Many of our friends are aware that Eunice was pregnant with our first child. Her pregnancy was into the 8th month (due on Christmas eve) and had been trouble-free... but 2 nights ago, our baby boy left us. He was recorded as stillbirth (placental abruption) in the early hours of 22 November 2008.
I'm an Apple Certified Pro!
Yes, I'm now an Apple Certified Pro in Logic Pro 8, Level 2... woohoo! After waiting for 3 weeks (much longer than the standard 7 day time frame), I have finally received my e-certificate from Apple.
In addition, I have also been granted the use of an Apple certification signature.
Although the Apple Certified Pro certificate looks plain and simple, it is still a hard-earned certificate, nevertheless! As there was no Apple Logic certified trainer in Malaysia, ICOM (my employer) fully sponsored my trip to Singapore for the Logic 301 course and exam (Logic 101 was a self-study effort).
Due to the number of topics to be covered, I had a highly intensive 3-day course at iShop by Club 21, an Apple Authorized Training Center. Fortunately, my trainer, Roy Lim, covered the Logic 301 syllabus comprehensively, which was a big help.
From left: Ben Teng (iShop), Roy Lim (Logic trainer) and me (Sze)
I have also been told that the Logic examinations are pretty tough. So I was pleasantly surprised when I averaged 97% in both the Logic 101 and 301 exams! :):)
My Logic 8 Level 1 Score
My Logic 8 Level 2 Score
My Logic 8 Level 2 Score
Currently, I am listed as the the only Logic Pro 8 Level 2 certified professional in the country (Malaysia, besides one other person with Level 1 certification). This listing can be viewed at the Apple Pro Applications site:
http://www.apple.com/software/pro/training/certifieds.php
and Apple Certification Alliance member directory:
http://www.apple.com/training/certification/certpros/index.php
I also found that Logic Pro 8 Level 2 certification is far less common (worldwide) as most certified users only have Logic Pro 8 Level 1. Perhaps Level 2 (i.e. passing Logic 301 course) is really that tough after all... hehe.
However, despite my Apple Certified Pro status, I am still not a certified trainer. My next step is to achieve the Apple Certified Trainer qualification for Logic Pro 8 Levels 1 and 2. This will then enable me to train my students to become Apple Certified Pros themselves and ICOM to be Malaysia's first Apple Authorized Training Center (for Logic music production software). :)
Offsite Meeting @ Avillion, Port Dickson
Microsoft Malaysia's SMS&P (Small and Midmarket Solutions & Partners) team had an offsite meeting last week at Avillion Resort, Port Dickson. As I was also in that team, a few colleagues and me made car pooling arrangements to travel together from Puchong.
We arrived at Avillion PD before 9am on Friday and started the day with a presentation by the HR Director, followed by a seminar from an external consultant. This seminar was quite fun. We had to identify our own personalities and understand how to deal with different types of people. After analysis, I fell into the "Goal Oriented" category, which is typical of managers and directors... hehe. It's amazing how different types of people can form a better team than only having people with the same characteristics.
After that, we had a scavenger hunt. This was pretty fun too, although my team didn't win the prize. We ended our day with a delicious 10-course Chinese dinner at the resort restaurant. I also had a small, surprise birthday cake too! :)
It was not easy to fall asleep in the evening despite being very tired. We were staying in the water chalet and the waves kept hitting on the rock wall, producing a natural sea wave sound in the background. It felt as if I was lying on my bed, floating on the sea. However, I managed to fall asleep eventually.
I got up quite early the next morning to catch some fresh air. Avillion at dawn was a picturesque scene and looked beautiful.
It was not easy to fall asleep in the evening despite being very tired. We were staying in the water chalet and the waves kept hitting on the rock wall, producing a natural sea wave sound in the background. It felt as if I was lying on my bed, floating on the sea. However, I managed to fall asleep eventually.
I got up quite early the next morning to catch some fresh air. Avillion at dawn was a picturesque scene and looked beautiful.
Avillion at dawn.
We started the day's SMS&P meeting right after the breakfast. It wasn't too interesting and finished at about 12:30 pm. We checked out of our hotel rooms right after that and headed back home. It had been a fun company meeting and we had an enjoyable time :)
Creative "Sign Language"
Is this Malay or English?
This photo was taken at the recent PC Fair in KLCC.
The above photo was taken just outside the Serdang Hospital building.
What's an alternative spelling for FREE GIFT?
This photo was taken at the recent PC Fair in KLCC.
My New Job!
It has been some time since I wanted to change jobs. I tried to leave my job last year but the plan failed due to one of my boss' power of persuasion... hehe.
However, a year later, I finally made up my mind to go and I was determined not to perform a U-turn again this time. Since I had to give my employer a 3-month notice, I had to do it with a lot of courage, as I didn't have any job offer then when I handed in my resignation letter.
I had a few options in mind on my next step:
Plan A: Apply for a job in an MNC (multi national company).
Plan B: Take up a Masters degree.
Plan C: Start my own business.
I kept all my options open until the fuel price increase in June. After a review, I felt that the most secure path would still be Plan A. So I called up Microsoft and met the Inside Sales Manager for an interview. I got a job offer a week later and accepted it within a week.
So now, here I am sitting on the 29th Floor in Tower 2 of the Petronas Twin Towers building. I am the Inside Account Manager and it has been a comfortable 1st week working in Microsoft (Malaysia). Wish me luck!
However, a year later, I finally made up my mind to go and I was determined not to perform a U-turn again this time. Since I had to give my employer a 3-month notice, I had to do it with a lot of courage, as I didn't have any job offer then when I handed in my resignation letter.
I had a few options in mind on my next step:
Plan A: Apply for a job in an MNC (multi national company).
Plan B: Take up a Masters degree.
Plan C: Start my own business.
I kept all my options open until the fuel price increase in June. After a review, I felt that the most secure path would still be Plan A. So I called up Microsoft and met the Inside Sales Manager for an interview. I got a job offer a week later and accepted it within a week.
So now, here I am sitting on the 29th Floor in Tower 2 of the Petronas Twin Towers building. I am the Inside Account Manager and it has been a comfortable 1st week working in Microsoft (Malaysia). Wish me luck!
My new office is on the 29th floor of Tower 2 (right tower).
Philippines Trip
During our holiday recently, we went on our latest trip – to the Philippines this time. Our primary destination was Vigan… but the standard response to this place was… “Where???”
Vigan is actually located in the northwest of Luzon (the northern island of Philippines). So the next question would then be, “Why Vigan?” Well, from the pictures I found on the internet, Vigan looked the most interesting – it is one of the UNESCO World Heritage historical sites that claims to be “… the best preserved example of a planned Spanish colonial town in Asia” and has “… no parallel anywhere in East and Southeast Asia.” The only tradeoff was that it’s really far, far away…
So how far away is Vigan? After arriving at Clark airport, it would take another 8 hours in the Partas bus before we reached our destination! But before that, there would be a 2.5 hour wait for the next bus, so we had to join the big crowd at the outside waiting area…
While waiting for our bus, the Pizza Hut booth ran out of pizzas twice and had to wait for their own pizza delivery… hehe. The size of the crowd was partially caused by flight cancellations due to Typhoon Fengshen (aka Frank), which sank the MV Princess of the Stars just 2 days earlier! Phew, talk about timing…
Most of our almost 8-hour bus journey to Vigan would be along a single-lane (per direction) trunk road.
We got to see a lot of the countryside where dwellings resembled villages and squatters (which were very close to the road), punctuated by small townships every now and then.
We arrived in Vigan at 9.30pm and took a tricycle (motorbike with a passenger sidecar) straight to our hotel.
Upon check-in, we found that not only was Vigan Hotel a budget hotel, it was poorly maintained as well. But since it was already quite late - the city sleeps (becomes very quiet) before 8pm – we decided to just stay there that night.
The following morning, we had to endure a 1-hour wait for the hotel breakfast:
8.00am – 1 staff woke up
8.15am – heard gas stove switching on
8.30am – hot water arrives, with DIY instant Nescafe coffee
8.45am – heard gas stove switching on again
9.00am – breakfast arrives… we ordered 2 American breakfast meals but what came was 1 American breakfast and 1 Filipino breakfast (Longsilog)… hehe.
Vigan felt very much like Spain. Its old, colonial charm and heritage has been preserved and restored to maintain the uniqueness of its UNESCO World Heritage status.
A ride on the Calesa (horse cart) is a must in Vigan. We had never sat in one before and had good fun trying it out on 2 occasions touring the old city, which brought us back to the 16th century!
We also found a better place to stay in after our 1st night in Vigan… we checked-in after lunch at the nearby Cordillera Inn, which is on Calle Crisologo (the cobblestone heritage road).
Food in the Philippines was generally not to our taste – we had to rely more on western fast food. Pork (including the fat) is used extensively in Filipino cooking but we were not really fond of that meat :( Their typical breakfast is Longsilog (with Longaniza/sausage) and Tapsilog (with Tapa/beef jerky).
For lunch, rice will be eaten with various dishes of meat and Pinakbet (mixed vegetables). Other common food includes the Siopao (steamed Pao with fillings tasting like soy sauce pork), Balut (egg with embryo), Chicharon (pork rind/skin) and maize, among others.
We visited many places of interest such as St. Paul’s Cathedral, St. Augustine Parish Church, Illocus Sur Capitol, UNESCO Marker, National Museum, Plaza Salcedo, Plaza Burgos, City Hall, Pagburnayan, Public Market and Hidden Garden. More photos of these places can be viewed in our Photo Gallery.
We spent 2 days in Vigan, which was more than enough time to see most of the city attractions. We then decided to take the night Partas bus to spend a day in Manila, although this was not in our original plan. Along the way, we passed by a huge 24-hour wholesale wet market around Cubao in Quezon City – this was our 1st glimpse of big city life since we touched down in the Philippines.
We arrived in Sampaloc, Manila shortly after that (5.30am). We took a cab to Malate and tried to check-in at the Pearl Lane Hotel but it was too early. So, we left our luggage with the hotel and took an early breakfast at Jollibee fast food. Even here, it felt like yet another Longsilog meal… haha.
After breakfast, we walked around the city and came across the Manila Bay waterfront. It was quite dirty after Typhoon Fengshen (Frank) had passed by there just several days earlier. Behind the retaining wall were some of the locals selling fresh fish they just caught from the sea.
After checking-in to the Pearl Lane Hotel at 11am, we took a badly needed shower and a short rest before lunch. We saw the Penang Hill Restaurant at Robinsons (new shopping mall) and decided to give the Malaysian restaurant a try. The menu did not look very Penang at all as there was no Laksa, Char Koay Teow nor Prawn Mee. We both ended up ordering Nasi Lemak - it came in big portions and was somewhat different (served with fried kangkung and very spicy sambal anchovies) but tasty. However, the waiting service was rather poor and the staff needed retraining.
After lunch, we took a walk to the historical Intramuros. We visited the San Agustin Church (another 16th century UNESCO World Heritage site) and Manila Cathedral (which was hosting a church wedding at that time).
During our 5-day trip to the Philippines, we found both Vigan and Manila to be pretty safe places – I felt secure carrying my handbag around unlike in Kuala Lumpur, where there is a high risk of snatch-theft. The people here were soft spoken and polite but we also saw several very poor families sleeping by the sidewalk, just a few blocks away from a big, grand casino.
After breakfast the next morning, we took a 2-hour Philtranco bus to Clark airport. It felt good to be coming home once again :)
More pictures from our Philippines trip can be viewed in the Photo Gallery.
Vigan is actually located in the northwest of Luzon (the northern island of Philippines). So the next question would then be, “Why Vigan?” Well, from the pictures I found on the internet, Vigan looked the most interesting – it is one of the UNESCO World Heritage historical sites that claims to be “… the best preserved example of a planned Spanish colonial town in Asia” and has “… no parallel anywhere in East and Southeast Asia.” The only tradeoff was that it’s really far, far away…
So how far away is Vigan? After arriving at Clark airport, it would take another 8 hours in the Partas bus before we reached our destination! But before that, there would be a 2.5 hour wait for the next bus, so we had to join the big crowd at the outside waiting area…
While waiting for our bus, the Pizza Hut booth ran out of pizzas twice and had to wait for their own pizza delivery… hehe. The size of the crowd was partially caused by flight cancellations due to Typhoon Fengshen (aka Frank), which sank the MV Princess of the Stars just 2 days earlier! Phew, talk about timing…
Most of our almost 8-hour bus journey to Vigan would be along a single-lane (per direction) trunk road.
We got to see a lot of the countryside where dwellings resembled villages and squatters (which were very close to the road), punctuated by small townships every now and then.
We arrived in Vigan at 9.30pm and took a tricycle (motorbike with a passenger sidecar) straight to our hotel.
Upon check-in, we found that not only was Vigan Hotel a budget hotel, it was poorly maintained as well. But since it was already quite late - the city sleeps (becomes very quiet) before 8pm – we decided to just stay there that night.
The following morning, we had to endure a 1-hour wait for the hotel breakfast:
8.00am – 1 staff woke up
8.15am – heard gas stove switching on
8.30am – hot water arrives, with DIY instant Nescafe coffee
8.45am – heard gas stove switching on again
9.00am – breakfast arrives… we ordered 2 American breakfast meals but what came was 1 American breakfast and 1 Filipino breakfast (Longsilog)… hehe.
Vigan felt very much like Spain. Its old, colonial charm and heritage has been preserved and restored to maintain the uniqueness of its UNESCO World Heritage status.
A ride on the Calesa (horse cart) is a must in Vigan. We had never sat in one before and had good fun trying it out on 2 occasions touring the old city, which brought us back to the 16th century!
We also found a better place to stay in after our 1st night in Vigan… we checked-in after lunch at the nearby Cordillera Inn, which is on Calle Crisologo (the cobblestone heritage road).
Food in the Philippines was generally not to our taste – we had to rely more on western fast food. Pork (including the fat) is used extensively in Filipino cooking but we were not really fond of that meat :( Their typical breakfast is Longsilog (with Longaniza/sausage) and Tapsilog (with Tapa/beef jerky).
Longsilog
For lunch, rice will be eaten with various dishes of meat and Pinakbet (mixed vegetables). Other common food includes the Siopao (steamed Pao with fillings tasting like soy sauce pork), Balut (egg with embryo), Chicharon (pork rind/skin) and maize, among others.
We visited many places of interest such as St. Paul’s Cathedral, St. Augustine Parish Church, Illocus Sur Capitol, UNESCO Marker, National Museum, Plaza Salcedo, Plaza Burgos, City Hall, Pagburnayan, Public Market and Hidden Garden. More photos of these places can be viewed in our Photo Gallery.
We spent 2 days in Vigan, which was more than enough time to see most of the city attractions. We then decided to take the night Partas bus to spend a day in Manila, although this was not in our original plan. Along the way, we passed by a huge 24-hour wholesale wet market around Cubao in Quezon City – this was our 1st glimpse of big city life since we touched down in the Philippines.
We arrived in Sampaloc, Manila shortly after that (5.30am). We took a cab to Malate and tried to check-in at the Pearl Lane Hotel but it was too early. So, we left our luggage with the hotel and took an early breakfast at Jollibee fast food. Even here, it felt like yet another Longsilog meal… haha.
After breakfast, we walked around the city and came across the Manila Bay waterfront. It was quite dirty after Typhoon Fengshen (Frank) had passed by there just several days earlier. Behind the retaining wall were some of the locals selling fresh fish they just caught from the sea.
After checking-in to the Pearl Lane Hotel at 11am, we took a badly needed shower and a short rest before lunch. We saw the Penang Hill Restaurant at Robinsons (new shopping mall) and decided to give the Malaysian restaurant a try. The menu did not look very Penang at all as there was no Laksa, Char Koay Teow nor Prawn Mee. We both ended up ordering Nasi Lemak - it came in big portions and was somewhat different (served with fried kangkung and very spicy sambal anchovies) but tasty. However, the waiting service was rather poor and the staff needed retraining.
After lunch, we took a walk to the historical Intramuros. We visited the San Agustin Church (another 16th century UNESCO World Heritage site) and Manila Cathedral (which was hosting a church wedding at that time).
San Agustin Church
During our 5-day trip to the Philippines, we found both Vigan and Manila to be pretty safe places – I felt secure carrying my handbag around unlike in Kuala Lumpur, where there is a high risk of snatch-theft. The people here were soft spoken and polite but we also saw several very poor families sleeping by the sidewalk, just a few blocks away from a big, grand casino.
After breakfast the next morning, we took a 2-hour Philtranco bus to Clark airport. It felt good to be coming home once again :)
More pictures from our Philippines trip can be viewed in the Photo Gallery.
My Euro 2008
I have always resisted blogging about football. Even though I am a big football (aka soccer in the US) fan, I also considered that most of our blog readers and friends probably don't give two hoots about this game anyway... haha.
But given the current Euro 2008 fever, it is hard to ignore it altogether. So, what do I do then? Well, jump in on the football bandwagon, of course. The biggest problem is, however, staying awake to watch the games live on TV. With matches starting at 12 midnight and 2.45 am, I will usually doze off even before the 1st game starts... haha. So, I will end up having to catch the replays on TV after work the following evening.
Like many football fans, I regularly follow the EPL (English Premier League) since I am an MU (Manchester United) fan. With England failing to qualify for Euro 2008, some EPL fans will turn to supporting the teams of their club's players while others, especially the girls, will simply go for looks. One of Eunice's girlfriends asked her, "You actually see how they play?" Err... guess the friend just watches the guys instead of the game then ;)
Despite Cristiano Ronaldo's record breaking, 42 goal heroics for MU (he is also the 2008 European Golden Shoe winner and PFA Player of the Year), I remain a neutral fan of the Euro 2008.
But given the current Euro 2008 fever, it is hard to ignore it altogether. So, what do I do then? Well, jump in on the football bandwagon, of course. The biggest problem is, however, staying awake to watch the games live on TV. With matches starting at 12 midnight and 2.45 am, I will usually doze off even before the 1st game starts... haha. So, I will end up having to catch the replays on TV after work the following evening.
Like many football fans, I regularly follow the EPL (English Premier League) since I am an MU (Manchester United) fan. With England failing to qualify for Euro 2008, some EPL fans will turn to supporting the teams of their club's players while others, especially the girls, will simply go for looks. One of Eunice's girlfriends asked her, "You actually see how they play?" Err... guess the friend just watches the guys instead of the game then ;)
Despite Cristiano Ronaldo's record breaking, 42 goal heroics for MU (he is also the 2008 European Golden Shoe winner and PFA Player of the Year), I remain a neutral fan of the Euro 2008.
MU and Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo (photo: creative commons / ayahabd)
However, I do have a few favorites - my semifinal predictions (after 2 rounds of group matches) are:
Portugal
vs
Croatia
Netherlandsvs
Spain
And my predictions for the final are:Portugal
vsNetherlands
And the winner of Euro 2008 is...
NETHERLANDS!
Haha... I will probably be wrong, but let's just see how far away my predictions turn out to be :)
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