Happy 2010!!!!

Happy New Year from Zazamazu!!! Hope that 2010 will bring happiness and prosperity to all of us. We had a very eventful 2009, and are thankful for all the things that we have now.. family, friends, good health, modest wealth and most importantly, happiness. We hope for a greener 2010, and hope that all plans go smoothly.

Here's a layout of latest Zazamazu picture, plus another layout of New Year Eve celebration 2 years ago at our house. Have a great Happy New Year!

Someone I look up to at work

The above pic is a picture of me and my previous GM. His name is Ng Bon Leong. There are veryyyyyyyy feww people that I admire and like at work. I mean reallllyy few. But this old man is someone I look up to very highly. Anybody how knows him will agree he is very knowledgeable, humble and a very pleasant man. I remembered one saying when he was referring to someone else but it instead showed me his character.

"Those who are the most knowledgeable are the humblest"

In TNB, it is a very hierarchical society with more than 28000 workers. Those who are high ranked mingles less with those in low ranks more so if its unrelated to work. It is very obvious and deep in our culture. In my first month of office this old man saw me lining up at the canteen, paid for my meal and followed me to an empty table with his entourage tailing behind. Later I found out at other TNB offices, you will never hear a GM level having breakfast with a 'budak hingusan'.

As far as engineering knowledge is concern especially TNB wise, nobody that I know can top him. Even specialist with national awards when they present and see him in the crowd will be 'segan'. "Betul tak Mr. Ng ?" will be the routine question during their presentation. I have been to outside TNB talks and seen other experts in our field. Every single one of them will know about Mr. Ng and how good he is. Once I approached a speaker (who seemed really knowledgeable) to ask him a question and told him where I worked. He laughed and said, next time you should ask your boss cause thats what I do if I cant find the answer. It also paid off during my Professional Engineer interview when I dropped his name as my boss. Passed with flying pig colors.

He is currently around due to some project as an adviser. He has been on extended contract for more than 4 years (the longest ever in TNB as far as we know). But his current contract ended last september. So he has not been paid since but you will see him every day nonetheless. He was reluctant to tell the story cause in a way TNB wanted him to work but with no guarantee of pay. He seemed not to mind and I asked him why. He said that he didnt feel right to leave yet cause the project is not completed. "How can I show my face to all of you... anyways TNB has given me enough" . I never fail to learn something from this old man.

I can tell you more in detail how great he is as an engineer and how much he has save TNB (financially and operationally) but I dont think most will understand cause I sometimes too dont understand. Just to simplify things, most good things that are working in a way as to with what he did.

i have a theory in TNB that only 10% of its staff is carrying the company while the 90% is just tagging along for the ride. But this old man is a whole new percentage by itself in my opinion. Unfortunately TNB is running out of this rare species but instead filling itself with morons instead. Thats why given a chance I would want to run too mainly due to self-moronic preservation.

Chinese Muslim food hits the spot in Shah Alam!!

To all Shah Alam-ians, I finally found a Chinese Muslim Restaurant located here.... baru je tahu, ketinggalan zaman sikit. But for others yg lagi ketinggalan dan lagi hampeh the restaurants name is Mukmin. Its located at seksyen 19 near Shah Alam Medical Center (not Selangor Medical Center seks. 20.... senang tersilap hospital) on the row of shops kinda facing the old Depalma Hotel.

Food was good at reasonable prices too. Great value especially for this kind of cuisine. Proven, cause their main customers were middle-class Melayu (Melayu kan wassatiahh!!). I noticed cause ramai pakai baju kilang. The drinks... i tell you was superbbbb!! Walaupun hanya soya + cincau together, they made their on soya and it tasted different from ones I had before. As you can see in the pics, the air asam cukup kick with the response of our 'soured' face. But my favorite order of the night was 'air buah kundur dan longan'. Some ustadz made it and it really did what it claimed on the label. I did feel a little fresher. Loved it... we loved it so much that we bought extra bottles to bring back home.

The food was also a hit but we didnt get to try out a lot of dishes.. only 3 adultss yg nak makan, itu pun tak habis and had to bungkus balik. We had the nestum prawn (adik kepada butter prawn) but with a lot more fiber (nak sedapkan my high colesterol hati), ketam masak cili+cari+kicap kot and sayur kailan ikan masin. Everything was wonderful. "The ketam was sooo fressh" said the wife and my mother-in-law (ketam enthusiasts). I really enjoyed the prawns cause of its tender shells. I just had to chew the heads off... full of flavor, Layannnn... Normally it will give me itchy lips but not this time. The only complain that I had was the sayur was too salty. But daaaaa said everybody, its suppose to be cause of the salted fish. Okklahhh.. I was just being concern over my blood pressure.

A little heads up is that this place is good but a little bit crowded, sempit, 'berlengas' , asap kepul, stuffy and not so comfy. Anybody looking for a place to chill out and talk, this is not it. Its a place to really eat. So do enjoy it you get a chance.

ps.. Happy Birthday Mama, hope you live happy and long

Playground sosializing

Yesterday as the kids were playing at Mc D playground, one boy around 6-8 years old went to the glass next to us looking very serious for several minutes trying to get our attention. "Emm.. what does this kid want?" I was thinking. So I gestured at him to ask if he wants some of our food. No was his answer but he gestured something else back:

This is what he had gestured:

1. Pointed his finger directly at Zareef looking angry. (he was following Zareef as Zareef was coming out from the playground actually)
2. Hammering his own head with his fist.
3. Put a hand on his head as though it was hurting.
4. Pointing back at Zareef.
5. Looking particularly 'tak puas hati' and vengeful

As I love playing charades, I am 'guessing' this boy wants me to scold Zareef for hitting him. So I kinda did but not so seriously (acting sikit). The boy looked happy at the scolding and satisfactorily grinned walking away. Me and the wife had a good laugh with that.

It isn't as funny when 10 minutes later, I asked Zareef to put on his sandal, he 'selamba' pushed a 2-3 year old girl who was in his way in front of her own dad. I did my routine "sorry parent to parent" talk and scolded Zareef while pulling him away. Have been doing this for more than a couple of years now. God knows how many times I had to apologize to other parents for Zareefs "kasarness". We ask him to turn it down a notch all the time (especially if his excited) but its just his nature. Another bad thing is that its rubbing off on Zara. Based on the "Bibik Report" she too likes to push other kids especially those in the way or in a queue.

Ahhh... heres a good one, this is what zareef said when he saw the playground was full of kids

"Ramai macam ni lah Zareef suka, sebab boleh gaduh-gaduh"

Jaja's 7th Birthday

Last Sunday our family had a dinner/tea to celebrate Jaja's birthday. She turned 7. It was really one of those joyous occasion. Everybody was laughing and catching up. The place was like a market with our racking. Luckily the place was deserted apart from us and 1 or 2 other tables. The owner is a friend of Along and Kak Yan's anyway.

Those who attended was us the whole family - zara, zareef, maz and myself, Along and the family - Along, Kak yan, jaja, nana, Wawa, broken-armed Mak Lang with Din, Awi and Aishah, the ustazah blue Mak Uda with Pak Uda, Angah, Wani + bf (i dont agree sebab tak kawin lagi), iza and Afiq and Tilla. Not bad atendance I might add. We missed only a few other people. I just wished that my mom would have been healthy enough to have made it (she is currently self-restrained home stay cause she gets real bad migraines in the car)

We had great food cooked by the big mean looking but friendly Bosnian owner. There were about 5-6 dishes ranging from soups, salads to pizzas. The kids were really happy cause Kak yan brought a bag full of balloons and a nice cake. Most of them were more interested in playing rather than eating. The adults on the other hand was buzy talking too rather than eating.

What a lovely day to think back. Its really rare we get together for occasions like this. Along always in Congo, Afiq in flight school, Din shooting, Wani in England, me in shifts (just got back from one that day) and so forth. So I am treasuring this to the fullest.