Andy Murray made it through...

Murray made it through to become the last 8 men standing in SW19 after 4-hr nail-biting match against Swiss Wawrinka. I was glued to my seat for those grueling 4 hrs! It was indeed a close match. It was tennis at its best.

+ Murray's screaming at the crowd, asking to be fed with more support and cheers. Inset, Wawrinka who had to pack his bag and headed home. Anyway, to make it in the 2nd week is already something (Source of pic: www.wimbledon.org)

It didn't take long before the first set went pear-shape. It was appalling tennis by Murray really. He was nervous. I tend to agree that the thousands of Brits who turned up, created an atmosphere - that was unbearably intense and tensed for the young Scot who's earmarked to be in the finals this weekend.

Finally, the 3-2 win against Federer's countryman secured Murray that place in quarter finals. One thing that was so noticeable was the fiery and consistent backhands of Wiwranka. It was just bloody amazing. He gave a real fight, but at times it was undeniable that Murray was fighting for his victory too - it was almost anyone's game really. I was certain that at times, it was an equal game if not anything else.

I am just ecstatic now! Now is the time to iron my shirt for tomorrow and flick through the presentation that I am supposed to give tomorrow. Towards the end of the match, Barry texted me - this Friday we will play tennis at Herbert Park (I have to bring my gear and huge tennis bag to the customer's office). Herbert Park may not be SW19 but still a really nice grass to be on. It's indeed a prep for our get together for the finals on Sunday!

Selamat Ulang Tahun

+ The place... Ah how nice...

29 Jun 2009

Selamat Ulang Tahun Sayang - Imran Ajmain

Yang tulus ikhlas
Ingin sekali sekala dirinya dibalas
Walau hanya dengan dakapan di angin lalu

Yang selalu memberi
Ingin sekali sekala jadi penerima
Cukup dengan salam dan manis doa

Aku ingin kau merasakan hebatnya cinta
Dan leburkan saja serpihan calar derita

Selamat ulang tahun sayang
Kini kau bersayap, pergilah terbang
Rentaslah langit cita cita mu
Harap nanti kita 'kan bertemu

Selamat ulang tahun sayang
Janganlah engkau tak terbang pulang
Ku nanti penuh kerinduan
Selamat tinggal, selamat jalan

Aku hanya inginkan engkau setia
Kerana setia yang mencipta bahagiamu

RIP Michael Jackson

+ You will be missed by millions

Pick Up After Your Dog

I have been seeing this warning by the council, every single day when I pass the park in front of my house on the way to work or even on the way to get the train. Tonight, I made a point to snap it and post it here on the blog.

+ Isn't the dog cute? :) Reminds me so much of Sin Chan

At this unearthly hour, before I head to bed (it is already 1:45AM), I guess the Scoop it, Bag it, Bin it can also be applied to "friendship". As bizarre as it seems, here is my interpretation to it.

Scoop It - When your close friend falls flat on his/her face for whatever reason, you'd be there to "scoop" him/her back, so that he/she is back on his/her feet

Bag It - When the bond is so close, you feel like bottling it up, or Bag It and embrace it everywhere you go for you complement each other... Well, nice and good so far? Wait till you see the next one... Hmmm... and...

Bin It - Uh it is time to Bin It, or shelve it when you realize that you are the only one that goes extra miles to keep the friendship pretty much alive, while your "dear friend" so to speak, keeps on using the line "busy at work" as the lame excuse... A simple email/text saying Hi won't hurt... It does not even take more than few secs, unless you have never done texting before or you have got one of those brick-like phones from the 80's

There you go! I am off to bed. Getting up early tomorrow, or rather today and catch the unreliable train to get to client's... *sigh* Till then, keep the friendship alive... or... whatever!

Sotong, Kangkong dan Ikan

Semalam aku decide nak masak. Dah pulak aku have 1/2 day aje in the office semalam. Pukul 4pm, kepala aku dah mula pikir nak masak apa. Aku nak ajak Ramz datang rumah sebab dia dah masak banyak kali.

So aku mula la pikir-pikir nak masak apa. So, aku nak adventurous sikit la konon. So I decided to masak; 1) Sambal sotong, 2) Kangkung goreng dan, 3) Ikan goreng kicap. Aku tak pernah masak sambal sotong, and as for Ikan tu, aku nak try different ikan and this time around aku nak guna fish sauce gak. Sebab dah lama aku curious pasal sauce ni, siang malam termimpi mimpi. Ada sesuatu yang istimewa pasal sauce ni. Ahaks...

So berkobar la aku nak tunggu pukul 5pm nak balik dan beli barang-barang dan mula masak. Aku packed my bag dan terus menuju puncak ke pintu! Aku terjah kedai Filipino kat Dun Laoghaire ni, ada macam2 kat situ (nama kedai tu Pinoy Sari Sari, hah tu dia, tak nak kalah nama dia!). Dah sudah tu, aku sampai rumah dalam 6pm. Aku mula masak dan 7.30pm dah abis masak semua - Ramz pun sampai dan kami pun makan.

+ Sambal Sotong Istimewa Ala Kampong Talang Selera Bangsawan

+ Kangkong Goreng Bersotong Istimewa Pembuka Selera Istana Pencetus Bahagia

+ Ikan Goreng Berkicap Istimewa Acu-acu Aidilfitri Enak Bersari

** Kalau kau orang tak pitam dengar nama-nama tu, aku tak tau lah!!! Haha

Itulah dia entry tak perlu aku hari ni, tapi happy gak la sebab apa yang aku nak buat tercapai. :) Dan lauk2 tu ada lebih lagi of course dan aku akan makan lagi ini hari. :)

New Day, New Beginning

My first day back in the office. To my surprise, I did accomplish many things. I was amazed myself. I have been assigned a new project, with a local operator in Ireland. Trying to advise them how to position a new product in the mobile space - same old, same old. The difference - "fickle-minded" customer really. I guess I will have to embrace the challenge.

I spoke to the Chief Strategist from the company - and I said, "I plan to talk to you tomorrow about your company's plan on enterprise broadband!" He gave me the impression that he understood which one I am talking about, and he went on to talk a bit about that. An hour later, my colleague (who is already planted in there) called. He said "Zul, Owen was not sure whether he fully understood which proposition you talked about and what he is supposed to do with that!" Oh my God! I had a good discussion with him, and now he told my colleague that he is uncertain about things.

I can now well picture the same difficulty I had with the same customer last year. The fickle-mindedness will drive me insane. Let alone the scope creep - arghhh. It will blow my fuse really. But I am taking the positive side of things. So let it develop. But good thing is that, my friend Mark works in the same building. I let him know that I'd be there for months. So, he has booked me for lunch. Or at least being the first to buy me Starbucks coffee from the top floor.

So I kinda look forward to it, except that I have to take the train from Dun Laoghaire to Connolly, and then from Connolly to Heuston Station. OK now, stay positive Zul, stay positive...

Staying positive, I will be...

Killarney (Co Kerry) and Kilkenny pics, finally...

Well, I am back from "the hiatus". And, finally I managed to get a good grip of myself, and posted herewith are the pics of my trip to Killarney (Co Kerry) 2 weeks ago. I went with Lockz. That was again, another fantastic trip. :)

Barry told me last week that he plans a trip out in the country - there will be me, him, Xavier and Alan. He is thinking of Galway. I don't mind at all, as long as I am around in the country to join them all. It will all be fun, we have never done such trip before. It would be good for a change from normal meets over sports and coffee.

OK without much ado, here are the pics (you can tell from the selection of the pics, that I like Killarney National Park, compared to the rest of the trip. Although the countryside, with the sea and all -- they are not too bad). By the way, on the way back to Dublin, we stopped in Kilkenny, what apparently is a not-to-miss town!

Here goes!

+ Torc Waterfall, Killarney National Park. This is my favourite spot really. Lockz and I climbed up to the top, to locate the origin of the waterfall. It was fantastic view from up there, overlooking the greens and leads towards lower lake of Killarney

+ Killarney National Park - the ever so huge lower lake

+ Killarney National Park - the boats

+ Killarney National Park - again the lake. It is monstrosity beyond belief, and magnificent beauty.

+ Killarney National Park - the woods. We went for a walk in the woods, that is the best to inch the greens. We started early, like the saying - early birds catch fat worms

+ This is taken in Dingles (still in Co Kerry) - a place called Inch, where people surf and all that. We had our lunch by the sea. That was awesome

+ This is the only pic of Kilkenny Castle. We took our time combing the area while having our ice-creams

Bye now. I am not sure what other trips after this. I am off to UK in July, just for a quick extended weekend really. I guess that is the one I am looking forward to. Other than that, I need to get into the office tomorrow, in case I am shipped away somewhere for assignment :)

Have a great week peeps!

Federer, Del Potro dan Pisang Goreng

Tadi aku balik kerja. Memang aku plan nak balik awal sikit, like 5.00PM or so. Sebab ada Semis French Open 2009 - Federer lawan Del Potro (tadi dah tengok Soderling sailing through after defeating Gonzalez).

Aku berdebar gak takut terpaksa balik lewat hari ni, sebab hari ni aku hantar final deliverable untuk customer kat Latin America. Aku berharap lah agar customer tak banyak songeh dan tak nak aku ubah apa-apa. So lepas aku hantar document tuh, aku allowed them 3 hrs to read the pages, and then aku called En. Eduardo (the customer). Wah, depa happy dengan hasil kerja aku tu. Aku buat ayat2 plastik "Are you sure? I can go through the slides on the timeline and costing?". Memang aku plastik tahap gaban! So apa lagi, sebelom depa tukar fikiran aku terus pack my bag and balik. Masa tu dah 5.15PM dah.

Marian (yes mak dia yang meninggal aku pi tengok hari tu, a ah dia dah masuk office dah) pulak tetiba suruh aku explain some slides sbb dia nak buat presentation kat Sweden minggu depan (slides tu bukan aku buat tapi aku paham la apa yg nak diceritakan). So aku explain to her, how to present the slides. Then aku cha alif bot la kan!!! :) Lepas tu security pulak tahan aku. Alamak dia beriya iya nak cerita pasal tingkap aku kat office. Sbb aku complain tak leh bukak. Dia kata dia dah berusaha bukak tak leh, tingkap tu stuck. Alamak, aku tak de masa nak mesyuarat tingkap nih! Sekali lagi aku memplastikkan diri "What a shame! Thanks for your effort really, I will speak to Wally or Declan next week! Bye now, have a good sunny weekend!" Terus aku celah dari situ.

Dalam perjalanan pulang fikiran aku berlegar. Apa nak masak. Apa nak makan. So, aku singgah kedai John kat corner tu dan beli pisang. Aku nak buat pisang goreng, dan makan masa tengok Federer lawan dengan Del Potro. Bila balik aku tengok ada ayam dalam sink aku, eh aku lupa yang aku nak masak nasi goreng gak. Tak pe, aku akan masak lewat sikit, but for now aku nak menjamah goreng pisang tu, bersama secangkir kopi bertemankan some really good tennis from these 2 lads.

+ Secangkir kopi tidak dilupakan

+ Look at that, Federer in the background - reaching for a ball for his second serve!

+ Matilah aku nak makan banyak pisang goreng nih

Sekian. Kepada peminat-peminat tegar blog nih, harap maaf kerana gambar-gambar Killarney/Co Kerry belum diupdate dalam blog nih. Tunggu la esok kot. :) Sbb gambar tu banyak sangat, dan pose pose pulak semua menarik belaka... tak tau nak pilih yang mana satuh! Hehe!

Squash Tournament 2009, Dublin

To all readers and silent readers, before I shock you with the tan-line from Killarney, allow me to post some overly long overdue pic updates!!!

Frank, the organiser of the squash tournament sent me some pictures from the last squash tournament I took part in. Well, to the unitiated, I came second in the 'championship', hahaha. Anyway, this entry is meant to feature the pictures only. I am a bit disappointed, there are some pics taken when I was in action, well they were not there. I bet it was in Jonathan's camera, and he has taken it all back to Scotland.

+ Me and the squashed mates; there's my two close friends - behind me, in black is Xavier, and Barry in blue-top (on the right). Right infront of Barry is Damien. BTW I think I saw Damien in Killarney over the weekend, in the National Park. I could not tell, since he was hidden under the shades :)

+ That's Mr Frank that is, on the left, who discovered me! Haha. I can't remember the name of the guy in orange. He is really nice.

+ Me talking to Damien - or rather, trying to get the grip of the rules of squash, haha!

Finally, with not much pride (sour grapes that I am...), I lost to...

+ That is the WINNER - Ronan! He has been asking me for a rematch at UCD. I have not got the chance to do that since I am compelled to enjoy the sun more by playing tennis.

June 09 Bank Holiday - Co Kerry, Ireland

It was a rather long weekend - June 2009 Bank Holiday (30 May, 31 May and 01 June). Lockz and I decided to venture to Killarney in Co Kerry. We did Cork last year, at around the same time. So we were looking forward to this trip really. We wanted to take it easy away from the hectic-but-mundane life in Dublin. So here goes - me penciling down the experiences in Co Kerry. The main highlight would be from the drive/visit to Dingle Peninsula, the Killarney National Park itself, to the infamous Ring of Kerry drive.

Stay tuned! :)

Air France Flight 447 Catastrophe

As I am penning this, my prayers are with the hard-hit members of the families who have lost their loved ones in the Air France Flight 447 from Rio to Paris today. As the news broke out, I was driving back from Killarney to Dublin. I kept on checking on the radio and my mobile for the latest news. I guess, by now the world is already shaken by this.


The news was short and abrupt. 01-06-2009 - The Airbus plane went missing in Atlantic. A few hours after leaving Rio. 216 passengers & 12 crews are feared dead. That was all about it. Sarkozy even had to speak to the members of the families who were at Charles De Gaulle to expect the worst!

It was a mixed feeling between the articles I read about various disappearances in Bermuda triangle which used to fascinate me, and my own experience of flying. I have been flying everywhere for work and leisure. There was ONE particular flight that I was so scared of one time - due to turbulence (turbulence and lightning were among the causes of the electrical faulty of Air France Flight 447). Normally, I could not care less for I wanted to be at the destination as soon as possible, and I get all moody every time I got on a plane.

I do not really have fear of flying. But when such catastrophe like this happens, it urges me to think. Not that I will not take planes anymore. It makes me think hard and pray harder, especially my loved ones are travelling tomorrow morning (02 June, Malaysia time). All I am praying for - all will be well. InshAllah.