Three of my managers and myself went for our medical check-up on Thursday last week. We had all the "normal" tests carried out: blood, urine, chest X-ray, ECG and chest ultrasound. The cost : RM750.00 per person and the results will be given to us by a Medical Officer. I opted to see a specialist and it cost me another RM180.00 If this cost is not paid by my company, I doubt I will do the medical.
Anyway, my appointment with the specialist was this morning. I went early to make sure there are still vacant parking lots. Luckily, I did so as the lot is almost full when I arrived. I had opted to see a cardiologist as I have a history of hypertension and is currently on medication. The doctor was okay as he do not have too many patients so there was no need for me to wait for too long.
So here are the results:
1. Physical conditions - Overweight. I weighed in at 92.3kg (must be one of the heaviest I have experieced). No wonder I'm always feeling tired. The doctor told me that the MOST I should weigh is 80kg though ideally it should be closer to 70kg.
2. BP - 150/100, on the high side especially since I'm on medication. My readings used to be 130/90 when I'm on medication. Before I took my medication, my BP was 150/100. The doctor tried to console me by saying that maybe I'm a bit anxious today but he did not take another reading to confirm this.
3. Urine Tests - All normal, no issue
4. X-Ray - All normal, no issue
5. Ultrasound - Fatty Liver (whatever that means) but the doctor told me not to worry too much. Most probably it is the result of me being overweight
6. Blood tests - As I had expected, this will be an issue. All the blood tests that I've taken for the past few years have shown that I have problems with my cholesterol levels. Today was no exception. Actually my cholesterol level was not that high, only 5.7 but what is worrying the doctor is that my "good" cholesterol is only 0.9. There was also another issue with my Triglyceride level which the doctor is not happy with so much so he prescribed me medication for 6 weeks which costs me RM128.00
7. The doctor also asked me to come back in 6 weeks time to do a stress tests. The appointment would be in the first week of Ramadhan
I need to watch my weight and also exercise. I need to watch my weight and also exercise. I need to watch my weight and also exercise. Please God help me achieve this.
Maybe I continue later.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
A Night at Chan and Fuzi's
It was a busy weekend. Last Friday, after Maghrib, we held our mosque's 2009 AGM. It was a subdued affair, everything went so smoothly, it was almost boring. The Chairman had to probe those attending to ask questions and make comments. Maybe it was because the previous AJK had done its job well. But the meeting still ended at around 10:00pm and by the time we finished dinner it was almost 11:00pm. Everyone's work is done after the AGM but I still have to get the minutes out in due time. I had earlier planned to go back to Melaka after the AGM but since it was already late we decided to defer the trip to early Saturday morning.
We left Kelana Jaya at around 7:15 am. In no time the kids (well they are not exactly kids anymore. My eldest is almost 26 and the youngest 13) were fast asleep. Luckily the wife kept me company most of the way.
The kenduri took place immediately after Zohor prayers. As usual, most of the prayer congregation come for the kenduri, between 40 to 50 of them. This is what I like about kampong life. The spirit of ukhwah is not lost. It was still the usual crowd of the past few years, minus a few who have left us but plus a few new ones whom I can't recognize. Being the head of the family I had to be on hand to welcome them and later thank them for their presence. A few of them remarked that my voice sounded "sebiji macam ayah engkau". I won't know how I sounded but how I missed the voice of my father, they won't know.
At around 5:30 the "delegation" from Kuala Selangor arrived. They are supposed to merisik my youngest sister. It was the first time for me. Luckily I still have my uncle who have been there for our family all these years to again come to our rescue. This uncle of mine will be irreplaceable. Thanks so much Pak Ali. As is the case nowadays, all the terms and conditions for the occasion have been agreed upon between my sister and her would be husband. The meeting was just to "confirm" what has been agreed. InsyaAllah, if all goes well we will have the wedding at the end of the year.
By the time we finished it was almost Maghrib. We left Jasin at round 8:15pm. Again, in no time the kids dozed off. My wife managed to keep me company until after Seremban. I can't blame her as she was busy helping out with things in the kitchen. Luckily for me, the roads were quite clear.
I reached MRR2 around 9:30pm. When I was near Ampang, I called Sle just to make sure that the crowd are still there because it was already almost 10:00pm. It is late and I'm tired but I have to make it to Chan and Fuzi's. They have graciously agreed to host a few of us to meet up with Rosinah's family who are on a 3 week vacation in Malaysia. Ros was the one who took all the trouble to show me around Stockholm a few months back but I did not have the time to "repay" her this time around. Sorry Ros but I've been really tied up. Luckily, Chan and Fuzi played host. So how can I not attend?
When we arrived, everyone was busy with briyani and other stuff. I am already full with the day's continuous intake of food so decided to skip the food. Meeting up with my friends was enough,no need for the food. At the end of the whole thing, I only took one kueh and some durian.
The crowd was good. The special guset, Ros was there with her husband and daughter whom I did not meet when I was in Stockholm. From the first batch, Anwar was there with his wife.
The one's from Ros' batch include Izham and Didah who were there with their beautiful daughter. Aminah who took Computer Science together with Ros was there. You can count on Minah to be with us. Syed came with Umi. I still haven't met their daughter, Shahira. Shariff was alone though he had earlier confirmed coming with his wife. Apparently their kids were back home from school for the weekend and Shariff did want to bring them along as he had earlier confirmed coming with the wife only. Knowing Shariff (always the gentleman and being socially correct) he do not want to upset the host. FYI Shariff, I did not even confirm my presence but came with my wife and 3 kids. I hope the hosts are not upset. Syukri was also there alone but he was busy with his new toy, an expensive looking camera. I hope he will upload the photos that he took soon.
Finally, the third batch were represented by Amir and Tipah; Sle and Mawa and Dato' Khalid and Datin and also Dr Rahman who came all the way from Penang. Amir was busy opening up the durians for everyone. I had a good conversation with Dr Rahman but I will not touch on the subject discussed here, maybe later in another posting.
I hope I have not missed anybody. But as I said I have had a long day and was definitely not up to scratch. After slightly more than an hour I had to excuse myself. Actually, I could go on. With my friends, I would always find the energy to hang around but my kids have given me the telling looks more than once. I have to be fair to them too.
Thank you Chan and Fuzi. Thank you everybody for taking the time to meet up. My apologies for being late and going off early. To Ros and family, please accept my sincere apologies for not doing more during your trip here. I'm off to another short trip tomorrow.
Sallam semua.
We left Kelana Jaya at around 7:15 am. In no time the kids (well they are not exactly kids anymore. My eldest is almost 26 and the youngest 13) were fast asleep. Luckily the wife kept me company most of the way.
The kenduri took place immediately after Zohor prayers. As usual, most of the prayer congregation come for the kenduri, between 40 to 50 of them. This is what I like about kampong life. The spirit of ukhwah is not lost. It was still the usual crowd of the past few years, minus a few who have left us but plus a few new ones whom I can't recognize. Being the head of the family I had to be on hand to welcome them and later thank them for their presence. A few of them remarked that my voice sounded "sebiji macam ayah engkau". I won't know how I sounded but how I missed the voice of my father, they won't know.
At around 5:30 the "delegation" from Kuala Selangor arrived. They are supposed to merisik my youngest sister. It was the first time for me. Luckily I still have my uncle who have been there for our family all these years to again come to our rescue. This uncle of mine will be irreplaceable. Thanks so much Pak Ali. As is the case nowadays, all the terms and conditions for the occasion have been agreed upon between my sister and her would be husband. The meeting was just to "confirm" what has been agreed. InsyaAllah, if all goes well we will have the wedding at the end of the year.
By the time we finished it was almost Maghrib. We left Jasin at round 8:15pm. Again, in no time the kids dozed off. My wife managed to keep me company until after Seremban. I can't blame her as she was busy helping out with things in the kitchen. Luckily for me, the roads were quite clear.
I reached MRR2 around 9:30pm. When I was near Ampang, I called Sle just to make sure that the crowd are still there because it was already almost 10:00pm. It is late and I'm tired but I have to make it to Chan and Fuzi's. They have graciously agreed to host a few of us to meet up with Rosinah's family who are on a 3 week vacation in Malaysia. Ros was the one who took all the trouble to show me around Stockholm a few months back but I did not have the time to "repay" her this time around. Sorry Ros but I've been really tied up. Luckily, Chan and Fuzi played host. So how can I not attend?
When we arrived, everyone was busy with briyani and other stuff. I am already full with the day's continuous intake of food so decided to skip the food. Meeting up with my friends was enough,no need for the food. At the end of the whole thing, I only took one kueh and some durian.
The crowd was good. The special guset, Ros was there with her husband and daughter whom I did not meet when I was in Stockholm. From the first batch, Anwar was there with his wife.
The one's from Ros' batch include Izham and Didah who were there with their beautiful daughter. Aminah who took Computer Science together with Ros was there. You can count on Minah to be with us. Syed came with Umi. I still haven't met their daughter, Shahira. Shariff was alone though he had earlier confirmed coming with his wife. Apparently their kids were back home from school for the weekend and Shariff did want to bring them along as he had earlier confirmed coming with the wife only. Knowing Shariff (always the gentleman and being socially correct) he do not want to upset the host. FYI Shariff, I did not even confirm my presence but came with my wife and 3 kids. I hope the hosts are not upset. Syukri was also there alone but he was busy with his new toy, an expensive looking camera. I hope he will upload the photos that he took soon.
Finally, the third batch were represented by Amir and Tipah; Sle and Mawa and Dato' Khalid and Datin and also Dr Rahman who came all the way from Penang. Amir was busy opening up the durians for everyone. I had a good conversation with Dr Rahman but I will not touch on the subject discussed here, maybe later in another posting.
I hope I have not missed anybody. But as I said I have had a long day and was definitely not up to scratch. After slightly more than an hour I had to excuse myself. Actually, I could go on. With my friends, I would always find the energy to hang around but my kids have given me the telling looks more than once. I have to be fair to them too.
Thank you Chan and Fuzi. Thank you everybody for taking the time to meet up. My apologies for being late and going off early. To Ros and family, please accept my sincere apologies for not doing more during your trip here. I'm off to another short trip tomorrow.
Sallam semua.
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
A busy period
I've been busy but that is no excuse for not updating this blog. Sometimes I feel more things get done during the busiest of periods. When things are moving slowly you tend to become lazy.
The past 2 months have seen me traveling to Stockholm, Indonesia and Vietnam. The trips are already tiring but trying to make sense of them through meaningful reports take real efforts. If I really think about the report writing I may just want to skip all these trips. And to think that writing is one of my strong points. But I've just been told today that I'll be traveling again next week.
All my weekends for the last month and the ones upto Ramadhan have been or will be fully occupied. There were times when I wonder why I got myself involved in so many things.
Got to go to bed now. There will be 2 meetings tomorrow and I still haven't completed compiling the Annual Report for the mosque's AGM this Friday. I'm sure someone will ask why the report was not distributed much earlier to enable them to read before the meeting. I have to think of an excuse.
The past 2 months have seen me traveling to Stockholm, Indonesia and Vietnam. The trips are already tiring but trying to make sense of them through meaningful reports take real efforts. If I really think about the report writing I may just want to skip all these trips. And to think that writing is one of my strong points. But I've just been told today that I'll be traveling again next week.
All my weekends for the last month and the ones upto Ramadhan have been or will be fully occupied. There were times when I wonder why I got myself involved in so many things.
Got to go to bed now. There will be 2 meetings tomorrow and I still haven't completed compiling the Annual Report for the mosque's AGM this Friday. I'm sure someone will ask why the report was not distributed much earlier to enable them to read before the meeting. I have to think of an excuse.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Sleepless in Kelana Jaya
In my more than half century of being on God's Earth, its not often that I have trouble falling asleep.
But when someone you love and care a lot ignores you, you begin to worry. After all you only want the best for them, more than what you want for yourself even and you become ....
Sleepless in Kelana Jaya
Ya Allah Kau Lindungi lah dia dan berilah kemudahan dalam hidupnya
But when someone you love and care a lot ignores you, you begin to worry. After all you only want the best for them, more than what you want for yourself even and you become ....
Sleepless in Kelana Jaya
Ya Allah Kau Lindungi lah dia dan berilah kemudahan dalam hidupnya
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
I lost my Notebook and my cool
I lost my IBM Notebook today, the first time in my life. I'm feeling really terrible ...even after almost 10 hours. I just do not know how to start doing my work. I'm lost.. totally lost. The following are some of the things that I lost in that notebook of mine:
1. almost 6 years of works that I have done for my present company from memos, working papers, letters, budgets, proposals, implementation plans, presentations.. you name it its in there. Basically, the whole company history is in there
2. more than 3 years of my work as Secretary of my mosque from notice of meeting, minutes of Committee meetings, AGMs, reports, proposals etc
3. many years of my work in PIBGs in 3 different schools for the past more than 7 years
4. many years of my works in my previous 2 companies
5. records of my share trading activities
6. many years of my personal and family photos (at least the last 3 years Hari Raya). There should be more than 2,000 photos (some of them priceless photos of my late father)
7. more than 10,000 email messages of various topics, though mostly work related some are personal in nature
8. various matters of interests that I have accumulated over the years
9. hundreds of songs that I've downloaded (mostly of the 70's era)
10. many more that I cannot bear thinking about.
Unfortunately for the person getting hold of my PC there is no pictures or video of me or anybody else in compromising situations.
I'm sick of the way the notebook was lost. I'm angry with my staff who were lax and/or negligent in their actions. I'm pissed off with the thieves who just walked into my room and took it away. I'm not supposed to pray for bad things to befall onto another human being but what I'm hoping would befall the thieves who stole my notebook is definitely not pretty.
The last time I did any back up was last year but I do not know where I put the back up hard disk.
These things are not supposed to happen to us..only to other people. So, though we know full well ALL the safety precautions and SOPs, we choose to ignore them. I've learnt my lesson ..the hard way.
1. almost 6 years of works that I have done for my present company from memos, working papers, letters, budgets, proposals, implementation plans, presentations.. you name it its in there. Basically, the whole company history is in there
2. more than 3 years of my work as Secretary of my mosque from notice of meeting, minutes of Committee meetings, AGMs, reports, proposals etc
3. many years of my work in PIBGs in 3 different schools for the past more than 7 years
4. many years of my works in my previous 2 companies
5. records of my share trading activities
6. many years of my personal and family photos (at least the last 3 years Hari Raya). There should be more than 2,000 photos (some of them priceless photos of my late father)
7. more than 10,000 email messages of various topics, though mostly work related some are personal in nature
8. various matters of interests that I have accumulated over the years
9. hundreds of songs that I've downloaded (mostly of the 70's era)
10. many more that I cannot bear thinking about.
Unfortunately for the person getting hold of my PC there is no pictures or video of me or anybody else in compromising situations.
I'm sick of the way the notebook was lost. I'm angry with my staff who were lax and/or negligent in their actions. I'm pissed off with the thieves who just walked into my room and took it away. I'm not supposed to pray for bad things to befall onto another human being but what I'm hoping would befall the thieves who stole my notebook is definitely not pretty.
The last time I did any back up was last year but I do not know where I put the back up hard disk.
These things are not supposed to happen to us..only to other people. So, though we know full well ALL the safety precautions and SOPs, we choose to ignore them. I've learnt my lesson ..the hard way.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Remembering May 13
I was in Standard Five when this happened. We were in a kampong in Melaka, basically nothing eventful ever happens there. So, 13th May was an "event" for everyone. Not that it affected us directly.
I was maybe too young to remember many things but I remembered that we do not have to go to school. And the adult folks were saying something that the Chinese were getting too much and need to be taught a lesson. But the few (less than 10) Chinese families in the kampong have nothing to worry as they have been accepted as part of our community. They were all safe but I'm sure they must have been very worried.
I also remembered that we had to "mandi minyak" (oil bath??) to give us special powers in case we are attacked. Up to this day I still wonder how we can take an oil bath which is boiling, or was it an illusion?. After that we kids felt so powerful that we started fighting among us.
We were informed about the curfew by policemen in their patrol cars using hailers. A lot of the kampong folks simply ignored the directive to stay indoors after dark.
So what happened then? I think it is about time all Malaysians know the truth so that we can move on with our nation building. Lets settle this once and for all. There are definitely some lessons to be learnt from this painful episode of our nation. Let not it be exploited by some selfish few for their benefits.
Personally,I do not think there will be a repeat of May 13. The country simply cannot afford it. Moreover, the masses are now more informed. The prospect of them being taken for a painful ride is much less than 40 years ago. But lets not take any chances and work towards a more united Malaysia.
I was maybe too young to remember many things but I remembered that we do not have to go to school. And the adult folks were saying something that the Chinese were getting too much and need to be taught a lesson. But the few (less than 10) Chinese families in the kampong have nothing to worry as they have been accepted as part of our community. They were all safe but I'm sure they must have been very worried.
I also remembered that we had to "mandi minyak" (oil bath??) to give us special powers in case we are attacked. Up to this day I still wonder how we can take an oil bath which is boiling, or was it an illusion?. After that we kids felt so powerful that we started fighting among us.
We were informed about the curfew by policemen in their patrol cars using hailers. A lot of the kampong folks simply ignored the directive to stay indoors after dark.
So what happened then? I think it is about time all Malaysians know the truth so that we can move on with our nation building. Lets settle this once and for all. There are definitely some lessons to be learnt from this painful episode of our nation. Let not it be exploited by some selfish few for their benefits.
Personally,I do not think there will be a repeat of May 13. The country simply cannot afford it. Moreover, the masses are now more informed. The prospect of them being taken for a painful ride is much less than 40 years ago. But lets not take any chances and work towards a more united Malaysia.
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Perak oh Perak
I was following the events that were unfolding in Perak this morning. Thanks to the internet, we get live coverage of the events from various sources. Even if some of the sources are biased towards a particular individual, groups or camps, at least we have the choice of "knowing" from various sources. And then it is up to us, the intelligent rakyats, to decide which one to trust. This was not so not too long ago where we had to rely on the "official media" version of everything that happens in the country.
I'm not going to touch on the details of the events that happened which culminated in today's encounter. But to me, as a layman rakyat, I'm sad at the state of affairs of my beloved country. Too many leaders who are supposed to look after the rakyats have instead failed us. Are these people who started this political fiasco ever stop to think about the rakyat or the country? I do not think so for if they do I do not think they will do what they did.
As things stand at the time of my writing, I have a feeling that BN will be the government of Perak. Personally, I do not think they have the moral legitimacy of being the government even if all the Courts of the land and the Sultan of the state who have the prerogative to appoint the Chief Minister said so. A government is chosen by the rakyats and they should have the final say. Of course, my personal views carries no weight whatsoever but I have a feeling that a significant percentage of the rakyat is with me on this.
If I am YB Nizar, I would now hand over the government to the BN since they craved it so much and are willing to do everything to get it. Along they way they have got the Sultan and the Courts on their side. Everyone knows that the police, SPR, Civil Service have always been on their side. So let them have it, for the sake of political stability. If not, we the rakyat, will suffer what with the present financial situation.
Let them rule the state without any inputs from the previous government (the PR government). The ADUNs just attend the State Assembly but do not utter a word. Let them table their Budgets or whatever bills. We just keep quite unless they are proposing to change the constitution or something like that which we should vote against. This way, nobody can say that we are responsible for any of their actions. In the meantime our ADUNs should serve the rakyats to their best of their abilities, despite not being in the government. For the seats that are held by BN we should identify potential candidates and start asking them to serve these areas.
Come next elections, we will be fully prepared and I'm sure we will win more than two thirds of the seats.
But I'm just a nobody and I do not think anybody will give my views a second look.
I'm not going to touch on the details of the events that happened which culminated in today's encounter. But to me, as a layman rakyat, I'm sad at the state of affairs of my beloved country. Too many leaders who are supposed to look after the rakyats have instead failed us. Are these people who started this political fiasco ever stop to think about the rakyat or the country? I do not think so for if they do I do not think they will do what they did.
As things stand at the time of my writing, I have a feeling that BN will be the government of Perak. Personally, I do not think they have the moral legitimacy of being the government even if all the Courts of the land and the Sultan of the state who have the prerogative to appoint the Chief Minister said so. A government is chosen by the rakyats and they should have the final say. Of course, my personal views carries no weight whatsoever but I have a feeling that a significant percentage of the rakyat is with me on this.
If I am YB Nizar, I would now hand over the government to the BN since they craved it so much and are willing to do everything to get it. Along they way they have got the Sultan and the Courts on their side. Everyone knows that the police, SPR, Civil Service have always been on their side. So let them have it, for the sake of political stability. If not, we the rakyat, will suffer what with the present financial situation.
Let them rule the state without any inputs from the previous government (the PR government). The ADUNs just attend the State Assembly but do not utter a word. Let them table their Budgets or whatever bills. We just keep quite unless they are proposing to change the constitution or something like that which we should vote against. This way, nobody can say that we are responsible for any of their actions. In the meantime our ADUNs should serve the rakyats to their best of their abilities, despite not being in the government. For the seats that are held by BN we should identify potential candidates and start asking them to serve these areas.
Come next elections, we will be fully prepared and I'm sure we will win more than two thirds of the seats.
But I'm just a nobody and I do not think anybody will give my views a second look.
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