Swordie Bloggie

Recently Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara (JPN) or National Registration Department (NRD) launched a new generation of the national identification card better known as MyKad. The first generation of MyKad was introduced in September 2001.

According to JPN, the new generation MyKad will be tougher coz it is made of stronger polycarbonate… let’s hope it is tough coz the current MyKad really bad… not tough enough… there are many complains about it… in fact other types of cards such as credit cards, ATM cards, reward cards and membership cards are much more tougher. These cards don’t get faded, torn or break like the MyKad.

The it was first introduce in 2001, MyKad is not just identification card but supposedly able to take over the functions of driving license or ATM Card, but becoz of its problematic nature, no one are interested integrating their driving license or ATM card with MyKad… coz the chip on the card is unreadable sometimes and it gets rusted too.

JPN said, the new generation of MyKad’s chip will be tougher and more reliable and it has 80kb compared to the old 64kb storage. The card has been tested by SIRIM and some international standard agencies. The new MyKad also has laser engraved photo of the owner and some security and invisible features…

The public can start replacing their old MyKad starting middle of January 2012 depending on their location… as for me, KK’s JPN will only start replacing the old MyKad in the middle of February 2012… let’s hope the new MyKad will be able to solve the illegal immigrants problem over here… else it’s just a waste of money…

Last week, 22nd December 2011, the central bank of Malaysia, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), introduced the fourth complete series of Malaysian currency. The first series of Malaysian dollar (ringgit) was issued in 12th June 1967 and some other series or partial series was introduced in 1982, 1989, 1996 and 2008. The currency symbol RM for Ringgit Malaysia was introduced in 1993. Before that, it uses the symbol $ and M$ interchangeably.

The new banknotes are RM1, RM5, RM10, RM20, RM50 and RM100. All the banknotes are made of polymer. Theoretically the RM20 is a new note… coz it was taken out from circulation about 16 years ago in 1995.

Currently the commemorative series are on sale now for RM300. I wanted to buy it during this week before the year end, but unfortunately I keep forgetting to go to BNM to buy it. I hope BNM will still have stock next week… next year. BNM will only put these new banknotes in circulation on second half of 2012.

For those who like to collect or buy silver coins, BNM has introduced the third series of Malaysian coins earlier on 26 July 2011. These coins will be circulated starting early 2012. I also hope that BNM still have commemorative series of this coins for sale… else I just have to keep the first new coins I get… that’s what I did before to collect notes and coins… lame…

Star Rating here… Star Rating there… haiyooo… every where also Star Rating… And NO, it has nothing to do with Hotels’ Star Rating… it’s all about work performance… Mechanisms to measure and rate the performance of the agencies in the Public Sector… with star rating…

First it was just the usual general star rating to measure and rate the overall performance of our department, somewhere in Jun or earlier… and our section was tasked to handle the ICT management area… I can’t really remember when exactly they asked us to start doing it coz previously we have our boss to take care of that…. Then we became headless in October, so I have to take over… and I’m so lost about it…

Then at the end of October, another kind of star rating came… this time, it just star rating for Finance and Account Management by the Akauntan Negara… gosh, this star rating is making all of us going nuts. The worse part, we have to redo our inventory… the documents we used for our inventory are no longer valid.. coz it was replaced since October 2010!… What the heck… I never saw any circular about this… No choice but we have to redo everything registered since October 2010…

But lucky we have two in one system for the staffs to apply stuffs and to register anything we received… and we called it eShop… yes, the word came from ‘shop’ and it’s like a Retail POS System that you can find in supermarket… although we don’t have shop, we need similar ‘shop’ system… coz we need to keep stocks… to keep track what stuffs people request and took from us. We have been updating all our inventory for more than a month… I really hope we can finish everything by this week… so that we will start everything new and fresh next week… next year… Without the system, we may not able to complete it in short time… cross my fingers…

The most talked about… discussed… argued… amongst  the government/civil servants or staffs since early this month is the Public Service New Remuneration Scheme… the Saraan Baru Perkhidmatan Awam or SBPA in short. The government of Malaysia is introducing a new scheme for the government staffs to replace the old scheme, Sistem Saraan Malaysia or SSM which was introduced in 2002.

What are the ingredients in the new scheme that made a lot of people don’t like or worried about or not satisfied with?… From my observation and after reading the documents provide by the Public Service Department (PSD) or Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam (JPA), I feels that there are two major issues here…. one is the exit policy… and second is the salary table. There are other issues but I feels they are not that critical for accepting the new scheme… In fact there is only one critical issue which is the exit policy but I put the salary table as critical too which I will explain later.

OK, lets start with the first issue… the exit policy. According to the new scheme, those who scored below 75% in their yearly assessment will not get their yearly salary increment. In the previous scheme, only those scored below 50% are not given salary increment.. meaning the new scheme is much tougher. And those scored below 70% will be given six months to buck-up. If they fail during assessment at the end of their six months assessment, their service will be terminated. In the previous scheme, termination of service is not that obvious, meaning even if you score 50%, you will not get boot out… you just won’t get your salary increment. This mean the new scheme is super tough… those who is currently underperforming or not in good term with their boss are in great danger… if they signup for the new scheme this year, they might be receiving their gifts for retirement in 2013…

As for the second issue… it’s not really an issue but it just that everyone are eager to know how much salary increment will they get in the new salary table coz the Lampiran C which supposed to contain the new salary table is not made public yet… the Lampiran C is still treated as Classified or Sulit… only the head of department and some key personnel are able to view the table… as for me, I got my source and have seen what I will be getting… if what I saw was true, then I will be getting more than RM500 next year including my salary increment which falls in January…

Oh… there is another issue which is quite important… we are only given 15 days to make up our mind before the expire date on 31st December 2011… failing to return the answer form will be considered not interested with the new scheme. But luckily the dateline has been extended to 15th January 2012… but anyways, I will opt for the new scheme… hope I wont score below 75% in the future…

It’s Christmas eve and I’m sitting in front of the TV and notebook writing this piece… sneezing every minute till my throat hurts… yea, I’m having flu at the moment and it’s quite bad… not as bad as I’m totally knock out, but it just that tears keep on dropping from my eyes… then my nose will start feeling itchy which made me sneeze hard… very hard till my throat hurts…

It started yesterday at office…  and I tried to fight it with paracetamol which did help a bit. I took 2 at office then 2 during the night…  I think that’s the most paracetamol I took in a day… usually I don’t take any paracetamol at all but use Ribena the concentrated fruity drink full with Vitamin C or just my Vitamin C pills… The reason I’m having this flu is I ran out of Vitamin C for the past 2 weeks… meaning I have not taken any of my usual daily 1000mg Vitamin C… I guess I’m too dependent with Vitamin C…

So this morning when I woke up, it was not that bad… but after sometimes it was getting bad again… so I decided to visit the clinic at Hill Top around 11 am… and I was given a bottle of cough syrup and three types of pills… took a short nap just now… feeling a bit better with less runny nose now… Looks like I will be drowsy and shaggy most of the time during Christmas this time… but better than drunk… but I don’t drink anyway…. hahaha…

And today, there are many helicopters flying around… and one even landed near my house which looks new and guess they are just testing it… coz when it was approaching the ground, both ‘pilots’ open their door and look at the ground… probably checking whether the tires are touching the ground… and yes I said tires coz this heli is using tires instead of the usual two bars on both sides.

The Sabah Air 9M-YHM… Agusta A109S Grand

And the rest flying around are police helis… probably checking Christmas traffic jam or checking for potential flood area… yea the weather is gloomy and it looks llike going to rain… probably big rain tonite or tomorrow…

Police helicopter 9M-PHK… Aerospatiale 355N Ecureuil 2

Anyways, I found something COOL just now, I guess I’ve seen this before but was not paying too much attention… well it’s something military… something tough… something spy… something electronic… something small… something UFO… no, it’s not the miniature super tough military industrial pc… but it’s a drone… not a military drone but more as big boys toys… this drone has 4 rotors and remote controlled with Android… yea with Android phone or tablet… I want to get this next year since I can’t get this for Christmas…and want to use it to take aerial video… and ‘spy’… hahahaha…

Merry Christmas… and have a great weekend…

OK, this gonna be my second post using tablet… Yeah i just got my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 about 4 weeks ago… And this tablet has gone to the peak of Mount Kinabalu… well not exactly to the peak but near enough to the peak… about 25M from the peak… And it has been used to demo a games during hackathon yesterday by a friend and also for the digital hide n seek during the ICT Fiesta.

I seriously tried blogging using tablet after reading friend’s blog on how he use iPod Touch to blog… damm that thingy is so bloody tiny, how to type on it with big fingers?

Anyways, the most difficult part blogging with tab is keyboard… Well I solved that by using Hacker’s Keyboard and A.I.type Tablet Keyboard… both are free from Android Market. But I still got problem with copy n paste… U see, after I write my post using Polaris in the tablet, I can’t do copy n paste the whole documents so that I can paste the contents to my blog online.

So for now I use dropbox so that I can access my file online on my notebook. From the notebook, I do the blog update. I’m still figuring out how to do everything on the tab… It’s not that difficult compared to guitar lessons which I really can’t do till today coz my finger just can’t do the guitar code thingy… And the second problem is dictionary or spell checker… The Polaris do not have it like Microsoft Office… So this and the previous post were not spell checked… :p Hope all are readable… And I can’t put picture on my blog with tab… It’s quite difficult at the moment.., but I’m sure I’ll be able very soon… If I’m not lazy…

I’m feeling very lazy right now… But i need to update my blog… It’s almost 4 weeks i did not post anything… The reason being i’m not only lazy but too busy and tired.

OK, roughly about 3 weeks after returning from Mount Kinabalu, to be exact 28 October 2011, I went there again from 21-23 November 2011… Yeah I know it’s crazy… Everyone were saying that.

This time we took the Timpohon route which is shorter and less challenging compared to the Mensilau route. In the last expidition, it took me almost 12 hours to reach Laban Rata, but this time I reach there in 7 hours… Yeah I know it’s still lame coz other only took around 4 hours… :p

And this time I did not carry any backpack at all while climbing… Not even the small backpack I carry during last expedition… I let the porter to carry both my backpacks… Yeah I know this is double lame…:p Actually I did tryvto carry my small backpack like before, but I feels I’m too exhausted carrying it… So after carrying it for about 200m, I passed it to the porter… :p

After returning on 23rd November, I still feel ok… Not much pain on the legs… The next day I went to work… But on friday, my legs getting painfull and my left arm was hurting… Actually I slip and slam my butt when I was goung down with the rope after the checkpoint near the summit… I did not realize my left butt side was briused till last night coz I thought it was just ‘pain’…

I think my body is mutating too… Probably coz of the altitude and wheather up there… For sure I lost weight I guess… I think I’m about 90kg now compared to 95kg a year ago… I know that’s too lame… I should use the austin quick weight loss if I wan to lose more weight, but I thing I’m ok with this for now… Anyways, i should stop here for now…

I wanted to write about my Canon Photomarathon trip and Mount Kinabalu expedition, but not now… there are many things I have to settle in the office… and furthermore, I’m going back to Mount Kinabalu next week…

Yea, I’m busy with not only office craps but also for our next Mount Kinabalu expedition preparations and training… there will be 12 people in the expedition…

Although I just came back from Mount Kinabalu about 3 weeks ago, I still worried about my fitness… in the last expedition through Mensilau troute, I walked for almost 12 hours… I almost did not made it to the middle of the mountain. And I did not go to the summit the next day… two reasons, I don’t want to waste more of my energy after walking 12 hours the previous day… second, I know I’m coming back soon…

So I tried training again after we came down from Mount Kinabalu by climbing Bukit Padang… but man… I feel more heavy than before… so to make sure I have enough energy to train and for the next trip… I decided to use GNC Live Well energy products…

So during lunch hour today, I went to GNC Live Well outlet at City Mall… Before, I thought GNC is the type of products for slimming or weight loss thingy… you know those chain retailer promoting their best weight loss pill all over in every mall around town… But that is so wrong, thanks to my friend who explained to me during our last expedition. OK, back to GNC’s City Mall… I bought some energy stuffs… three types all together… and to get some discount, I join as a member… as a GOLD member for RM30… I tried the Strawberry Banana before I went to gym just now… and it is true… it really energized me… I can do reps after reps without getting tired… I did feel a bit tired, but after resting like a minute, I feel I still can push more… I just hope I don’t get addicted to this stuffs…

Manage to hike Bukit Padang today evening… missed my hiking yesterday coz I have to do my own Paramedic Jobs after almost completely knock out by gastric yesterday morning… I really not sure if it was gastric coz I don’t think I have gastric problem…

The food I took yesterday to recover… chicken rice, porridge and tea.

I’m trying to figure out what lead to my migraine or gastric yesterday… so, the day before, I ate fried rice with some sausages before I went to hike Bukit Padang in the morning. It was windy, I not dare to go to the top… so I turn back. In fact, I was so exhausted at that time… I thought I will be fitter after returning from Mount Kinabalu… but probably the fatigue is still eating me up… Then I skip my lunch… I only ate a bar of sneakers and two can of Milo… dinner, I did not eat much… so I guess, lacking of energized food was the reason I got knock down the next morning… but lucky I recovered although there is still slight pain on the left side of my head every time I cough… hope it will completely gone by tomorrow morning… coz I’m going to have meeting whole day tomorrow which I really hate… if meeting every day, when can I do my real work?…

Sunset at the top of Bukit Padang today.

Anyways, today hike was great… I was quite energized… and I met Gusip training there too who is also going for the Malaysia Guinness Book of Record in two weeks time at the peak of Mount Kinabalu… hopefully it will be a success.  And I also met a Datuk there… he look so active and fit… we chatted a while and when I told him that I just came back from Mount Kinabalu and I’m not fit coz I took almost 12 hours to reach Laban Rata through Mensilau route, he laugh… he said he did it 4 hours only and carried his own backpack… without porter… I was like ARRGGGGHHHH…

Wow… almost a month I did not post update on this blog… I guess, this posting is gonna be a sum up of what happen in that 4 weeks or so…
From 14th to 16th October, with two friends, we joined the Canon Photomarathon 2011 in Kuala Lumpur. This is our first photomarathon… was planning for the last year photomarathon in Penang but did not make it. The photomarathon was awesome… we went there for experience… and yes we did have hell of experience… and of course hoping to win some prizes… And we are planning to join one or two or more of the 4 countries photomarathon next year… Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.

After came back from photomarathon, our branch office turning headless… 17th October was the duties handing over coz our head is going to head a new section… so more duties for me…

Then more duty craps came… on 20th till 22nd October, have to attend office workshop at Beringgis Beach Resort… and I have to present my 2011-2015 plan… which I put it so simple and short… only 3 plan for five years… Anyways, I did enjoy myself while at the resort…

Then came the ultimate energy buster… the Mount Kinabalu expedition by our office from 26th to 28th October. And I’m very thankful that I did train a few months by climbing the Bukit Padang during weekend… and also the exhausting one day photomarathon… This was my 3rd climb to Mount Kinabalu… the first time, I manage to reach the peak… the second time, I only manage to reach the Gunting Lagadan… the middle part of the mountain coz I encounter muscles cramp at four places… both my thigh and both my calf… But this time is different… we used the new and longer route… the old route is called Timpohon… this new route is called Mensilau route… and it is longer by 2KM… according to those who use this route before, it is easier… but man… they are so wrong… it took me almost 12 hours to reach Laban Rata… We started around 8.30am… and I reach Laban Rata around 8.20PM!!!… man… I run out all my energy… but will talk about it next time…

Then after came back from Mount Kinabalu… legs are all hurt for the next two days… and more crappy works in office… was attending meeting almost everyday… I really hate management works… And there are few wedding invitations… but can’t see all the engagement rings coz some of the date and time are clashed… have to say sorry to some…

And today, when I woke up around 9.30am… my left eye was hurting so much… the pain is linked from my left eyeball to the top of my left head… there seem like a wire or hose… it hurts like hell… and it’s still hurting… especially when I cough. By 10.30am, I went down to take my breakfast… but everything seem not all right… my stomach started feeling uncomfortable… and I started getting nausea… in fact I vomited twice… but not much… then I just knock down my self at the couch after taking 2 active fast panadol… which I brought to Mount Kinabalu and I never use it… around 2pm, I woke up and took some food… And becoz of this pain, I did not go train at Bukit Padang for my next Mount Kinabalu climb in 2 weeks time… hope it will be a success…