My Treatment Experience at Hospital Selayang

11 years ago, I had a swelling on my neck. I often catch a fever and when I do, the swelling will enlarged which looked almost like a mumps or in Malay we call it “Beguk”. The strange thing is, the swelling  occurs multiple time so it was not mumps so I had to undergo a series of test at the University Hospital in PJ. I finally had an operation, had a tube and a plastic bottle sucking out fluid on my neck, stayed at a pathetic ward (government hospital mind you) for a week and was discharged with visible scar on my neck. I notice that there were still some leftovers but it was relatively small so it didn’t make any difference since it was non-disturbing.

4 years back, the swelling came back after I got an infection which came from a fever. I then went to General Hospital Kuala Lumpur and had a check up. After being x-rayed and some blood sample were taken, the doctor said the thing the swelling is just a cosmetic effect and wouldn’t harm my health whatsoever. I was relieved it is not cancer or something so I just ignored it.

2 years ago, I got another infection but this time it got even larger and is now visible. I went to a clinic nearby, had my blood analyzed. I found out that I have a blood “O+” type. This means that I am a universal donor. There is this Blood Type Calculator where you can check out what your parent’s blood would be or your child blood would be.  I have this phobia for syringes where each time I got shot by it, I will go into this vomiting and drowsiness phase which is so uncomfortable and I hate it. Anyway, the clinic doctor gave me a recommendation letter for me to get further check up at the nearest Hospital available which is Hospital Selayang. The thing was, I didn’t go for the check up because at that time, I just got a new job so I did something that everybody loves doing, procrastinate.

I did a few Googling around and found similar cases for my rare condition. A couple of months ago, my swelling on the neck got even larger. This time, it has gone down to my right shoulder and it sure is uncomfortable especially when I sleep on my right side. I have to get this swelling removed before it gets even larger and make me look like a freak. After getting a new recommendation letter at my company’s panel clinic, on the 28th of October I went to Hospital Selayang to seek for further treatment.

At the hospital, I was referred to 2 places before landing at the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) clinic. Paid RM30 for the registration and waited for my queue number which was like almost 2 hours.

Payment and Registration Counter at Hospital Selayang 

The ENT Clinic at Hospital Selayang 

Getting inside the doctor room, check out the doctor’s office by the way:

My ENT Doctor's Office 

ENT Doctor's Equipment 

After being examined by the doctor, the doctor said he wanted to see inside of me so he sprayed some kind of medication into my nasal passage and my face instantly felt numb. I almost puked but I retained my calmness. 10 minutes later, I was in another room surrounded by 2 doctors, a nurse and the medical equipment assistant. The doctor plunged the camera tube into my nose, it was not really painful but it was the most uncomfortable situation I’ve ever had in a very long time. The good news is, my nasal passage was clear and it was all okay.

Back at doctor’s room, the doctor told me that the lump is not dangerous and it is just a matter of excessive fluid that could find it way out and got trapped in a few pouches underneath my skin. The doctor then ordered me to go the Radiology department to set up an appointment with them for a CT Scan. I only got an appointment 2 weeks after that. The experience continues...

Visit part 2 of my experience.

My HTC Touch

It has been over a month after I got my hand on my latest new gadget, my HTC Touch. I've always been keen to have a Windows Mobile device. There is one lying around my house which belongs to my dad and he's not using it. However, the device is bigger than my handphone and the features and the battery is not up to my use so my brother is toying around with it. Recently, my dad bought himself a cheap chinese made TV-PDA phone which he found somewhere in Dubai, he wanted to sell off his HTC Touch. I immediately said I wanted it but of course I'll pay for it later.. ;-)

 

The best thing I found out about HTC Touch is its lightweight, running on Windows Mobile 6 Professional, the battery's life is not bad and the touch screen is just something cool. Of course if you compare that to an iPhone, the iPhone is way much cooler. However, the iPhone is more expensive plus there is a lot of softwares that I need doesn't work in iPhone. The only downside in terms of network connectivity is my HTC Touch is running on EDGE and doesn't have 3G connection. Because of that, I choose to subscribe to DiGi HighSpeed Mobile Access with Data Unlimited Plan. I'll cover my experience using DiGi Internet service in my next blog post.

At first I wanted to replace my Sony Ericsson W810i to this HTC Touch. Unfortunately, I found out that typing SMSes using the HTC Touch is so difficult and required precise touching of the screen for the right alphabet to appear. It then became clear that the HTC Touch can only be my second gadget in my pocket.

Thanks to my brother who is using Windows Mobile much earlier than any person I know tip me on a great mobile browser call Opera Mini. I once used my boss's iPhone and recalled how the browser on his iPhone could just slide, zoom in and out. It was so cool, little that I know this browser installed on my HTC Touch could do the same.

 

Another application that I like to use is Google Maps for Mobile. Since my HTC Touch doesn't have GPS, the My location function which tells me the nearest node of my DiGi coverage as you can see on the dot on the screenshot below:

 

The star is my favourite places where I used to hang out. It can also be used to estimate the distance of location where I intend to go and show me the route to go there. This is the best application I always run whenever I am hitting the road. If you noticed on the screenshot, I am using a Pocket Controller software. This way, whenever my HTC Touch is connected to my laptop, I don't have to tap the device using my hands anymore. It can work with my mouse and keyboard. Simply genius..

I guess I am becoming more of into gadget junkies with so many electronics I have on my hands. Got to keep on getting more and more resources to fuel my hunger of information technology.

October 2008 Blues

For some odd reason, my Streamyx internet connection is really-really slow. I have no idea why and I don't think I want to know. I have alternative internet connection I can use but I only use that if it is really necessary. There are 2 applications I use when I want to write something on my blog. One is my Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 and the other is my Google Picasa photo manager. If I don't fire up these two applications, there will be no new blog post. It's just so easy to get distracted nowadays with so many stuff you can do online.

The other thing is, my office has blocked me from even accessing my own blog. Of course for those Blogspot blog owners share the same fate as I am as well. I guess the boss doesn't want his staff to be blogging at work or maybe because accessing blogs is consuming too much internet bandwitdh that it caused a clog in the internet access at my office. Either way, I've already bought myself another new internet connection for me. It's just that I now need to perform on something to perform own ($$$).

My Picasa Application in Action 

Job wise, one of my first task when I entered my current company was to help produce a proposal to win a project at a local university. I'm just so happy that after the hard work of preparing all those documents, we finally have been awarded the contract. My job for that one is done and now I need to move on to acquire other accounts to sustain the company's operation or else those new and existing colleague of mine would be out of jobs.

I'll be updating my blog with my latest gadget that I've been fiddling around. I'm also experimenting something that I've been always wanted to have which I finally got my hand to recently. It's just so much fun getting stuff that you've always wanted.

Selamat Hari Raya 2008

It's Hari Raya 2008 today. It is also raining outside of my bedroom window. Oh well, this year I only got 2 physical Hari Raya cards. 3 or 4 years ago, I can get almost 10 - 15 physical Hari Raya cards. It seems like people are now resorting to just using SMS. I've already got almost 10 Hari Raya SMS wishes and I think by the first day of Hari Raya ends, I'll get a couple of more SMSes. I haven't send any replies nor send out Hari Raya SMSes simply because I'm waiting for the time where I'll get off my laptop and get bored while waiting to get home later on, then I'll start SMSing.

Similar to last year Hari Raya, I still went to work eventhough there were only 6 people left at my office. I was the only person who had worked on the day before Hari Raya last year and repeating it again this year. The others are all the personnel who joined the company after me. I didn't do much work at the office since a lot of people had already started their holiday. Luckily the boss gave a half day leave so guess what, I saved one day of my annual leave yesterday. Of course I had to take a leave on Friday so that I can enjoy a 5 days of Hari Raya holiday.

Anyway, here's my Hari Raya digital card for this year's Hari Raya 2008 to all my blog readers:

 

Have a nice holiday!

My Creative HQ 1400 Headset Is Sold at All IT Hypermarket Ikano Power Centre

Last weekend, LV and I treated ourselves for a “buka puasa” at Kluang Station over at Ikano Power Centre, Mutiara Damansara. LV loves the atmosphere and the taste of toasted bread and Nasi Lemak there. I just eat whatever I can find at the shop but I do notice the unique delicious taste of their food. Anyway, after having our “buka puasa” meal, we decided to take a look around for our usual “window shopping”. I then spotted a new store just upstairs from where we were. It’s a brand new All IT Hypermarket outlet. Being an IT enthusiast although I am a bit thrifty on my spending, I walked into the store to fulfill my “window shopping” desires.

All IT Hypermarket Floor Plan at Ikano Power Centre 

It was then I spotted this:

Creative HQ 1400 at All IT Hypermarket Ikano Power Centre Mutiara Damansara 

The thing was, I was told in the previous marketing research activity that the product is not yet available in the market. This has proven to be wrong. However, at least I had the price suggestion just right.

Look at the other one I found:

Creative EP 570 at All IT Hypermarket Ikano Power Centre Mutiara Damansara 

I thought that for this piece of annoying ear clip headset, it wouldn’t be such expensive. For RM79, I will not definitely even thinking about buying this one. Oh well, enough about the ranting these product and enjoy what I have right now.

My Product Marketing Research Participation Experience

I just finished my period of participating in a marketing research program for a few audio devices related to MP3. The marketing research was conducted by Acorn Marketing Research. I’ve heard of other marketing research company such as Frost & Sullivan, AC Neilson, Synovate (Tried to get a part time job there but failed) but I never heard of Acorn before. As I can recall, I participated in 2 marketing research one for a new kind of cereal (Just got a free gift though) and the other is for I guess it was a Pringle vs Mister Potato (I was picked from the street and they didn’t reveal the product name. I was paid RM15 after that).

About three weeks ago, I was contacted by someone who knew LV and therefore decided to try out the marketing research program. At first, I had to go into a screening call to make sure that I was the right candidate. The interview lasted more then half an hour and after answering all the questions, the appointment was set the next week and I find myself to their office located in Bukit Damansara. I knew that I was getting paid (a generous one too) so it doesn’t worry me to pay those expensive fuel and parking fees to go there.

I was told to bring over my MP3 player and my casual earphones or headphones. I really don’t owned one since I just use my Sony Ericsson W810i to listen to MP3 so I borrowed my brother’s 3 years old MP3 Player and told the interviewer that I use 2 devices for different occasions.

My Sony Ericsson W810i and MSI Mega Stick 1 

After almost an hour of interview and filling up a few answering sheets form, I was shown 4 audio devices from different manufacturer and asked for my opinion on what I think of it. After all that is done, the interviewer gave me 5 set of products for me to try out for 2 weeks and report my finding in the forms provided. Here’s what I took home (plus got paid as well):

Test Products That I Was Given 

How the test was done is during the first week, I had to select one product to be tested for the whole day. After one day, I need to fill up the report sheets given and then I had to pick another one the day after. Once every product have been tested and reports were filled up, I had to choose the one that I like the most and try it out for one week before giving the final verdict. It’s that simple.

The first product on my first day that I had chose was:

MOTOROKR S9 Bluetooh Stereo Headphones
 

It was no surprise that I went for this one first. It’s wireless, the futuristic look and most of all, Bluetooth. My only Bluetooth enabled product is my Sony Ericsson W810i, my Compaq Presario V3751AU and my Sony Ericsson Bluetooth headset HBH-GV435. The product also came paired with this transmitter which is supposed to work with my MP3 stick:

Sony Bluetooth Portable Stereo Transmitter 

My only problem was this:

Sony US AC Power Adaptor 

The adaptor had a AC120V where here in Malaysia we use AC240V. I had to wait for the step down transformer before I can charge the Bluetooth transmitter. Surprisingly, you can buy a small step down transmitter at Low Yatt plaza for only RM22. Unfortunately, my Sony Ericsson couldn’t transmit MP3 songs for listening. Since my laptop has Bluetooth, I attached the MOTOROKR S9 with my Compaq V3751AU and enjoyed my MP3 songs while waiting for the step down transformer to arrive. I was also told that none of these products are available in the local market yet which is why they were testing it first.

The sound quality of the MOTOROKR S9 was very good but the comfort wasn’t so good because the strap head gives pressure to the side of my head. Furthermore, since I wear glasses, it somehow got in the way of my frames making it more uncomfortable. It might be suitable for active person who loves the gym. Upon wearing it, I find it hard to wear because I had to wear it from the back of the head. Overall, although I like the wireless mobility, I wouldn’t buy it because it’s not comfortable.

My second day, this was the product that I choose to try:

Creative EP-570 Stereo Music Earphones
 

I had a bad experience using earclip earphones before. It was really uncomfortable. As expected, it was still uncomfortable for me even though the product had some cushioning and the clip is customizable. The sound quality is okay and the ease of storage is there. Still, I don’t think I’ll wear this because I find it uncomfortable and hard to wear since I had to touch my ear just to make sure the clip is secured.

My third day, I wear this one:

Sony Comfortable Soft Hanger MDR J20SP
 

Now this product is really comfortable. The rubber hanger is soft and flexible. The sound quality is very good yet my main issue is the cord just too short. Attaching it to my mobile MP3 player stick, it’s really handy but because of the short cord, I can’t put it in my pant’s side pocket. The verdict, I don’t think I’ll buy this product.

My fourth day, I wore this:

Creative Stereo Headphones HQ1400
 

I’ve told the research interviewer that I would really prefer this headphone over all of the rest because I like the comfort and the sound insulation the design of the headphones. For a bulky design, the headphone is surprisingly light probably because of the light material used. After trying out for a day, I find the sound insulation is acceptable, the bass and treble is awesome and I can wear this for hours without a problem. I chose this product as my favourite one.

Two weeks past and it’s time to give back all the loaned products and submit over the filled up feedback form. I took a picture of the entire products before returning back the stuff:

The interviewer interviewed me for the last time to get more feedbacks from me and to my surprise, he told me that I can take home the product of my choice. I couldn’t believe it so I asked him several time if he was kidding me. At first, I was thinking of taking the Motorola MOTOROKR S9 back home because I knew it would cost me more than RM400++ if I were to buy one. Then again, I don’t really think I’ll use the S9 so often and that would be ashamed. I finally took home the Creative Stereo Headphones HQ1400 and not regretting of not taking the S9.

LV had a more interesting product to test. She brought home 5 mono Bluetooth mono headsets to try out.

 

She finally taken home this Bluetooth headset:

lip II mini Bluetooth Headset chosen by Laadvamore 

The reason for this was because she find that for those girls who wears ‘tudung’, this is the most suitable one. I saw this product sold at a ‘pasar malam’ nearby my house for RM120. I guess she made a good choice by getting this one complimentary of the product test research activity on top of the remaining complimentary ‘ang-pow’.

This was actually my 3rd market research participation and certainly the most rewarding one. I would certainly participate in another product market research if given such opportunity.

Soft Fish Spa Experience at Kepong Brem Mall

There’s a new shopping mall just 5 minutes away from my house. In less than 2 years, a huge building that was under construction is now finally opened. The parking is still free but don’t expect anything yet since only a handful of shop is opened. The mall is called Kepong Brem Mall. While walking on the concourse area, I saw this small pool containing small fishes. I was then handed this flyer:

The Soft Fish Spa Flyer 

I was with LV and she insisted for us to try it out. The girl gave us a RM3 discount so we just had to pay RM10 each for a 20 minutes soft fish spa experience. I was first kind scared by the fish. I kept on thinking of “what if the fish bite the flesh of my feet like the piranhas “. The promoter girl calm us down and said there is no such thing, it might be ticklish the first 5 minutes but that will all go away once you’ve adjusted. I trusted the girl so I dip my feet first since LV was scared too.

Trying Out The Soft Fish Spa 

The picture was like after I had adjusted myself. The first 5 to 7 minutes after I dipped my feet in, I was attracting kids and adults who were passing by laughing out loudly and giggling non-stop. The fish was really tickling my feet. LV was scared by my laughing so she decided not to pursue eventhough she was the one who wanted to try in the first place.

Dipping My Feet into The Soft Fish Spa Pool 

The so called ‘Doctor Fish’ is a toothless fish and they were like kissing my skin which result in the ticklish feeling. The fish after a while kind of avoided my feet (maybe they were too tired I guess) but then they came back. I was annoyed at some kids who scared the fish by hitting the plastic pool. After the session finish, I can still feel the tingling sensation on my feet. There isn’t much difference after I washed my feet before I went to bed that night.

I did some Googling and I found out that in Sunway, there is another bigger Fish Spa outlet called Fisho but instead of just your feet, you can dip your entire leg in. You can also see Jiaming’s First Fish Spa Experience where the fish were really hungry for her feet. There’s also another Fish Spa in Pavillion, Jalan Bukit Bintang. I don’t think I’ll be trying this again so soon.

Should I Change My Car For A Compact Car?

It's been a while since I've posted something about cars. On my way back from Terengganu, my family and I stop over at one of my cousin's house somewhere in Paka. While waiting for lunch to be served, I spent some time flipping through a few stacks of magazines. My cousin is a big fan of compact car. He converted his Kancil into a Mira. While I like things to remain exactly what they are, I do admire his enthusiasm to customize his car.

K-Kompak Magazine 

My cousin's car doesn't look like the above picture. Flipping through the magazine a little bit more, I found this article.

Kelisa Club.com 2nd Anniversary
 

The magazine is already a year old but look who I found:

LadyAzurt and her friend 

LadyAzurt is a blogger friend of mine (I've never met her in person yet). She was actively blogging before her lately seldom posting on her blog. A lot of her recent blog posting is more towards channeling her frustration from my opinion. Not that I’m criticizing her writings. I think she needs some cheering up and stop focusing on bad things in her line of work. Maybe what she can do is to cherish her fun moment by looking at fun and exciting activities she has done.

Anyway, I would buy a compact car if I could trade-in my red Iswara for a less monthly installment of what I am paying right now. Enjoy this piece of video review of the Perodua Kelisa done by Top Gear:

 

Using Maxis Wireless Broadband in Kuala Terengganu

I'm currently in Kuala Terengganu with my family. My brother just got married with a Terengganu wife and he will be on a 2 weeks holiday after this.

My family at the moment is living at Homestay here at Losong Kuala Terengganu. It has 4 rooms with 3 bathroom and the house is big enough for the comfort of up to 5 families. If you are interested to rent one of the Homestay houses, details are available on the picture below:

D'Losong Homestay Kuala Terengganu 

At Homestay, you won't find any Wi-Fi service available. So, I brought and setup my own Wi-Fi connection using Maxis Wireless Broadband and a wireless router. Here in Terengganu, there are billboards everywhere telling that Terengganu is Celcom territory. So far, almost 4 laptops are now connected and the connection speed is so far quite reasonable. Here is how the setup is being done:

Setup of Maxis Wireless Broadband with Wireless Router for Wi-Fi connection @ D'Losong Homestay Kuala Terengganu 

The ZTE modem is actually a router by itself so there is no need for any configuration except if the network address clashes or something. The internet connection is running on UMTS speed, it's not that fast but so far I've been using Skype with webcam while running Youtube and downloading stuff without any problem.

UMTS Maxis Wireless Broadband connection in Kuala Terengganu 

I don't really trust on bandwitdh test but it is safe to say that Maxis Wireless broadband here in Losong Kuala Terengganu is pretty good.

What Happened To Fasfik?

It seems that I’m clocking my car’s odometer a little bit sooner than I should. With the amount of traveling that I’m doing everyday, I would have to service my car at least once every 2 months instead of 3 months. There is one way to avoid this, move nearer to my office which is located about 40km from my house in KL.

Anyway, last weekend I went to Kepong where I used to go and service my car. I had noticed one of Fasfik’s service workshop in Sri Serdang had been closed for quite some time. I would have never thought Fasfik Kepong would have gone to the same process.

Fasfik Kepong Closed (August 2008) 

It’s a pity that such a nice location and a nice facility needed to be closed down. I suspect Fasfik is having a scaling issues whereby they tried to go big very quickly but find out that they are incapable of supplying enough resources. In businesses, there is always risk to be taken therefore I guess Fasfik would really have to make a decision whether to move forward and overcome their obstacles or just sell off their business like what Projet (Now being bought over by Shell) did.

I am quite sad to see them closed down however, my car needs to be serviced one way or the other. A few meters away from where Fasfik is located, is another service workshop. They’re currently having a promotion but it is only for old cars. Their normal package for my car starts at RM98 but I ended up paying RM178 because of other parts of my car that is slowly deteriorating. I should have brought my laptop because there’s free Wi-Fi while waiting in the customer’s waiting lounge.

AutoCare & Tyre (ACT) with Free Wi-Fi Available 


This ACT Workshop is Very Clean 

The service was quite fast. In less than an hour, my car was serviced and running smoothly again. Now isn’t that money well spent? So much of me being so thrifty.

My BarCamp KL Malaysia 2008 Experience

About almost a month ago, I blogged about BarCamp Malaysia and how I got to know about it. Last Saturday was the day that BarCamp Malaysia actually commenced. It was quite impressive the number of sponsors that BarCamp Malaysia had acquired.

There were so many sessions which got me torn apart to choose upon which one I should go to. I then finally decided to go to any sessions that I managed to squeeze myself in. I brought along my laptop but hardly even use it after I found out that the Wi-Fi is unusable. My big fat Maxis Wireless Broadband modem which I happened to bring along is just too big to setup. Maybe it is time for me to get myself a Pocket PC or a BlackBerry. Then again, that would mean I need to put aside some money just for that purpose alone.



BarcampMalaysia KL Morning Registration at Xtrain

The Widgeo.us Session

Widgeo.us Introduction

I would have gone to the Google Android session but the room was packed full. I then went to Widgeo.us session instead. Honestly, I have no idea what Widgeo.us can or able to do. I do know that it has something to do with widgets based on their name. I’ll give it a try when I have some spare time.

RIA Development via Flex + JROR

RIA Development via Flex + JRoR

This session was really meant for programmers. In my day to day job, I don’t look at anymore of those web programming languages unless if it is really necessary for me to do so. Nowadays, there are plenty of technical programming tools available and these tools save time and resources instead of looking at programming codes line by line. Nevertheless, learning those codes will eventually help especially if you stumble upon problems and needed to find solutions. Anyway, I walked out from this session because there was no need for me to learn this topic, at least for now.

Monetizing Youtube

Monetizing Youtube Session

Now this was a really interesting session. The topic alone drew a full house of people into the small room. At first I thought this session might be some way or techniques to make money off from Youtube. I was wrong instead it was a new concept of pattern recognizing technology that instantly indentifies a pattern and turns it into an advertising medium in a form of 3D object or logo. It’s a brilliant idea Presented by the enthusiastic Roni Mustafa from Urekalabs but I think if this were to be introduced here in Malaysia, a lot of promotion, a lot of dedication and presentation is needed to attract advertisers.


A few people from the crowd at the time were bashing the idea by making comparison of similar technology used in the US but in the end, a lot of supports were shown by the audience to help this brilliant minded group to go further with their work.

Lunch Time

BarCamp Malaysia Lunch Time

The food was awesome.

BarCamp Malaysia 2008 Launching Ceremony

Khai Lee gave an enthusiastic opening speech at the opening of BarCamp right after lunchtime. I certainly was entertained by his Emcee skills. Check it out at the video taken by my camera phone below:




The video is also available on Youtube using the link below:

• BarCampMalaysia KL 2008 Official Opening (Part 1)


• BarCampMalaysia KL 2008 Official Opening (Part 2)

Bridging People with Ideas Session

Bridging People with Ideas Session

Presented by Kelvin, during the first 15 minutes make sense where he talked about bringing in non-tech and non-IT people into the scene and organizing events and talk. After that, the idea got contradicted by mashing up other ideas and bringing in other people to diversify the entire theme and events.


Personally, I don’t think it make sense when something too in-depth is then being generalized in order to keep it balance. It should be either specialized or generalized. I know that once in a while, variety can make it more fun for participant or what people nowadays call it ‘fusion’. Then again, I just got confused and if I were a buyer, I would totally reject what is being sold.



A Whole New Perspective by Ameer

Then came along Ameer from Sudan who happened to crash into BarCamp and talked about his upcoming book which I’ve forgotten the title. I do know that is has something to do with Islam and some kind of revolution or was it evolution. It was an interesting topic but to me, I don’t take this seriously because I’m not that radical enough to be talking about all the subjects and topics that Ameer has brought up.

Jumping The Shark

Jumping the Shark Session

I nearly fell asleep in this session. I’m not actually a brainstormer so to pick out ideas out of my brain after a good lunch is rather useless. Nevertheless, the good point from this session is that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel and be careful of the big guns because they have all the resources to make or break you.

Entrepreneurs Going Global

Entrepreneur Going Global Session

This session was moderated by my buddy Cerventus. Three panel experts were invited namely, Vishen Lakhiani from Mindvalley, Ganesh Kumar from MOL.com, Roslan from MDEC and Siva an entrepreneur mentor. Now this session was a really good one since it was full of experience sharing, business information and the best is free advice for wannabe entrepreneurs. I love the idea of becoming an online entrepreneur and I am planning to become one myself. I think the best advice is to always build your own client database because that where the money will always be.

Blogging in Malaysia

Blogging in Malaysia Session

I sat behind HongKiat in this session. Other celebrity bloggers were also in the session as well such as Gobala Krishnan, LiewCF and Syokkahwin author Fayz. I remain silent the entire session because I don’t find the session to be useful to me. To me, blogging is just a tool for the use of delivering and sharing information. Maybe I should have shared “how I use blogs to make 2 of my company’s website to get listed on the search engine for specified keywords” or “how I landed a job using blogs”. Oh well, at least I learned a thing or two in this session.

Summary

If I were to describe this first BarCamp Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur in one word, I would have to say “Fusion”. It was a pity I couldn’t come to the second day of BarCamp Malaysia because of a scheduled commitment. Visit BarCamp Malaysia Official website to read more of this awesome event.

Getting A Job in The Malaysian Advertising Industry

On the 13th of July which was two weeks ago, I went to Bangsar to attend a public talk. A few days before that, I saw an advertorial that says “Here’s how you can get a job in advertising paying you a salary of RM2,300. Guaranteed.” The headline alone drew me to read the half a page content. The advertisement was from 95%: The Advertising Academy so it did a good job at making me notice and take action to come to their talk.

Since LV is a masscom student majoring in advertising, I brought her along as well just to give her some insight of what her future career will look like. I've already have a career but somewhere deep inside of me, I have a lot of interest in advertising. Eventhough I blew up some of my own advertising money during a few weeks of online advertising campaign I practiced a couple of years ago, I still think advertising has an endless bright future.


95% The Advertising Academy Office 


A Scene Before The 95% The Advertising Academy Talk 

The talk starts at 2.30pm so even though I was kind of late, I still managed to arrive there.


Janet Lee Giving A Speech 

That’s Janet Lee, she’s one of the founder of 95% The Advertising Academy. They have their own blog here if you are interested to read what they are planning to do or what they have done so far.


The Welcome to Advertising Slide Show 

The welcoming slide is rather simple but quite creative. If you cannot read what the fineprint is saying, it says “Say goodbye to dull and boring days”. Basically it was assuming that people who came there are looking for a career change and advertising are one of the industry that isn’t dull and boring.


One of the trainer at 95% The Advertising Academy 

That’s Shaikh Shahnaz Karim. He was the one presenting the entire presentation to the audience. He was actually from the IT industry before he came into the advertising world which he finds it 'colourful'. Now read this, the advertising industry is a RM5 BILLION industry in Malaysia alone. That’s a HUGE amount of money! Now look at this figure:


Number of advertising agencies in Malaysia 

I think there are plenty of shares to have more advertising agencies in Malaysia for that RM5 billion advertising pie. That might be one of the reason 95 percent ad academy has come out with a program called Hydrogen. The program cost RM15,000 for 6 months but there is a screening before you are actually admitted into the program. They have 3 positions to be filled; 1)Copywriter 2)Strategic Planner 3)Account Executive. If I were to choose, I think I'll go for copywriting since I like to play around with words.


95 percent Advertising Agency Hydrogen program 

The best thing about the program is it is sort of like a crash course training twice during your weekdays evening and you are actually guaranteed a job. If I were looking for a job or a career change, I think this program is really worth it. Just think of the time you can save by leveraging through your mentor’s network and experience and you get paid on top of that. It’s a healthy investment. The advertising industry is the only industry that can connect and communicate with every industry available because of their excellent medium which is now become really targeted using Information Technology. Throughout the talk, they’ve shown us sample videos of advertisement from many different countries and which videos won the Kancil Awards and the Cannes Lions festival.

Then again, I’ve already found my career field which is currently in the IT solution and application. 95 % The Advertising Academy works closely with the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia. You can check out their blog at http://enter95percent.blogspot.com/ or visit http://www.rise67.com to learn more about their program.