Reduce, reuse, recycle

Quite some time ago (more than a year, at least) I printed it out some tearable puns and put it up at my office (IQ Group then).

This photo is not from the first location, but from the third... read on.
(Original image is at the end of the post)

I placed it at a common area, a place where practically everyone walked past. A lot of people read it, but no one tore any of the puns away. After some time I took it down. It seemed a waste to throw it away, so I kept it... and brought it home with me when I left IQ.

At Motorola it was some time before I put it up again... next to my cubicle this time. But the location wasn't really ideal... the path was narrow and it was hard to read the puns because they were at waist level. I left it there for some time before moving it into my cubicle ("into", as in in front of me, for my own use instead of for others). Because, you see, no one took any puns away either.

When we moved office, I kept the paper again. This time the paper had actually gotten a bit crumpled, because like I said, the pathway was narrow and when some people passed, they accidentally brushed the paper. At that time, I already knew that we were moving, and that we would be sitting with our department (as opposed to sitting with software people from other departments), so I decided I would keep and re-use it one last time.

And that photo above is the paper in its third (and supposedly final) location. A week has passed since I put it up, but again no one has taken any puns. (I guess everyone is being kind and generous and wants to let others read them) So I guess I will leave it there for a while more... and then it will be time to throw it into the recycle bin. (By the way, after seeing a few people tilt their head/body to read the puns, I turned the paper 90 degrees. Some parts of it would still need some tilting, but at least it's less...)


Edit: Following a comment that the puns above are unreadable, here is the original image that I printed out (rotated for easier reading):

A couple of food discoveries

Our new office (though it's not so new any more) has a roti canai stall in the cafeteria. Besides the usual roti canai variants (roti bawang, roti telur, etc) they also have murtabak (which is huge, and which I have tried before but I'm not going to write about here) and a few other "specialties" like roti john and the dish I will tell you about below.

I usually just order the normal roti canai, which is already pretty good. But then the other day a friend ordered a "set" with four mini roti bom (or roti boom). It looked really good, so another friend and I decided to try it another day. Which we did:

Each "bomb" is half of a normal roti canai. And like roti bom, it is filled with butter, which makes it very oily, and condensed milk (instead of sugar like I'm used to), which makes it very sweet! And the outside is super-crispy (while still hot), which makes it delicious :D

We were watching the person preparing it, and instead of folding the roti dough into a square (like normal roti bom) after putting the butter and condensed milk, what he did was to cut it into half lengthwise, then roughly roll it up into a "rope", then roughly (again) "coil" the "rope" (a lot of quote marks because I don't know what to call these things) onto the cooking surface. The roti puffs up quite a lot while it is cooking, then slowly goes flat after being placed onto the plate.

I wonder whether this kind of "coin bomb" is being sold anywhere else. Since I usually just order normal roti canai, I never even look at the menu... next time I should take a look.


On to the second dish.

A few days ago I read about a kuey teow thng place in Georgetown (Lebuh Melayu, at the end close to Carnavon Street; the shop is called 113). Actually the best kuey teow thng place in Penang to me up to now is the 7th street (Cecil Street) market. This one is pretty good, but still can't beat the Cecil Street one. But they have add-ons, like this plate of "a little bit of everything":

In the article, they mentioned the duck meat and duck intestines (the intestines have a slight crunch, not sure whether duck intestines always have that texture or whether it is due to the preparation method). But when we arrived there, we saw that they had duck gizzards, duck wings, and duck feet, amongst others. So we ordered a mix of everything. This plate had duck meat, duck intestines, duck gizzards, pig intestines, and beansprouts. (I don't think I left anything out) They also had a lot of braised stuff (pork legs, pork intestines, eggs, ...) but since there were only two of us, we decided not to order too much.

I wouldn't say that the taste of this dish is particularly special, but since we don't find this stuff very easily, it is nice to have once in a while. :)

(No photo of the kuey teow thng, because it didn't look that special anyway :P But you can see more photos on this blog. )

Lady Luck visiting

Yesterday Motorola held the official opening of our new building, Innoplex. At the same time, it was also the celebration of the 40th anniversary of Motorola Penang.

This is a sticker they included in our door gift (though there was no door). The door gift itself contained small snacks and for some, a lucky draw ticket.

They had caterers from Eden to provide food; there was a canopy under which a row of stalls were set up, with briyani, char kuey teow, apom, pandan chicken/nuggets/wantan/squid balls, burger, ais kacang, and also a vegetarian food area. They also set up a lot of tables for you to sit down and eat, but of course there wasn't enough seats for everyone... so we had to play our own game of "musical" chairs, sitting down to eat while others went to get their next round of food.

At another area they had ice cream and popcorn. There were also caricature booths, photo booths, face-painting booths, ... stuff that I wasn't interested in (this only applies for this last sentence; the ice-cream and popcorn I was interested in! lol ), though the caricatures were very popular among other people. They also had musical performances and a discotheque...but again I wasn't interested. :P

And then there were the games. Basically the games are short ones that involve something like throwing hoops, balls, etc and getting points. If you get more than a certain number of points, you get a stamp on your "fun card".

The map seems to be a little wrong...I think they changed some of the locations after printing it.

The other side of the card, where you get your stamps. (this one is filled up, as you can see)

Actually the games were not easy...a lot of luck was involved (since I have no skill in throwing things). I did manage to get a stamp by pure luck once (we needed to throw a hoop to go over a red nail, and I nailed it - pun intended - on the first out of three throws), but that was about it. After that I had failure after failure... and then we received a tip that this game was easy:

Catch the Owls - my game!

For this game, we have to shoot a dart gun and hit three owls (the yellow ones are chickens, by the way). Of course, everyone aimed at the bottom right because that was the only area that had two owls together. We had four darts for each attempt.

Even though they said it was so easy, I managed to fail on the first try (Hey! It takes skill to fail! :P ). As all guns do, the dart gun also had a recoil when it was fired. And so my first two shots landed too high (on the chicken). Even though I had lost, I tried shooting the other two darts and managed to figure out how to shoot it properly. And that is why I said that it was my game... after that I had 100% accuracy and didn't even need four darts to win the game. :D

If not mistaken, I actually played this game six times (including the first one where I lost). We kept playing and then going back to the end of the queue to wait for our next turn. Because you see, the goal was this, in exchange for eight stamps:

In case you're wondering, it's a pen drive, and the design is a Motorola radio (walkie-talkie).

(This wasn't the only choice to redeem for eight stamps, we could also choose a power bank or to enter a lucky draw for an iPad mini. But knowing my luck, I decided I would rather get a pen drive than take my chances. There were also other gifts to redeem for four stamps and six stamps.)

Back to the owl game. The thing is, at the beginning we needed to shoot three owls to win. During our second try, they had lowered the requirement to two owls for "Happy Hour". (both my friend and I had managed only two owls on our first try, so we went "Why didn't they start the happy hour earlier!" And then on our third try, they had started the "Happy Happy Hour", meaning that if we could shoot two owls, we would get two stamps instead of only one. Later it increased to three stamps (which really helped us fill up our cards more quickly), and even later in the night, it had gone up to five stamps. I think they were trying to make sure all the gifts were given out. I guess it worked, because in the end, the prize booth was closed even though some people wanted to redeem gifts! (and that is why I had one card with eight stamps left over)

Now I said I didn't want to rely on my luck for the eight-stamp lucky draw (a lot of people did, though; the lucky draw line was always longer than the gift redemption line). Initially I had even decided that I would probably leave early, once I had gotten my pen drive (that was my only goal for the night). But in the end we ended up playing the games until they closed, so we decided to wait the few minutes until the lucky draw.

Which was lucky, because... I suddenly won the 8th prize. :O

A 32-inch LED TV

And that's my luck for you. I'm not sure whether it will happen again, but I'm sure not going to count on it. I'm still in a daze over this win... still can't understand how it happened.

The irony

Motorola Penang is celebrating its 40th anniversary this Friday. They are already setting up the tents in the parking lot.

But saying Welcome and No Entry at the same time seems a little... rude. :P

Of course, the reason for the No Entry signs is because this particular lane in the parking lot is for driving in the other direction.

I took this photo when I arrived in the morning, and in the evening when I was going home, the "Welcome" words had disappeared. Did they see the clashing signs as well, and move the entrance to another spot?

On how to be a salesperson

Yesterday I was at Prangin Mall (where I very seldom go). We saw a stall selling essential oils and creams and stuff, and stopped to take a look. After a while the stall owner came over to talk to us... and could she talk! Probably one of the greatest sales pitches I've ever heard, and not even a real sales pitch...she kept saying, try my samples first, you can come back later and buy!

Anyway, she let us try hair oil (argan oil, which could also be used for the skin), and at least two kinds of lotion (argan oil and aloe vera). And I'm not sure what else because my head got messed up from too much information :P

Then she gave us some samples:

Actually she first gave us the argan hair oil and CC cream (which is a new variant of the famous BB cream, if I'm not mistaken). Then after we talked a bit more, she went and squirted a bit of argan oil lotion into the transparent packet for us. And then, after my friend bought something, she gave her a free face mask and gave us the argan oil hair treatment sample (second packet from left), which is to be used like conditioner (apply and wash off), and a packet of shampoo (first from left).

And, I'm not sure at which point this was, but when we were smelling the essential oils, she went and put some in that transparent pack for us, and put it into this plastic bag, complete with a paper heart on top, to "show her love for us". lol

She told us to put it on our pillow that night, so that we could sleep well (it's lavender scent). She told us that it can seep through the plastic packet, so it can't keep. I did put it beside my pillow (without opening it, because really, you can feel the oil on your fingers even from touching the packet), but I'm not sure whether it really did help me sleep better. Just smelt nice.

From the beginning, she kept telling us to go and see her Facebook, and at the end, she even asked for our phone numbers. If you're interested in buying the creams/oils (they are not very expensive compared to elsewhere), you can check out her name card in the picture above. And go to Prangin Mall to see her. (her stall is just in front of McDonalds) But make sure you're not in a hurry to go anywhere else. :P


And while I was at the mall, I found these! (in I.S.O.S.; heard of it before? I hadn't.) Yay, now my white t-shirt stock (with Winnie the Pooh, no less) has been replenished! (they also had Mickey, which looked quite nice too, but not as nice as these. And I had to stop somewhere...)

The umbrella switch

These few days it has been raining quite heavily. Yesterday morning, as I was driving to work, I saw a woman with a child walking on the pavement. The mother was holding a small umbrella over her head (you know the cute kind that has ears?), and with the other hand she was holding a second, bigger umbrella over the head of the child.

Get the picture? I guess they each had their umbrella... and in the heavy rain the mother switched the umbrellas to shield the child better.

Nah, no point, just thought it was cute. :P

Tales from grocery shopping

I went to Giant to buy some things after work today. In the Giant food court, the only queue was at the hot plate stall. The other stalls not only didn't have a queue, they didn't have a customer. (some people were eating their food, but no one was waiting at the stall)

The hot plate stall had basically two choices: black pepper sauce or mushroom sauce. Besides that, you could choose the noodles (or even choose rice). I asked for black pepper noodles, but today he didn't seem to care about the sauce; everyone had the same sauce (mine turned into mushroom like the others). And he cracked an egg onto each plate. I know that hot plate stalls love to do this, so I specifically told him that I didn't want egg. But he still gestured me to a plate with egg. I told him, "mine is without egg". So he let the person after me have it. Then he put another six hot plates onto the stoves (there were six stoves)... and then proceeded to crack an egg into each of them. Just before he did the last one, I reminded him again. Luckily he stopped. Somehow I think he was only pretending to forget, so that he could charge me an extra 90 sen for the egg. -_- (that has happened before)


On another note, I bought a can of sardines in olive oil (and chilli, because they had sardines in olive oil and sardines in olive oil and chilli, and I like chilli, so I let myself be tempted to buy the latter (take your time reading the "and"s. :P )). I went looking for it because I wanted to try a little recipe of sardine butter that I had just come across recently. But the can says that it is ready to eat (not that I didn't know that), and now I am tempted to just eat it as it is. Why make sardine butter when the sardines are already delicious? lol (Disclaimer: I haven't tried it yet, I'm just saying.)

I sense another recipe plan going down the drain...

After you

Ever heard the phrase "after you"? I guess you have. I have heard it in movies and read it in books, but I don't think I've ever heard it being used in person.

But today someone actually said it to me.

I was just reaching the door and there was someone not far behind me. I scanned my badge and pulled the door open, nodding my head for him to go first. But instead of going first, he said, "After you".

It's not like this is a very rare situation; it happens all the time. But usually the person in question doesn't say anything. Or those who are trying to act extra-gentlemanly (sometimes I call it over-gentlemanly) would say "Ladies first", as if they wouldn't give way to another guy. But "After you"? Rolling off the tip of his tongue like he didn't even have to think of the phrase? A rarity.

And this detail shouldn't matter, but in a time of racial hate and scorn and what-else, I just wanted to record this down (because I may forget in the future): the guy was a Malay (I could be wrong, but he looked like one). So if anyone decides to do some racial profiling that annoys me, maybe I can look up this post and shove it under their noses, minus this last paragraph.

Of slurping noodles (or not)

Some time ago, I was eating with a friend when a bit of sauce splattered onto my shirt. As I went, "oh no", she said, "Don't worry, it's the same colour as your shirt."

But I still need to wash it off later!! :s

I thought she was the weird one. But recently I found that at least two other people (they happen to be girls, but I'm not sure whether being girls has anything to do with it) share her view.

A not-raised-in-Malaysia friend mentioned that he had only seen people in Malaysia using chopsticks to put noodles on a spoon and then eat the noodles. He said that on TV programs from other countries, they eat directly from the chopsticks. So we decided to tell him the logic of eating from the spoon instead of from the chopsticks: 1) You can eat the noodles with the soup, and 2) You don't get the soup flying all over the place (and onto your shirt) from the slurping.

But then those two said that they would slurp the noodles at home (because more "shiok" la). When I raised the question of laundry (I guess that's a big preoccupation of mine), they said that it wasn't a problem... the problem was having people seeing stains on their shirt.

Sigh... appearance before laundry, huh? I guess in a way, they're narcissistic and I'm lazy. :P

And I happen to be outnumbered right now.

The aquarium

Welcome to the aquarium! You may take a look from the outside, or you may take a walk inside to experience the aquarium life. (extra charge may apply)

Edit (22 Aug 2014):
Sigh... I can't believe I drew the aquarium shape wrong. Here's the correct one. (lazy to take another photo, so I just edited the one above)

(End of edited part)

At the office, the Software section is situated between the Electrical (or maybe I should say Electronics) and Mechanical sections. And since the cubicle dividers are low, when people walk past, they can see very clearly all of us seated there. (they can walk "inside the aquarium" by going between the two rows of seats) Our manager sits at the location marked "Aquarium Owner".

And here are some actual comments from our "visitors":

1) Feed the fish! (at ~12pm)

This happened at the beginning, when we first moved in. Our "strategy" was to go for lunch at 12:30pm instead of 12pm as we did previously in Cyberplex, to avoid the crowd. But the others didn't know that, so when they saw us still working at noon, they were very worried that we would starve...

2) Oh, new fish!

Exclaimed when a new addition is seen in the "aquarium". Need I say more?

3) Where are the other fish?

This comes from those who know that there are some more members in our team who have not yet moved here. And of course, they are concerned... where are they??

4) Can I bring my fish here?

This came from someone who was looking for extra seats for some more people. That person thought that the empty seats were unoccupied (unlike those from no. 3 above who knew there were more people coming).
However, the answer was of course "no", because the space was already reserved for some fish! (the Aquarium Owner's fish)


Oh yeah, the circles in the drawing are shaky, as you can see... so are the words, especially at the bottom, because my whiteboard is at the far end of the desk, and it's hard to write with your hand at arm's length! And it gets harder the closer your hand is to your desk...

This was actually the second sketch I've done in this office; here's the first one:

I guess it can be seen as a little continuation from my previous S post. One S left and was replaced by another. And now they seem strategically located...

I'm trying to come up with a new sketch at least once a month. That's only twelve a year... so that shouldn't be a problem, right? The second one came less than a week after the first, though. Hope I can keep up the momentum!