Heavenly Melodies Evangelistic Evening
I was told that Heavenly Melodies was a huge success in Sibu. They were in Miri Eastwood Golf and Country club last night attended by some 3000 people. The storyline was good and the song of praise was fantastic and full of meaning.
I am the official photographer for the Miri District Methodist organisation. So, people will see me busy taking photos at all district level activities. I will publish the photo later. So if you are looking for more photos, do come back again.
More info can be found on Brother James' blog.
Starting with a praise song...

Then a drama. What is life? Are we spending it busy on holiday, enjoyment, etc?

or busy shopping, shopping, shopping...?

Or are we envying others and never earn enough ...

We are under bondage....

because of our life style....

We need to be set free.... Jesus is the way!

to set us free from the bondages...

Yes, His hand is bigger then us. We can depend on Him. Introduction praise song by our own young singer from Miri.

The place was packed...

In fact, this place is huge! Perfect for concert...

There are three wings....

People were attentative!

A beautiful closing song...



Time for photo shoot ...

One was here before and another was here in Miri first time... they like it.

More group photos....

and more ...

and more...

These are our church workers.

Praise the Lord for the good work by everyone.
More photos can be view at my photo album. Remember that the photos on the album are not suitable for printing. If you need to print, send me an e-mail. If you want more than 2 images, you must order a CD at RM10.00.

Digital Makeup
I coined up this term "digital makeup" and I am not sure if anyone else is using it already. When I was in my teen, we have a photo studio together with my brother who is only two years older. We started the business in a small town called Limbang. From this "business" I learned a great deal about how some people react when they saw themselves. That was 1970.
My brother went to Singapore and took a crash course in photography. He came back armed with the most modern field/studio camera called Linhof complete with a super duper tripod. This camera was so fantastic that I have never saw any one else who can take such sharp/clear images. All the other studios were using the huge bulky "made in China" camera with a shutter release which was pneumatic driven through a small balloon. You squeezed it to take the picture.
I remember a case where I proudly showed an old lady a passport photo which I took. I looked at her photo and "retouched" it a little but leave behind lots of fine lines on her face. I said, those are line of wisdom. If I remove them, I may get scolded. If I don't remove them, I may be appreciated to showing her "real" self. You know what happened when the photo was shown to her? She said, "That is not me", walked off and refuses to pay! hahaha... I wish we had digital camera at that time. I would have rewind the clock back by at least another 10 years and make her look so young that her moral will be instantly boosted! Perhaps, that old lady could be smiling to herself for the rest of her life!So, that is my motivation of “digital makeup”. Although it is not the real self, but I realised that many of us are trying our best to make ourselves look “best”. Below are just two samples. How do you like them? Leave a comment or a message in my chatter box. If you want yours done, please let me know. There is a tiny fees attached. To see the effect, click on the photos and compare.


The way you smile and the shape of the face is also slightly changed. Your smile is not nice? Don't worry. It can be modified.

By the way, they are my colleague and friends.

Political Stuff, flooding and traffic jam
I try to avoid political stuff on my blog. I will leave them to the "big boys" in politic. But today, I came across this entry by someone really angry (need to scroll down to 18 June 2008) and was breathing fire. He was angry over a couple of issues but one of them is the crawling vehicles during rain. In the article written by “someone”, he uses lots of four-letter words and foul language. In reality, uses of such words should be avoided otherwise the recipient will simply not read it.
For us in East Malaysia, it is quite difficult to visualise the driving condition in Klang Valley. But I had a year of driving experience in PJ/KL. As long as there is no rain, vehicles can "move" and with rain, all vehicles literally stop. It took me nearly 2 hours to reach home while the usual journey was only 15 minutes. Flooding is not everywhere but only at places where it is enough to create havoc. Why is it that suddenly there is flood every time it rain? I think it is due to over development + too much covering up of the ground. Before development, water will seep through the ground and now, it flow on top of concrete or “compacted” ground. Perhaps one possible cheap way to resolve such a problem is to make lots of deep “breathing” holes in the ground of built up area. These breathing holes could be filled with porous material. So, during rain, the water will simply seep through these “holes” and disappear into the ground.

6 IMPORTANT MANAGEMENT LESSONS ...
Lesson 6:

A little bird was flying south for the Winter.It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field. While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him. As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was.
The dung was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy.
A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate.
Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Morals of this story

(1) Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy.

(2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.

(3) And when you're in deep shit, it's best to keep your mouth shut!

6 IMPORTANT MANAGEMENT LESSONS ...
Lesson 5:

A turkey was chatting with a bull. "I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree," sighed the turkey,"but I haven't got the energy."
"Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?" replied the bull.
They're packed with nutrients."
The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree.
The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch.
Finally after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top of the tree. He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.

Moral of the story
Bull Shit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.

New Nikon DSLR
It is amazing how fast digital camera evolve nowadays. I remember during the 70s, camera company hardly announce new cameras. Nowadays, it seems that a new model is out every few months. And each one exceed in quality as compared to the previous one.

So, fresh from the oven, Nikon new baby: D700! When I first read it, I thought that it is a mistake, ie, one zero too many. But comparing this camera with my D3, the specifications that attracted my attention most is that it has a built in wireless connection to PC! It also weigh in at less than 1kg whereas my D3 is a 1.24kg heavy weight! Then the battery is the normal D200/D70 type/shape battery which is a lot cheaper. It can also make 500 shots from a single charge. On the D3, a single charge can take more than 1000 shots. Again, it depends very much on your shooting style, eg, raw, raw+jpg, etc, which will eat up the battery.

Picture from http://www.nikon.com.my/

This new toy is not going to be cheap. I estimate that it is around RM10K for the body. With lens thrown in, it should cost around RM15k (around US$4500). But this is good news for many who have been waiting for a cheaper full frame (FX) from Nikon.


Picture from http://www.nikon.com.my/

What ever it is, I have lots of fun with my toy. This toy continues to impress me. However, I do have one frustration... I have no idea how to upload new firmware other than pulling the CF memory card out and plug it into a card reader. The other frustration... it is heavy. With the 24-70mm lens, the whole lot weigh an additional 900gm. Then if a flash is installed, it weigh almost 3kg!

For a detailed comparison, click here.

p/s I finally found out how to upload the firmware to the memory card after I have successfully upgraded the firmware. The camera USB port must be set to MSC Mass Storage USB mode! The features I am looking forward to are the improved performance on WB and auto focus. Currently, the autofocus in extreme poor light condition is frustrating.

Most of my photos on my blog were taken with D3, mostly without flash and post processing. There may be some which were taken with a D200. My lucky daughters are now the lucky owner of the D200.

6 IMPORTANT MANAGEMENT LESSONS ...

Lesson 4:

An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing. A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, "Can I also sit like you and do nothing?"
The eagle answered: "Sure , why not."
So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Moral of the story:
To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.

Happening Today - Sunday 6-July-2008
Looking back, I find it amazing how time flies. It wasn't too long ago when Esther was first born, that was mid 80's. Now, when I look at the children whom I meet every week, I just see them different every week.
Wah... look at him. It was like yesterday when I saw him being carried around in his mum's (dad's) arms. But today, see, he is so handsome and running around!

And just observing him... he is our favorite. Looks like he doesn't mind who is carring him.

A scene like this will not happen all the time. Before we realise it, the boy is too heavy to be carried in this way by the father! Boy! Remember this, I believe every child has gone through this....

We are entering the second week of 40DOP. There are far more people this week compare with normal. This must be the direct result of 40DOP.

... and see who is visiting us... He is also more handsome now! A grown up young man!

And he brought along 2 friends from West Malaysia.

ok... serious stuff now. Small group leader meeting.

Then we are off to Eric's house to enjoy a bowl of "long life noodle". He has a baby girl recently. He loves collecting models of ancient sailing boat!

... so many of us... Ming Hung, Kong Yu, Rose, Abel, James, Eric, mummy, Ah Jon. The boys were somewhere behind the camera. Another group from the church arrived later.

See, there are so much to eat... sweet corn, chicken in red wine, etc.

The most important food... "long life noodle"

ok... here is my garden. It looks better during the day time. I would say, this is my best try in planting veggie after 20+ years.

And the banana trees...

Me and my garden

I blog about my garden on May 24 and I just realised that I forgot to update about it. So I quickly go to the balcony and ...
take this picture in the middle of the night. Fortunately it can show almost everything. Notice the mango. After I weeded the little garden which was full of overgrown grass, it is now producing veggie! There is a bed of sweet potatoes (at least another few more months), sayur rajah and "potatoes leaves". Other veggie has been growing very well at the other side. We have harvested the veggie three times already.


There was a mango which I took a picture off in May. This mango has been digested long ago. But there are now many new mangoes because I put fertilizer (urea pallet). I should say that the urea has been doing good to all the veggie and fruit trees.
See the result...

The "coconut mango" is huge! It weigh 1.25Kg!

New Thai Restaurant in Lutong Baru - The Makanan Ala Thai

It just occur to me the other day that I seldom saw my neighbour's Thai wife nowadays. She is a good cook and very enterprising. She imported ingredient from Thailand and use them to prepare Thai food in Miri. Therefore, you would expect authentic Thai food from her new restaurant. It is also halal.

We went there a few weeks back and I like the food. Unfortunately I lost the description of the food. If I find it one day, I shall post again. Price wise, I think it is very reasonable. They all cost less than RM10.

Thai version of chendo...

Fried kueh tiew

Fried rice

Curry roasted chicken

Fried rice with egg, fish, etc.

To go there, enter Lutong Baru road. At T junction, turn left. You will see Lutong Baru shop in front of you. Turn right and look out for this sign on your left.

6 IMPORTANT MANAGEMENT LESSONS ...

Lesson 3:
A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp. They rub it and a Genie comes out. The Genie says, "I'll give each of you just one wish." "Me first! Me first!" says the admin clerk. "I want to be in the Bahamas, driving a speedboat, without a care in the world." Puff! She's gone. "Me next! Me next!" says the sales rep. "I want to be in Hawaii, relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas and the love of my life." Puff! He's gone. "OK, you're up," the Genie says to the manager. The manager says, "I want those two back in the office after lunch."

Moral of the story: Always let your boss have the first say.

Note: I skip lesson 2. It is referring to a biblical passage which does not match the text.

6 IMPORTANT MANAGEMENT LESSONS ...

Lesson 1:
A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower, when the doorbell rings. The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs. When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next-door neighbor. Before she says a word, Bob says, "I'll give you $800 to drop that towel, " After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob After a few seconds, Bob hands her $800 and leaves. The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs. When she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks, "Who was that?" "It was Bob the next door neighbor," she replies. "Great," the husband says, "did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?"


Moral of the story:

If you share critical information pertaining to credit and risk with your shareholders in time, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable exposure.

5 more lessons for the next five days...

You need encouragement? Watch this!

Many of us were affected by the way we look, our inability to cope with life, etc. Just watch this video and say to yourself... "How blessed I am and I am going to make an impact to others through my life".

Nick Vujicic's Testimony
How having no arms and no legs has affected his walk with God.