Look at that billowing smoke coming from a paper and plastics recycling plant at Telok Panglima Garang. It caught fire at 1am this morning (according to a source). I was told that the fire could not be controlled and was left to burn itself out. It was about 9am when I took the photo and it was still burning. I guess the fire only came under control at around 10am cuz the smoke started to clear up at about that time.

Ding Dong Bank

Today is exactly three weeks since our friend Ms. Chan made her complaint about her ATM card being 'telanned'. Yesterday, since she didn't get any news from the banks regarding her stuck ATM card, Ms. Chan made a call to her Hong Leong bank home branch. On the first call to the home branch, they told her that her ATM card was still not in their possession and that she should call Maybank to find out whether they have retrieved the card. Full of hope that she would at least know where her card was, she made the call to Maybank (I think the first call to Maybank was to the HQ or Customer Service Centre, sorry Ms. Chan, I missed some details here). This time, the person attending her call at Maybank tells her that she should call the branch where her card was stuck. At this point, you could almost imagine her blood starting to boil couldn't you? Two phone calls to two banks and we still can't find out where the card is. I wonder how many calls our friend needs to make.
Our friend is still hopeful to get news of where her card is so she makes the call to the Maybank branch where the card got stuck. SURPRISE!!! The branch would have NO IDEA where her card is! They have a very logical reason for that. This is because no one from the branch would have even accessed the ATM, only those ATM personnel (i.e. those guards loading and/or unloading the cash or those ATM technicians would have access to those ATMs). Blood practically starting to boil she asks why in the world should the bank customer be made to call here and there to trace where her ATM card is when it wasn't even her fault that her card got stuck in the first place. Finally she was adviced to get her home branch Hong Leong Bank to trace her card for her. This time with an angry tone of voice she calls her Hong Leong home branch again. Good thing the staff taking her call isn't a piece of wood with a recorder stuck to it and he/she was able to sense that Ms. Chan does not have much patience left in her and agrees to help her trace her card for her. So Ms. Chan regains her calmness and leaves her contact number with the bank employee and was told to wait for their call once they are able to trace the card.
I have lost track of how many dings and dongs have gone on in tracing just the one ATM card. I may have missed a few (or not) but I suppose this is good enough to give a pretty good idea how a small matter such as this gets thrown about. Are banks understaffed these days?
Our story does end in a 'good' way though as later in the day Ms. Chan received a call from her home branch and was told that her card was already with them. What? you may ask. Well, she asked them the same thing too. How could they say they didn't have the card when she called earlier? It's pretty obvious that they didn't even know they had it and only started looking for it after she called. They even admitted that they only started looking for it after she had called. At least the three week estimate that they had given her was quite accurate. Now she'd requested her card to be sent to the branch near here. Let's see if it will get her by Thursday as they promise.

Legally, ceremonially, officially

A week after the wedding ceremonies and I'm down with the flu and so is Jenny. How's that for a wedding gift eh? I'd like to thank all my friends and family for attending the dinner reception in Banting. I can't begin in words to describe how thankful I am that all of you could make it that night. To all my friends who were unable to make it, your absence was definitely felt but your wishes are warmly and thankfully accepted.
Going back on topic, I'd like to now announce to the world that Jenny and I was legally married on 4th June '08 (040608) cool eh? That gave us only about half a year to plan for our wedding reception etc.... the ceremonially and officially part :p
Between then and now, is now just a blur in time. Taking photos for the wedding album, picking the restaurant, making the invitation list etc etc, all wouldn't have gone as smooth as it did without the help of friend and family. Who says a wedding is between two people? Well a marriage is, but definitely not a wedding haha. I guess the only thing I regret now is that we didn't book a bigger venue. I totally didn't expect the number of guests to blow up to such a big number. Here, I'd like to apologize to those who had to bear with not so ideal seat arrangements. I still do hope that everyone managed to have a good time at the reception. In the end, I think it went mostly as planned and without any major mishaps which I am greatful for.
In the end, I'm just glad that it's all done and over with. 2 weeks seemed like it passed in a blink of an eye.

I'm gettin' married

I'll be off work for 2 weeks starting Monday. So I guess I won't be able to update on Ms. Chan's experience with her 'telanned' ATM card. But stay tuned as we find out how she'll finally get her card back. Jenny is packing our things right now, not that I don't want to pack but she said she wanted to pack so I let her. That does make me sound so bad right? Well, she has more stuff to pack anyway. I basically just need to pack my clothes and my razor, while she has.... I'm not going to even start to list her stuffs. I have to say that it's not an easy job to pack as we're first going back to Banting for the next couple of days then fly off to Sarikei for the reception on her side on the 3rd of December. Then practically right after the reception we'll be flying back to Banting on the 5th. What a rush right? Anyways, we made the flight arrangements long long ago so too late to regret that now. Then on the 6th we'll have a pre-wedding buffet dinner at Banting, so to those who know how to get there, you're all invited (haha.. like there's even any readers yet). And finally on the 7th will be our ACTUAL WEDDING DAY!!! I'm getting more and more nervous by the day. So is Jenny, but neither of us seem so to each other. I wonder if that's good or bad. Anyways, I'm going back to my "To do list" to see if I left anything out.

1 card to go

After the double/triple bummer, my colleague (let's call her Ms. Chan here) is starting to get good service from the banks. Apparently, Maybank has credited back the amount she 'withdrew' plus the IBG charges back to account. Let's see if more good news is to come when she receives her 1 more 'telanned' ATM card.

2 ATM cards 'telanned' on the same day

SO, this didn't happen to me but actually to a colleague of mine. I have many a times gone to Maybank, hoping to either withdraw or deposit cash only to find that their ATMs/Cash Deposit machines are down. Imagine I just withdrew a large sum of cash from another bank, hoping to immediately deposit into another account and BLERK.... "We are sorry for the inconvenience" HUGE BUMMER...
So this 'unlucky' colleague of mine met with a double bummer. Here's how to story goes... from her account of course.
Last Tuesday, just before heading to the office she stopped by the Maybank Kota Kemuning branch hoping to withdraw some hard earned cash (salary just out ma). Unsuspecting of anything wrong, she inserted her Maybank ATM card into the machine. Imagine her disappointment when suddenly.... well nothing suddenly happened... literally. Usually you'd expect the machine to prompt you to enter your pin right? This time, nothing. Just like a guy next to you grabbing your card and pretended that nothing happened. So, being low on cash (I suppose), she proceeded to next ATM machine and tried to use her other ATM card from another bank. This time, everything seemed to go as normal. From the title you'd probably expect that this one was going to get 'telanned' too. Well, it does. So, card inserted, pin number entered, withdrawal amount entered... all fine. Money coming out right? NOOOOOO card first.... but 'clunk'... card got stuck!!! Yay!!! ok... nevermind, money should still be coming out right? NO!!! ZERO cash comes out. You'd suppose that if there's no card and no money, there shouldn't be a receipt. WRONG AGAIN. Out comes the receipt saying that the 'withdrawn amount' has been deducted from her account. There's the DOUBLE BUMMER.
I'd be fuming already if this would have happened to me. Not accounting the next event. A guy next to her just had his card 'telanned' on the same machine and only felt it necessary to tell her AFTER hers got 'telanned' as well. Triple bummer?
Poor girl. After that, she went on to Maybank counter and they were kind enough to issue her with a replacement ATM card. This settles her immediate cash needs I guess. But she still has unsolved mysteries. Where'd her other card go? Well it's still in the whacky ATM machine. She contacted that other bank and was informed that she'd only get back her card in 3 weeks with the unduely deducted cash. We'll see if she has to go to her mother branch (don't know what you call the branch where you originally opened your account hahaha). I'll keep you posted when she keeps me posted.

Thoughts about money

With the global financial crisis dragging along as it is and one worrying news after another sprouting from the worlds largest economy. It doesn't look like an end is near even though experts predict that things might start picking up after 2009. I can barely remember when these same experts claim that things shouldn't get worse after mid 2008. Major crises such as this one creates worries as well as hope (in the form of new opportunities). Do we hope or worry is entirely up to us (but is it?).
The BIG THREE are reporting worrying numbers and are clawing for help from the Feds. It didn't seem so in the beginning when their CEOs flew to attend the meeting with congress in cash buring private jets. Well that totally blew up in their faces. I'd say it's a good thing. Something like that just points out issues that these people should look into and (hopefully) change for the better.
On the local front, UMW posted higher earnings due to higher sales of Toyota cars. A slightly surprising news but I suppose to full brunt of the financial crisis hasn't really hit our shores just yet. Even though it seems that we're not yet much affected by the crisis but the signs are there. Even MAJOR players like SIME, Petronas, etc etc are taking prudent measures to control capitol outflow. Everyone is cautious about expenditure, delaying home purchase, new car purchase etc. What is the normal guy (or gal) on the street to do in these worrying times?
Being asians, our mindset is that of making sure we have savings for the rainy days. How strong does this hold true? Youngsters these days are embracing the credit card lifestyle. Purchasing items beyond their means. How hard is it to get a credit card these days? I do wonder how things will be when the financial tsunami hits our shores.