competing with the downline??

i received a call from the insurance company that i trusted my well-being to.. and got a funny surprise.. it was outright soliciting to top up on my current plan..

while the sales pitch was to be expected, i was a bit shocked that the head company is actually direct-calling its customers who were already being served by their field agents to push sales.. if i were an agent, i would be pretty unhappy with the situation.. how could the head company, which i worked for is actually competing directly with me too..

in essence, the head company has by-passed the goodwill and effort on the agents part to promote a sale to the customer.. in my opinion, this is just unethical.. if the product was handed over to the agent in charge and subsequently presented to me, then i would have less of an issue, but to by-pass the agent and at the same time mentioning his name in the hope of invoking any sort of kin-ship and relationship is a bit.. unseemly..

or perhaps i hold too high a standard.. since the economic crisis, everyone is trying to survive and these companies do need to still make those above-normal profits to be able to generate the cashflow to reward their top managements or top agents or whatever..

or am i being too cynical.. i don't feel comfortable about this..

a little sun, perhaps??

being cooped-up in an office is one thing.. but in one of those offices with no windows with a view of the outside world..

artificial lighting and air conditioning for five days a week.. makes me appreciate the sun a bit more..

wish i was at the beach, relaxing on a sun-bed or something..

eh.. i don't like the heat too..

palace of the golden horses

as i said, i stayed at the palace of the golden horses and let me just say.. i was flabbergasted by their attention they pay to the horse.. it is just.. too horsey..



while the hotel is a bit off the way, it is surrounded by luscious greens and sparse land.. beautifully maintained lawn i should add..



everything in the hotel is horse-themed.. even in the bathroom...



and to top it.. the hotel cafe, aptly named the carousel cafe.. has, wait for it, carousel horses.. haha..



actually the deco in the cafe was pleasant..



like i said, everything is of the horse figurine..



even their chairs.. in the lobby. that is..



the lobby is grand.. with, you've guessed it.. horse-themed decorations..



at night, it does look serene.. calm..

so.. maybe don't be put off by the distance.. it's quite pleasant actually the stay..

小頌私防菜之。。。 sun-cooked olives..

i followed my parents to the local wet market to get some local olives because my parents were making a trip to see some relative and decided to get them some of this nice local delicacy.. since it was a sunny day i decided to get a half kilogram worth of it to make my sun-cooked olives..

you'll need the following ingredients:

1/2 kg of olives
sugar
soy sauce
that's all.. REMEMBER to do this on a hot sunny day..

first.. wash the olives.. then add sugar and soy sauce (depends on how sweet and how salty you want it)... mix them and then pour onto a flat dish..

leave it under the hot sun.. i left it for 3 - 4 hours to let it "cook".. after the hot sun cooked my olives, i just took them in..

look!!! it is cooked through.. i should have added more sugar but.. it still tasted good..

this way, the goodness of the fruit is not lost through boiling it and then cooking it.. by adding the sugar and soy sauce, the flavor goes directly into the fruit..

some have been shocked by how this could be done.. IT CAN.. and IT HAS..

yum yum...

ENJOY..

project E.L.M.O...

over the hari raya break, i took a little break of my own and found myself in KL.. i was supposed to go there to meet up with an university mate but i was AirBus380-ed..

but it was an enjoyable trip nontheless.. so i decided to call my trip PROJECT E.L.M.O in recognition of my friends' shitzu.. which is also named elmo.. E.L.M.O is my acronym for Enjoy Life, Mindful Oblivian.. i am taking cues from my friend's shitzu.. hehe..

i sort of observed that the doggie spends its days waiting for its daddy and mommy to come and spend time with it.. along the day, it has no real agenda but to run around the house and keep itself buy until family time..


elmo (the doggie) would often sit behind the gate to peer out into the open world.. i think most of us do that, looking at that greener grass.. sometimes mundane sets in and a sense of lost just washes over.. but most times, that greener grass is nothing in comparison with the comfort that is home..



i think sometimes we overthink our lives.. simplicity maybe the answer.. don't over analyse.. take a cue from elmo.. just be contented.. and all the good things will come to you..

Social Networking Wars.. how true..

i think the novice that is the online social networking craze has sort of platoued.. maintaining several social networks online is a hassle in some ways.. having to log into everyone of them to check what is posted, what is new, etc. is kind of time consuming..

some of them are aggressive, sending out emails to inform you of events and recent updates..

but sometimes, it is just plain annoying.. being poked and superpoked etc etc.. oh well.. maybe that was the design..

when we have an abundant of internet content we have to sieve through to get some good content, a poke is probably the one thing you would ignore..

or maybe it is just that no one really pokes at my profile.. ahhaa...

i'm lame..