I strongly agree with this article

I am a government officer and I strongly agree with this article. Well, yes I enjoyed the privileged of business class when I came here although not to the great extent because my son was grumpy then. I loves all the souvenirs and free goodies whenever we had conferences or seminars and whatnot. Hey, who doesn't love free stuffs huh? I always looking forward to have a certain meeting at a certain office where the lunch will be fried rice with spiced fried chicken.

About coffee time, well the private firms also allowed you to enjoy coffee at 10 and 3 everyday but they have tea lady who will make rounds and deliver your favorite drink. You need a break because you're not going to sit 8 hours straight. I remember the tea lady in GAA (consultant firm in PJ) who I called Auntie, she made this delicious teh tarik. I just gave her my favorite mug and she will deliver it right to my desk. My colleagues and I will have short break and gossiping while munching on the biscuits in squared tin and sipping the hot delicious tea and start kutuk our bosses or fooling around with each other. But hey, because you're having tea in the office, your boss can summon you while the biscuit still in your mouth!

I always had to have my breakfast in the morning before I started work. I chosed the 8:30-5:30 time frame but you know since you in KL and you've got children sometimes you have ample time before the bells ring and sometimes you don't. I normally can had my breakfast before I punched my card but sometimes I was late like I only have 10 minutes before 8:30, so what I did was I punched the card first and go out having my breakfast. I know legally it's wrong and unethical but I normally will take about 20 minutes. No more tea until lunch and that's all. I will have my afternoon coffee in my office. I know that some of my bosses don't like me going out after 8:30 but I only take 20 minutes and I always in the office until lunch time. I think this is much better than going out again at 10 because that time was the peak hours. People always come at that time and the officers in charge always went out for tea.

I also don't agree with the people who came in at 7:30 and then went out for breakfast at 8:00 and came back around 8:30 or so. Next thing you know at 4:30 they're going back already. OK, I'm not a saint and just because I start working at 8:30, it's not fair for me to talk about others who start working early, right? Well, I suggest the government should revert back the working hours to be from 8:30 to 5:30 or better still from 9:00 to 6:00. Reason is people is sending the kids to school early in the morning and now that the school bus fee is very expensive, you would want to send the kids yourself. You also would like to pick them up yourself.

Traffic jams? Well, it would not sound KL and urban without traffic jams right? Perhaps we should consider provide a cable car like in San Fransisco or just improve and enhanced our public transport. The reason people don't want to take a public transport is because you have to change the train like 3 times? After that hop in to another connecting bus to get to your office and not mentioning of the sardines cramped like once you're in the train. I remember I took a Putra to go shopping at Masjid India. Yes, it was convenience because you don't have to find parking lot and pay for it. No, it was not enjoyable because you have to breathe a limited oxygen in a cramped space with lots of smell (perfume and stale sweat) on the way back. So, next time I want to shop there, I rather embrace the jams than taking the train. I could always bike here because they provide a bicycle lane and those whose not biking always give ways and yield to pedestrians and bikers. In Malaysia, I will be in the front news run by some motorist the first day I bike my way to school or to office. OK, enough of it and let's read MM's good articles on saving. Hello Pak Lah, she's right we have to change our way of living. Why don't you start by selling those luxury jets and yachts of yours and give the money to rakyat as goodwill.

Wednesday June 18, 2008

You walk the talk first

Musings
By MARINA MAHATHIR

The Government wants us to change our lifestyles to cope with inflation. It is easier said than done since most people were having it difficult even before the hikes. The Government must first set an example by doing things it should have done long ago.

Domino effect: The latest fuel price hike will set off a chain reaction, making almost everything more expensive.

WITH the recent hike in fuel prices and the Government’s exhortations for us to change our lifestyles in order to cope, may I provide here some suggestions for the Government and those who work for it to “share our burden”.

• Stop having meetings, especially out at resorts, far enough away to be able to claim transport allowances. Have online meetings instead or teleconferences. Use Skype or chat.
• No need to order special pens, bags, T-shirts, notepads and other goodies for those same meetings.
• No need to order kuih for mid-morning or teatime meetings in government offices, or nasi briyani lunches for those meetings that happen to end just at lunchtime.
• Cancel all trips for government servants to conferences overseas unless they return with full reports of what they did there, who they met and what they learnt and how they mean to apply what they learnt at home. Ask them to do presentations to colleagues who did not get to go, on the most interesting and important papers that they read.
• Scrutinise invoices for contracts to make sure they are truly reflective of what those projects or supplies cost.
• Stop elaborate launches for government programmes. In particular, stop the buying of souvenirs, special batik shirts, corsages, bouquets and caps.
• Make all civil servants and politicians travel economy class. That means really travelling at the back of the plane and not buying full fare economy class tickets that allow them to be upgraded to Business Class.
• Stop having the full complement of police escorts to cut down on petrol costs. If they need to be somewhere by a certain time, start earlier like the rest of us. Wouldn’t be a bad thing for them to also experience a traffic jam.
• Once a week (or more), have ministers use public transport so they know what everyone else has to suffer. This might provide them with the incentive to improve them.
• Once a week, let ministers go to a market to buy food for their families with instructions to not spend more than RM100.
• Get ministers to carpool. They might get more work done just by being able to talk to each other to see what can be coordinated between their ministries. For instance, the Ministers of Health and Women could discuss what to do about women’s health issues in the car on the way to work. Maybe have a secretary to travel in the front seat to take down notes on what was discussed. By the time they get to their offices, things can get implemented.
• Once a month, get civil servants to work with one disadvantaged group in order to be better able to appreciate their problems. It could be blind people one month, hearing disabled people the next, orang asli the following month and people living with HIV/AIDS after that.
• We could start buddy systems which pair one civil servant with one disadvantaged person and at the end of it, ask each pair to make recommendations on how to make life better for each other. This might get rid of the problem of desk jockeys, people who never stray very far from their desks yet make policies for people they know nothing about.
• Have PA systems that shout out the name of the officers who have to serve people at government offices so that people get the services they came for and don’t have to keep coming back just because the officer was out having coffee.
• No counter should be left unmanned for more than five minutes before the officer is paged to go back to their stations. This should cut down waiting time for the public and save them transport costs in having to keep returning just to get one thing done.
• Government officers who lose people’s files should be fined and have their names publicised for being careless and causing inconvenience to the public. Instead of making the public travel to their offices several times to deal with their problems, they should travel to go see their client and deal with it right there and then.
• And every officer who goes out of the office should be given a reasonable time to get his work done after which he is expected back in office so he doesn't waste time doing something else.
• And newspapers should save paper by reporting real news rather than non-news that they carry, particularly nonsensical utterances by politicians.

As they say, we need to do this all together in order to make a difference. So if the Government and politicians make these lifestyle changes, I will do my part and change mine.

Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/6/18/focus/21566187&sec=focus

Summer Vacation 2008

Finally, we made it. I thought I'm not gonna make it as I was so full with works but a week off and we covered a lot. Well, some place like Grand Canyon you just never have enough. We really enjoyed our trip. The route is absolutely beautiful. The most scenic is of course Colorado. You just so lost to her beautiful mountains, the streams, the greens of the new leaves, the blue sky. we loves the view so much. When we was in Vegas, I almost tempted to drive down to Los Angeles but then it means more time and no planning. My husband have a relative who live there at a place called Tarzana? Well, I would like to bring the kids to Tarzana but maybe some other time. So, two of the list in my wish list has been fulfilled. I am hoping the next trip will cover Niagara Falls, NY; Hershey's Chocolate Factory, NY, World of Coca Cola,AL and Walt Disney World, FL. Well, let's do some saving shall we? So, this is our wrap up for the Summer 2008 Vacation.

Sabtu, Jun 7 2008
Konon nak bangun pagi-pagi buta nak blah sebab subuh masa summer pukui 4 pagi. Tapi pasai semalam dah dok ofis ERC sampai petang then dok packing sampai tengah malam, tidoq pun dah dekat pukui 2 pagi maka kami terbabas la pulak. Nasib baik petang semalam, Seema dah bawak pi AAA ambik map free. Dia member so dapat free. Map tu la yang banyak menolong, kalau harap nak print dari Google Map tu tak cukup. Kami bertolak pukui 7 pagi dari rumah. Woish, jalan kat College Avenue punyalah clear kalau tidoq ataih jalan pun tak pa. Singgah Walmart Loveland beli ais ketoi untuk boh dalam ice box. Tak dan nak breakfast apa, buat sandwich dengan goreng nugget saja. Lepaih tu ada la cookies, buah ceri, roti kismis, chips and coklat. Kami ikut jalan lama. Perjalanan pun sungguh lama pasai Madame dah set nak singgah tidoq kat Durango so En Abang kena la drive berejam-jam untuk sampai sana. Tapi, dalam pada tu kami singgah Monarch Crest dan Blue Mesa Lake. Masa lalu dari Ouray-Silverton, mak aiii jalan dia punyalah berbelit, sempit, dalam pulak tu gaung dia.. Mau kalau jatuh tu gerenti mati punyalah.. Sempit sungguh jalan dia kira dari line putih tepi jalan tu (edge line) teruih sloping down pi bawah, tadak guard rail ka pagaq apa semua tak dak. Tapi pemandangan dia Subhanallah, sungguh cantik tak terkata. Dengan snow cap kat gunung ganang, pokok-pokok daun muda sebab daun baru keluaq masa spring, memang cantik sungguh lah. Fresh saja udara dia. Ni kawasan ni dulu depa mines diamond dan silver. Tapi, dah jadi ghost town dah la. Elevation kat situ ada yang reach more than 11,000 ft. Merentasi Colorado ni memang mencabar betoi pasai dari udara yang sedap bawak ke dingin ke panas, elevation pun berubah-ubah so sampai Durango, kepala pun sakit. Kena la pi cari ubat pasai tak boleh nak tidoq. Nasib baik la Apline Inn dia bilik luas dan selesa. Kami tidoq dengan penuh nyenyak pasai penat.

Ahad, Jun 8 2008
Bangun pagi, minum kopi dan makan donut semalam yang beli kat Walmart. Pekena lagi roti kismis Walmart tu, sedap pulak. Lepas tu, Boss pi angkut ice free boh dalam ice box, kami beli lagi 4 tin ayaq gas then teruih check out. On the way nak blah tu nampak pulak ada flea market, so singgah la sat cuci mata. Dan la beli seruling Indian dan frame kayu kecik handmade. Kayu tu kalau tak silap pakcik tu kata Birch wood kot.. dah lupa pulak kayu apa.. dia ukir sendiri by hand pakai besi panaih kot sebab dia dok tunjuk tangan dia habih melecoq. Kesian pulak tengok tu yang beli tu. Beli selipar kat budak2 ni pasai cuaca dah start panas so kesian pulak suh pakai kasut. Ada satu amoi Cina ni juai barang semua made in China. Hish, orang cina ni kan sampai ulu banat colorado pun dia boleh menega..kagum! Dalam pukui 12:30 kami bertolak nak pi Grand Canyon pulak ni. Ni express punya road trip tak boleh dok lama-lama. Rugi pulak tak singgah beli fridge magnet kat sini. Boleh lupa, adoiii rugi! Durango ni lokasi dia kat 4 corners, kat sini memang area Indian tribes ni. Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah. Babai ja kat pekan Durango dah turun bukit dah masuk kawasan gurun pulak dah. Ni dah masuk area Mesa Verde National Park. Tapi, nasib baik angin dia masih sejuk lagi so kami bukak tingkap la. Sungguh pun panas tapi sebab angin dia sejuk so sedap sajalah. Start ni gurun sedia. Tapi gurun dia lawa sungguh dengan bukit batu dan pasir yang dibentuk angin ni hasil dia memang menakjubkan. Masa ni macam lalu pekan koboi yang selalu masuk tv tu la. Start masuk Arizona saja dah start panas dah. Tak tahan pulak panas-panas ni walhal kat Aloq Staq tu panaih jugak. Dah dok besa suhu bawah 20 ni yang jadi lagu ni bila kena panaih. Kat pukui 5 kami sampai Grand Canyon lalu kot Kayenta. Masuk kat Grand Canyon tu kena bayaq USD25 satu van untuk seminggu. Teruih pi check in kat Maswik Lodge. Rate dia USD86++ semalam. Mujuq dapat pasai book last minute. Dok rehat sat dalam bilik, kami keluaq balik pi tengok sunset pulak. Kalut la sikit pasai pi dah lambat, mana nak baca map lagi kan.. sib baik dan jugak tengok sunset. Memang kenangan yang tidak dapat dilupakan lah.. cantik sungguh. Lepas sun dah set, kami linger sat dok ambik gambaq lagi sampai dah gelap baru blah nak pi cari makan kat cafe dia. Rupanya penuh orang pack pasai semua yang lepaih tengok sunset teruih singgah cafe nak melantak. Budak2 ni pulak time tu la depa dok buat lasak, mana badan belangaih lagi ni so last-last kami balik bilik pi mandi dulu. Tadi masa on the way tu ada singgah kedai Dollar shop, Boss dia beli megi 4 cawan. Lepaih mandi, dok prepare la nak masak megi dengan ayaq panaih ni sebab dah tak larat, bedai pi lah apa pun, dok belek2 ingredient dia tengok2 ada bubuh pork powder. Hampeh sungguh! Boss tak prasan pasai dia nampak Megi Udang ingat tak dak la.. dah tak dak apa nak makan maka kalut la Madame pi cari makan kat cafe. Masa tu dah pukui 9:20, cafe tutup pukui 10 malam. Sib baik sempat kalu tidak kebuluq la kami anak beranak. Lepaih ni kena bawak rice cooker la.

Isnin, Jun 9 2008
Ni memang dah penat sungguh dah ni. Plan tu konon nak pi tengok sunrise tapi tak larat la. Boss saja yang pi, kami 3 beranak dok melengkoq kat ataih katil lagi melayan perasaan penat ni. Lepaih tu, dok pikiaq, tak boleh jadi ni, bukan senang nak mai sini maka Madame pun bangun teruih kerah anak2 pi mandi siap2 nak pi jalan. Teruih la packing baju semua ready nak check out. Boss balik terkejut dia tengok kami anak beranak dah ready to rock n roll. Masuk beg semua dalam minivan kami tu teruih pi check out. Sampai kat admin ofis tengok jam tangan rupa-rupanya baru pukui 7:30. Hampeh sungguh jam meja kat bilik hotel tadi tunjuk pukui 10:00, ingat dah lewat sangat dah. Pastu pikiaq balik, tengok map rasa teruih check out lah senang. Tu dia bayaq untuk tidoq saja punyalah mahai. Shopping beli souvenir kat kedai dia, pastu beli buku Grand Canyon satu then teruih kami pi pusing Grand Canyon singgah kat Look-out point dia satu-satu ambik gambaq. Melilau pi melilau mai dah pukui 1. So, pasai nak pi Vegas pulak ni maka kami pun terpaksa la ucap babai kat Grand Canyon. Turun Grand Canyon ke Flagstaff, dok pi cari makan tak jumpa satu pun yang bekenan so isi minyak teruih drive ikut I-40. Sampai kat Selignman perut dah kebuluran so pi la cari kedai makan mana ada. Dari Seligman, drive lagi untuk ke Vegas. Dalam pada tu, singgah ambik gambaq sat kat Hoover Dam. Niat di hati tu nak masuk dalam Museum dia tapi pasai cuaca sungguh panas, tak tahan la pulak so teruih nak direct check in saja. Sejam lepaih tu kami pun sampai kat Las Vegas. Lupa pulak nak print map ke hotel so main agak2 saja. Singgah kat kedai 7 Eleven ni tanya awek cashier tu dia cakap jalan straight down. Kira betoi jugak la Madame agak2 jalan..he..he..he.. Yelah, Boss kena fokus drive, Madame pulak baca map. Rupa-rupanya, Circus Circus ni dok betoi2 kat ujung The Strip. Nak masuk pi check in ni cerita lain pulak, punyalah ramai umat manusia, sesak sungguh. Kena beratoq bukan main panjang nak check-in. Madame pulak pi tinggai passport dalam rheta dah kena pi ambik balik pulak. Sib baik parking kat chk-in parking lot tu. Dapat kunci dah dok kena perosah nak angkut beg pulak kat ataih. Ramai sungguh la orang. Bilik dia besaq tapi coffee maker pun takdak. Dok rehat-rehat kami pun keluaq cari makan dan ronda-ronda Las Vegas. Malam tu flat tidoq dengan lenanya. Eh, sebelum tu dok try jugak tengok channel XXX dia, rupanya dia caj satu filem USD12, harap maap lah. Ingatkan free boleh la peek a look pasai budak2 ni ada sekali tak boleh la overkan, nak tengok sikit saja. Kena bayaq rupanya. Internet pun kena bayaq. At least, lembap-lembap Alpine Inn kat Durango tu free la internet wi-fi dia tu. Budak2 ni nak main game online pun tak boleh. Nak pi melepak kat slot machine kat kasino kat bawah tu pun tak boleh jugak pasai budak bawah 18thn langsung tak boleh linger kat situ so Madame suruh Boss sajalah pi jalan-jalan malam tu. Madame pulak buat taik mata dengan budak2 ni.

Selasa, Jun 10 2008

After 5 months

Next thing you know is five months has gone by and the farthest we've been is to Denver. I wanted to make a trip but I don't know when. I guess by Wednesday I should just pack up and go and forget about everything else. If I did not do anything by now, we probably won't go anywhere until December. I mean, Aqil will start school about the same time my Fall classes begin. By then, I will be twice as busy as I was in Spring. So, either now or nothing.

OK, first where to hit? I just don't have any place specific to go so I think perhaps we should hit to Las Vegas. I wanted to go to Yellowstone but I guess we don't have any place to stay. The Niagara Falls is too far to drive, the train tickets is sold out so that no other option but to adjourn it to next time, only God knows when. Mount Rushmore..well, Hubby just so prefer the Sin City over the president's faces. So, nearest spot available is Vegas or Santa Fe. Well, let just say we hit to Vegas. OK, I'll check the room and all and see what we can come out with.

Oh btw, I got a place to work in Engineering Research Center (ERC) so I'll be bringing in some stuff to keep the shelves occupied and not so empty. I prefer to work at home because it's more convenience plus at home you'll get all the foods and whatnot. But I guess I just have to show up there sometimes to make sure I'm in "active mode " and to show of that things are working fine. Basically, my workspace at home are so much better than at ERC but on the other hands, you will be working more seriously than you will at home. It's a spacious room and I share it with 4 others. Sang Do, a PhD candidate from Korean, Kevin from Lousiana and Quentin from New Mexico, both works as Research Assistant over this Summer and Natalie, my classmate. Well, it is interesting because you can stop and ask them questions and all and it always fun to meet people. Nevertheless, I love working at home.