Sleep... It's Important. P.Tioman Day 2

Starting the 2nd day I was worried but decided that I will push through anything that is handed to me.  I sought out the seasickness pills that was given to me by Dr. Ravi (our family physician), and took the pills with a little bit of bread.  I was determined not to be the provider of food for the fish around tioman again today.  

Everybody was up and ready at 9am and off we went to the Dive Centre where as usual our fearless leader was there and getting ready for his brief.  I have a lot of respect for Nizam, he never mentioned once of the incidents that happened yesterday and told us all to expect an awesome dive today.  We had 2 shores dives planned for today and lots of exercises that we are planning to do.  He also stated that not to worry about the dive and instead enjoy yourselves during the dive. 

1st Dive....

So we did the exact same thing, we prepared all our equipment and got ready.  We had our normal buddy check.  My buddy for all the dives is my 10 year old daughter, while my 14 year old son was my wife's buddy.  After the per-requisite buddy check we were in the water.  I felt so much better, I had at least 8 hours of sleep and my body was feeling good at this point.  It really translated to the dive, it was awesome.  I never thought that I would be able to experience this type of environment, it was great and the whole family was so having a grand old time throughout the 1st dive.  I would recommend this activity for any family it really brought us all together doing an activity that we never thought we would ever be doing.  

This was the pair of sotongs that we saw swimming around.

Little Fish, I thought it was ikan bilis but there was no pizza hut in tioman

Told my daughter that it was vegetables

breathtaking.. we were underwater... yeahhh

I can't believe that they bury themselves in a hole

the 2nd Dive... 

After about 3 hours doing all the different exercises, we headed back in with renewed vigor and excitement for the 2nd Dive.  By the time we arrived at the Dive Centre our friends had arrived and we were chatting about the awesome sights that we had seen whilst underwater, and they told us that we are in for more amazing scenery as we go deeper and further.  I couldn't wait for the 2nd dive.  This was certainly a flip to what I was feeling on Day 1.  We had a simple but great lunch and I have to remark that when you are with friends it makes the whole experience more exciting.  

After about 2 hours, we were ready and rearing to go again.  Did the whole buddy check again, but this time, they decided that it was time for us to dive from the jetty where we would be able to practice our giant step / stride.  That was exciting and after clearing the jetty, we were also asked to do a CESA, which is a Control Emergency Surface Ascent... hopefully I got the acronym right, but with that bit of exercise done, we were allowed to take a leisure dive exploring the area.  Even though I had felt a lot better, but I had caught my daughter's fever and felt my sinuses being pressed in my head, so my descend was a lot of slower and I had to constantly equalize, but I wasn't going to miss this adventure. 

 

A nudie... awesome little creature.. lots of variation

Triangle Fish (Bawal I think).. creating a vortex under the salang jetty

Another fish vortex.. Great

Another view of a school of fish under the salang jetty

That's me... not a whale shark as some had said

The 2nd dive ended with the whole family wanting more and after cleaning our equipment, we were given a briefing by our divemaster.  He told us that we would be going to Pulau Labas and Batu Malang, and it would be our 1st boat dives in the middle of South China Sea.... Wow.

 

OWD or OMG Get me out of here.... Day 1 P.Tioman

Upon our arrival in P. Tioman, the head, sifu and guru of our band of diving warriors announced that it is time for us to unpack and at 3pm we are to go to the Dive Centre for our 1st dive.  I was horrified thinking upon arrival I would be given a chance to take a much needed nap and relax and have the dive begin the next day.  But being the macho man that I like to think I am, I just kept quiet and agreed reluctantly. 

After having a nice lunch we all went to the Dive Centre (Marine Monkies) and started with the installation of equipment.  I was already feeling extremely tired and a little bit sea sick but after seeing my 2 children excited about the dive I just continued installation of the equipment under the supervision of our divemaster.... Nizam Mansor of the Nizam Dive Team.  

 

Nizam Mansor, our fearless Leader/DiveMaster

Nizam of Nizam Dive Team

 Within minutes in the hot sun and the bouncing waves I felt sea sick and I was ready to hurl.  Informing this bit of information to our fearless leader, he told me go ahead and puke.  So I did what I was told and I believe my whole lunch and dinner came out.  I told him that I was done and ready to get out.  He continued with the rest of the family as they were doing well, and I had left the ocean for the shore and carried my self with the damn scuba tank on my back all the way to the dive centre.  Our friends as well as Nizam kept giving us lots of encouragement and all I was thinking about was the fact that the fish had lots to eat due to my vomit and I was extremely hungry.  I had almost given up but my lovely sayang kept saying that it was OK and lets continue tomorrow. 

Thanks again baby girl..

Pulau Tioman .... WOW....

We started the trip at about 5am on the 19.03.2013.  We had to drive to Tg. Gemuk to take a 11:30am ferry to Pulau Tioman.  The children were excited because they didn't have to go to school for that week but also it was really the 1st time in a couple of weeks that all of us are all together.  The trip started with a call that told us the other party in our group was having car trouble.  Specifically a flat on the highway.  So off we went and formed a sleepy but effective rescue party.  It was lucky a 2nd car was available and we sped off because we were already late.  Having to go through internal kampung roads, this early and at this speed was something that we were not looking forward to.  And as usual i did not sleep the night before worried that I might miss the wake up early in the morning. 

The trip was uneventful with exception that I found how powerful the navara was when compared to the Hilux.  I have had a Hilux before and thought that it was a great pickup but the navara really showed its worth during the drive.  There was a 3 car convoy and it was great fun going through Senawang, Kuala Pilah, Muadzam Shah and then Kuala Rompin and more specifically Tg. Gemuk. 

Upon our arrival we unloaded all the pickups and saw the amount of stuff that each family had brought along when compared to 3 single guys that was accompanying us on this trip.  They had 2 bags, whilst the other 2 families had a whole pickup of stuff.  But that is the price that we pay when we have a family.  I had already started to feel nausea due to the lack of sleep, food, drink and the constant smoking that was required for me to stay awake.  So off we went on the ferry for our boat ride to P. Tioman.  Awesome and really excited when we started seeing the paradise they call Tioman.

Looking at the wonderful scenery and the extremely laid back environment, I can understand why people want to keep going back again and again.  It was extremely relaxing and especially after the challenges of the week before it was certainly a welcoming respite away from everything and together with the people that you love the most.  Those are my wife and 3 awesome children.  Thank you sayang for pushing us to do this together.  I love you.

 

Keep Writing.... 11.3 - 14.3.2013

After getting the car, procrastination set in as usual.  We had a very strategic tender that we were participating and I was the tender chief for the submission.  I had assigned everyone for the work that needed to be done which was a lot, and suddenly on the 11th of March I realized that we only had 3 days to go before submission.  Though a lot of the work had been done, and we have had the specifications of the tender for about 3 weeks, I have to admit it was on this day that I finally looked at the tender.  What a procrastinator !!!  This was a habit that I have not been able to beat out of me.  I don't why but I keep telling myself that I create my best work when I am pressured and at the last minute.  It had taken all my life to realize that it is just a statement to justify me not doing anything till the end.  For this tender it was exactly the same.  

11.03.2013

After the service was done with the Navara I had decided since it took till 12pm to finish the service and since the day is half gone it would be more beneficial if I took the navara to have its sport lid to be installed.  (see the justification and excuses for procrastination).   I took the truck to Batu Caves and installed the sport lid knowing that I had work to do and also knowing that the install would take at least 2 - 3 hours.  As I had waited at the shop and sure enough exactly at 4:30pm the sport lid was installed.  At this time, I rushed back to the office to begin the critical meeting that was to discuss the progress of the tender.  I have to say, I was proud of all the Engineers and staff members that was involved in the meeting, they were all ready and the pricing information was about 80% done.  But as usual my component was not ready.  

At the end of the meeting, I had decided that I have to start the proposal writing and hopefully it would be done.  There were several documents that I had to write which were:- 

1.  Project Management Proposal

2.  Maintenance Methodology

3.  Technology Retention Proposal 

4.  Quality Assurance / Quality Control Proposal. 

These are standard documents that had to be submitted within all tenders, and over the years our company had never had one that was done and written in a way that it could be slotted within any proposal with minimal changes.  That was my challenge and it started at about 8:30pm on the 11.3.2013.  

I remembered feeling pumped and ready for the challenge, and in my head I had lots and lots of ideas on how to write all 4 proposals at the sametime.  BIG MISTAKE.  At about 1:30am on the 12th of March 2013, I felt like such a failure, my Maintenance Methodology did have an introduction of 1/2 a page and that was it.  It was so difficult to get the words to transfer from my mind to my fingers to type.  I said that it wasn't like before when I had set up these documents for the companies that I use to work for and it is still being used today.  I had written those documents in its entirety within 4 - 6 hours.  And imagine for my own company, after 5 hours I only had 1/2 a page.  

I decided to go home and rest and knowing that there were meetings and other engagements that was on my plate from the 11th - 14th.  

12.03.2013

Had to attend to a meeting that was called by the customer and after siting there with my project manager I rushed back to the office to again tackle the documents that was still pending.  On this day, I was nervous because we had not received pricing from 1 OEM which forms the bulk of the pricing for our tender.  The OEM decided that they are unable to provide a quotation due to their agreement with the existing contractor and it has to be exclusive to them. 

Imagine after hearing this, I was actually a little bit ecstatic thinking that I don't have to do this anymore.  What a moron.  I continued with the proposals but with less enthusiasm as I knew that I would have the time to prepare the document.  With those thoughts in my head I slowed down.  From the progress i had on the previous day, I was able to complete 2 additional pages.  I couldn't believe it because I had done only 2 1/2 pages in 2 days.  Ridiculous.  Again, I knocked off at about midnight and went home. 

13.03.2013

D-Day.  This was to be the day that all proposals are to be finalized and our tender response was to be compiled and packed for submission.  In the morning, the flow was a lot better, I had finished my Maintenance Methodology (at last count 63 pages worth of writing), and started on the Project Management Proposal.  At 4pm I still have not received the pricing from the OEM and had a serious discussion with my engineering and finance teams.  It was decided that if we didn't receive any indication of price before midnight, we will abandon this submission.  I had sent everyone home and went to work on my other documents.  At about 7pm I had received a phone call that confirmed the pricing after much negotiations and back & forth over the phone.  I had called everyone to come back to the office and at 10pm we should see what we have.  

Again, as usual all the other components of our submission was done, and with the price received from the OEM it was complete.  The only portions that were not complete at this time was the Project Management Proposal as well as the tender response.  Could you believe that the tender response was still not done.  Before getting upset I realized that it was my task and I had overlooked and failed.  I told my team, give me till 8am on the 14.3.2013, and it will be done.  

14.03.2013

I went through all the work and it was certainly draining, doing 2 weeks worth of work in about 10 hours, but finally we were done and we were now confronted with the actual price to submit.  After finalizing our cost, I went home at 7am and did my normal activity to shower and use the toilet.  (By the way all my brilliance comes from when I am on the toilet), and lo and behold the final price came to my while taking a puff and sitting on the "throne".  

I was back in the office and gave the final price for us to submit.  At that point everyone was exhausted and we closed the office.  Our final price in hand and we hope that we had made the right decisions.  Later in the afternoon after crashing at home, I was back in the office and was receiving calls after calls telling us that we are the lowest in our submission.  It was already listed in the eperolehan, and I couldn't believe it.  I was feeling a mixture of fear and happiness at the sametime.  Happiness because I was the lowest but scared thinking did I screw up on the price.  So we shall see.  

But what a week, at least I had a week long Pulau Tioman break for my OWD to look forward to. 

 

 

It's been a long time

I had set out to do this blog as a daily reminder of the tribulations that I may encounter in handling my daily life.  And also more importantly to begin writing again.  I had found that my interest or capability of writing comprehensible words had left me.  Throughout the last 3 - 4 years it had been a real chore when it comes to various proposals, business plans and market research.  Sadly even after several postings the desire and joy to write is still not with me.  But as my business professor once said in college.. "Keep Trying, the plug in your head might dislodge one day".  So here I go again.  

It had been a wonderful 3 or so weeks after the last submission.  I had gotten the car that we had just bought and immediately decided to clock the 1000km as quickly as I possibly can.  I had conspired with our driver to use the navara exclusively and even taken the bold step to make an appointment at the Nissan Balakong Service Centre to do the 1st service for the vehicle.  

The progress was going well from the day that we had received the vehicle till the 8th of March 2013.  On Friday, the 8th of March, the mileage counter showed that we had driven the Navara for 745km.  The plan was to have several activities happening during the weekend that will enable us to get the required 255km but as in any well laid plans, it kinda went kaput due to inactivity on my part.  We had gone to the Nissan Service Centre with about 875km at 10am on Monday, 11th of March 2013 and luckily they had said that it was enough.  

The top reason for me to get the Navara to the 1000km mark and its 1st service was because of the dive trip that we had planned in Pulau Tioman for the 18.3.2013.  The navara was bought specifically to be the dive vehicle so that it can carry all the required equipment such as the BCD's (4 sets), luggage (clothes), baby food and others.  You can see that it was fully packed up, but still had lots of space.  

This packing was done at 10pm on the 18.3.2013 and i decided to take a small memory picture of our 1st dive trip to P. Tioman for our Open Water Diver Certification.  But I digress, there was certainly lots that happened on the days before our awesome trip. 

That will be done with my next post.  

It's a Tuesday

After a long wait for the car, it had finally arrived.  It was picked up at 11:57am and it drives really powerful.  It has been a long time since I have driven a "stick-shift" (manual), and it was a lot fun.  I can't wait to take the care out for a real spin, it has 6 speeds and a powerful engine for a pick up truck. 

It is going to be fun to really put the truck through its paces and see whether it lives up to its billing.  Looking forward to that, but only after the 14th of March. 

Now for today, back to work, a proposal is due tomorrow.  Tonight is going to be a long night. 

Just as a thought, the other day when the family was together I was feeling that my life is complete, with my wife, my son and my 2 daughters.  I am truly blessed for having such a wonderful family.  And it all starts with my beautiful wife.  Thank you my love. 

Buying a Car.....

I remembered the 1st car I had ever bought, it was a Nissan Terrano and it was in 1995.  Till today I still remember my experience which was less than positive.  Since 1995, I have bought a KIA Carens, Proton Perdana V6, 2 x Toyota Hilux, Ssanyong Rexton, Toyota LandCruiser, MYVi 1.3, MYVi 1.5, Mercedes Benz C230, Volvo 940 and just last month it was a Nissan Navara.  With exception to the Volvo 940, which was bought from a Customer, the Perdana and the Hilux, my experience with the salesman had always been the same.  Disappointing. 

Over those years, I have had to scream, shout and threaten the sales people in order to get the vehicle delivered on the date that THEY promised.  I still can't over the fact that it seems so easy for these folks to promise the dates that they can deliver.  Even after I had explained to them my previous experience and tell them please don't promise a date that they can't make it, they still do the same damn thing.  

They keep saying that there is no problem and yet at the end of the day, there are always excuses and issues that does not allow them to deliver.  And the excuses gets to be the same thing every time.  It is extremely tiring and annoying.  

In my case for the Nissan Navara, I had ordered the car sight unseen and told the sales person to please give me a date that they can deliver.  Imagine that, I did not ask for a certain date, but I asked him to propose the date of delivery.  Again, he told me that it was definitely after Chinese New Year, and it will be before the 28th of February.  

Initially the problem was that they were unable to get the registration number that I wanted and I said OK, we will wait for the number.  That stopped till this pass Saturday, 2nd of March whereby I had met a friend that said that the number should not be a problem.  He will call me on Monday to tell me the price.  On Monday, 4th of March at 11am he called and told me that the number is booked and ready to be registered.  Imagine that the sales person had about 1 month to sort the number and he couldn't do it.  My friend did it within 3 hours.  I thought the sales person did this for a living, but again, something else that I need to solve.  

After solving this challenge I expected that the rest of the process was easy, but again, the salesperson took their time in picking up the number ticket and then assumed that the system was going to be OK, then lo and behold the system went offline, so again, the excuse came out that they are unable to register.  The worst part was that during the whole process, they just don't like to keep us informed.  Only when we call they provide an update, and that really pisses me off.  As a proper sales person, we should keep the customers updated at all times, but each of these sales people just doesn't do that.  I am really disappointed and have no real hope with these car salesmen.  

Well as usual customers suffer and these idiots keeps selling.  I hope that 1 day these guys gets their act together and understand what a sales person's responsibilities actually are.  Here to the dude in Nissan Bangi, choke on your commission bro.  We will never use you again.