Sports Update

It's a month into new football season in England. Barclays English Premier League will start in mid August. Teams are preparing their pre-season tour in their respective manner - Manchester United are in China for the Far East Trip; Bolton, Manchester City, Everton are competing for the Asia FA Cup in Thailand, where the host competes with the trio with their U-23 team; Chelsea will be playing against AC Milan next Monday.

With the preparations going on. Chelsea again, will be the centre stage of the world again, with the deep pocket provided by their Russian Tycoon owener - Roman Abramovich. (Side fact: Russian Roman Abramovich ranks top 25 in the world's richest man list, and he's the youngest among top 25 at the age of 38) Having already acquired full back Del Horno from the Spain, and a 21 million pound Shaun Wright-Phillips from Manchester City, the Blues are looking onto strengthen their squad by luring Michael Essien from the French side Lyon. Chelsea have been denied in several attempts in their search for a quality striker, they now look on to acquire the young Ghanaian in bid to their own quest of win-it-all season next term. They were already a runaway champion last term, winning the league margin ahead of top two English team for the past decades, Arsenal and Manchester United.

In contrast to the multispending Chelsea, Manchester has been considerably quiet in the transfer market, while having their own saga going on. Manchester United have recently been bought by American billionnaire Malcolm Glazer, who later delisted Manchester United from the stock market, making them from a PLC (public limited company) to a solely-owned team. So far, in their summer transaction, they have only secured veteran Dutch keeper Edwin Van Da Saar (Fulham), and South Korean midfielder, Park Ji-Sung (PSV Eindhoven). Spotlight was also on central-defender Rio Ferdinand over the halt of the contract talks.

Arsenal, meanwhile, had took a gamble by offloading their ever influencial and iconic midfield caption Patrick Viera to Juventus. Arsene Wenger seems to have been prepared for the life-after Viera, as he looks on to replace the void left by the combative midfielder. I am sure Mr. Wenger has little problem in that, as he has undoubted talent on unearthing young talents, scouting a virtually unknown player, and making them a superstar in ARsenal.

And so, the football business continues.. I can't write too much here. It'll be pages long if I go on.

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From football, we move on to basketball. Here's a quickie on what's going on with NBA. I wrote bit on the NBA Draft, where teams get to picked their rising stars from the colleges. Now, the move is to acquire free agents, signing them or re-signing them. Here are the updates:

1. Atlanta Hawks
2. Boston Celtics
3. Charlotte Bobcats
4. Cleveland Cavaliers
- Reported to have signed Toronto's Donyall Marshall
- Resigned center Z Ilgauskas
- Signed Larry Hughes of Washington Wizards, whom had performed superbly last season with the Wizards, before injury took his All Star Berth away.
5. Chicago Bulls
6. Detroit Pistons
- Larry Brown stepped down as Head Coach
- Flip Saunders was hired as Head Coach
7. Denver Nuggets
8. Dallas Mavericks
9. Golden State Warriors
10. Houston Rockets
- Captured Memphis' athletic forward Stromile Swift
11. Indiana Pacers
12. LA Lakers
- Reported to have acquired Washingon Wizard's Kwame Brown via trade, sending Caron Butler and Chucky Atkins to the opposing side.
13. LA Clippers
- Reported to have secured signature for Catino Mobley, after he had rejected Sacramento King's offer.
14. Minnesota Timberwolves
15. Miami Heats
- Re-signed forward Udonis Haslem
16. Milwaukee Bucks
- Signed Most Improved Player last term from LA Clippers -- Bobby Simmons
- Re-signed Michael Redd
17. New Jersey Nets
- Signed Shareef Abdul Rahim from Portland to fill the void left by Kenyon Martin
- Re-signed Clifford Robinson
- In talk with Atlanta's Chris Crawford
- Rumoured to have talk with Damon Stoudamire of Portland
18. New Orlean Hornets
19. New York Knicks
- Signed Seattle's center Jerome James
- Traded Kurt Thomas for Phoenix's Q Richardson and Nate Robinson (rookie from draft)
20. Orlando Magic
21. Philadephia 76ers
- Reported to make deal with Kyle Korver and Willie Green
22. Phoenix Suns
- Acquired Kurt Thomas, sending Q Richardson and Nate Robinson to NYK
23. Portland Trailblazers
24. Sacramento Kings
25. San Antonio Spurs
- Made another international acquisition, Argentine center Oberto
26. Seattle Supersonics
- Resigned Ray Allen
27. Toronto Raptors
28. Utah Jazz
29. Washington Wizards
- Signed Seattle's Antonio Daniels to replace Larry Hughes.
30. Memphis Grizzlies


* Teams are not allowed to sign or announce their signing of their players until 22 July.

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That would be all for now. More updates to come.
This weekend will be in Kuching. Nice to return home.

M.I.A.

I've been missing in action over the past week. It's been a busy week, packed with hectic schedule. I even left my previous post "The Call" unfinished. I am finally, kinda free at this point. Just resumed my unfinished post on the Maxis 3G Day 2 in my Photo Journal post.

First of all, I'd like to express my belated birthday wishes to 2 of my friends, whom had their birthday on the 9th July and 12th July respectively -- Happy Belated Birthday! (Although I had sent them wishes on the exact day, I still thought it's a gesture needed here). I'm trying to maintain a no-name policy in this blog, but not sure if I had mentioned any in my previous blog. hehe.. nevermind. Also, I have another friend who's celebrating her birthday today on the 16th July. Happy Birthday!

Okay.. I guess that's about it for the birthday dedications.

Now, here's what I have been busy with. It's mentioned in this post. And, the final product would be here! Harry Potter book 6 -- Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is launched today worldwide.. I ain't fan of the Potter dude, so not gonna elaborate too much on the book. And if you can read chinese, click here, and you will see why I was busy with what I had been busy with. Of course, not forgetting about my Final Interview for the job in Cyberjaya. It was really tiring to attend interviews. And, I spent quite a lot just to get myself there for the interview! I was quite nervous during the interview session, I was not quite sure what I was saying during the session. I guess it is pretty normal for people to be nervous huh? I don't really hope much for the interview, I mean I love the environment, the company.. it's very impressive, pretty good prospect, but I HATE the location, it's in Cyberjaya! Not where I want to be. Result will be known in 10 work days' time, that's what I was told, I think I have a week more to know if I get the job or not.

So job hunting will continue, target: KL area. Not much to blog about. I've been smiling all week long, I'm just happy. So, hopefully this will last long.

Till next entry.. Signing off... (back to reading Promotional Management)

London Terror

The world is saddened by yet another terror attack. This time London. The series of bomb attacks, first explosions was recorded at 8.51am (London time), ripped through central London. Just 24 hours after winning the bid to host the 2012 Olympic games, joy was soon over, andit was marred by this dark moment of terror attack.

Four explosions occurred during morning rush hour in central London. The hit places were the public transport network in London. So far, the reported number of casualties hit 37 dead and more than 700 injured. The attack brought grieves throughout the world.

I was really glad that my friend in UK is safe and sound. She's in Birmingham. She told me that she planned to travel to London, but had overslept and missed the bus. I really thank God for that. Who knows what might happen if she had gotten onto the bus!

I am really saddened by this, can't write too much on this entry now. Let's mourn for the dead, and pray for the world peace. May God bless all the souls!

Please stop world terror... and welcome world peace...

Day1: The Call

Tuesday (5 July 2005)
1644 hr...

Received a call from an unfamiliar number. It was a call up for an assessment test, and that the details would be forwarded to my email account. I was shocked, surprised and excited. It was my official first call up for interview. And, it is from a considerably large corporate. (I would prefer keeping the names to myself) The assessment would be at 9am the following day. The moment the conversation ended, I knew I had to made arrangements and adjustments. My current schedule has been quite messed up, and this assessment thing, and twisted it to the worse end. I am more messed up now.


Wednesday (6 July 2005)
0800 hr...

Oh, before I go on any further.. Happy Birthday Yin! (It's a day later when I write this entry.. but still.. Happy Birthday!) I sent a text message to you, did you get that? Anyways, at this hour, I was in the taxi on my way to Cyberjaya for the assesment test. Yes, the location is at Cyberjaya. Don't really like that place, it's like a modern desert! Living hell for me.. It has almost NOTHING there!


0845 hr...

Arrival at the scene. Time stated on the information given was at 9pm (sharp). So, I thought I'd better reach there earlier than later, and not screw up any impression that I have. Somehow, this whole assessment thing, still could not avoid the effect of one of the most influential 'Malaysian culture' -- candidates arriving after 9am, and even the person in charged greeted us around 0920.. That's so not cool! Half an hour wasted!


0924 hr...

Company tour: I'm totally impressed with the environment and the facilities. The place is sooo cool! Really impressive. I just can't put them in words here, and too bad I was not allowed to take any photos of it there. Just too bad. You should see it to feel it! The company policies aren't bad as well. Pretty good prospect.


minutes around 1000 hr...

Arrival at the training rooms: This is where we had our assessment tests. The moment I sat down, my head and eyes could not help turning leftwards, where a gorgeous lady was sitting. She's a white, she's just simple gorgeous. Hehe. Well, I don't know if they put this lady from HR department to distract candidates during tests. (I had my head turning several times, and my focus distracted during the listening comprehension part! Ouch!)

There were 3 parts for the test - EPT, APT and Written Test.. (sounds very much like an English paper huh?)

And it is English paper. EPT - English Language Proficiency Test, is where they test your English, reading and listening comprehension. I'll just skip this part, it was nothing much to mention about.

Here comes the APT - Aptitude Test (or some sort). This is where we were tested on Vocab, IQ, Calculation and Vocab again.. (Synnonyms). This hurt me a lot! I had been weak in Vocab all these while, and this paper had really some tough ones for me. and I was only given 4 minutes to do 12 questions. That was short! Same goes for IQ test. It took me a while to figure out the pattern, but it was a lil bit too late, only managed to answer 2 or 3 out of 12 questions. (4 minutes!!)

Calculation Part was my best bet. completed 12/18 in 5 mins and 30 secs..! 5 mins! Hell short!
Lastly, test on words again! We were required to do the exercise on Synnonyms! As usual, Tough.. and within 4 mins. I doubt anyone could complete everything in the time given..! Brain was so stressed out after that paper. Gosh...!

Writen Test - this is where you do the writing, answering what's given to you, in written form. Here, I was asked to take a Mandarin version. (I was asked if I could speak and write in Mandarin or not prior the test) And gosh, I did not prepare for this! Never I have expected that I would need to do mandarin test! Anyways.. Everything finshed off by 1pm.


1300 hr...

All candidates left the hall, heading towards lobby. We were told that results would be known within a week's time.. So, I left and waited for transport to head back to the city..


4-5 hours later...

Received a call from them...
"May I speak to Allen please?"
"Yes, speaking."
"Hi, I'm calling from the HR Department. We would like to inform you that the assessment test was a success."
"What? That was fast?""blah blah blah ( just wanna jump into the main point)... We would like to arrange a time with you for your final interview. Would it be okay for your if it's 6.30pm tomorrow?.."
And so, I had to make another arrangement and adjust ment again.. This is so unexpected! I took leave one day, and will need to take another (partial leave, not even a half day.. I'm still in office now! 2.45pm now!) Will need to head to Cyberjaya again..


Thursday (7 July 2005)
1445 hr...

Typing entry for the blog offline. My boss unplug my cable cos a customer needs it on his laptop. Hmm.. So, might not be able to post this blog on time. Will be going of around 3.30pm later..
So, more to come later..


[... to be continued]

Photo Journal

The photos will tell the story..
Maxis 3G @ KL Convention Centre: Revisited (Day 2)

Warning: Beyond this point, there wil be strictly no words for description or caption. Proceed with your own risk.

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A Day Out

I was given a task by my boss today. I would say it is a notable task since my arrival on 1st June 2005. I was assigned to design a web page. The web page is for an online bookstore, which are going to have this Harry Potter booksale, and preorder for the latest book. I have no say in designing things, but I must say I am having problem with this one.

( My Tasks! )

First, it's Harry Potter.. Harry Who? Harry Porter!! I am not a fan of Harry. I don't really know much bout this Harry dude. That, is not much of a problem. Secondly, I need to do it in Chinese. I don't know what are most of the terms to be used in the web page. It is different, as it is not what we use to communicate everyday! It's Internet language in Chinese. Gosh... Nevermind, I guess I can have that figured out pretty soon. I just need some inspiration.. yeah..

I N S P I R A T I O N..

( Zoom: a different view at the twin towers. If you can see closely, it's taken on rainy day. Rain is visible in my original file. Not sure bout here. )

( shower of rain blurred the visions on Twin Towers )

I had a day out today with my buddy. We went to KLCC, to catch movie and such. Maxis had launched its 3G service yesterday (1st July 2005) at KL Convention Center. They are also having 2 days exhibition on the same venue for the two following days, 2nd and 3rd of July. We have been observing the war of telcos for quite a while now. Back then, they were battling with their prepaid plans and call rates. Celcom, Maxis and Digi were all throwing what they can to win the war. When they were done with the prepaid plan, comes the postpaid plan. Now that the juice is running dry on postpaid plan, 3G service is the new weapon to be drawn out. Celcom had launched 3G service earlier last month, becoming the first telco company to launch 3G in Malaysia. Maxis answered that call by launching their own 3G service yesterday, with an appalling rate for their subscribers, a very, very affordable rate for the entry-level subscribers. Everyone can afford the call rate. It's the same as what you have for the voice calls. I could not have further piece information on the call rates, they had not got broucheres for me. For more information, you can log onto Maxis' official site to check the rates out. (http://www.maxis.com.my/)

( Entrance to the tunnel that links KLCC to another KLCC -- KL Convention Centre )

( Maxis 3G exhibitions )

People in KL is so crazed with the movie Initial D. The tickets for the rest of the day were officially sold out at about 1.30pm today! How is that? I guess one of the reason is that TGV holds the sole distributor right (or whatever right that is..) for the movie. GSC has not got the right to play that movie on big screen, but I have also heard that GSC had already sealed the purchase of the movie right not long ago. They are expected to be showing the movie on big screen much later. All these are just speculations I have heard of, I have not read bout it on a solid, physical evidence.

Hmm.. I am thinking of writing a review on the movie.. Shall I? Maybe will write in separate entry.

( People in queue for movie tickets, you should see the queue 20 mins after this.. but too bad I didn't snap that. I was in queue for some other thing.. )

After KLCC...

My friend and I went off to Wangsamaju to have dinner. There.. it is a paradise for us. For that, the rental is cheap if compared with the amount we are paying right now. And, the choices on food doubles.. or maybe triples than what we have over here in our current place. Most importantly, the food is cheap! We ordered one plate of 'ban mian' - noodle, and a cup of iced Chinese Tea. We were at shock when we paid for it. It's been a while since I last saw a cup of iced Chinese Tea at 30 cents only! The last one I remembered would be while I was still in Malacca. I have not yet seen any in KL with 30 cents only! And, the noodle we ordered, at RM 3.50, the amount we had was like more than what we have in the usual servings! We felt blessed. I wished I could have snapped the photos of the food we had, but too bad, my batt was dead. No photos..

The journey back for us is the tiring part. From Wangsamaju, it will take about 40 minutes or so for us to reach our respective stations by LRT. One thing you hate about KL is.. to be in the LRT train, being cramped as if you're in a sardine can. It's always like that when the clock hits 6pm or so. That's when people start going home from work or school. Sometimes you can't even breathe or move an inch! Crap. I had to stand all the way from Wangsamaju - Kelanajaya! (basically it's from one end to another)

Time to get back to my work. I have until Wednesday to finish my task off..