Jan Leow's Blog Page

When it rains, it pours

Traffic jam during rain at the Rothman circle in Section 19, Petaling Jaya

When it rains, it pours. It's not too bad at other times as it cools the hot weather in Malaysia. But at rush hour then so sorry-lah! Traffic congestion!


Worst! I have to traverse the out dated traffic circle which cannot cope with heavy traffic. Even now I'm sitting in the car listening to some music and still can tap tap on my mobile phone and spill in a nice little blog to kvetch and bemoan about the unmoving vehicles. That's how bad it is.


Looks like i'll be stuck here for awhile. Half hour at the very least. The problem with traffic circle the cars that want to get out are blocked by cars that want to get it.


End result? No one moves. My policy for traffic circle is get in quick, get out quick coz getting stuck in one is not particularly fun.

More baby stuffs

Lena decided to get another baby stroller. She wanted a lighter weight than the one her friend passed to her. Oh, well... She wants to spend if that makes her happy. Shopping provide a good mood coz it releases some happy mood chemicals in the brain.

The Combi baby stroller is light weight and has good design. Anyway after a few years the baby will out grow it.

Whoops! After buying the Combi stroller we were well on the way home when Lena decided she would prefer the McClaren Stroller instead. The compact folded designed meant that it would save space in the car boot trunk. She was worried the steel frame would eventually rust over that of Combi which is aluminum frame. But in the she decided she would prefer the space saving design. The McClaren stroller actually cost more but the umbrella folding design would save the space.

So back to Baby Kingdom in Kota Damansara to change the stroller. It was the last day of sales so it was still a good buy despite the higher price tag.

Durians galore direct from orchard

Durians on the pickup for sale!



Durians anyone? Definately a hit with my church members. This was to help out with the orang asli mission and now with the durian season on the way there were quite a number of durians from the durian orchard somewhere in Jelebu.

Durians galore!



There are orang asli people over there and they need a lot of help to alliviate their standing. Aid from government seems to stop whenever the Orang Asli take on the Christian faith. Surely such marginalization based on religion is thriving happily unchecked. Oh, didn't know that? Such things are never published in the mainstream media. If you hear the kind of stories my fellow hardworking Orang Asli missionary friend encounters like the time they were blockaded by the authorities you would have thought such stories were the stuff of Hollywood stories but really such confrontation occurs off and on.



Durians look yummy, yes?



Anyway back to the durians which they brought all the way back from their durian orchard they have the D24 which are meaty and very sweet tasting but has a less yellow colour; and they have the D101 which has a deep yellow with redish tint and has a less sweeter taste and slight bitterness to it. Some people prefer the bitter taste just like those who like bitterness of the Guiness stout beer over the ordinary draft beer.

Anyway I bought two D24 and one D101 just to help out in the charity. The durians were tasty but a little overly ripe. At least you know they are not using pesticide in their durian orchard.

And so it is

And so it is,
sleep beckons and the morrow,
work awaits.

No end to the grind,
for the earth does not yield its harvest willingly

Toil it shall be
wither pleasure be
for the rewards that trickles in

Pray then that fortune comes
but heaven remains silent
for what are we
but mere gnats on the earth

It was once said either you love Thee or mammon
but without the flow of coins
Insolvency ensues

Thus what are we to do?
Seek ye first the kingdom of God,
And all things will be added on to you?

Then why is it not ocurring
That toil cannot bring forth the fortune
For the smooth flow of liquidity?

Why quote Malachi
when it is followed
and yet holes are still found?

So where is the abundance
promised but unseen
for I grow weary of uninspiring toil

To wonder why blessings withheld
For my toil ends up on undeserving charity
Such is my bane that boon eludes me

Enough of sorrows
For tomorrow awaits
For hope and faith be the key to unlocking the floodgates

Bread shop don't know how to do business

Sometime you wonder how this people can survive. This morning I didn't have my usual breakfast as the night I was so busy didn't get a chance to buy bread. I thought I could pop over at King's confectionary near my office to get some breaky.

Hard luck. The moment I stepped in I saw their bread shelf was empty. I recall my many previous attempts to get last minute breakfast was thwarted by people in this branch who is not keen to cater for the morning office people going to work who is looking for a quick breakfast.

Baby is exploring

Baby is about 6 weeks old and he is beginning to like looking at things. According to baby centre this is the time they are more aware of their surrounding. So to stimulate them we need to play with them.

I find that he likes to stare at lights and likes to be carried around to explore the house. My mom-in-law has other ideas about carrying the baby around in that it might spoil him.

I guess we have a difference in oppinion. In order to stimulate baby I need to carry him around to explore new sights, sounds and smell. So baby will start exploring since he is without mobility the parents will have to his legs for now.

Indonesian Massage

My wife found an Indonesian massage. This lady is good and very affordable and was recommended by friend. After my wife delivered she needed to get back into shape and the use of massage to get her tummy flat was one of the methods.


Since the Indonesian massage was already here may as well employ her services for some massage for me too. I liked this style over that of Thai massage becausethe traditional Indonesian massage goes for ligaments and lymph. Breaking up the crystal blockages of the lymph nodes and ligaments may be very painful however it is most effective. it's something like the chi version of the massage but less severe.


By clearing the blockages your blood will flow better contributing to a faster recovery to your ailment.


In fact whenever she feels lumps (which you would feel it too) whenever she presses on certain parts of to your body she knows you have a certain problem affected by your job or daily routine.


Those lumps are considered blockages in your body and further session will reduce the lumps and that would result in your recovery.


Sure, now my body and my legs are aching from the Indonesian massage session but it feels good because she has cleared the blockages. Good massage are like that. Lousy massage cause your more pain and soreness because they injured your body but a good massage although your body is aching you are actually recovering from your ailment.


That's why I like this Indonesian massage

SM Confucian Alumni 104th Anniversary

The 104th Anniversary SM Confucian alumni dinner was a good way to catch up with old friends. Though my memory was a rather fuzzy as some I could recognize their faces but couldn't recall their names. Year of 1986 was some 24 years ago. Faces still looked the same except of course body shape might change, basically still can recognize their faces. Still it was good to meet up again. I guess that's our little legacy. For we leave behind memories of years past and forge ahead into the future.

Baby 1st day home

Mother and child has been staying at USJ house for the pass 40 days or so. Since we got a temporary maid may as well make use of her services and clean up the house in BU. Mother wants to see what things she will need for baby and well baby will tag along. It will be good to stimulate baby with new sights, sound and smell.

It's been many weeks since my last clean up of the house though it was a short few hours, the maid managed to clean up the main places.

And baby has a good time in the house looking at the house. So I gave the baby a quick tour of the house. He really liked the place and was very happy taking in all the new sights, sounds and smell. Good to stimulate the baby development as now is the time to do such things.

Running around trying to get it done

Busy! That's how it goes. Time passes quickly when you have many things to do. All have to be done, no point procrastinating about it. The problem is to find the time to squeeze in the job to be done. I could try to prioritize and make list; done that before but don't quite work as it should. At least it gives a sense of direction on what needs to be done.

Hopefully all this running around will end up productive and get that end result which is a done deal and get some income out from it. With the inflation going up and the government taking away the subsidy, the man in the street is going face tougher challenges ahead to put food on the table.

Work permit for maid from vietnam

When it comes to government matters sometimes the job is best done by an agent who knows their way around bureacracy. The agent that we employed was rather eccentric but does get the job done. We wanted a maid to help out in the daily household chores and taking care of baby. Then there is the need to send baby over to USJ house for my mom-in-law to look after the child. My felt her mom needed a helper so we found a potential candidate maid from Vietnam. The maid's sister was already here working for my wife's friend household. Seems like the maid sister needed a job and we have a vacancy to fill. But the process of work permit application has been a long and winding road. Hopefully with the help of our eccentric agent man we should have our work permit in order to her in and get started as soon as possible. My wife fiery character to get things done asap is not one who could really stand the agent man rather soft approach. Haha, I do meet a lot interesting colourful people
along the way in life some good and some less but this is life, eh?

Running under the weather

Need to do my weekly exercise but the weather here today was not coorperating. It stopped then started again. And while I was making run around the park it began to drizzle heavier. 15 minutes into my run I have to give up my exercise routine as I was beginning to get soaked. Well better than nothing.

Pivot Blog

One thing about script list in the webhosting software section, they have a list of interesting software for content management, blogs, forums, online calendars, and other interesting software. Some of which you never think about searching online for it. So I happen to bump into this Pivot blogging software that don't even use SQL database management! Intriguing. Will install it and have a look see. Of course my ultimate blogging script is still Wordpress, but there are a lot of CMS cum blogging script software out there to experiment with.

In case you choose something not so well known, do note that some project actually died! So don't choose a less well known project for your main or major blog website. Because when it loses support, you won't get the needed updates especially to clog up any vulnerabilities against pesky hackers attempting to break into your website and deface your contents!

Making website

I guess for newbie when making website may be difficult to grasp certain concept. But if got soem guidance better than none. I may not be expert but having maintain one for 5 years and several others for many years there is indeed a lot of things to learn. Mind you, you can't just learn them overnight. It takes time to understand why some ways are better than others.


The most basic concept that I learned was from the SBI system. Using the long time tested C-P-T-M idea it has nevered failed and works just as well on a non-SBI hosted website. Although it may missed some amout of automation process I still get interesting results.

So learn the SBI system for making website. It sure works and gets good returns!

Weekly family dinner

It is good to have this weekly family dinner to have this family closeness. If one were to follow the empty nest syndrome then all family relation would be lost. Even though parents and sons / daughter may not be living together (for good reasons too like avoiding the usual parental nags) a weekly family gathering is good for fostering good family ties.


Seniors need something to look forward apart from having a grand child you know the usual "when you will have a children to pass on the mantle" thingy.


so a weekly family gathering is something good to look forward.

Assembling the baby cot

Assembling the baby cot is sure ain't easy. Dismantling it was quite a jiffy. But putting it back together single handedly is really tedious.


My brother-in-law has no more need of the baby cot and we could use a hand me down to save some money. At about RM600 is not cheap! Sure it is a bit worn but it saves so no need to complain about it. Baby will outgrow it soon enough and you will wondering what to with it when you don't need it.


For now I need to wrestle with parts and they are coorperating. Don't have any help as the missus is at the in-laws house. But when she comes back with the baby we going to need it. So have assemble it and get the baby cot ready for precious baby.

Make website to scout for business

Can't be denied. Make website for yourself is good in that it helps you to secure new inquiries. Then after that it is entirely up to you to follow through to secure the business. If your company is not keen to make a website, it is to their detriment. So what can you do? Of course company policy is to be followed but that's on their side. There is nothing saying that you can't make your own website for your own self promoting your personal services to sell company's product.

Make a website for your own personal career success. If the company you work for are run by timid managers who are afraid of this and that, better look for another dynamic company unless you find the work is relaxing or no other place to go. Or else think out of the box make your own website to promote your products and service indirectly selling your company products. I think it should work too.

Heavy Rain! Stucked in office

Must be the tropical monsoon. Well I'm stucked in office. Can't get to my car unless I want to be wet. With this kind of tropical thunderstorm even with an umbrella, you will still get wet!

No choice but to wait it out. Such heavy thunderstorm will blow itself out in an hour or so. Just have to sit tight and look for something to do while waiting it out.