A Beautiful Revolution - blog

I need to stick this on my monitor at work

Image from A Beautiful Revolution

Otherwise there's always an over indulgence of KFC, chocolate oozing donuts, a new pair of shoes to help with the sanity. 

I've been following A Beautiful Revolution for a while now. This guy suffers from severe depression and doodles about how he sees life. Some are just weird, some are funny, some are meaningful. His doodles got noticed and now he has published books of it.

Oh wow, I just realized that it's already Wednesday now that American Idol on showing on TV. Two more days to the long weekend. Yay!~

bleeding love

Love this. :)

FYI

If you are a Sakae Sushi addict like me, you would have notice that the Spicy Salmon has been "temporary" out of stock since a few months back...

TIPU wan.... The menu says it's out of stock, but I asked the waiter and he brought me some.

Next time, don't trust the menu.

(Hubby watching District 9 right now. Another one of those Fuck Fuck Fuck Cluck Cluck Cluck Hollywood movies. How did they manage to sensor it all out in every other sentence when the movie was shown in the cinemas here?)

Dr. Oz says...

I have mentioned it a few times before. I love Dr. Oz. He makes me want to be a healthier person. When Dr. Oz goes on the Oprah show, I'd have a notebook with me and I'd jot down everything he says.

Image from Oprah.com

Take a look at the 3 woman above and guess thier ages. Answers are at the end of the post.

Dr. Oz says to look and have a younger body, we should follow the checklist below.



For more information, click here to go to the Oprah website.

I'm currently doing the following

1. One green apple for breakfast, and if possible, other types of fruits later during the day
   
2. Cook brown rice instead of white rice
3. One cup of Anlene milk per day
4. I put a green tea bag into my water bottle at work. Green tea is really good. It's high in antioxidants, reduces cholestrol, and research shows that it helps to prevent cancer and helps with weight management.
   
5. I use olive oil instead of cooking oil
6. One capsule of fish oil per day
7. Eat wholemeal bread instead of white bread. Always look out for the term "wholegrain".
   

I still do eat unhealthy food, like my occasional cravings for KFC, but since I cook at home during weekdays, I try to choose food which are good for us.

Why my sudden interest to lead a healthier lifestyle? Well, I see all the health problems my grandparents are going through right now because of their unhealthy lifestyle they used to have. And it made me realize that health is not something to take for granted no matter how old we are.

And the answer to the question above, the lady on the left is 60 years old. Lady in the middle is 63. And lady on the right is 50.

Lady on the left looks freaking young. She maintains a healthy diet, has hobbies which she's passionate about and practiced yoga for 22 years, which made me syiok syiok want to try yoga. So far tried it twice, then lazy to try it again. :P

Lady in the middle also leads a healthy lifestyle. Lady on the right leds a stressful life and doesn't exercise and you can see she looks way older than the first two ladies.

So in conclusion, eat right, sleep right, and excercise right. Health cannot be taken for granted.

My Milk Toof

I found this blog today through somebody's blog. I simply adore it and must share it. If you're gonna check it out, start from the first post.

http://mymilktoof.blogspot.com/

Xbox 360

Cooh huh? Makes me wonder what game technology will be like in the next 10 or 20 years...

A little sharing

After doing some sharing with WY, I'm in my sharing mood.

If you don't know about this site, check out FML. It stands for Fuck My Life where all sorts of people write in what happened to them and some entries are really funny.

Eg.
Today I was taking a picture with my friend who has a camera which can pick out a certain color and only have that color show up in the picture. She chose yellow because of the yellow on my dress, and when she showed me the picture the sash wasn't the only yellow thing-my teeth showed up too. FML

Today, while laying out, I kept feeling something misty, like a spray bottle. Curious as to what it was since it kept coming, I looked up, only to see the painters were peeing over the side of the house, and the heavy breeze was turning their piss into a refreshing mist for me. FML

Today, I went to a barbecue and noticed a girl that I had be interested in. When I walked up to ask how she was doing I noticed she had some BBQ sauce on her face. Jokingly I licked my thumb and reach to remove it. It turned out to be a scab from a pimple she had popped earlier. FML

Today, I was putting on cream and my son asked what it was for. I told him it was to keep the wrinkles away. He looked at me closely and replied, "I don't think it's working." FML

Today, I was eating a sandwich on my bed. I felt something wet on my leg and assumed a tomato had fallen off my sandwich. Without looking I popped it in my mouth, WRONG, it was a hairball my cat had thrown up. FML

Also, if you are a twitter user, you really have got to use TwitterFox. It will save you the hassle of going to the twitter website to update your status. And you get to receive twitter updates almost instantly. It fits nicely at the corner on your FireFox browser as a small little symbol and when you click on it, it looks like the below. It's a really cool tool to have. :)

Music which inspires

I'm into a lot of things. I love beautiful photographs, art, music... anything inspiring which can touch something deep within. So when I entered the blogging world, I found so many things that I love.

I found this from somebody's blog. It's one of the most beautiful music arrangements I heard. It made the original songs sound so much nicer. And I love Jon Schmidt's music. I used one of his songs in my wedding slideshow and the song made the story in the slideshow seem so much beautiful. :)

Enjoy the video below. Use the song below in a slideshow of your most cherish photos and there will be magic.

Finally the finals

American Idol results are out. I’m dying to know who won but I want to find out when I watch the finals tonight. Somebody already sent me a link to who won which has triggered my curiosity even more. Every year I always try to avoid finding out who wins but fail.

First I have to avoid going to any website like MSN, Yahoo, etc which would publish the news.

Then I have to go through a whole session of Yin How gleefully threatening to tell me who won knowing whether well I don’t want to know.

And after going successfully going through all that, I always fail at the last stage when I’m driving home and the radio DJ starts shouting out congratulations to the winner, leaving me cursing. Today, I’m going to switch to a Chinese station. I doubt they care about American Idol and even if they do, I won't be understand a word they say. ;)


I absolutely LOVE this season of Amercian Idol. I even considered taking a day off to watch the finals live but one thought of my list of To-Do’s at work made that thought disappear immediately.

I so want Kris to win (after Danny got voted out, I switched my loyalty to Kris). But everybody loves Adam, so I’m guessing he’s going to win?

Whatever it is, don't tell me. I want to enjoy the anticipation when watching the finals tonight. :)

**Update** - I'm so happy Kris won!!~~~~~~~ :)

Skeletons In The Island

I don't see myself as a very charitable person or a person who is exceptionally kind. Yin How is a lot more generous than me and he'll usually go to the orphanage once a month to pass them things like rice, milo, etc. And when we eat at the Malay stall for lunch, Yin How would purposely take a small fish or two to feed the stray cats there (when I'm at the stall, all I think of is getting food for myself). There were a few times he purposely bought char siew pau for a hungry stray dog at the coffeeshop. When I see how kind-hearted he is, I fall in love with him all over again.

For me, I feel very blessed with all the things I have. To most of us RM100 would mean just another pair of shoes, or a pair of jeans, or maybe a meal or two at Sakae Sushi or just a digit in our savings account. But to others out there, that same RM100 could even mean another day of living, another day of survival. So whenever I see a charity which touches me, I would donate. And today, this particular news really touched me.

I've got pampered fat dogs at home and when I think of all those starving dogs on the island, it makes me want to cry.




"The villagers of Pulau Ketam have been rounding up all the stray dogs on the island, and shipping them to three deserted islands close by. With nothing for them to eat and without being able to fend for themselves, they are starving to death. Some dogs have tried to swim back to the main island but drowned on their way. Starving, some of them are even forced to eat each other."




There is a group of people trying to help those dogs on the island. But boat ferry rides are expensive and resources are not plentiful. So if this story has touched you, please donate. You can read more about the story here.

I know people are not likely to donate to SPCA or any animal related charities. But whether you agree or not, dogs are innocent beings who have very real feelings. To a dog, a pat of the head would be the most meaningful moment of the day. They can feel happiness, sadness and they know what true loyalty means. And to them, you will be the most beloved person in their whole lives. When you are sad, they will be sad. When you are happy, they will be happy.

Most of all, they are innocent, suffering because of the wrong doings of heartless people.

Quote from Marley and Me,

"A dog has no use for fancy cars or big homes or designer clothes. Status symbol means nothing to him. A waterlogged stick will do just fine. A dog judges others not by their color or creed or class but by who they are inside. A dog doesn't care if you are rich or poor, educated or illiterate, clever or dull. Give him your heart and he will give you his. It was really quite simple, and yet we humans, so much wiser and more sophisticated, have always had trouble figuring out what really counts and what does not."


And to those of us who have dogs, we know this to be very true.

Facebook, YouTube at Work Make Better Employees: Study

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2009/04/reuters_us_work_internet_tech_life

So, for the sake of increasing productivity, I shall do it la. ;)

9 words woman use

I received this forwarded email from my sister who said that it reminds her of Yin How and I. I have to say, it's very true. :)

1. Fine : This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.
2. Five Minutes : If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.
3. Nothing : This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.
4. Go Ahead : This is a dare, not permission. Don't Do It!
5. Loud Sigh : This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to #3 for the meaning of nothing.)
6. That's Okay : This is one of the most dangerous statements a woman can make to a man. That's okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.
7. Thanks : A woman is thanking you, do not question, or Faint. Just say you're welcome.
8. Whatever : Is a women's way of saying FUCK YOU!
9. Don't worry about it, I'll do it : Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking 'What's wrong?' For the woman's response refer to #3.Then you RUN!
   

Now this is my own reasoning for those 9 words.

1. We say this because we could argue and argue and the point won't get through so we don't want to argue anymore.
   
2. Girls just need more time to get ready. It's just a fact. We have to pick out the right outfit for the right occasion. Then there's the hair, the makeup, the accessories. Guys wear the same type of outfit for most occasions. How hard is it to match the same looking T-shirts with all the same looking shorts/pants? And they only need to comb their hair and they are done (some don't even need to do this). Then why is five minutes only five minutes when we ask a guy to do something? Refer to #9.
   
3. Girls say this because we want to know whether guys are sensitive enough to know whether something is wrong even when we say "Nothing". If a guy is observant enough, then he would know that there's something and not nothing. So there's nothing to fear if you are sensitive to your girl's needs. Of course if you think there's nothing and do nothing, do not fear for we will definitely let you know there's something.
   
4. Girls do not like to assert control over guys. If you really want to do it, then go ahead la... Just that you'll be doing it knowing that we are unhappy about it and if you still go ahead and do it, then it will hurt us very very much. You don't want to hurt us right? :~(
   
5. The explanation there is already good enough. Sometimes a loud sigh also means "there's something wrong and I want you to notice and to ask me about it".
   
6. Same reason as 4.
   
7. There's nothing wrong with saying thank you. And when we say it, we mean it.
8. I don't say the former, I get straight to the point. In some situations, whatever means "leave me alone, I don't care anymore".
   
9. This is when a girl repeatedly asks a guy to do something again and again and AGAIN and each time the guy says he will do it and never does. I don't understand why can't guys just do it the first or second time when we ask them nicely? It's always, "Ok, later", "Ok later", "Ok later".. one month later and it's still "Ok, later". So girl gets fed up, "FINE.... I will do it myself". And suddenly the guy will have the time to do it immediately.

So given the interpretation and the reason behind those 9 words, it's pretty simple to understand what a woman wants right? :)

The Short and Simple Story of the Credit Crisis

This is a cool animation explaining the why the economic crisis in the U.S. is happening

http://vimeo.com/3261363

Handphone finally reached it's end :(

My poor handphone is finally reaching the last few days of it's life. Sparkle kicked it of the sofa and the clip that holds the battery to the handphone broke. It's been one week since my handphone looks like this.

The battery expanded in the middle so it sticks out. Sometimes when the phone rings and I pick it up, the battery falls off. Or sometimes, since my phone is the flip type, I accidentally flip the battery out instead.

It was getting too pathetic. I was even considering using sticky tape to hold it together but battery was too fat.

As stubborn as I was I finally decided to get a new handphone. And the new baby is so beau-ti-ful!~~ Shu-Yin and Mun Yi will no longer be making fun of it. :P

Only thing now is I've got no excuse for not picking up my handphone anymore.

25 Random Things

I first heard of this 25 Random Thingys in Google Reader. Knew it was just a matter time before it reached here. I think I prefer to do mine here. I've added too many people in facebook, a lot whom I don't know or can't remember, some whom I don't want to add but can't block.

Anyways,

1. I love dogs. I know almost everybody knows this but doggies must be mentioned here


2. My tongue has a little split in the middle. Maybe that's why I sometimes cannot pronounce words properly


3. I spent the 1st year of my life in Kelantan, then the next 5 years in England. I started my first year of school there.


4. I'm named Mindy because people in England couldn't pronounce my Chinese name so I was given a English name later. My mum was either going to name me Ruby or Mindy. (I'm glad she chose Mindy)


5. I used to be a very talkative kid. My primary school teacher changed my seating in class three times because I talked too much and I ended up sitting in the corner by myself.


6. Later in life I became an introvert. I prefer to keep to myself than to join a large group. I don't care whether that makes me look like I'm stuck up or anti-social. It's just who I am.


7. I can't speak Chinese. Maybe it's because I grew up in England. Maybe it's because my parents converse only in English. But I think it's because I suck big time in any language subjects. Throughout school I only scored A once in BM, during PMR. I rather study anything except BM. I stucked in BM.... and Geography.


8. I love Oprah. And I love Dr. Oz. He's the reason I'm starting to eat vegetables and exercising regularly


9. I would rather spend my money on my home which I spend most of my time then to spend it on a 1 week vacation in another country. Of course if I were rich, I would spend it on both and a lot of other stuff... like an iPhone.
   
10. Because of #9, my passport is absolutely clean. The last time I flew out of Malaysia was when I was 13, still using my mum's passport


11. Since I was 13, I always had long hair (except for once when I cut it shorter and Mun Yi screamed her head off when she saw it). I used to have ugly short hair when I was young because I wasn't allowed to keep long hair. I'm not brave enough to go back to having short hair


12. I don't believe in following traditions just because it's a tradition. I need to understand why I have to do something if I have to do it. If it's illogical, then I won't do it.


13. I can be a stubborn ass when I want to be.


14. I never used to swear, even saying "shit" was too vulgar... until I met Yin How.


15. I'm a little scared of the dark. Yin How likes to switch off the light while I bathe to make me scream.


16. I love The Simpsons.


17. I hate frying fish. I'm terrified of hot oil. I usually wait for Yin How to do it. I'm terrified of fire, I do not dare to light a match or a lighter. I'm scared of bees as well. And also cockroaches.


18. I value old friendships. I would rather have 1 good childhood friend than to have 100 friends I'm not close with


19. I call my sister Lulu Gen and she calls me Lulu Min. We started it after watching Breakfast At Tiffany's.


20. When I'm PMS-ing, I get very emotional. Even an advertisement can make me want to cry.


21. I'm not good in hiding my feelings. If I don't it like, chances are I'll show it


22. I usually only buy shoes from Vincci, Nose or Voir.


23. I sat in a push chair until I was 5. My dad wheeled me in a push chair to kindergarden


24. I love my TV, I love dark chocolate, I love tomyam, I love The Gilmore Girls, I love the color brown, I love Marley and Me.


25. I hate crowds. I won't go out on Valentine's day, or Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve just because everyone is doing it. I rather spend a quiet evening at home with the people I love.

I have to say that writing 25 random things about myself was harder than I thought.

He calls himself the Legend

As requested, Yin How's interview, the one where he made me read again and again :P


By APJ Corporate Communications

We welcome your comments.

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みなさんからのコメントをお待ちしています。

Yin How Tan has been working with Dell’s customer care for 4 years and 8 months and has recently moved into a new role of standardizing processes for the region. He joined Dell as a call center agent working with ANZ customers before gradually getting involved in coaching agents on customer care as well as training new hirers with the right skills before they go on board. He has been leading the team supporting both ANZ pre- and post- calls and was the escalation contact point for the team in instances where customers want to speak to someone higher up within the Care organization.

An expert in all things to do with ensuring the customers get their orders on time, he was awarded the Customer Experience (CE) Legend award for December 2008. Here, he shares his thoughts on CE and why drives him on a daily basis.

What is the most challenging aspect of your job? What keeps you going?

The most challenging aspect of my job would be dealing with demanding customers, as well as making sure I keep all my customers happy at all times. I have come to realize continuous passion and patience are keys to delivering good CE. Receiving recognition from both internal and external customers fuels my passion and keeps me going.

What are some of the things you do to ensure your customers have a positive customer experience?

Walk the talk, and focus on building a long-term relationship instead of short term one with your customers. Remember to go the extra mile as this is very important in the service industry to cultivate the trust and confidence of our customers. Customers should be able to believe Dell is providing the best quality services and products to them, all the time, every time.

Can you share with us how the recent BPI projects you worked on help to improve CE?

In call centre environment, the most critical part would be ensuring the speed of the resolution while delivering an awesome customer experience. All my projects are based on improving these two areas.

As a start, teams must be aligned and processes, standardized, especially in terms of skills and knowledge among the care specialists. This is why I came up with a new hire training manual as part of my yellow belt project 4 years ago. Another project consolidated 10 manual excel reports onto a single automated tool to help care specialists improve their call handling time. It also strengthened backend support to the frontline, reducing the frontline’s workload and time spent on case follow ups. As a result, more time could be spent understanding and helping customers resolve issues swiftly.

Why is CE more important now when the economic climate is challenging?

I must agree that this year’s economic recession is one of the worst that I have come across in a long time but we should view it as an opportunity for Dell to grow even stronger. People are now thinking twice before spending money. If Dell continues delivering the best CE especially during this period, I am very confident that customers will appreciate this and become loyal customers for years to come. Build a stronger relationship with the customer during this period and it will pay back in a matter of time.

What advice do you have for colleagues on the topic of CE?

Continue delivering good CE and position Dell and ourselves as #1 in the PC market. Most importantly, whatever you do, it must come with passion from your heart.

The CE Legend

Yin How recently won the CE Legend award at Dell, an award to recognize the top performers across Dell worldwide who give the best customer experience.

Don’t know why he submitted that photo of himself. I think he was overexcited about getting interviewed so he rushed to take a photo for it.

For some reason, I feel he looks like a teddy bear. I’m going to call him teddy bear from now on. I’m so proud of my teddy bear. Go teddy, go teddy!~~

Hmmm... Sparkle is getting too fat

How leh?

How to clean a dirty home

Takes approximately 2 and half man hours (done by one person)

1. Start by cleaning the laundry area a.k.a. the dogs toilet


2. Use the feather duster to dust away all the dust on the shelves, cabinets, tv, etc...


3. Vacumn the whole place (it's encouraged to do this before Step 4 because Step 4 drains a lot of energy)


4. Trick the dogs to go into the laundry area using dog biscuits, then bath both of them one at the time (you can try bathing both together at once, but they will gang up against you)
   
   
5. Lock the two wet crazed dogs in the balcony to dry them in the sun


6. Mop the whole place. (Step 4 & 5 must be done before Step 6 to ensure no dirty doggie paw prints on the freshly mopped floor)


7. Clean the dining table and the coffee table


8. Make yourself a drink, sit on the sofa and marvel at how clean the place is, while the dogs look at you miserably through the balcony door



9. Open the balcony door and sigh while watching the dogs make new doggie paw prints on the clean floor


10. The clean effect will last for only a day. Repeat steps 1 - 9 again the next weekend.

It's CC season, tra la la la la

CC is coming... and as usual, there's the mad rush to get everything done.

Have you ever had a situation where you have so many things to do until you don't know which to do first and you just waste your time staring at the list just trying to pick one thing to do?

Or have you ever had to do several things at one time, have multiple windows open running multiple different things and you keep switching between different windows at such speed until you just suddenly stop because you forgot which one you're doing and you stay in blur mode for the next 10 seconds?

Or have you had a situation where you've got so much to do, even toilet breaks seems a waste of time and you'll wait until you just can't stand it anymore and rush like crazy to the toilet before your bladder burst?

Or have you ever cracked your head trying to solve something but can't solve it, then go home feeling unsatisfied and moody, then suddenly at 2am, you wake up and the solution suddenly pops into your head and you feel like dancing but are too sleepy?

Or had you ever had to put back your fix and you see lots of people editing the same file, so being the kiasu person you are, you quickly try to get your fix tested and done to put back the file before everybody else?

Or have you felt proud of yourself because you finally managed to clear all your pending SPRs/task just a day before CC, and when you come to work the next day, your inbox has been flooded with lots of new incoming tasks?

Or do you find that everything is going fine all this while but suddenly 1 week before CC anything that can go wrong does go wrong?

Or maybe you've been working like crazy trying to finish everything to the point where you know it's hopeless and suddenly you feel everything is so funny...

If you have said yes to any of the above, then you need to stop what you're doing, write in your blog, relax for 5 minutes, squeeze your stress ball, do some stretching, breath in... then out....

Ok done? Then you are ready to jump back into the mad CC rush, tra la la la la...