Saturday, July 29, 2006

Discounts, Taxes and Points

About two to three days ago, my younger brothers went window shopping and two books caught their attention.



Ariff was quite keen on the Spiderman whereas Amir has his eyes on the Transformers book however both had not enough money to buy either one. They knew about these books after a visit to BORDERS (The Curve) and Popular Bookstore (Ikano) plus they actually remember how many books under the said titles which are wrapped and unwrapped. I guess they actually plan to buy the books sooner or later and hopefully the stock is still available.

A week before, I told my siblings that I’ll be buying lots of graphic novel/manga at MPH Bookstore 1U because of the members’ sale somewhere this week. Arif who remembered my words told Amir “How about we ask our big bro to buy for us since there is a discount at MPH”. On the same day somewhere after dinner time, they told me about the books and it somehow sparks an interest especially the Transformers book.

The following day, I searched for the ISBN numbers (a habit of mine) so that I could check whether the book is available at MPH 1U. With the numbers written on my post-it, I called the customer service ask about the books. I was informed that the books were not available and it made me a bit sad as I have to buy the books somewhere else without the discount rate (hahaha…stingy me). Yet lady luck was on my side when Amir told me that he saw the two books at MPH 1U while window shopping with his friends. If you think back, is kinda weird that my lil bro saw the book but the customer service person said the book was not available. Sigh…..

Yesterday was the first day among five days that MPH will have its member’s sale in conjunction with the year-long MPH Centennial Celebration. At about 5.00 PM, I left the office and went straight to MPH 1U with the budget in my wallet and a checklist in my hands. My budget was RM300 and I checked the list of any graphic novel or manga that I don’t have through my excel spreadsheet last night (efficient eyy!!).

The first bookshelf I visited is where the ultimate guide books located and there it was fully wrapped (in plastic of course) ready to be taken home. Next stop would be the comics section is where all the books I need and planned to buy according to my checklist. Browsing through every row from top to bottom, I realise the only title available was Bleach from volume one to twelve. I was not disappointed yet was satisfied even though other titles were not on the shelf (is just plain me). I took out seven volumes from the twelve and brought it to the counter together with the ultimate guides. This is the first time I’m buying nine books at one go and it felt funny for awhile.

Back at home, presented the Spiderman book to Ariff and was asked how much he owes me for it. I surprise him by saying this is your late birthday present and he gave his normal facial expression between happy and moody (hmmmm). His birthday was actually two days ago and I was suppose to give him cash as a present but I forgot about it till he mention about the book (gee whiz!). The Transformers book will be shared by all but custodian will be me and only me (kedekut!?).

After a nice dinner, a cold shower, two hours of sleep, woke up, get myself a drink downstairs, straight away read the books, ended up sleeping at 3.00 in the morning.

Gilerrr!! = P


*Keep receipt for tax and points purposes...I must.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Business Card?

Sitting down quietly at my cubicle, planning what to do today when I hear a familiar voice from afar…"Dee, you’re following Burn and Zainal to KLCC (Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre) to see the exhibition later on at 10:00 am". I was like a bit terkejut since it was not planned and furthermore I still need to check the Coffee Pavilion’s lighting and art decoration. Then again, if the BOSS tells me to go, for sure I have to go plus maybe I might get some ideas from the exhibition. Well basically I don’t know what kind of exhibition it was till I arrive there…..

The exhibition was called DEX06/ARCHITEX06 and you can see the logo here below.



We arrive at 10.30 am and one of the reception committee members told us to fill up a form before we could enter the exhibition area. Completed the form, pass it to the counter and got ourselves ID cards with a red string to be worn around the neck. On the card was our full name, company’s name, a barcode and a big text that says ‘TRADE VISITOR’.

Burn got a call from the BOSS and told us to check the Kitchen & Bath section since my company is in the midst of renovating specific areas. The exhibition were consists of sections such as the one I said earlier, Interior, Finishes & Surfaces, Building Materials and Windows,Doors & Glass.

A normal day in any exhibition, you just walk straight along the pathway, the person on your left and right will try to convince that their product is good. I don’t mind actually if the product is related to the reason of me being there.

Got to see some interesting stuff such as futuristic toilet bowls (hmmm..), water that glides on wood surface (geeee…..), cool designs on different surfaces (knock! knock!...), smart home concept (batteries?) and girls with tight fitting or skimpy clothes (ahaaa…..). All this while I thought exhibitions which are related to sex, cars or any theme that must have the female body as the marketing tool only have this sort of thing.

Different kinds of butt shapes, bust sizes (Asians…guess yourself), hairstyles, perfumes, and errr….other qualities of course. There we’re also architecture and interior design students (I meant the girls) who look kinda cute and nasty. Aaahh…the college days…

A common scene is when the person finishes his or her explanation on a product, they will ask for your business card. I just moved to a new department four days ago and still do not have any business card whereas Burn no longer owns any business card due to his job scope. Zainal on the other hand just gave his last card to the first visited booth. Isn’t it sad when three of us came for a reason and none of us have any business card…..aiseyyy.

Since none of us had any cards, the exhibitor said “ Is ok, just show me your given ID card and we will scan your barcode”. I was a kind of surprise for this is the first time I see this sort of technology/method is used in an exhibition. From there on every booth we went, exhibitors scanned our barcode using sort of like a small thumb drive but a little bit bigger. There was this desperate exhibitor that only scanned our ID card as we pass by her booth. She scanned Burn’s and Zainal’s only once whereas mine she had to do like five times till she hears a beeping sound……hek’elehhhhh

Visited all the necessary booths, brought back brochures and stuff, we had lunch at an Ikan Bakar place behind Istana Negara. Sweat starts to drop from my forehead due to the hot environment and spicy food. Still it was a free lunch (Burn’s treat) and surely you got to appreciate it right.

Thanks to Zainal and Burn for a wonderful morning.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Cold

The environment of my new department is so cold that i had to go outside the garden area frequently just to get some heat. My new colleagues are quite friendly and helpful if you ask the right questions of course.

Since it is soooooooo cold now, feel like posting a video music that I like related with cold. Even if is not related with the temperature but it rocks!!!!


Crossfade - Cold


Looking back at me I see
That I never really got it right
I never stopped to think of you
I'm always wrapped up in
Things I cannot win
You are the antidote that gets me by
Something strong
Like a drug that gets me high

(Chorus)
What I really meant to say
Is I'm sorry for the way I am
I never meant to be so cold
Never meant to be so cold
(x2)

To you, I'm sorry about all the lies
Maybe in a different light
You could see me stand on my own again
Cause now i can see
You were the antidote that got me by
Something strong like a drug that got me high

(Chorus)

I never meant to be so cold

I never really wanted you to see
The screwed up side of me that I keep
Locked inside of me so deep
It always seems to get to me
I never really wanted you to go
So many things you should have known
I guess for me theres just no hope

(Chorus)

Perghhh....love the way he plucks the guitar facing the girl....with that kind of sound...oouhh...so balada rock....eventhou for a short moment.