In a little over 30 days, our team has now conducted three auctions in tandem with the auctioneers of Palma Housing. Yesterday's assignment, number three, was held at the rather spooky Hotel Berlin, Butterworth.
As usual, I started the day by arriving early at Tommy's house, under false pretences of wanting to be early, I proceeded to watch online uncensored-unedited streams of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Global Edition and some upcoming movie trailers using Tommy's DSL connection.
I also fired off a letter to my WWF Malaysia contact.
Guys, please! Cut me some slack, I am going to have to last THREE MONTHS without television, the Internet, and computers!
After one hour (approximately) of online videos, I shared breakfast with Tommy before we made our way to Palma Housing central.
There, Tommy pointed out a few mistakes in the database Palma sent us while I busied myself writing an e-mail to The Star regarding "unused alternatives" in light of the increase in the cost of energy.
I was pleasantly surprised when my contact in WWF Malaysia replied my mail that very morning. As you (don't) know, we are setting up a special page for the pure purpose of donating to non-profit organizations that are short of funds and resources.
Using the information gleaned from the reply, we immediate arranged a trip that very morning to Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM), who were said to be in need of funds and volunteers.
A few turns later down Solok Emas, we were greeted by a non-descript rather worn down residential building (which, according to Tommy, wasn't bad) with the number nine stuck to the gate pillar.
Grimmauld's Place this wasn't, but it could be with a little imagination. About five paces from the doorway, an enormous bookshelf rising all the way to the ceiling lined with nature references, biology tomes and other stuff stood imposingly and menacingly to our left with multiple duplicates of it further to the left made its presence known.
We stumbled upon one of the employees of SAM to the right of what would be the parlour of a normal home, who led us upstairs to meet the big honcho of the organization.
On the top floor, we carefully probed the honcho without revealing our true motives as Tommy suggested because, if anyone offers cash, you aren't going to say no, right?
To my surprise, we were told SAM wasn't cash strapped at all and weren't even looking for volunteers! We found out that SAM's work was actually to represent and tie together different environmental conservation groups and to press charges against entities that have caused great grievances to Mother Earth.
In other words, they are the Malaysian environmental equivalent of the United Nations. This also means SAM is looking for activists, not volunteers.
Let's say your town area doesn't have a recycling centre, you decide to set one up for the betterment of your community and the environment - you contact Uncle SAM - Uncle SAM will then send reinforcements, strategists, and experts to help you wage war.
This brief detour was terminated and we went around to Chong Yang's house cum shop to pick up the best computer wizard Chung Ling has produced in 5 generations.
The otherwise routine wait for Chong Yang was interrupted by the largest chicken I have ever seen in my life.
It was HUGE! Even world wise Tommy conceded it was the biggest chicken he had ever seen anywhere.
Here's an idea how big it actually is: One of its drumsticks would be as large if not larger than a regular chicken breast in KFC; Chong Yang's family cat is afraid of it; the monster chicken hunts human children for pleasure.
Anyway, we soon found ourselves on a ferry sailing to Butterworth through surprisingly clean waters. The last times we made our way to Butterworth (both times on a Friday), the water was muddy brown; yesterday, it was bluish green!
It makes you wonder what shipping companies do on Friday.…
Butterworth is a strange city.
The place is on the mainland yet, doesn't have half the number of trees lining the roads to provide shade. The roads are also rather confusing as one wrong turn is the difference between Kulim and (Hotel) Berlin.
To park in Butterworth, you must also purchase parking tickets, which unlike the island, allows you to park anywhere in Butterworth. The downside, it works like a prepaid card, you must buy them in advance.
Hotel Berlin's design harkens back to the America's of the 1960's. Its outward appearance lent it an aura of a cheap motel, yet, once you stepped in through its modern motion detecting sliding doors, you were greeted with the redolent wafting of a hospital reception area.
Even the reception desks and counters reminded me of Lam Wah Ee. The toilets were situated at the end of a short maze of passageways after crossing the threshold of an imposing hardwood door. With each step, I felt more and more like a character in Silent Hill (with Chong Yang making disturbing comparisons with every step we took) instead of a run down cheap motel.
The two doors marked with BAHAYA messages and an unmarked door at the opposite end of the maze leading to the toilets didn't exactly helped to relieve us of the image of a haunted hotel.
In the hotel's conference room, an aroma highly reminiscent of a drug filled sterile clinic greeted us through two hardwood glass installed doors that wouldn't be out of place in an operating room.
In fact, the table upon which we were given to set up our stuff was covered with a smooth cloth seemingly lifted out of an episode of ER.
And to add to the spook factor, the lighting was exactly the kind you see in hospitals and the larger table big enough for a surgical procedure was accompanied by a smaller table lined with the above said operating cloth which, as we all know, is used by surgeons to place their beloved scalpels.
Who would have thought a place like this existed in Butterworth! I am definitely NOT looking forward to a revisit to this creepy institution for the homeless WITHOUT a camera or a video recorder!
As would be expected in a strange setting like this, the bidding was also somewhat surreal, with exactly one bidder each for ten out of about 45 properties on offer. That means no bidding, just buying, which wasn't much fun.
The event ended without incident. But as we were about to leave, all the lights went out and luminescent gas clouds suddenly invaded the conference room, maiming and suffocating everyone above the age of 20.
Yeah, you got me there.
It was a boring finish so I added that last part. Next time we do an auction at Hotel Berlin, I hope everyone dresses the part - if you know what I mean.
The day ended with us sailing back towards the sunset illuminated Penang island ala romantic movie, where I spent the night watching Seekers, Charmed and A Haunting on NTV7 and Discovery Channel respectively. So I got my supernatural thrills after all.
P.S. After some deliberations, punch-ups, altercations, threats, blackmail, curses, executions, abductions, and a killer chicken, the Triumvirate has decided to use catchier titles for our blog.
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Monday, March 06, 2006
Entry Five
Sautern, I am glad to say, is composed of some very talented youths. I am however probably the exception to this. I am the newest recruit and this is my first post on behalf of this nascent venture, and I am to be Ju Ping's temp when he's off to fulfil his obligation as a Malaysian.
As Ju Ping blogged about in the previous post, I was a part of last week's meeting in Gurney. Today however, the guys decided to conduct our meeting in a traditional coffee shop in Balik Pulau (owing to the fact that Chong Yang and Ju Ping live around that region, making it more convenient). The place was certainly a 180 from the swanky confines of Starbucks (and no WiFi too), nevertheless what it lacks in style and packaging, it more than makes up in charm and quaintness. We literally went over mountain and dale to get to Balik Pulau, and as Tommy commented, we will probably go through more strange routes in the future to accomplish our goals. I figure this figuratively describes what we are trying to accomplish here.
Since we had no WiFi access there, our discussions were basically updates on Sautern (they were mostly filling me in). Possible and imagined problems were also brought to the table and thrashed out. Tommy also gave us some examples of some scenarios and we managed to extract some ideas about what not to do. Some suggestions about the website were worked out with Chong Yang.
The business end over, we went over to Ju Ping's house for a short visit. First appearances doesn't do his abode justice. Upon closer inspection, it revealed a few experiment Ju Ping is working on. Seems like our friend here is quite the mad scientist qith plants. He also showed us his staff collection and gave us a staff twirling demonstration that sent us scrambling for cover. As if a staff is not intimidating enough, he even has a big bad dog, and a black one at that. Ok, it wasn't bad, just big and black, and surprisingly approachable.
As I said though, it was a short visit, and pretty soon Tommy was ferrying me and Chong Yang all the way to the other side of the island in the trusty Myvi (the guy doesn't even mind the oil price increase). My day with the founders of Sautern officially ended with me being dropped off at my place.
As Ju Ping blogged about in the previous post, I was a part of last week's meeting in Gurney. Today however, the guys decided to conduct our meeting in a traditional coffee shop in Balik Pulau (owing to the fact that Chong Yang and Ju Ping live around that region, making it more convenient). The place was certainly a 180 from the swanky confines of Starbucks (and no WiFi too), nevertheless what it lacks in style and packaging, it more than makes up in charm and quaintness. We literally went over mountain and dale to get to Balik Pulau, and as Tommy commented, we will probably go through more strange routes in the future to accomplish our goals. I figure this figuratively describes what we are trying to accomplish here.
Since we had no WiFi access there, our discussions were basically updates on Sautern (they were mostly filling me in). Possible and imagined problems were also brought to the table and thrashed out. Tommy also gave us some examples of some scenarios and we managed to extract some ideas about what not to do. Some suggestions about the website were worked out with Chong Yang.
The business end over, we went over to Ju Ping's house for a short visit. First appearances doesn't do his abode justice. Upon closer inspection, it revealed a few experiment Ju Ping is working on. Seems like our friend here is quite the mad scientist qith plants. He also showed us his staff collection and gave us a staff twirling demonstration that sent us scrambling for cover. As if a staff is not intimidating enough, he even has a big bad dog, and a black one at that. Ok, it wasn't bad, just big and black, and surprisingly approachable.
As I said though, it was a short visit, and pretty soon Tommy was ferrying me and Chong Yang all the way to the other side of the island in the trusty Myvi (the guy doesn't even mind the oil price increase). My day with the founders of Sautern officially ended with me being dropped off at my place.
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Entry Four
Yesterday, the 28th of February was a historic day, especially for us. Then again, it was a historic day only because of us come to think of it.
Our final task of the two assignments we have taken on was finally completed yesterday, and the 28th was memorable in a lot of ways.
Unlike last week's assignment where our team handled the entire auction event for 3 different property auction houses, it was every man for himself yesterday. Each of the auctioneers had their own methodology of doing things - politely speaking.
Truthfully (as I prefer), it was nothing short of an opportunity to rub it into our client's rival auctioneers gangrenous wounds that our presentation software was classier, cleaner, and (with the airy pretentious voice of a Victorian era courtesan) incomparably sophisticated compared to theirs.
While they are stuck with static, inflexible and ugly PowerPoint slides, which meant the entire auction would depend on the auctioneer's charisma; we showed that the auctioneer need not even be human with FusionCore - as we could easily display the bidding price for the audience and even proclaim the winner's bidding number on screen.
Yes, I concede that is a less than usual anecdote.
Yesterday was a thorough and complete victory for us. Not only did we not so quietly indicated our superiority to the opposition, I finally managed to do an air guitar scene in front of two people - one of them whom I didn't notice until Chong Yang told me I had frightened away one of the early bidders. Ah, The joy of youth.
Before the event was over, the three of us left Dewan Sri Pinang (as our turn was over) and made our way to Palma Housing to print out the auction report for them.
The laptop was hooked up to its charger (this would come to haunt us later) followed by the menial task of report printing using an ancient HP LaserJet printer. After handing over the report to our client, we were pretty much done for the day - except we had two other important activities yesterday; namely two-directional interview with Peter Chong, and last minute shopping for yesterday night's celebration dinner.
As Tommy was attempting to secure a deal with a potential client, we had to postpone Peter's interview by half an hour.
Since me and Chong Yang had time to kill, he opened the source code of FusionCore for some further improvements - namely, picture resizing.
Somehow, I got dragged away into Tommy's car and found myself (for a while) in full control of is car. Until that is - he realised I had never driven an automatic vehicle before.
Yes, it sounds as ridiculous as a worm preferring parched sand over brown earth; but in defence of myself, I have become very much accustomed to clutch control.
So there I stood watching, outside Palma Housing's security-enabled glass door, as Tommy conducted a masterful display of perfect harmony between man and machine - reversing the MyVi between the Honda and the wall.
Joined by Chong Yang, we picked up Peter and conducted the interview at Starbucks - because of the free WiFi.
A lot of stuffed was discussed, and basically, here's what you might see in the coming months:
- Peter substituting me as Sautern's blog updater and English columnist;
- Peter become Sautern's Chief Marketing Officer;
- Peter finally becoming a millionaire.
We dropped Peter of at Batu Kawan Stadium at about five yesterday. He explained he was there to give moral support to his younger brother who was running in the 4 x 400 Relay.
After saying our goodbyes, we made a u-turn back to Gurney because there were still a few hours before dinner for us to spend.
The Apple Center was one of a few places we did what I presumed to be window-shopping. There, I finally had my first real iMac experience - and as they say - there is no turning back.
I solemnly swear I will never use Windows again in any future computer I might purchase.
Wading through shops selling mobile phones, card games, figurines, and such, the triumvirs finally settled down at MPH - which was where we spent the remaining hour before dinnertime.
There, Chong Yang as always, looked through thick programming manuals, Tommy browse through the business and self-help section, while I salivated over The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy that was retailing for only RM 59.00. This would be expensive under normal circumstances - but seeing as it was being sold at RM 159.00 a few months ago.
After the literature sojourn, we continued our hunt for the elusive mozzarella cheese block.
The signs weren't good however, when we found our cheese, but passed a line of patrons lining up in front of one of three hole-in-the-walls. The other two were out of service.
Seeing as we had ran out of funds for our cheese and a last minute addition of Campbell's Mushroom Soup, we reluctantly climbed back into the car, zipped through traffic, and withdrew cash directly from Maybank, before the now ingrained trip back to the cheese section of Gurney.
Dinner at Tommy's.
Skipping all the trivial parts, the three of us basically made aromatic spiced-up oven cooked lamb chops and hot and appetizing pasta filled mushroom endowed lasagne in a kitchen measuring one metre at its widest.
But it was cool.
Hey, how many of you out there have actually attempted to prepare a RM 500.00 five-star dinner out there?
We also found out that Tommy once worked in a French restaurant under a genuine French chef - who incidentally, once prepared cuisines for presidents and prime ministers.
Dinner ended with 10-year-old red wine (which was too bitter for this ones taste) and a glass of fresh milk.
After dinner, a minor problem threatened to foul up our night.
Apparently, we managed to somehow leave behind our laptops battery charger at Palma Housing - thus explaining the great regret above.
However, I have since been notified earlier on the 2nd of March that the charger was right there on the table where Chong Yang had set up the laptop for some last minute work.
Must be that darn red wine.
NOTE: Due to technical issues (for further details, check out this coming week's edition of A Stray World) publication of this entry was postponed by 24 hours. Any complaints or deaths as a result of the tardiness of this entry is sincerely regretted.
Minor Update: Sautern's main site is online.
Our final task of the two assignments we have taken on was finally completed yesterday, and the 28th was memorable in a lot of ways.
Unlike last week's assignment where our team handled the entire auction event for 3 different property auction houses, it was every man for himself yesterday. Each of the auctioneers had their own methodology of doing things - politely speaking.
Truthfully (as I prefer), it was nothing short of an opportunity to rub it into our client's rival auctioneers gangrenous wounds that our presentation software was classier, cleaner, and (with the airy pretentious voice of a Victorian era courtesan) incomparably sophisticated compared to theirs.
While they are stuck with static, inflexible and ugly PowerPoint slides, which meant the entire auction would depend on the auctioneer's charisma; we showed that the auctioneer need not even be human with FusionCore - as we could easily display the bidding price for the audience and even proclaim the winner's bidding number on screen.
Yes, I concede that is a less than usual anecdote.
Yesterday was a thorough and complete victory for us. Not only did we not so quietly indicated our superiority to the opposition, I finally managed to do an air guitar scene in front of two people - one of them whom I didn't notice until Chong Yang told me I had frightened away one of the early bidders. Ah, The joy of youth.
Before the event was over, the three of us left Dewan Sri Pinang (as our turn was over) and made our way to Palma Housing to print out the auction report for them.
The laptop was hooked up to its charger (this would come to haunt us later) followed by the menial task of report printing using an ancient HP LaserJet printer. After handing over the report to our client, we were pretty much done for the day - except we had two other important activities yesterday; namely two-directional interview with Peter Chong, and last minute shopping for yesterday night's celebration dinner.
As Tommy was attempting to secure a deal with a potential client, we had to postpone Peter's interview by half an hour.
Since me and Chong Yang had time to kill, he opened the source code of FusionCore for some further improvements - namely, picture resizing.
Somehow, I got dragged away into Tommy's car and found myself (for a while) in full control of is car. Until that is - he realised I had never driven an automatic vehicle before.
Yes, it sounds as ridiculous as a worm preferring parched sand over brown earth; but in defence of myself, I have become very much accustomed to clutch control.
So there I stood watching, outside Palma Housing's security-enabled glass door, as Tommy conducted a masterful display of perfect harmony between man and machine - reversing the MyVi between the Honda and the wall.
Joined by Chong Yang, we picked up Peter and conducted the interview at Starbucks - because of the free WiFi.
A lot of stuffed was discussed, and basically, here's what you might see in the coming months:
- Peter substituting me as Sautern's blog updater and English columnist;
- Peter become Sautern's Chief Marketing Officer;
- Peter finally becoming a millionaire.
We dropped Peter of at Batu Kawan Stadium at about five yesterday. He explained he was there to give moral support to his younger brother who was running in the 4 x 400 Relay.
After saying our goodbyes, we made a u-turn back to Gurney because there were still a few hours before dinner for us to spend.
The Apple Center was one of a few places we did what I presumed to be window-shopping. There, I finally had my first real iMac experience - and as they say - there is no turning back.
I solemnly swear I will never use Windows again in any future computer I might purchase.
Wading through shops selling mobile phones, card games, figurines, and such, the triumvirs finally settled down at MPH - which was where we spent the remaining hour before dinnertime.
There, Chong Yang as always, looked through thick programming manuals, Tommy browse through the business and self-help section, while I salivated over The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy that was retailing for only RM 59.00. This would be expensive under normal circumstances - but seeing as it was being sold at RM 159.00 a few months ago.
After the literature sojourn, we continued our hunt for the elusive mozzarella cheese block.
The signs weren't good however, when we found our cheese, but passed a line of patrons lining up in front of one of three hole-in-the-walls. The other two were out of service.
Seeing as we had ran out of funds for our cheese and a last minute addition of Campbell's Mushroom Soup, we reluctantly climbed back into the car, zipped through traffic, and withdrew cash directly from Maybank, before the now ingrained trip back to the cheese section of Gurney.
Dinner at Tommy's.
Skipping all the trivial parts, the three of us basically made aromatic spiced-up oven cooked lamb chops and hot and appetizing pasta filled mushroom endowed lasagne in a kitchen measuring one metre at its widest.
But it was cool.
Hey, how many of you out there have actually attempted to prepare a RM 500.00 five-star dinner out there?
We also found out that Tommy once worked in a French restaurant under a genuine French chef - who incidentally, once prepared cuisines for presidents and prime ministers.
Dinner ended with 10-year-old red wine (which was too bitter for this ones taste) and a glass of fresh milk.
After dinner, a minor problem threatened to foul up our night.
Apparently, we managed to somehow leave behind our laptops battery charger at Palma Housing - thus explaining the great regret above.
However, I have since been notified earlier on the 2nd of March that the charger was right there on the table where Chong Yang had set up the laptop for some last minute work.
Must be that darn red wine.
NOTE: Due to technical issues (for further details, check out this coming week's edition of A Stray World) publication of this entry was postponed by 24 hours. Any complaints or deaths as a result of the tardiness of this entry is sincerely regretted.
Minor Update: Sautern's main site is online.
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