XM Malaysia

Big banana

September 16, 2003 by HB

Yes, a photo of a huge, thick, and long yellow (with black spots to
boot) banana. I just learnt today that these bananas are edible
(without cooking). I’ve always thought that these bananas needs to be
cooked (in goreng pisang) before it’s edible, but apparently not. The
banana is courtesy of Janet, who got it during the TGIF meeting last
time and gave it to me because I have to eat dinner leftovers as lunch
everyday because sixthseal.com is running over bandwidth every month
(I’m already over this month). Sorry for not updating, I’m working on a
ColdFusion and SQL Server thing that I’ve just sent to QC, it’s been a
long week…

Biometrics – fingerprint scanners

September 10, 2003 by HB

Do we teach the scanners to recognize our fingerprints or is it the
other way around? I used to have to make at least 10 tries to log in
and out of my work place, but now I’ve learnt how to put my finger just
right so it always works on the first try…

Anyway, I don’t know what I’m talking about, I’m feeling sleepy and
tired and I need to sleep coz I’ll be working late tomorrow. I’ll reply
the comments tomorrow okay? My apologies…didn’t get much sleep last
night.

How I update my blog

September 8, 2003 by HB

This is the view from the break room window of my workplace. I
cannot take photos of the interior to avoid violating the non
disclosure agreement I signed.

We had a TGIF monthly meeting at my company last Friday and someone
raised the question about how I have the time to update my blog. Just
to make things clear, I DO NOT use company time to write. Since I don’t
have net access at home right now (going to Telekom now to sort that
out), I write the posts BEFORE going to work (usually at night) and do
post production on the photos then, so I just need to cut and paste and
click Publish on MT and I do that during lunch hour or in the mornings.
I have made short posts in real time though (like the cereal giveaway
one) and that just takes minutes, plus it was before working hours (I
came early). For the readers, this is only a temporary measure due to
my lack of net access, all posts will be real time (or as close to real
time as a blog can be) once I get my net connection up (probably a
couple of days, depending on how efficient Telekom Malaysia is).

I’m sorry I have been kinda neglecting the comments and daily visits
lately, my apologies, I have a lot of work to do and by the time I get
home it’s time to sleep. Anyway, that would get better once I have a
net connection, I will reply every comment and mail soon. Thanks for
your patience!

P/S – sixthseal.com is expanding. New domain up within the week. 🙂

XM Malaysia Annual Bowling Competition 2003

August 31, 2003 by HB

XM has a bowling competition every year. I just came in time for
this years – it was held at Flamingo Bowl @ Institut Flamingo (near
Hotel Flamingo in Ampang) on the 28th of August 2003.

The bowling started at 8 pm so a couple of us headed there first to
get some food (it’s in one of the posts below) before going to Hotel
Flamingo.

From left: Huai Bin (me), Chia, Wai Hing, Mandy, Vijay, Kelvin, Nita and her daughter. Not everyone was in the shot.

I was assigned to Vijay’s team. Pictured above is a group shot before the session.

There was a team with their own custom shirts – Team To-Fu, the elite bowlers of XM.

Here’s a shot of the logo from Azli’s shirt.

This is the team I’m in.

Team To-Fu.

There are several teams, it’s a company wide event.

Another one of my team.

He’s got bigger balls than yours. 😉

I think we took up 5-6 lanes.

From left: Huai Bin (me), Mandy, Wai Hing, Vijay, Kelvin, Chia.

Here’s another shot of our team – after the session. I went back earlier because I had some stuff to do before sleeping.

I think it’s the first time I’ve been to Ampang.

Restoran Hameed Ali @ Ampang (Pre-XM Bowling Competition)

August 29, 2003 by HB

A bunch of us programmers left at about 6 pm yesterday and grabbed
some dinner before going to the bowling center. We ate at Restaurant
Hameed Ali (pictured above). It’s somewhere in Ampang…near Ampang
Point if I recall correctly.

There’s this interesting thing that I’ve never seen before…they
have pre-packed nasi lemak in paper on the tables! It looks like every
table has a plate in the middle with about 5 nasi lemak packs. It’s
like the way small towns in Sarawak are with eggs – they put boiled
eggs on the each table. Interesting. That’s what all of us ate anyway,
except Chia who had another roti telur. He picked up the bill, thanks!

Here’s a group shot – from left: Kok Sing (partially hidden), Giat
Yeng, Huai Bin (me), Wang and Chia. One of the people working at the
restaurant took the photo, so my apologies for the blurry and partially
cut off shot. Most people tend to press hard on the shutter release
(which causes the image to blur).

Anyway, I’ll update with the actual bowling photos during lunch, I’m
just taking a short break from work. Will reply all comments during
lunch hour. 🙂

It’s what’s for lunch

August 27, 2003 by HB

I stayed back instead of going with my colleagues for lunch because
I needed to find out where the nearest Western Union outlet is (for my
excess bandwidth bill, what else), re-check the convocation dates and
ask about leave so I can actually attend the ceremony – that would
happen after lunch though. Oh yeah, I asked the technical director
about taking photos inside the office and yeah, it would violate the
non-disclosure agreement if I post them, so er…that front door is all
you’ll see of my work place. Sorry. 🙂

I guess that means I’ll have to write a thousand words to explain –
it’s a rectangular room with a joined desks around the corners, and
there’s currently 13 people in the room – 1 technical support, 2
quality control, 1 temp and the rest are programmers. 1/4 of the staff
is female, the rest is male. Opposite us is a room with a somewhat
similar configuration, that’s the creative team work place and that’s
not a thousand words, but I’ve got other stuff to do during lunch hour.
Oh and btw, it seems that we have 2 hours for lunch – 12 pm – 2 pm.
Anyway, I’ll reply the comments when I get back, the Western Union is
really up there on the To Do List, I will pop out if it’s near. I’ll
post again tonight and reply all the comments, thanks!

August 26, 2003 by HB

XM Malaysia

I just started my first day of work today – it’s at XM (Malaysia) at
Kenaga International at Jalan Sultan Ismail. It’s quite a while from my
place, I took a taxi there, it’s about RM 8 but the taxi back was RM
10+ due to the horrible traffic jam at the Bukit Bintang and Jalan Pudu
area.

Kenaga International

First day at work was okay, got to know the staff and my colleagues
in the technical team. Surprisingly, a lot of taxi drivers doesn’t know
where Kenaga International is…deja vu from Melbourne where there’s
frequent stops to consult Melways (a map) and many questions for
directions. 😉

There is a nice, relaxing fountain at the bottom of the Kenaga
International building and my work place is located on the 16th floor.

Look at the vivid PURPLE BLUE of the brinjals. Is that normal?

Anyway, a bunch of us walked to Bukit Bintang for lunch at the food
court on top – it’s surprisingly near, I could have walked from my
hotel to the first interview. Oh yeah, I heard from my colleages that
there’s a Putra LRT station – the KL Central one, that’s only 8 – 10
minutes walk from the office. The nearest LRT station here is the
Bangsar one and that takes about RM 5 by taxi to Medan Damansara so I
thought that works out to around the same price, taking into account
the LRT ticket. Anyway, I won’t try tomorrow morning, but I’ll use that
to come back tomorrow night and see if I get home alright. It’s just
too much of a hassle to get back by taxi during office hours…my
grandmother could walk 50 times faster than the speed traffic moved
along the traffic congestion areas.

I waited damn near 1 1/2 hours for a taxi…no one wanted to pick
anyone up during the peak traffic congestion office hour period.

Anyway, I don’t have any other photos except of the ones outside the
office place…I signed a non disclosure agreement, and since most
monitors were displaying code of some sort, that might violate it. I
will have to ask permission before taking photos inside the work place.

XM Expanded Media (Malaysia)

August 25, 2003 by HB

Yes, I’m off the unemployment line. :p I will be with XM Malaysia
starting tomorrow. I got a call from HR while I was having lunch with
my gf and her room mates. Anyway, the job means I’ll be engaged from
8:30 am – 5:30 pm (at least). This would probably not affect the
frequency of the posts if anyone who’s aquainted with the KL public
transport system could be so kind as to tell me the easiest way to get
from Medan Damansara (Jalan Setiabistari) to Jalan Sultan Ismail (at
Hotel Mutiara). 🙂

The KL Monorail is not in service yet, or else I know there’s a
station very near the office building. Anyway, I’ll be taking a taxi in
the next few days to get to and from my work place, but it would be
nice to use a cheaper form of transportation considering I’m being
offered RM 1,500 per month. Well, I don’t even know what this road
connects to, but nevermind that, LRTs and buses would come later, going
to catch a cab these few days. I don’t have a car in KL.

Anyway, the photos of The Tallest Book Tower in Malaysia and The
Largest Jalur Gemilang made with push pins in Malaysia would be up
either later tonight or tomorrow, I gotta sleep earlier since I
probably would need to wake up at 7 am or something coz I don’t know
how far the office is from here. Now who’s up to enter the Malaysian
Book of Records? We could make the largest Jalur Gemilang with
er…Panadol tablets or something.

[Edit: Updated with photo and explainatory text, accidentally pressed Publish without uploading photo.]