Hundreds dead in double tragedy for Indonesia

A tsunami and a volcanic eruption in Indonesia have killed hundreds of people.

More than 400 are missing and tens of thousands displaced following the double tragedy, authorities said.

One of Indonesia's most active volcanoes spewed out clouds of ash and jets of searing gas in an eruption that has killed at least 28 people and injured 14.

Mount Merapi, on the outskirts of the city of Yogyakarta on Java island, first erupted on Tuesday, a day after a tsunami pounded remote islands in western Indonesia. The death toll from the tsunami is at least 282, according to one West Sumatra official.

The wave, triggered by a 7.5 magnitude quake that struck west of South Pagai in the Mentawai islands, flattened several villages and a surf resort. At least 411 people are still missing, while the National Disaster Mitigation Agency said at least 4,000 people have been displaced by the tsunami.

TV stations showed footage of villages flattened by the wave, with dejected survivors combing through rubble for belongings.

Authorities have been battling to handle both disasters, with more than 40,000 villagers evacuated from the slopes of Mount Merapi, where many houses have been destroyed, their ruins lying covered in white ash.

(source: msn)

Note: My condolence. To all my Indonesian friends, I hope nothing happen to you and your family.

Go and help to clean your mother's hand

One young academically excellent person went to apply for a managerial position in a big company.

He passed the first interview; the director did the last interview, made the last decision.

The director discovered from the CV, that the youth's academic result is excellent all the way, from the secondary school until the postgraduate research, never has a year he did not score.

The director asked, "Did you obtain any scholarship in school?" and the youth answered "none".

The director asked, " Is it your father pay for your school fees?" the youth answered, my father passed away when I was one year old, it is my mother who paid for my school fees.

The director asked, " Where did your mother worked?" the youth answered, my mother worked as cloth cleaner. The director requested the youth to show his hand, the youth showed a pair of hand that is smooth and perfect to the director.

The director asked, " Did you ever help your mother washed the cloth before?" The youth answered, never, my mother always wanted me to study and read more books, furthermore, my mother can wash cloths faster than me.

The director said, I had a request, when you go back today, go and help to clean your mother's hand, and then see me tomorrow morning.

The youth felt that its chance of landing the job is high, when he went back, he happily wanted to clean his mother's hand, his mother feel strange, happy but mixed with fear, she showed her hand to the kid.

The youth cleaned his mother's hand slowly, his tear drop down as he did that. It is first time he found his mother's hand is so wrinkled, and there are so many bruises in her hand. Some bruises incites pains so strong that shiver her mother's body when cleaned with water.

This is the first time the youth realized and experienced that it is this pair of hand that washed the cloth everyday to earn him the school fees, the bruises in the mother's hand is the price that the mother paid for his graduation and academic excellence and probably his future.

After finishing the cleaning of his mother hand, the youth quietly cleaned all remaining clothes for his mother.

That night, mother and sons talked for a very long time.

Next morning, the youth went to the director's office

The director noticed the tear in the youth's eye, asked: " Can you tell you what have you done and learned yesterday in your house?"

The youth answered, " I cleaned my mother's hand, and also finished cleaning all the remaining clothes'

The director asked, " please tell me your feeling."

The youth said, Number 1, I knew what is appreciation, without my mother, there would not the successful me today. Number 2, I knew how to work together with my mother, then only I can realize how difficult and tough to get something done. Number 3, I knew the importance and value of family relationship.

The director said, " This is what I am asking, I want to recruit a person that can appreciate the help of other, a person that knew the suffering of others to get thing done, and a person that would not put money as his only goal in life to be my manager. You are hired.

Later on, this young person worked very hard, and received the respect of his subordinates, every employees worked diligently and in a team, the company's result improved tremendously.

A child who has been protected and habitually given whatever he did, he developed "entitlement mentality" and always put himself first. He is ignorance of his parent's effort. When he started work, he assumed every people must listen to him, and when he became a manager, he would never know how suffering his employee and always blame others. For this kind of people, he can have good result, may be successful for a while, but eventually would not feel sense of achievement, he will grumble and full of hatred and fight for more. If we are this kind of protective parent, did we love the kid or destroy the kid?

You can let your kid lived in a big house, eat a good meal, learn piano, watch a big screen TV. But when you are cutting grass, please let them experienced it. After a meal, let them washed their plate and bowl together with their brothers and sisters. It is not because you do not have money to hire a maid, but it is because you want to love them in a right way. You want them to understand, no matter how rich their parent are, one day their hair will grow gray, same as the mother of that young person. The most important thing is your kid learns how to appreciate the effort and experience the difficulty and learn the ability to work with others to get thing done.

Paul the predicting octopus dies

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP)—Paul the Octopus, the tentacled tipster who fascinated football fans by correctly predicting results at this year’s World Cup, died Tuesday.

Paul had reached octopus old age of 2 1/2 years and died in his tank on Tuesday morning in an aquarium in the western German city of Oberhausen, spokeswoman Ariane Vieregge said.

Paul seemed to be in good shape when he was checked late Monday, but he did not make it through the night. He died of natural causes, Vieregge added.

“We had all naturally grown very fond of him and he will be sorely missed,” Sea Life manager Stefan Porwoll said in a statement.

The moment of truth: OctoPaul correctly predicts Spain to win the 2010 World Cup.

(Roberto Pfeil/AP)

The aquarium has not yet decided how best to commemorate their most famous resident, he said.

“We may decide to give Paul his own small burial plot within our grounds, and erect a modest permanent shrine,” Porwoll said.

After rising to global prominence during the World Cup in South Africa in June and July, Paul retired from the predictions business after the final between Spain and the Netherlands—the result of which he also forecast correctly—and returned to his prime role of making children happy.

The blogosphere erupted in sympathy for Paul, although some saw him more as a tasty morsel than a departed friend. “Will they cook him Galician-style? I wonder how much a plate of Paul with a beer must cost,” wrote Jordi, alluding to the popularity of octopus as a dish in the northwest Galicia region and much of Spain.

Others were more philosophical on hearing of Paul’s death.

“For the next month I will go to class dressed in mourning, wrapped in a black suit and with my gaze lost in the horizon, as this calamitous event deserves no less,” wrote ‘relojero’ which means watchmaker. Another blogger, Pedro, saw a sinister hand at work. “An autopsy should be carried out, it’s certain some betting office killed him.”

In July, the Sea Life aquarium in Oberhausen said Paul was stepping “back from the official oracle business.

“He won’t give any more oracle predictions—neither in football, nor in politics, lifestyle or economy,” said spokeswoman Tanja Munzig. “Paul will get back to his former job, namely making children laugh.”

Paul correctly tipped the outcome of all seven of Germany’s games. He made his predictions by opening the lid of one of two clear plastic boxes, each containing a mussel and bearing a team flag.

After his World Cup soothsaying skills were revealed, the English-born Paul was appointed as an ambassador to England’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup. He had English roots, having been hatched at Weymouth Sea Life Center on England’s south coast in 2008.

Imitators sprang up all over the world, including Mani the Parakeet in Singapore and Lorenzo the Parrot in Hannover, Germany.

The latest was a saltwater crocodile named Dirty Harry, who predicted Spain’s World Cup final win and called the result of Australia’s general election by snatching a chicken carcass dangling beneath a caricature of Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

“El Pulpo Paul” became so popular in Spain that the northwestern Spanish town of O Carballino tried to borrow him and made him an “honorary friend.”

In response to hundreds of requests to bring Paul to Spain, the Madrid Zoo asked Sea Life if it would be willing to make a deal to bring him in as a tribute to the Spanish football team’s victory, either temporarily or for good. But the German aquarium turned down that offer, too.

Paul also had an agent and Paul’s name will live on the Greek island of Zakynthos, where a permanent sea turtle rescue center funded in part by donations generated by the famous octopus is being established.

Associated Press writer David Rising in Berlin and Paul Logothetis in Madrid contributed to this report.

(source: Yahoo)

a thousand splendid suns

i got this from 2 friends. no, no not 1 book shared by two of them. but i got two books! they know i love to read and i have no idea why they could buy the same book. it would be better if they could get kite runner instead =p but, thank you ajil and norjan.

currently i’m reading this book and i just finished chapter 1. in chapter 2 now but i’ll be slower. got few assignment that need my attention and submitted in these few days. one of the assignments need great attention, indeed. collect 10 articles from any journal that related to the budget and write about it in 10,000 words. yea, i’m not kidding. damn!

if you are into reading, what book you currently reading and suggest it to me =) i heard fruit basket is good. i will write a review of this book soon yea.

the amber spyglass

ah yeah.

at least i’ve finished reading this book which i bought it in year… er, 2007? haha i don’t know why it took me so long to finish this book when i could finish another 2 books from its series in a blink? maybe i don’t like the storyline of this last book.

i’d say that the best is still the 1st book which is golden compass followed by subtle knife. this 3rd book is a bit boring with too much of the deaths stories and maybe, less of iorek? ops! sorry. you’d understand this if you read the book.

overall, these 3 books are good. you should get them all and let me know your opinion. alright? :)

 

note: don’t you think golden compass and subtle knife are way too good compared to boring spyglass? sigh.

very tired

i’m super busy lately. not just with my office work, but with assignments, study group, classes and also preparation for innovation day and 5 S. at this moment, i feel like a superman. can i sing the song superman, instead?

this week, i was hardly get a good rest and even a good sleep. unless, fell asleep unprepared should be considered as good sleep.

i got bunch of assignments to get done. i’m struggling. i mean, very struggling. the assignments are not easy and seriously i’m jealous to my colleagues who are taking courses from UITM. they have easier assignments and less tress compared to me (sorry, no hard feeling peeps from UITM ya). well, i asked them. not making my own conclusion though… trust me, for a part time student, you won’t want an assignment which you need a journal with 10 articles and make your own article based on them with 10,000 words. haha! big headache honey…!

(last night i fell asleep right after went to kfc with a friend (have to!) because the hot ticket from hotlink due on 15th).

this week, too, we did big preparation for the innovation day and 5 S. well, no stress seriously. we had a lot of fun but very tiring. picking up some stones at batu feringghi and in front of seagate. stick stuff here and there. re-designed the arch files. painting up our pantry. draw office map and the list goes on.

because of my tight schedule, i will only join badminton: juru open and cancel my plan to join penang bridge run :( it’s sad but i have to. or else i have to drop few subjects in usm this year. it’s a big NO NO :( see you penang bridge run next year, i hope.

so guys, what i want you to do is to pray that everything will be going smooth with me… as planned. God bless..!

bad accident: delima express bus from malacca to kuala lumpur

The worst accident in 2010. 11 died and 40 injured. involved 2 busses, 1 van and 3 cars. it happen when the express bus - Delima couldn’t control and went to the other side which is against others.

that’s why i don’t like to travel by bus :(

my condolence to the victims. God bless.

 

(source: jard)

The evil you do, remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!

A woman baked chapatti for members of her family and an extra one for a hungry passerby. She kept the extra chapatti on the window sill, for whosoever would take it away. Everyday, a hunchback came and took away the chapatti. Instead of expressing gratitude, he muttered the following words as he went his way: "The evil you do remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!" This went on, day after day. Everyday, the hunchback came, picked up the chapatti and uttered the words: "The evil you do, remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!"  The woman felt irritated. "Not a word of gratitude," she said to herself...

"Everyday this hunchback utters this jingle! What does he mean?"  One day, exasperated, she decided to do away with him. "I shall get rid of this hunchback," she said. And what did she do? She added poison to the chapatti she prepared for him! As she was about to keep it on the window sill, her hands trembled. "What is this I am doing?" she said.  Immediately, she threw the chapatti into the fire, prepared another one and kept it on the window sill. As usual, the hunchback came, picked up the chapatti and muttered the words: "The evil you do, remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!" The hunchback proceeded on his way, blissfully unaware of the war raging in the mind of the woman.

Everyday, as the woman placed the chapatti on the window sill, she offered a prayer for her son who had gone to a distant place to seek his fortune. For many months, she had no news of him.. She prayed for his safe return. That evening, there was a knock on the door. As she opened it, she was surprised to find her son standing in the doorway.  He had grown thin and lean. His garments were tattered and torn. He was hungry, starved and weak. As he saw his mother, he said, "Mom, it's a miracle I'm here. While I was but a mile away, I was so famished that I collapsed. I would have died, but just then an old hunchback passed by. I begged of him for a morsel of food, and he was kind enough to give me a whole chapatti. As he gave it to me, he said, "This is what I eat everyday: today, I shall give it to you, for your need is greater than mine!" " As the mother heard those words, her face turned pale.
She leaned against the door for support. She remembered the poisoned chapatti that she had made that morning. Had she not burnt it in the fire, it would have been eaten by her own son, and he would have lost his life! It was then that she realized the significance of the words: "The evil you do remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!"  Do good and Don't ever stop doing good, even if it’s not appreciated at that time.

If you like this, share it with others and I bet you so many lives would be touched.

Have a wonderful day.

coughing

maybe i should start with “how are you today?”

hope all my readers here are good and healthy. it has been like 2 or 3 months i cough and flu. flu is very seldom but cough often. it almost gone last month but then i got another attack. sigh.

so many type of pills and syrup i’ve tried but none of them could cure me.

i just came back from clinic and tried another set of flu pill, cough syrup and new thing the nose spray. hopefully it works and i can recover soon.

if this is not working, i would give myself the last pill that i used to take; the green tiny pill. heard it is for asthma patient who can’t take other medicine for cough. i don’t know. it was introduced by my ex-colleague kak munirah. she was like my guru for medicine. she even got a long list of medicine. wonder why she didn’t further her study in medicine instead of stuck in the company? LOL.

pray that i’ll recover soon peeps. if you are not feeling well, i pray for you yea? :)

daa…!

need more stress?

i believe a person who decides to continue study while working is ready for more stress instead of work stress. not to mention, some people facing family problem and it creates stress too.

so, i’m one of them. i have no idea why i had make this decision for the second attempt to put more pressure on me. blame the environment? or blame myself for putting myself in the middle of stress.

*brb -- need some water for my fcuking dry throat which cause non-stop cough!*

ok, back.

well, actually if you ask me, my intention of continue study is different from others. if you ask them, they would tell you that they want to go to higher position at work. officer, at least. or maybe apply for a teacher? but, it’s not me. why i would want a more difficult job/task if i can get same salary (including my other side income which give me positive cash flow) like them?

hmm. well, not only you but me too… wonder why?

self satisfaction perhaps? maybe. as i said before… i won’t be 40’s in my company and that’s it. instead of putting stress from work, i put the stress struggling to find a business for myself too. when i start a business, do i have plenty time for studying like now too? (eh plenty, right now? is it? eh eh!).

seriously, i envy those who take enjoyable course like music or art as their degree and master. better if phd. i’d prefer to continue my degree in IT instead of management a.k.a business but when i look back at my diploma, nothing much to be proud of. i mean, IT moves so fast as lightning and leave me alone. so, maybe it is a better opportunity to choose this field as i’d like to jump into business in the future.

oh ya, talking about future, how far is the future? well, only god knows.

enough crap from me. i need to submit an assignment this monday. daa…!

 

note1: oi bahagian perumahan, release my 22k! i need my house key :( i don’t want to be left alone do the renovation.

note2: anyone interested to rent a house at seberang jaya, do email me chanija@yahoo.com will keep you posted.