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How NOT to get an A in your exam March 23, 2007

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Relax & Celebrate , 4comments

I received these pictorial jokes via email some time back. Makes me wonder what the people responsible for these exam *answers* are doing now…. are they CEOs of some huge organizations? Are they working in fast food joints?…..errmmmm…. are they professional bloggers? hehe…. couldn’t resist that. ;)

Income Tax e-Filing: Attempt #2 March 22, 2007

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Thoughts & Scribblings , 6comments

The saga continues…

Since my ID no was not recognized by the e-filing system last weekend, I asked my SIL to try on her PC to see if it worked.  She got the same error.  So I had no choice but to ask her to ask her friend to go to the IRB office to get me a new PIN (SIL’s friend goes there almost every day since she’s in the tax line).

Today I got a call from my SIL saying that I don’t exist.  Huh?  What?!!!  Apparently, the e-filing department in the IRB headquarters in KL keyed in my income tax file number and IC number and got a message saying that I don’t exist in the system.  So…..what does that mean?  I’m not a human being?  Aiyo..what utter nonsense!  Funny thing is the IRB sent me my BE form despite my “non-existence”.  So the option to NOT file my tax returns is not a good one either.  Shucks.

Subsequently SIL’s friend went to the non-e-filing department in IRB and found that I in fact DO exist (i.e. my records show up when they key it in their non-e-filing system).  This means she’d be able to get a new PIN for me on Monday then.  We shall see if THAT works.  The e-filing system doesn’t seem to be working smoothly, does it?  SIGH…. I should probably complain directly to the IRB soon.  And I will.  So much for convenience…

Down the Via Dolorosa March 21, 2007

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Christianity , 2comments

Down the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem that day
The soldiers tried to clear the narrow street
But the crowd pressed in to see
The Man condemned to die on Calvary

He was bleeding from a beating, there were stripes upon His back
And He wore a crown of thorns upon His head
And He bore with every step
The scorn of those who cried out for His death

Down the Via Dolorosa called the way of suffering
Like a lamb came the Messiah, Christ the King,
But He chose to walk that road out of
His love for you and me.
Down the Via Dolorosa, all the way to Calvary.

The blood that would cleanse the souls of all men
Made its way through the heart of Jerusalem.

Down the Via Dolorosa called the way of suffering
Like a lamb came the Messiah, Christ the King
But He chose to walk that road out of His love for you and me
Down the Via Dolorosa, all the way to Calvary.

‘Tis the season of Lent, the month leading up to Easter… and last Sunday during church, this song was played.  As the melody sang its way into my heart, I was transported back in time to my schooling days in Ipoh.  I remembered hearing this song for the very first time during a Christian presentation organized by all the churches.  The soloist who sang this very same song evoked such passion and emotion that I found my tears streaming freely as she sang.  And last week, those feelings were resurrected as the words of this song ingrained in me the true meaning of Easter.

Jesus Christ died for our sins and made a difference in all our lives.  How, then do WE make a difference in the lives of others? 

This year, there is a outlet for us to make a difference and to make sure it COUNTS.  “Do Something!” is a project that aims to provide for the poor and needy.  It is a campaign undertaken by the churches in Penang, and among the highlights of this campaign are:

Unfortunately there is no official website for the “Do Something!” campaign, hence I had to take a photo of the flyer.  So just in case you can’t read the fine print, here’s a thought to leave you with:

Look deep into the eyes of a suffering child.  She too longs for a decent life…a life with enough food, a roof over her head, amidst people who care.  You feel the painful squeeze in her heart at her plight.  Don’t let your sympathy end there…lend a hand and touch the lives of those in need.

Do Something!

Newbie to PPP March 20, 2007

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Blogging , 1 comment so far

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to explore money-making on the internet with PayPerPost (or fondly referred to by bloggers as PPP).  Since I know my blog is not matured enough yet (an approved blog needs to be at least 90 days old), I decided to click on the Get Paid to Review My Post link on a blog to write a review instead of writing a paid post.

When I clicked on the Get Paid to Review My Post link on any blog that has it, it will bring me to a PPP registration page, where I need to register as a PPP member.  An opportunity will then be created for me to review the blog where I clicked the link from.  Unfortunately I could not take this opportunity yet (there was no button/link available) because I had no approved blogs.  So I registered my blog and waited for the approval.

Unfortunately, today I received an email telling me that my blog had not met the 90-day old requirement and hence, PPP has rejected my blog (for now).  I’ll have to wait till it achieves the grand old age of 90 days before I can resubmit my blog for approval.

However, since I am already a PPP member, I am also now known as an affiliate member of PPP.  This means that I can place the Get Paid to Review My Post link on my blog (as you can see).  Visitors to my blog can simply click on the link and register themselves as a PPP member and review my blog.  Make sure your blog is at least 90 days old though.  And what do you get to write about my blog?  USD7.50, no questions asked.  All you need to do is write a post in your blog about my blog, submit the link to PPP and you get paid.  Good reviews or bad reviews, USD7.50 also.  And in return for receiving compliments and/or brickbats from my blog reviewers, I will also get USD7.50.  Good deal, yeah?

I’m just hoping that WHEN my blog gets approved, I still qualify to write a review about another blog…

Income Tax e-Filing: Attempt #1 March 20, 2007

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Thoughts & Scribblings , add a comment

Last weekend I decided to try out the e-filing business for filing my income tax returns.  Hey, beats going to the Inland Revenue office, queueing up and wasting time, no?

I logged in to the IRB e-filing site, keyed in my PIN and IC No. and hit Enter.  Guess what?  I got a message telling me my identification number is incorrect.  Huh?  I double-checked and double-typed, still same error.  Then I found out that the IRB server had some problems (crashed?) the day earlier and so maybe they had some intermittent problems with the system.  So I decided to wait a few days.

Today, I tried going into the site again, but couldn’t even get the page to load up.  Hmmm…..I’ll get there yet.  And when I do and successfully submit my tax returns online, I’ll do a step-by-step thingy here.

How to ensure rice is “koo”-free March 19, 2007

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Close to Heart & Home, Drooling & Cooking , 7comments

You know those small irritating black bug creatures that lurk in the rice bucket? The ones we Hokkiens not-so-fondly refer to as “koo”? These things have been plaguing me for as long as I can remember.

You see, since I only most of the time cook during weekends, or every other weekend, it is inevitable that one 5 kilo pack of rice can last us months on end. So these “koo” will invade our rice bucket especially towards the last bit of the rice.

What to do? I’ve heard from my Mom that the “koo” will not breed if rice is cooked and used frequently, like every day. Since I don’t do that, I put my rice in an air-tight container in the hope that the “koo” will not breed. But still the “koo”s will appear eventually. Why? Apparently the eggs from the “koo” are already present in the rice. So there’s virtually nothing one can do about it and leaving the eggs there with the rice will well…. cause them to breed.

So still a problem until NOW….I am proud to say that there is a solution! Place the rice in the FREEZER for 2 days. This will prevent the eggs from hatching and thus prevent “koo” from breeding. We tried this out during the recent CNY - we put the rice in the freezer and have been using it “koo”-free since. So far so good - let’s hope it stays that way ;)

Customer Service “experienced” March 19, 2007

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Thoughts & Scribblings , 4comments

Several years ago, there was a nationwide campaign for (I think) the customer service personnel in this country, especially in the government departments. If my memory serves me correctly, the campaign was named “Service with A Smile”. Essentially, it encouraged everyone in the service industry to provide services to their customers while displaying their pearly whites. So if you’re making someone angry, just remember to smile… you might piss the fella off, but what the heck…Service with A Smile, right?

Anyways, I don’t think that campaign has been all that successful. Customer service here is fast on the decline… I was out shopping last Saturday in Jaya Jusco Queensbay Mall and purchased some skincare products amounting close to RM300. I don’t carry that much cash around with me, so I pay with a credit card. As luck would have it, the credit card system was down! I was ushered to a nearby cashier who claimed his credit card machine was working. So he swiped my card, waited for AGES…the transaction was no successful. He swiped my card again. Same thing. So I offered him another card to try. Still the same problem. He wanted to swipe the card yet again, and I was already getting frustrated. I told him that there is a limit to the number of times he could swipe the card, then the bank would just reject all the transactions from that card: a security measure from the credit card company. Finally, after standing at the cashier’s for close to 30 minutes, someone brought the old-fashioned zigzag credit card machine. Transaction done in less than 5 minutes and I was outta there. The salesperson I bought the skincare products from apologized profusely for the delay but the cashier in mentioned did not say a single word of sorry. Well, so much for making the customer happy.

Yesterday, we were at Gurney Plaza. I went to the shop I had bought my new sequined dress from to have the dress altered. I left it there and told the lady I would collect it before I left the mall. Two and a half hours later, I came back to collect the dress. The lady was nowhere to be seen, but there was a man on the phone behind the counter. I stood in front of him and he didn’t so much as acknowledge my presence. I saw my dress in a bag beside him, and I gestured for him to pass me the bag. He did so but still continued yakking on the phone. For goodness’ sake, he was the only person in the store, and he kept hanging on the phone still. Finally he hung up. We asked him (in English) where the lady was, and he replied in Mandarin (which I could not understand). In the end, he spoke in Hokkien and said sorry. I think the reason he apologized was because Pete looked angry.

Such blatant customer disrespect. Tsk tsk tsk…

On the other end of the spectrum, there are *dense* customer service personnel who perhaps try too hard to please…Case in point: we walk into a store which is on sale. There are sale placards everywhere: 20%, 50%, 70%. A sales personnel approaches us as we browse through a rack of clothes.

Salesperson: This one got 50% discount, miss.

I like Pete’s classic right-on response:

Pete: Yes, I am able to read that.

At the end of the day, we want customer service we can be proud of. The customer must feel satisfied to part with his money for the product/service he is purchasing and the sales person must be happy to provide that service. Only a handful of customer service personnel are able to do this. And even fewer can provide service with a smile.

T.G.I.F. March 16, 2007

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Relax & Celebrate , 2comments

It was LOOOOOooooooOOOOOOOOoooooooong week for me and I am so glad it is Friday today. After the chaos and stress of managing 2 major application upgrades at work, I am so relieved that I can finally kiss the workweek buh-bye! So…as a prequel to the weekend ahead, I random-surfed and found some a few interesting sites to help kill time:

That’s it folks. Time for me to call it a night. Have a good weekend, y’all!

Jerks March 15, 2007

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Relax & Celebrate , 1 comment so far

A couple of days ago, I received this classic joke from my brother. Supposedly classic one, but I hadn’t read it before. Anyways, I thought it would be fun to share it here:

JERKS
For those of us who sometimes let opportunities like these pass us by…for those of us who allow ourselves to be treated rudely just because we don’t want to rock the boat….for those of us who keep our anger deep in side in order not to offend…and for those of us who are, because of all our polite behavior even in the face of meanness, propelling ourselves to that moment when we actually might consider buying a gun and letting loose in a suburban mall….this one is for you.

Now get this. I was sitting at my desk, when I remembered a phone call I had to make. I found the number and dialed it. A man answered nicely saying, “Hello?” I politely said, “This is Patrick Hanifin and could I please speak to Robin Carter?” Suddenly the phone was slammed down on me! I couldn’t believe that anyone could be that rude.

I tracked down Robin’s correct number and called her. She had transposed the last two digits. After I hung up with Robin, I spotted the wrong number still lying there on my desk. I decided to call it again. When the same person once more answered, I yelled “You’re a jerk!” and hung up. Next to his phone number I wrote the word “Jerk,” and put it in my desk drawer. Every couple of weeks, when I was paying bills, or had a really bad day, I’d call him up. He’d answer, and then I’d yell, ‘You’re a jerk!” It would always cheer me up.

Later in the year the phone company introduced caller ID. This was a real disappointment for me, I would have to stop calling the jerk. Then one day I had an idea.

I dialed his number, then heard his voice, “Hello.” I made up a name. “Hi. This is Herman with the telephone company and I’m just calling to see if you’re familiar with our caller ID program?” He went, “No!” and slammed the phone down. I quickly called him back and said, “That’s because you’re a jerk!”

And the reason I took the time to tell you this story, is to show you how if there’s ever anything really bothering you, you can do something about it. Just dial 823-4863.

The old lady at the mall really took her time pulling out of the parking space. I didn’t think she was ever going to leave. Finally her car began to move and she started to very slowly back out of the stall. I backed up a little more to give her plenty of room to pull out. Great, I thought, she’s finally leaving.

All of a sudden this black Camaro come flying up the parking isle in the wrong direction and pulls into her space. I started honking my horn and yelling, “You can’t just do that, Buddy. I was here first!” The guy climbed out of his Camaro completely ignoring me. He walked toward the mall as if he didn’t even hear me.

I thought to myself, this guy’s a jerk, there sure are a lot of jerks in this world. I noticed he had a “For Sale” sign in the back window of his car. I wrote down the number. Then I hunted for another place to park.

A couple of days later, I was at home sitting at my desk. I had just gotten off the phone after calling 823-4863 and yelling, “You’re a jerk!” (It’s really easy to call him now since I have his number on speed dial). I noticed the phone number of the guy with the black Camaro lying on my desk and thought I’d better call this guy, too.

After a couple rings someone answered the phone and said, “Hello.” I said, “Is this the man with the black Camaro for sale?”

“Yes it is.”

“Can you tell me where I can see it?”

“Yes, I live at 1802 West 34th street. It’s a yellow house and the car’s parked right out front.”

I said, “What’s your name?”

“My name is Don Hansen.”

“When’s a good time to catch you, Don?”

“I’m home in the evenings.”

“Listen Don, can I tell you something?”

“Yes.”

“Don, you’re a jerk!” And I slammed the phone down. After I hung up I added Don Hansen’s number to my speed dialer.

For a while things seemed to be going better for me. Now when I had a problem I had two jerks to call. Then after several months of calling the jerks and hanging up on them, the whole thing started to seem like an obligation. It just wasn’t as enjoyable as it used to be.

I gave the problem some serious thought and came up with a solution.

First, I had my phone dial Jerk #1. A man answered nicely saying, “Hello.” I yelled “You’re a jerk!”, but I didn’t hang up.

The jerk said, “Are you still there?”

I said, “Yeah.”

He said, “Stop calling me.”

I said, “No.”

He said, “What’s your name, Pal?”

I said, “Don Hansen.”

“Where do you live?”

“1802 West 34th Street. It’s a yellow house and my black Camaro is parked out front.”

“I’m coming over right now, Don. You’d better start saying your prayers.”

I said, “Yeah, like I’m really scared, Jerk!” and I hung up.

Then I called Jerk #2.

He answered, “Hello.”

I said, “Hello, Jerk!”

He said, “If I ever find out who you are…”

“You’ll what?”

“I’ll kick your butt.”

“Well, here’s your chance. I’m coming over right now Jerk!” And I hung up.

Then I picked up the phone and called the police. I told them a big gang fight was going down at 1802 West 34th Street. After that I climbed into my car and headed over to 34th Street to watch the whole thing.

I turned onto 34th Street and parked my car under the shade of a tree half a block from Jerk #2’s house. There were two guys fighting out front. Suddenly there were about 12 police cars and a helicopter. The police wrestled the two men to the ground and took them away.

A couple of months go by and I got a call for jury duty. I was picked to be on a trial of two guys charged with disorderly conduct. As luck would have it, it happened to be the same two guys. I might have influenced the jury, because when they announced the verdict, they said, “We the jury find the defendants to be guilty, and a couple of jerks!”

Alphabet Meme March 15, 2007

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Memes & Tags , 2comments

Got tagged by SiwwyPig this time, it’s a little getting-to-know-you meme.  Here we go:

[A is for age]:
In between SiwwyPig’s and Simple American’s.

[B is for booze of choice]:
JD + Coke, on the rocks.  Coming in at a close second would be margarita.  However I have not been able to indulge in these for close to 2 years now, since I am still breastfeeding.  I’m only allowed an occasional once-in-a-blue-moon glass of red wine.  And it has to be real smooth red wine.  Got a few bottles of Robert Mondavi and Beringer wine still unopened from my last trip to Napa Valley.

[C is for career]:
Multi-tasker: I handle 3 jobs at one go:

  1. Devoted wife and secretary… oops… personal assistant - need to be P.C. too, right? ;)

  2. Loving mommy

  3. IT specialist, but I ain’t no geek, ok?

[D is for your most dreaded]:
I dread going to work everyday.

[E is for essential item you use everyday]:
A mirror.  Fine, I’m vain.  So sue me. :roll:

[F is for favorite song at the moment]:
Starlight by Muse.  I thought it was U2 the first time I heard the song.  By the way, U2 is also one of my all-time favorite bands.
When I am with Ethan, OUR favorite song is “The Wheels of the Bus”. :D

[G is for favorite games]:
Ah-chee-chok and tickle-me-silly with Ethan.

[H is for Hometown]:
Ipoh mali - The city of bouganvilleas which is famous for leng-luis, authentic Old Town White Coffee (at the real kow-kai-cheong) and bean sprouts chicken a.k.a. nga-choy-kai.

[I is for indulgence:]
Pineapple tarts.  Hubbs bought me 2 tins of pineapple tarts for Chinese New Year this year. :D  Okay la, actually it was for our CNY guests, but 90% of it went to my tummy :) Yummy!

[J is for favorite flavor of juice:]
Carrot.

[K is for kids]:
Our blessing from God, our adorable Ethan boy. 

[L is for last hug from husband/wife]
This morning - TWICE! :D

[M is for years of marriage]:
2.5 years

[N is for name of your crush]:
No crush la….already married what… I had a crush on hubby last time loh…..

[O is for overnight hospital stays]:
Only once when I gave birth to Ethan.  Total of 3 nights.  The hospital food was surprisingly delicious!

[P is for phobias]:
Public toilets… and oh yeah… lizards.

[Q is for quote]:
Comes from The Bible:

Do to others as you would have them do to you. (Luke 6:31)

[R is for biggest regret:]
Not getting braces when I was a kid.  I have a slight overbite which I believe could have been rectified with braces.  I’m too lazy to get them now.

[S is for status, married or single]
Happily married to the love of my life.

[T is for time you wake up:]
Around 7a.m. or whenever Ethan wakes up.

[U is for underwear:]
Yes, I wear underwear.  It is an essential item in my wardrobe.

 [V is for vegetable you love:]
All leafy vegetables.

[W is for worst habit:]
Playing with my hair.  …… what??! I think it’s endearing…

[X is for x-rays you’ve had]:
I had a pre-employment x-ray about 4 years back.

[Y is for yummy food you make]:
Sarawak Laksa.  Unfortunately the paste can only be obtained from Sarawak.
I also make *wicked* claypot chicken rice with the regular rice cooker.  The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach…. ask my hubby.

Both recipes courtesy of my Mom. :)

[Z is for zodiac sign]:
Libra

Now I know my ABCs, and you know a little more about me!

I’m not tagging anyone for this one, but you’re welcome to take this up from me :)