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.