I have Brooks

Self bought Birthday present.

Adrenaline GTS 12

Nice or not?

Seasoning it for the coming PJ Dawn in May :)  Loving it!

Bersih 3.0 - I was there

Organisers believed that as many as 250,000 participated in this historical event.  Despite the mainstream media play-down with only a 30 seconds coverage, I'm sure all of you have seen and read enough through alternative media and social platforms.

Much had been said about why and how and who should be responsible for the chaos, unnecessary pains, injuries (some quite serious ones) ..

I was thinking all day, replaying in my mind all that I saw when I was there, trying to remember how I felt when I was with the crowd as opposed to all that have been said and reported about why and how sadly it ended.

My conclusion:

It was just like a school sports day celebration where we didn't mind the scorching sun, we sat on the dirty floor singing and cheering merrily. Just like school, there will be some troublemakers, but we don't punish the everyione when only a handful misbehaved!

 My friends and I were lucky that we retreated as told by one of the Bersih crews minutes before the gas attack went 'violent'. "Please disperse, Ambiga had already declared to bersurai, we have achieved our objectives of Duduk Bantah, please disperse"..he said repeatedly.

It was around 3pm, we were near the Masjid Jamek LRT station hoping to go nearer to Dataran Merdeka  when we saw and heard the attacks from far.  We felt the sting a little as we were walking away.

Regardless of what "some groups" did..there were other hundreds of thousands innocent citizens, young and old, on the streets. Those trapped in the LRT station waiting to board the trains that refused to stop.  Those sitting on the floor happily chatting and cheering away... 

It was outright brutal. No excuses.

Did they even think about the safety of the hundreds thousands of civilians?


There are different speculations floating in the air currently...some said that it was the ruling party that sent this group to create trouble.. on the other hand some believe that the oppositions are making use of Bersih and our support to Bersih as a vehicle to gain momentum.

It's beyond us to go into the details.  We will never know what's the truth out there but as a normal citizen with a brain, it sums up to a few key indicators that are more than sufficient to help me decide whom I do not trust more:

It doesn't matter who signalled / instructed 'that group' to breach the police barricade.   It doesn't matter about agent provocateurs there and who they are. 


Think: Who does the police force take orders from?  Who ordered the LRT not to stop? Who had the power to order the closure of the LRT station gate?


Need I say more?

Here are some other happy moments captured before the chaos..how we wished that that it ended just the way it started.

It was scorching hot but nobody seems to mind.  Everyone was in joyous mood. 

Wow.... did it occur to you that we don't see this sight very often these days, when was the last time you see  Malaysian roads filled with true Malaysians, and not foreign Indonesians, Bangladesh, Mynmarist, Nepalist workers?

Only on this day, kiasu Malaysians, left behind their air conditioned cars, office, house, shopping malls to come out here and WALK the Malaysian road in the hot sun.  Bravo!

Angry birds!

The ice cream man was a happy man!

Oh yes..please watch this wonderful video:

See you at Bersih 3.0

J : Are we wearing yellow?
Me : Not compulsory, the only yellow T that I have is the very bright Nike run tee!

J: wah..if you wear that, you will be so outstanding!

Me: Yeah..then I'll be Auntie Bersih 3.0 !

On why we should be part of this, watch this:

It's a bit slow and lengthy but all Malaysians must watch to get an idea..of what Bersih is all about..

See you there!

My Go Sport ID

It's here!

In case you missed the previous entry, go HERE

So..some of you are probably saying, what's so special about it? It's just a wrist band with some writings on it.  Read more about Go Sport ID - HERE

Sorry - had to blank out some personal info for privacy reasons

I'm not sure about other brands.



This was ordered online all the way from US, no shipping charges.

Recap from previous entry, it isn't something that I really need but since I've a USD10 gift card from Earndit points, why not!  It's cool to have :P

And more importantly, it can come in useful during emergencies for runners...even old folks or kids with medical conditions.  Just like those medic alert bracelet.


I'm not sure if there are any in Malaysia.  If there's none..I wonder why.


In fact, I think potential organ donors should be given something like this.  Even though we may not wear it all the time..but it's a good souvenir don't you think?

4th day

I've been 'grounded' for 3 days going to the 4th :P since the run.
Yes..I'm still harping about the run.
Bear with me la..since I haven't been out and about for the last few days.. don't have much to update anyway.

Well, I was out yesterday ...the aches were about 10% less compared to Monday and I ended up parking on the 3rd floor of the car park that is without any elevators.  Ouch..!

Tq for the concerns on the ankle. The swelling has gone down, I believe it looks normal now.  This ankle had always been problematic.  Despite the swelling, I could still walk about almost without any pain, so it's not a sprain, probably aggravated tendon injury due to over-use (again).

That wasn't the main reason to why I was 'grounded'.  It was the major thigh muscles aches.  The run was on Saturday night, I was still out and about on Sunday but skipped gym (obviously).  There were some pain while walking, squatting down, getting up, but it was still ok.

Come Monday morning, I felt major aches on both thighs and the hips.  Getting out of bed was a pain. Walking to the toilet was a pain.  Sitting down was a pain.  Walking down and up the stairs was major pain.  Left thigh muscles were almost useless.  I had to either use the right leg or used the hand to pull myself up on step at a time.

My bedroom's on the second floor.  I work on the first floor.  I hated the stairs.

I thought of my uncle who had two minor strokes in recent years.  This is how it feels like when you don't get full control of the muscles.

When going down the stairs..it was easier to lean on the wall for support....that reminds me of a semi paralysed neighbour in the flat where I used to stay.  One side of his body was paralysed..but he still came out everyday ..and he walked up and down the stairs by leaning on the wall or using the strength of his hands or body to pull himself up.  I used to be afraid of him when I was little : /

Today I can go up the stairs with both legs..I don't need to use my hands.  There are still some pain but it was so much better.

I'm grateful.


Now, I'm itching to go back to the gym ...hmmm..

Good foot Bad foot

Left foot, right foot,

Who can tell which is the good foot?

Either way I don't like the look of my elephant legs : /

ENR 2012 - Done

First run of the year done..with much pain.

Who's bright idea was it to do such a relatively long distance on our first run of the year?!

Who was it that said 5.5 km, the relatively easier option, is Too Short??

Who else...other than me and my own big mouth.

Check out the route recorded on my Runkeeper app:

This is the second year  ENR was held in here the Sepang International F1 circuit.  I did 21km last year, we had to run 2 loops (11km) on the circuit track upon returning from the outer road.  I was in a better shape last year, yet it wasn't easy then. 

This year, we started the first 5.2km (of 15.5km) on the circuit track which was humongous when you are on foot... again, which big mouth said that 5.5km is too short??

My left knee and back started to hurt even before completing the curcuit :s I had to slow down even walked abit. 

I was kind of relieved when I finally reached the exit to the outer road..hoping that it will be more enjoyable on the road.   

I was wrong :s   Check out the elevation indicator on the chart above.  In summary, what the chart says is there were hills after hills after the 5th km, along the outler loop.

If you click on HERE you'll see an interactive version that links the chart to the route with info on pace, speed, elevation at each point of the route.

Look at the Green peaks..there were about five peaks (43m, 63m, 54m, 41m, 42m) on the outer loop before we re-entered the circuit again to complete the final 3km.

It was torturous ...for me at least.

I was in pain for most part of the race.

I stopped twice to ask the medic for some pain relief..1st conversation went like this:

Me: Do you have any spray?

Medic: No.

Me: ???

2nd conversation went like this:

Me: Do you have any spray?

Medic: No

Me: Deep heat?

Medic: No..we don't provide any spray nor any of those

Me: ???????

Why are they there, I wondered.  Well..they were helpful when some runners 'collapsed' due to cramps, etc.  So.. may be I should have collapsed too.

Well, I did get sprayed one time from some personnel from an red ambulance. That's about it.  I was on my own all the way :'(  

I'd normally bring along a packet of Perskindol for emergency, didn't do so since Salonpas was one of the Main Sponsor.  There were no Salonpas spray on the scene, unfortunately.

OH well...long story cut short.  It was a much better event compared to last year. Participants were satisfied and happy based on the comments on the FB page.

We got our well deserved medals, a cool Brooks finisher T, water, certificate right after the completing the race.  Everything was well plannned and organised except for the bottle neck while entering the tunnel to the 15.5km start grid - we missed the flag off :(

I'm still very sore. Almost couldn't walk today.

And I'm still wondering why medics stopped providing deep heat/ sprays to runners??  But no one seems to be complaining though..

Some more pasta

And I thought I've ran out of ideas. Same same but different.

























Half a can of tuna in olive oil
Chilli padi from the garden
Curry leaves from garden
Butter
A lil bit of milk
Salt and pepper to taste


I wanted it to taste like those Creamy Butter Crab / Prawn dishes ..

What's popular here ?

Guess which post in here were most popular ? i.e. Searched for in search engines and arrived here via search results

I'm not surprise by the all time results...I see new visitors every other day because of Latio related posts.

But.I still wonder..why there are so many searches on Tesco Kepong..till today.

What about in the past month?

Chatime is still the craze in town, I guess...but check out the post on Go Sport ID. 

It was posted on Apr 11..there were already 87 hits to date.  You know why?

Cos Earndit detected the post and twitted about it ..haha.

That's why ...it's the most popular hit for the week too.

ENR 2012 Goodies

Yes..I registered :)

Gonna do 15.5km this time.

The last time I ran was....... err.. ... *checking my FB album*...November last year!

Lol.

Love the color of the vest but cutting is not too fitting although this is supposedly a women's cut by Brooks.

The back design is so cute ..

And..ta daa...the star goodie ..so unexpected from Brooks !

I can see my a pair of new shoes on the way =D

All that can go wrong in Customer Care

For some reasons, I've had more than enough encounters with customer service support of different companies and brands lately.  Following up on a previous rambling about Customer Service - HERE where I've written about some of my good and bitter experiences lately.

One of my superior once told us - "..when you receive an email, ensure that you acknowledge regardless of whether you have a solution or answer to the subject matter but make sure you acknowledge the email.."

That was like more than 10 years ago where email was still THE main communication touch point.

Nowadays, with the internet and social media ruling the world, companies and brands should find it ten times easier to be closer to the customers, to acknowledge and to appreciate customers. No?

I wrote an enquiry to the Skechers UK site, I got an auto-generated-reply almost immediately.  It's automated but it's good enough for me to know that the enquiry was received.  An email  follow up came y within the next 24 hours.  The reply was general..but good enough since I wasn't even a customer.

And my recent experience with Go Sport ID (HERE) was more than pleasant for such a small purchase.

Now, back to the International Skincare Company.  Pardon me, I've been using this brand for years and I am was happy with it.

Quick re-cap. They introduced a new range of day cream, my face developed irritation.  How serious can that be?  If you're a woman and a regular user of day cream, you'll know how serious that is.


I think this International Skincare brand had done all that a brand should not do in terms of customer care.

Fault no.1: 
I couldn't get through the general line - the only contact no. available on the local website


I mentioned to a friend who is a staff, she offered to pass my contact to the respective dept.  I waited.

Fault no.2:
Nobody called


I called again after waiting for 1-2 weeks and managed to get through.  I was passed on to the respective dept. and was told that my problem 'was being looked into" and "the person in charge will call me back in a day or two"


Fault no.3:
Nobody called


I wrote to the International website to highlight the issue.


Fault no.4:
No acknowledgement of email.  A follow up call came from local office after only 1-2 weeks.


I told the rep. nicely that I've already managed to speak someone in the office and am waiting for a call soon.  I gave her the name of the person who was suppose to call me.  The rep "promised' that she will follow up on my behalf.

Fault no.5:
Nobody called.  No follow up


A few days ago, I called the direct line that was given to me.  There was no answer, so I was directed back to the operator who gave me a hotline number for the particular brand that I was referring to, oh..why wasn't this given earlier (I wonder) , then I had to repeat my story all over again.  The person "promised" to call me back.

Fault no.6:
This time they did call back!
But unfortunately, one of the first things said was .."MS W, we've checked and from our records you have not called us before"

Wtf.


Anyway,.it went on and on..me repeating the same story once or two more times.

And I just received a call today to say ... (you wanna make a guess)?


Sit. Tight.


Apparently, the person who was handling my case had left the company.

:D

What a joke....

So..there I was ..repeating my story again to some one who obviously doesn't understand the product..as I had to repeat the brand and range many times ...many times...and it was also very obvious that with her limited product knowledge she had no solution nor advice to my problem.

Well, at least one message came out good - I was told that "out of goodwill, I can exchange the the product with another item, and what would like I that to be"




Well, yeah..hooray..but my main question remained unanswered.... now that the new product is no longer suitable for me.. do you have any advice on which other variant that I can use?

May be..I was asking too much huh?  Since they are willing to exchange..I should just accept the offer and move on to another brand!

End of story.

Go Sport ID via Earndit

I'm getting one of this :)

https://www.facebook.com/GoSportID

It's called a Go Sport ID - a sports wrist band (made of silicone) that comes with a titanium plate for us to engrave key vital information e,g, name & emergency contact, health condition or personal motto.

Why the fuss?  Well, imagine me running in a marathon or in a park on my own and I collapsed - the ID will communicate for me.  Whoever "the first responder" who came to help will be able to know who to call.

In other words, it's like engraving our contact details to our dog tag, in case the dog gets lost. :D

Read more about it from a blog post HERE

No......It's not something that I thought I need to have. I don't run that often anyway..and if I do run in marathons, our bib will always have our emergency contact information.

This particular model - the Glide costs USD16.95 but..since I have more than enough Earndit points to redeem a $10 gift card for it..Why Not!  They offer worldwide Free Delivery, one of the reason why I took the trouble to order.

After all.I'm a sucker for cute and cool stuff :P

The points are a given.  

All I did was linked my Earndit account to Foursquare and make sure I check in to the gym via Foursquare whenever I'm at the gym. 

Or.. make sure my Runkeeper app is linked to Earndit, and switch on my Runkeeper whenever I run.  

Each check in to the gym earns 15pts.  A 2.2 km run earns about 14 pts.   

I have thousand over points now :)

Can one cheat by checking in to the gym everyday or a few times a day?
I've no idea. Never tried and don't intend to try.
I'm a Buddhist, I believe in living with clear conscience...so I don't cheat.

So..yea..I'm looking forward to getting my Go Sport ID..I just got some problems sorted out, should be receiving in 2-3 weeks time :)

Speaking of customer service..I gotta give thumbs up to these guys.  I sent a message to it's FB page asking for some advice on which model I should opt for and which size is good for me, etc.  I got a reply within hours due to time zone difference.

Today, I had problems with the site while ordering online, I dropped another FB message at around 6pm our time and got a reply after 2 hours.  I was adviced to go on Live Chat with the Customer Service rep.  So I did.  The rep was polite and responsive.  They didn't maange to solve the problem on the spot, suggested that I provide them my details inclusive of payment details..which I wasn't comfortable with.
So, I declined and said I could wait, while I dropped another message to their FB page on the status.

To my surprise, they replied in less than 30 mins with a solution. And it worked :)

I'm a happy customer.

It was only a purchase worth USD6.95 (with the Earndit gift card) but the support service provided was simply excellent.

Hmm..this reminds me of that "International Skincare Brand" that I'm still waiting for them to return my call, it's been almost a month!

Not sure how big a brand or business is Go Sport ID .. but..WELL DONE!

More Drawings

Yea.. I haven't been updating, I know.

Been busy, sort of..and couldn't settle down to think of a good topic to talk about.

So..I thought these could be a good filler post :P

Yes..we are still playing Drawsome...although most tiems it's more of a guessing game.

It's less addictive now..but we are still at it..at a lower pace...well, I still learn 'a lot' from the game you know...

Let me tell you a secret - I've never watched a single movie of Lord of the Rings.  So... how the heck do I know how to guess this??  I didn't even know this was suppose to be some wizard from LOTR.  It's GANDALF..so I was told ..

And then..there was this.  Wth..I thought.  And so I learnt about CYCLOPS .  *rolling eyes*

And ...today.. LOL... I got reminded about DUMBO !!

At the back of my mind..i knew it's some "BO" character from somewhere... haha.... it must have been buried deep down in my childhood memory. Very deep down.

I sound like my Father..

"Roti bakar, telur, kopi in Sri Hartamas comes up to $9.20. Since when become so expensive"...a friend asked this morning.

My reply was .."since we stopped having regular income" :D

Seriously..have things suddenly gotten expensive or is it because we've become more sensitive to our expenses, now that we don't get a guaranteed paid every month end?

I went out for breakie today in a coffee shop.  Noodles was $5.50 and kopi was $1.30.  I was hungry by 12.30pm

On busy days when I eat in, I have my 3-in-1 Cappucino with some oats and biscuit..it lasted me till 1-2pm.  Cost ? Cappucino costs abotu $9 for 12 packs.  Biscuit...was $3.30 for 4 packs.  I only eat 1 pack each time.  So.. a relatively healthy breakfast at home costs less than $2!

Today's lunch was home cooked cantonese style meehoon..some pork, ginger, an egg and some mee hoon.  What's the cost?  $1? $2?


Gosh..what's happening to me? I sound like my father!

But..seriously..I don't feel all this previously. Cos..when we are out working..almost by default we eat out.  My lunch used to be easily $6-7 without drinks.  No wonder food business are cash cows.

Anyway..anyway..no worries..I'm still a foodie.  May be at a different level.  I shall try to eat only when it's really good and worth it.

Like..a good dose of Latte...something I can't make on my own.  But hor..a good latte costs around $8 ..hm..that's 4 days of home breakfast.  Lol~

Or when meeting up with friends..its worth spending a bit more..for a good chit chat.

 "Good food ends with good talk"

She's gone...

Mogwai is gone. 

She hasn't been home for over a week. 

The male cat is also missing.  My only hope is that they took off together and she's safe with him. 

And may be one day, they will come back together.

These are pics of her just about 2 days before she went missing.

I miss her lots...