Ikea Mattress

My wife called me up this morning and told me that she was just preparing to leave for her office. It was around 11 am. She told me that she woke up late today. I was a bit worried at first - "Maybe she has a headache or something" and asked her whether everything was all right. Then I found out the reason why she woke up late - our new mattress.

I once read somewhere that we spend half of our lives on bed and it is absolutely necessary to invest in a good mattress. However, when we were about to get married, since we were on a tight budget, price was the major decision factor and we decided to go for a bargain. Wrong choice and after 2 years we finally felt the effects – back pain, restless sleep and so on.

We finally decided to get rid of our old bed and last Sunday, went down to Ikea store in Damansara. After going around trying out and literally sleeping on the various mattresses, we decided to go for the firm FängeboFORESTAD foam mattress (Queen size). It set us back by RM 995. This is excluding the RM60 delivery charges. Since we didn’t have any space to keep the old mattress, we had to pay the delivery people an extra RM30 to get rid of the old one.

The Ikea mattress is our choice because of 4 main reasons:
- Reasonable price
- Trusted quality
- 20 years warranty &
- Green rating from Greenpeace (I guess that's good).

It was delivered yesterday. No wonder my wife couldn’t wake up this morning.

Rain Finally

It looks like the dry spell is finally over – or at least here in Kedah. Yesterday it was a bit of a let down. Only a light drizzle, after a lot of thunder and lighting. And just now it finally poured. I am stuck in the office and I might as well complete my work. Just hoping that the power doesn’t go away.

Oh Shit! Just remembered that I washed my clothes today morning and had left them hanging to dry.

BTW, I was looking at my Blogger dashboard, trying to find out how many post I had made so far. Mine seems to be stuck at 146 for quite sometime now, even though I have been blogging like almost every day.

Are any of you facing this problem?

IT Expert

I have suddenly become the IT expert in the office now. It seems like I am the first person they call when they face some problems with their PC or even for software problems.

Hey guys, in case you didn't realise there is a separate department, set up just to deal with such problems, staffed with guys having IT degrees. They are not getting their pay for free, you know.

Some people are surprised because I have a background in biological sciences (or in Forestry to be more precise). However, I was always interested in computers and stuff. I started building my first website on Geocities in 1998 (while I was struggling with my MBA in University Malaya) starting with 1 page. It's still there but I haven't updated it in ages. I started creating websites for family and friends and that's how I got hooked.

During my jobless era (one of the toughest phases of my life), I decided to get an E-Commerce Professional certificate from Informatics, PJ and I really learnt a lot. Then I started writing for the Jaring Internet Magine (published by Mimos). That happened after I wrote to the editor, commenting about an article and he invited me to write for them. It was quite funny but I later got a job as the Information officer/Editor in Consumers International, based on my IT skills and not my MBA. That's fate I guess.

FYI, Consumers International is a non-profit federation of 274 consumer organisations worldwide, including Malaysia's FOMCA and CAP. I am not sure why, but their website was down when I checked today.

Anyway, I received this e-mail from a office colleague:

Hi Adam,
How do we get rid of spyware?

Even though I am not an expert, here’s my answer to him:

Hi,
Well I would suggest you use these following Spyware detectors:
1. Spybot - search & destroy
2. Ad-aware

I would also recommend that you use the new popular browser called Firefox from the Mozilla foundation, which you can download from http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

All of the above software are FREE.

Regards,
Adam

Do you have any more suggestions?

Thermal Cups

I love my thermal coffee (or tea) cups. they are made of stainless steel with a spill-proof lid design with rubber seal. I used to have a normal boring ceramic cup but it broke when it fell off my table. These on the other hand, are unbreakable and keep my drinks warm (or cold). I have 2 of them and got both of them for free.



I received the smaller one when I signed up for a life insurance package with Great Eastern. On the other hand, the tall one (my favourite) is from Citibank. I got it from my wife who got it from a Professor in University Malaya who in turn got it from a representative from Citibank. I love these free corporate gifts.

Firefox Fan

I am a Firefox fan and I can proudly claim that as a result of my efforts, at least 100 people are now using the browser including most of my office collegues. However, my efforts are mostly limited to telling other people about the features through e-mails and lectures.

Quite recently, another Firefox fan contacted me. He is more than a fan and is actively contributing to the development of the browser. Lim Chee Aun from Penang, is the creator of the Phoenity Firefox Theme (current version 1.4.1), which was released on November 22, 2004. It is very colourful and goes well with the Windows XP theme. It is also one of the top rated Firefox themes.

For someone who has just completed his Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Malaysia (STPM) (equivalent to A levels), this guy is really talented. You can read his blog here.

Card Junkie

Last week I was going through the contents of my wallet with my wife, while transferring them to my new one (thanks darling) and realized that I am a card junkie. I mean I was carrying more than 10 cards in my wallet. Let me list them:

1.2 ATM cards (I left another one at home because I don’t use it anymore)
2.BonusLink
3.Conversion card (for converts to Islam in Malaysia).
4.1 credit card (Citibank)
5.Lesen Memandu Malaysia (Driving licence) + renewal.
6.Golf club membership
7.Jaya Jusco J card
8.Kad Perakun Nikah (marriage card) from Jabatan Agama Islam Selangor.
9.Metrojaya Privilage www.metrojayaonline.com
10.Malaysian Airlines Enrich
11.My organization’s smart IC
12.Real Rewards
13.Telekom iTalk (RM12 left)
14.Touch ‘n Go
15.University Malaya student card

That’s a total of 17 cards in my wallet. No wonder my wallet was so thick. So I decided that it's time to do some spring cleaning and put away those card, which I don’t really need. You will notice that I didn’t say “throw away”. I collect cards. However, I have around 100 cards now – old credit cards, used up phone cards, old smart cards, old ATM cards, old loyalty cards, etc. etc. and all of them are different. Yes I know it’s a strange hobby.



Anyway, coming back to my story. So there goes the iTalk card (I only need the number at the back), the conversion card (for safe keeping with my wife), Metrojaya card (I don’t shop here anyway), Enrich card (need only the number while booking) and my golf club membership card (they know me anyway). So that 5 cards less. My wallet actually looks much thinner now

I also realized one thing – several of my cards are in fact loyalty cards. And what do you know. I am really loyal - just the kind that marketers love. Take the Jusco card for example. A few years back, I was just roaming around town with Nick, a crazy friend of mine and we suddenly decided to go and have a look at the new Mega Mall. Only a few stores were open and construction was still going on the top floors. There were not many people around and it was pretty dusty. We noticed that some people were giving out cards for free and we decided to sign up. I am still a member.

Talking to some of my friends, I realized that I am not the only one. One lady actually had more cards than me - extra credit cards, gym membership cards and a card for regular ERL users (from YTL). Wow!

Are you one of us?

WMDs in Malaysia

According to a report from the AOLB news agency, there are a number of WMDs in Malaysia with the full knowledge of the authorities. I have posted a picture as proof.