Office Fire Drill

The office had a fire drill last week. We do that twice a year, maybe one too many some of us think.  Disruption to routine is what everyone dislikes about a fire drill.  Who doesn't.   Having to trudge down and then back up again the flights of stairs is certainly no fun. Okay, we are just glad that the office is not at the upper floors of the 88-storey Petronas Twin Towers. Many people would be taking time-off, my guess.

To make it real, I once suggested we should also bring along our handbags and other stuff or files we are most likely to save in the event of a fire but so far no one has done that. That's the difference between a drill and reality, I guess.  However, there were some of us who brought along their safety equipment they had on at the time.

Petronas Twin Towers in Pink - October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Image source: The Star

Catch the Petronas Twin Towers all illuminated in pink tonight.  For the first time, the country’s most iconic buildings are being illuminated in the signature pink of Estee Lauder Companies’ annual global Breast Cancer Awareness campaign.

The towers were lit up last night and will be lit in pink again tonight from 7pm until midnight.

However, the KLCC Lake Sym­phony Fountain will be illuminated in pink until the end of the month.

In previous years, it was the KL Tower that was illuminated. Other famous buildings and landmarks around the world that have participated in the campaign include the Sydney Opera House, the Tower of London and the Empire State Building in New York.

Why is a Clock not a good gift

A timepiece may be a good gift to give away except not a clock if your gift is going to a Chinese.

Why?  Because to give a clock figuratively means to send off someone, as in death. Choi! Choi! So you see, giving a Chinese person a clock is a definite no-no. But a watch is a-okay because the word for watch in Chinese sounds entirely different from the word for clock. I know, this sounds superstitious but, hey, we are Chinese!

Suzuki S-350 Mini Grand Digital Piano

Contrary to popular belief, owning a piano need not cost an arm and a leg neither will it occupy too much space in the home.

Take for instance the Suzuki S-350 Mini Grand. It is a perfectly proportioned digital piano with a load of professional features. It's a little over 3 feet deep so it will fit in any sized room, and provide plenty of entertainment for the whole family.

The traditional, elegant S-350 Mini Grand Piano comes in a hand-rubbed black-lacquer finish. This technically-advanced digital piano has hundreds of optional music files with genres ranging from jazz, pop, and classical, to rock, country and more. It also comes with a built-in 3-track recorder so you can compose and store your own songs, and record practices for later review. Yet another great feature of this S-350 Mini Grand Piano is that the advanced-graded hammer action keyboard has an authentic acoustic piano touch and feel, without ever needing to be tuned.

If you are in the market for a piano that is not only technically advanced but won't break the bank, check out this Suzuki digital Mini Grand piano may be it.

Friday Frolics - The Adventure Test

Yay! It's Friday again! Happy Friday, everyone! An easy-to-do personality quiz this week, The Adventure Test.

You Are Content

You seek moderation by compensating for extremes. If you're extreme one way, you're also extreme the other way. While you can be brutally honest, you're still quite a charmer. You say it all with a smile. You are magnetic, endearing, and people tend to love you. You are a positive force in this world. You're a bit of an introvert, but you're never lonely. You know how to entertain yourself.

The Adventure Test

100's of Fun, Free Quizzes and 3 Stupid Ones

Last Week's Quiz: What Email Sign Off Are You?

Cameron Highlands is still a cool hill station

The Cameron Highlands is one of Malaysia’s most extensive hill stations.  The other hill stations being the one on Penang Hill and Fraser's Hill which is in the state of Perak.

The size of Singapore, Cameron Highlands occupies an area of 712 square kilometres (275 sq mi) in the Titiwangsa Mountains.

Many think that the "Camerons" is no longer cool or rather not as cool in temperature as it used to be before rampant development took place in the last few years.

Still, the temperatures there are still much cooler than in Kuala Lumpur, for instance.   The mean annual temperature of the resort is about 18 °C (64 °F). During the day, the temperature seldom rises above 25 °C (77 °F); at night, it can rarely drop to as low as 9 °C (48 °F), at the higher areas though it would be comfortable to have a heated blanket, I should think or at least a hot water bottle for the night...

Eleanor Catton is 2013 Man Booker Prize Winner - The Luminaries

Meet this year's winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction, 28-year-old Eleanor Catton of New Zealand. Her win has made her the youngest winner in the award’s 45-year history. Her 848-page novel, 'The Luminaries' is set in the New Zealand goldfields of 1866.

Miss Catton accepted the award from Britain’s Prince Charles’ wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, at a glittering dinner in London’s ancient Guildhall on Oct 15. The award comes with a £50,000 (RM254,000) prize. She will also enjoy the global recognition that usually precedes a catapult in book sales.

Image source:  The Star

Here's where you can buy her book..

The other shortlisted authors for the prize were:

Canadian Ruth Ozeki for A Tale for the Time Being
Indian-American Jhumpa Lahiri for The Lowland
Zimbabwean NoViolet Bulawayo for We Need New Names: A Novel
Briton Jim Crace for Harvest (Vintage)
Irish writer Colm Toibin for The Testament of Mary


This one is last year's winner - Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel..

Mantel also won in 2009 for Wolf Hall..

In September, it was announced that the Man Booker will be open to authors from all over the world to compete for a prize that had been previously exclusive to writers from the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Commonwealth.

Fixed favorite loafers make a happy me

Have you ever got a repair done on your shoes?

The other day, I sent a pair of loafers to the local cobbler for some fixing.  I've only worn them for a couple of months and the soles were already giving way, coming off, sort of.  My fault, really.  I only 'discovered' the shoes, still in the box, the other day.  They've been in the closet from last year!  That's the problem when you buy too many pairs of shoes at one time and you sometimes lose track of them. Oops!

Driving with your shoes on also reduces the lifespan of your shoes, believe me.  That's why I drive wearing slippers but I digress.

Here in Malaysia, cobblers still operate in five-foot ways just outside shops as in the picture below.  These cobblers are usually immigrant Indonesians but of late, I've noticed local retired Malay men operating the business.  This professional in the image is parked outside a bank located in a row of shops.  You'll find cobblers at their station from as early as 10 in the morning and they close shop when office-workers finish for the day.  The repair job is normally done the same day.  You send your shoes in the morning and collect them later in the afternoon.  Easy-peasy.

Cobblers like him can be found everywhere in every housing estate as well as in the older parts of the city. However, we do have the more professional cobblers operating in shopping complexes, which I've had the chance to use just once - why pay more when you can get just-as-good or even better service at a better rate from mobile cobblers.

The loafers that I sent needed some gum-work to hold the soles in place.  I don't think epoxy is being used but plain old reliable shoe gum.  The shoes came back not only with soles in place, I noticed there was stitching all around and very well done too.  Good job!  I was one happy customer.   Now, my boots next.