own.

Still... I can't wait for the journey to start. :)

Depending on You

I realise that its futile to do things using my own way.

Your ways are higher that our ways...

What truth!

The thing is... am I too late to realise this?

Ronaldo should go

I know this is difficult to say and its almost incomprehensible for a Man Utd guy to say it...

but Cristiano Ronaldo should go...

I really treasure his talents but if his loyalty lies elsewhere... he should go.

May I know the... err... time? Please?

Another light-weight posting... Humour me ok?

I was just thinking... what kind of functions and features would I like to have in a multi-function watch? Here goes...

Functions:
Barometer
Altimeter
Thermometer
Compass
GPS
Heart Rate Monitor
Chronograph
Time-keeping
Tide and Moon Graph

Features:
Electro-luminescence Back-light
Perpetual Calendar
Solar-Powered Battery
Titanium Construction
Water Resistance: 200M (with Underwater Buttons)

What do you think? Cool huh?

OK... back to earth...
Ho-hum...

Enlightenment...

Something happened tonight that gave me this insight...

that to many, I am just a clown... entertainment.

That's all I am good for.

That's all I am worth.

Let me ask you this question: "Will you still like me if I am not cheerful and funny?"

Probably not.

Why?

How is it that Man Utd is the champions of Europe but no one wants to sign for the club?

O_o'''

Is this the end?

Earthquake in China...
Cyclone in Myanmar...
Financial fallout everywhere...
Prices of petrol, rice and many basic necessities going up in every country.
Diseases increases - SARS, bird-flu...
Conflict on the increase...
Terrorism is so real...
Global warming...


Is the end of this world coming soon? What will happen if it is? What will happen to you? Where will you be? Do you have HOPE for life after the end?

Jesus is so real

If you ever doubted that Jesus is real and His name has power.... doubt no more!

My PDA fell on the floor a few weeks ago, after that the buttons on the PDA wouldn't work anymore.

Anyway, I thought I'd just pray over it to see if God heals not only people, but also inanimate objects. I told myself that I'd pray over it everytime I can remember. Silly I know but there's nothing to lose right? Moreover, it is very costly to fix it and I don't have the money to do so.

Well... nothing happened.

This morning, when I got up, I had this thought of praying for the PDA again. So I laid hand on it and pray again. This time, somehow I made an effort to focus on the words "in Jesus name".

After I prayed, I pressed the buttons again, not expecting much... and guess what? The buttons started to work. They were a little weird in the beginnning but after I did a refresh... it all worked as normal. I am just so jumping with joy that I just had to share this.

If it sounds funny to you, well it is... but my faith and belief that Jesus is real has leaped up a huge notch!

He is so real!

Finally... its in our hands

The suspense was so thick you can cut it with a knife.

1-1 after extra time... penalties!

Ronaldo misses, Terry misses... sudden death!

Giggs shoots... goal! Anelka shoots... saved by Van der Sar!

Man Utd are champions of Europe again!

Congratulations! you deserve it!

Perfect 10

Man Utd are champions again... for the 10th time! Congratulations!

Bring on the Champions League trophy!

Frustration boiling over

ARGHHHH!!!!

Tourism shutdownI

Hmm... sometimes I wonder if some ministers really think before they speak...

The tourism ministry is cancelling all federal sponsored tourism events... sheesh... do they really know what they are doing? Is the federal govt trying to gain back the confidence of the rakyat in those states or are they trying to push us away even further???

AO was mentioned in the Star yesterday as saying "On PKR, DAP and PAS’ decision to form Pakatan Rakyat, she said it would not last long given their different policies, unlike Barisan which had the same manifesto for all." Yeah... and that same manifesto allowed the opposition to take 82 seats in the parliament.... right... smart girl, she...

She also mentioned: “Politics is a marriage of convenience. Politicians can say anything they want to gain the people’s support." Right... I wonder what she is doing right now? This is what I call a serious case of the Foot-in-Mouth disease.

Is it me or is the govt's dealings with the rakyat getting from bad to worse?!

Don't get me started on the khalwat thingie... 'nuff said. Sighs...

Get back to work!

I was listening to the radio on my way to work and I realised something:

The people in the governing parties, especially the main one, is spending so much time bickering and jostling for power that they have begun to forget why they were there in the first place, i.e. to serve and work for the people who voted them in!

Everyday the news is filled with so-and-so should step up or step down in the parties... so-and-so should rule... so-and-so should own up... they should instead tell us how they are going to grow our economy, improve different aspects of our country and ensure a better standard of living for everyone.

So my call to all the people in the Government is this: GET BACK TO WORK!

Geram sahaja!

Bitter taste in my mouth...

I am so unhappy with an incident at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf tonight... here is the mail I wrote to the operations manager.

-----------------------

To the operations manager,

The bitter taste I have in my mouth right now is not only from the coffee I drank at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf's (CBTL) outlet in Penang but also from the way they handled their business transaction. I have always preferred CBTL over Starbucks but now, I am taking my business elsewhere. Its not worth the price you pay to drink there.

My friends and I went to your outlet at Bellisa Row, Pulau Tikus, Penang for chit-chat after dinner tonight, thinking that its a comfortable enough place to de-stress (HOW UNTRUE THAT TURNED OUT TO BE!!!!!). We ordered 4 drinks and it was then when Izan, the staff at the till suggested that we take up the loyalty card for free since our bill is more than RM25. It seems that the RM25 would be added to the loyalty card and then deducted from it, thus giving the card for us for free. My friend Andy agreed to it and since the bill came up to be RM37.59, He paid RM50 for the whole thing but then he did not realise that the change he got back was only RM2.41. It was only when we looked at the receipt at the table that we realised that there was something wrong with the bill. Cos the bill said that he paid only RM15 by cash(with the RM25 in the card, this comes up to only RM40?!) and thus only entitled for a change of RM2.41. HUH?! Something is wrong here right? He should be paid RM12.41. We were confused cos we thought that we had paid extra for the card and that the staff did not explain the whole procedure clearly to us.

We went down to the counter to ask for an explanation. Not only was she not patient with us, when we asked her whether we had to pay for the card, she said "DUH!" Can you imagine that, you make a remark that implies that we are THICK and DUMB!!! That is so, so rude! Here am I, a hospitality marketing lecturer, trying so hard to drum into my students every week about the importance of customer satisfaction and quality of service, and here I found myself at the receiving end of a perfect example how NOT to treat customers! (Hmm... this will make a perfect example to give the students! Imagine, 100 students per semester... the power of word of mouth). The management trainee present, Kelvin, told us to take our seats and he will assist us with the matter later cos by this time I think we were attracting a lot of attention. Later, he come to talk to us and then we explained to him what was wrong and he said he will check. Ok, fine... maybe there is still hope.

After awhile, the outlet manager (can't remember his name but he did write down the name on the receipt) came up and again we explained to him that there was something wrong... he told us that he checked and there was no excess cash in the till. So he said that at this point there is nothing he can do for us. No apology, nothing to make up for the dissatisfaction. Nothing! I told him that since this is the case, we will make a complaint. He said that is our right but if we do complain, it will not get anywhere, that we will not get out money back and he will so confident about it! (Such arrogance!) They made a mistake, the staff keyed in a wrong figure collected and we come up short and here he is implying us that if we decide to take up a complaint, we will lose. Are you sure?

What is so upsetting is that there seem to be no recourse set in your SOP to deal with such issues. Any disputes cannot be settled immediately. It means that any staff can punch in a lesser amount and if we check later and found out that there is a short, then we the customers may be at fault! This is no local coffee shop... this is an international company! We go there expecting excellent service and this is what we get!

I am so, so upset for my friend Andy. Not only was the customer's rights NOT upheld but we were made to feel that our INTEGRITY is nothing. Because of the failure in your system to make sure that no HANKY PANKY can be carried out by either your staff or the customers, we, the customers, have to pay for it. It is obvious that CBTL do NOT seem to practice the concept of "The customer is always right". The outlet manager just refuses settle anything there and then. A RM10 dispute and he has to take 24-48 hours to settle? Is he not delegated to some authority to deal with this situation??? He just says that he will look into the matter.

This is what you put up in your US website:

	Customer Service At The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf® we are dedicated to providing you with excellence in the products we sell, the services we provide, and the environments where you shop. We care about what you have to say about your relationship with us, the quality of our products, and your experience as a customer.

Obviously I begin to seriously doubt how true this is...

My friends and I are definitely going to pursue a formal complaint. We will also forward to you the receipt we obtained. I am also planning to highlight this incident with your parent company in the US.

From now on, CBTL will be 5 customer less and I do know for a fact how exponentially powerful word of mouth can be. All your efforts in drawing us to your business goes down the drain because of an incident like this. Initially, we were just seeking a simple and immediate recourse, hoping that we will get back the RM10 for our friend but now I don't really care for the money anymore. Your outlet manager dared us to complain and we will make sure that we do that. If this is not resolved satisfactorily, we will make sure that everyone we know, knows about this incident as well, then you will see how many customers you can afford to lose.

Sincerely,
Mr. Chen, a very unhappy EX-CUSTOMER

-----------------

Join me and make a complaint to the Parent Company in US here: http://coffeebean.com/Store-Comments-W238C163.aspx

as well as the the company in Malaysia here:
http://www.coffeebean.com.my/customer.cfm (look for the in-store issues email address)

My friends and I are going to pursue a formal complaint and I will let you know the outcome.
The aftermath of GE2008 has taught me something. The big guys can no longer ignore the little guy and push us around anymore. That we can decide for ourselves whether something is worth having. We may not get a resolution from them but we can definitely make them suffer. Its time we vote with our feet and take our business elsewhere.

From now on, CBTL has 5 less customer and I am urging anyone who is reading this to seriously consider boycotting CBTL (at least in Malaysia). I am telling CBTL that bad service and leaving customers with a sour taste will have adverse and severe consequences. See how the SMSes have affected the businesses of Nasi Kandar stores in Penang? It could very well happen to them too!

Shhhh....

Our dear LKS does not know how and when to keep his mouth shut does he?

His call for Perak DAP to boycott the swearing in of the new Perak MB is derailing all the efforts by BR, including his own son, to put up a united front against BN's onslaught.

He is just providing ammo for the govt to shoot down the new state govts.

Silly old man... :/

Working together

Been reading the alternative Malaysian news websites the past few days... it really opens my eyes to this other world that I have never realised... that the Malays in this country is actually very, very pissed with the federal Govt. and UMNO in particular.

That the regular Malay guy on the street actually don't mind working hard like the rest of us instead of relying on the crutch they have been on for a long, long time called the NEP.

Its really refreshing and endearing to hear that to them, the Malaysian Malaysia, is also their aspiration. What progress our country will make if we are willing to put our differences down and work for the good of the country.

Its only the people in power that wants to hold to power hiding behind the NEP. The ordinary guy just want to get on with life... like the rest of us. When the country suffers, all of us suffer regardless of race or religion...

Maybe divine intervention is needed? Hrm...

Let justice and integrity prevail. Amen.

CNY thoughts

Chinese New Year is here again and this is the year of the Rat.

Wow... this means that my mom is 60 this year... Gotta do something really nice for her.

This is also the last time I am celebrating CNY as a single...

Hrm... no more angpows for me.

Sien.

Sad

2 sad news this week affected me so far...

I will not say much on the first one but the second one I can...

I have lost touch with one of my former Swinburne housemate, Bari Yip, who is from Hong Kong.

Tried sending an email to him today but it came back with a failure message saying that the mailbox is unavailable. Sighs...

Sad.

Bridal clothes shopping

Choosing a shop to take pictures for our wedding is one of the most stressful activity ever...
Visited 2 shops in 5 hours... not good but I hope we can get this wrapped up quickly.
If not for my sake then for Su Yin's sake... she is also so stressed out.

I need strength

Heavenly Father,
I need Your joy to be my strength.
I need the Holy Spirit's guidance and counsel.
I want to seek and find You again.
Heed my cry Lord, incline Your ear to me.

Amen.

Guilty

Why is it that though its my decision to move on, there are some who think that I've done a great disservice and think it wise for me to feel guilty?

Have I really done something so wrong? Have I betrayed that trust?

Loyalty...

What's wrong with being a Man Utd supporter from Malaysia?

Happy New Year

New year, new beginnings.

Its going to be a challenging but exciting year for me.

There's going to be 2 major new chapters in my life.

One of them is happening soon, the other is happening later.

Just gonna commit both of them into God's hands.

Lord, let Your word be the lamp unto my feet and light unto my path.

So, here's my new year's resolution no. 1:
- Restart my walk with God - to read His word and spent time with Him consistently.