An Effort for a Good Cause!

The NSRCM supported a blood donation drive yesterday. The event took place at my Company's sports complex. The medical officers from the Melaka General Hospital arrived shortly after 9 am to set things up. All the NSRCM members also take turns to be at the sports complex to help out.

[Right] The medical staff from the Melaka General Hospital diligently performed their tasks with due care. [Left] Employees registered themselves for the campaign since early morning.

As my duty is only scheduled at lunch hour, I was doing my work at my workstation as usual and out of a sudden, Sharon and Eileen showed up at my workstation with boxes of Brand's chicken essence. Of course those boxes of chicken essence are not for me but for those blood donors *LoL*

They needed a place to temporarily store those boxes and my area is conveniently the nearest to the sports complex. Once things had been set up at the sports complex, we handed over those boxes of chicken essence to the medical officers for distribution to the blood donors together with other food supplies such as apple and bread.

We received an overwhelming response from the employees. Even the MD himself also participated in this campaign. In fact, the sports complex was getting a little bit crowded. It was a heartfelt event and everybody should take pride in the success of this blood donation campaign!

National Idol 2009

I have never organized any singing competition before until recently. I was one of the two organizing committee members for the plant wide karaoke singing competition. Yes, this program is also part of the NSRCM annual activities. Kak Rosnah and I had been planning and preparing for this event since few months back.

All the contestants happily took a group photo before the competition began. "Say Cheese, everybody!"

We reached the plant on Saturday early morning. All the contestants registered themselves by 9 am. The program was officially kicked off by the MD shortly after 9 am and as a bonus (also requested by the crowd), he actually sang a song from everyone's all-time favourite female vocalist Theresa Tang.

Group Photo with the MD and panel judges from Alin Production. It was a pity that some committee members already left before the photo session.

With the help of other NSRCM committee members, the event was on schedule and we managed to crown our "National Idol" by noon. Of course there were some minor unexpected incidents along the way but things worked out smoothly at the end. Everyone had a blast that day! And so did I! All the hard work really paid off! A big thanks goes out to those teammates that helped us along the way. This can never be a successful event without all your efforts! Cheers to all that helped!

Tips on Choosing Honeymoon Destination

I was browsing through some of the forum topics in Malaysia Brides lately and observed that honeymoon destination is definitely one of the "hot" topics that most brides-to-be or newly weds are interested in.

Of course there are many sources of information e.g. top 10 asia honeymoon destinations or top 10 most beautiful islands for honeymooners, but I personally find that there are 3 questions that honeymooners should ask themselves before jumping into any conclusions.

1. $$$: [Note: Well, if "Vitamin M" is never one of your concerns, you may just skip to the next consideration!] Based on the feedback thus far, most honeymooners are concerned about their budget. After the huge spending by throwing a grand wedding banquet, signing up expensive bridal studio photo sessions and so on, it's wise to step back and take out your calculator to perform a quick up-to-date budget. It doesn't take a genius to do the computation but simply summing up the total spending to-date (or a rough estimate) and comparing it against the initial budget. If you're running at negative balance and do not have extra allocation for a grand 13D10N Europe tour or 7D6N Korea autumn/winter tour, you may consider signing up for budgeted tour packages offer by some local travel agents or even airlines. Air Asia Go Holiday, for instances, offers good 3D2N packages to various hot spots for honeymooners such as Bali, Krabi, Phuket and even Taipei!
   
2. Timing: Once you have chosen your honeymoon destination based on the revised budget, the next question would probably be "when should we go" or "when's the best timing to go". Fear not! Most websites such as Tripadvisor or Government Tourism Official Websites provide various informative and accurate travel information or tips, including different events/activities at different time of the year. So, just simply google for those travel web links and you should be able to gather more information before making any decision.
   
3. F&E or Travel Agency: Once you have set your destination and timing, the next thing you may want to consider is the honeymoon arrangement i.e. "free and easy" or tour packages. Of course this usually involves personal preference as some honeymooners enjoy planning their own trips while others would have a concern over the language barriers, lodging, and so on. Click here for an example of planned honeymoon trip to South Korea via "Trip Planner by Yahoo! Travel". Well, you'll never know if you ended up planning your own special honeymoon for your loved one. The web links to some of the Malaysia tour agents are also available in my blog. Feel free to browse through them for further information.

Well, the above are just some general points for your consideration. No matter what decision you'll make or have already made, hope that you'll enjoy your honeymoon with your loved one and have an unforgettable time of your life!

Dr Chin-Hwee Goh, MD

Today marks a new page in the proud history of Goh Family!

My brother's dean announced that he had passed his final test and is now officially a medical doctor. After 5 years of dedication and determination, he has sown what he had once ripe and makes a big leap on the path to success.

We have every faith in him that he will serve our community whole-heartedly. His undivided passion in this field is definitely taking him far. Our community needs more young doctors like him whom takes pride in his sacred duty and is passionate in saving more lives. Of course there are challenges lying ahead of him but he always has his own way to overcome those roadblocks.

My brother and his girlfriend, Suet Enn. Both of them will be graduating together in Oct/Nov this year! Congratulations to them both.

Words can hardly express my happiness at the moment. I couldn't be more proud of my brother o( ^ - ^ )o

You go, Bro! And, don't forget about your sister when you're driving your new BM one day k?

Ivory Romance (Part II)

Well, this is already the second week since I first contacted Ivory Romance.

I still remember clearly that the lady who answered the phone told me that their salesperson will contact me once they locate my invoice. I never hear from them at all since then. At first I was telling myself to give them some time as I signed up for the package back in late 2007. But then, how long does it take to find an invoice? For a "renowned" bridal shop like Ivory Romance, there ought to be some sort of internal control procedures for recordkeeping, right?!!

I should have gotten the lady's name but I didn't. Frankly, I was not expecting such a "quality" customer service from Ivory Romance despite the negative comments I'd read thus far. Should I give them a call? A second chance for them perhaps? Or should I not take the risk of making myself upset and just forfeit the deposit I had paid?

To call or not to call...that's the question I'm asking myself at present.

Futsal

My Company, well, the recreational club to be precise, held a futsal competition 2 weeks back. I thought I couldn't make it but my UK trip was postponed last minute due to the H1N1 A Flu pandemic.

The NSRCM committee members

Any way, we gathered at the Company's car park on Sunday early morning i.e. 7 am and headed towards the futsal hall at Cheng at about 7:30 am. We began to set up the registration table and get ourselves prepared asap before the participants' arrival. Everything went on smoothly. Most of the teams registered themselves by 8 am and the competition began at 8:30 am as scheduled. There were quite a number of teams participated in this competition. Each team has its own unique and "glamourous" name e.g. from Remp-it to Flying Kiki.

Though I don't know much about futsal, it was quite a fun morning watching the games. I even noticed that some players brought their family along and everyone cheered for their teams throughout the games. They seemed to enjoy themselves that morning. Overall, it was a successful event!

Sony Cyber Shot DSC-HX1

There are various prosumer cameras available in the market at present. Of the brands available, the Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-HX1 caught my intention immediately. This model was officially introduced in the recent 2009 Photo Marketing Association (PMA) International Convention and Trade Show.

This is Sony's first digital still camera to feature sweep panorama technology and also the first Cyber-Shot camera to use the exclusive high-speed 9 Mp ExmorTM CMOS sensor technology. It also features the "Optical Steady Shot" image stabilization, a 3" LCD, ISO range up to 3,200, a wide array of scene modes and face detection options. And, the entire package weighs approximately 1.2 kg.

Two of my personal favourite features are the handheld twilight and anti-motion blurr, which reduce noise significantly. One of the websites that I visited stated that as HX1 uses the high speed shutter ExmorTM CMOS sensor technology and hence it's able to take 6 shots within a fraction of a second. Combined with the power of the BIONZ imaging processor, it immediately superimposes them into one picture. It then calculates the position of objects in each frame and composes the sharpest picture possible, resulting in clearer and sharper images.

HX1 is now officially available in the market and currently priced at RM1,699 (suggested retail price). Please check out the following websites for more detailed information on HX1. Well, needless to say, I'm getting myself a HX1 in months to come and hopefully be able to achieve the effect that I've been looking for. Can hardly wait for my first trial! Stay tuned...

http://www.sony.com.my/product/dsc-hx1
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0903/09030307sonydschx1.asp