sale?

There's no doubt that everyone has heard of that word before. While some people don't take notice of them, there are also those who worship sales anywhere. I'm more towards the ignoring sales group. One, I'm not a shopaholic, and two, I'm a bit cautious with my money (usually). I guess this is due to me not having a lot of money when I was small, and hence the act of saving became a habit to me.

I'm not saying I don't buy anything. Gila ke apa. However, I do think we should always live within our means. So if you're not rich, don't act like one. And if you are rich, then, urm, I guess you can act like one. Just don't forget to pay zakat. And maybe belanja unrich people like me once in a while. Just kidding of course. Well, maybe not.

Currently, there are sales everywhere. And it's not even Boxing Day yet. It's probably due to the credit crunch. The retails want to boost their sales up and hence are forced to cut the down the prices. Even the VAT has been decreased to 15% until the end of 2009. I suppose the 2.5% reduction isn't a huge drop but it's still significant. Every penny counts.

I guess the government reduced the VAT so that people and companies don't suffer so much. Maybe they think that the cut will encourage people to spend and hence 'stimulate' the economy. But it may bring a false sense of reality where people don't feel like the economy is down and merrily spend their money like nothing's wrong. Or maybe they are aware of the current economical situation but want to drown their sorrows by shopping. Oh if you're looking for shoes, go to Clarks at Oxford Street, near Oxford Circus (I tolong promote ni, Kat, hehe).

Many people seem to go shopping online nowadays, and who wouldn't. The discounts are sometimes ridiculous. I've already bought a Prince of Persia game plus some other goodies at a good price. Hehe.

I've been eyeing the Xbox 360 for a long time now and currently the best on offer is from Amazon. If you buy a 60GB one, you can get a free HDMI cable, a selected game for £10, plus an Xbox 360 Wireless Entertainment Pack which contains an Xbox 360 wireless controller and 2 games for only £20. So in total, it would be less than £200! Oh did I mention the free delivery? There's a very high possibility that I'll be buying one anytime soon and I'm gonna choose Star Wars: The Force Unleashed from the list of discounted games. Actually, I would prefer to buy Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 or Gears of War 2, but they're still a bit expensive. I'll just have to be patient.

Arin's Xbox 360 is already here in my flat, but my brothers keep playing with it, so maybe I should buy my own one. Karang rosak pulak Arin punya tu. Hehe, thanks Arin! Ah yes, my parents and 3 smallest brothers are here in the UK. So to those who want me to belanja them, I'm sorry but this month my gaji is for my family (and myself!), unless you're going to give me a birthday present of course. Hmm, just a few more weeks to buy one. And I've already hinted what I want. Haha perasan nya aku, dah la nak benda2 mahal je, ish ish ish.

Well, anyway, it's time for bed. But maybe I should go 'boost the economy' before I go to sleep...

salam aidiladha!

Assalamualaikum. Eid mubarak everyone! May the day be full of barakah for all of us.

I thought Raya Haji will be on Sunday so I didn't take any leave. Turns out that it's on Monday. Oh well, what to do. Woke up a bit earlier than usual to perform the Eid prayers (all alone huhu). Okay, I admit, I didn't wake up that early. I should go to Ustaz Erfino's blog later today to read his khutbah raya.

Oh and don't forget to invite me if there's any makan2. Haha.

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Adha!

Allahuakbar Allahuakbar Allahuakbar.
Laailahailallahu wallahuakbar.
Allahuakbar walillahilhamd.

lunch with housemaster

In Kolej Tuanku Ja'afar (KTJ), we stayed in 'houses' and each house had a housemaster and/or housemistress, usually British. I was in the Nadzimuddin house and we had David and Karen Hitchman.

They are currently in the UK and we had lunch with them at Khan's today, which was organised by Chia Wei. Last year they came as well at around this time of the year and Chia Wei also organised the lunch then. Mr and Mrs Hitchman must be really proud of Chia Wei, the boy they've seen growing up has become a man! Hehe.

Anyway, it was nice meeting them again and also seeing my juniors, who have grown taller. Man, when I left KTJ, Ashari was damn small, and now he's freakin' tall, but still as thin as a lidi. Hehe.

The Hitchmans will teach in KTJ for another year and then they'll retire peacefully in Cyprus. And Mrs Hitchman was proudly saying she has a Facebook account, so I'll just wait for her to post the photos there then, and hopefully someone would tag me (or I could just tag myself). Hmm, I should probably search for her account soon then...

nikki acquires symbiosis

I'm too lazy to write, so I've just copied and pasted the news:


Nikki Have Closed The Deal To Buy Symbiosis - The Foundation is Go!

Announced by Nikki CEO at Nikki World this morning was the news that the acquisition of Symbiosis Ltd has been completed, and therefore the plans for the Symbiosis Foundation move away from the theoretical discussions that happened at the Symbiosis Smartphone Show and into reality.

There's no official press release on this process as we write this up, but the announcement has been expected for some time, and indeed Williams was due in post 'from January 1st or such time as the Symbiosis Foundation is ready.' Looks like Williams will be starting 2009 with one of the biggest corporate open source projects of all time as his New Year's resolution.


Nikki Acquires Symbiosis Limited

Nikki today announced that it has completed its offer to acquire Symbiosis Limited. All conditions to Nikki's offer to acquire Symbiosis Limited have been satisfied and it has received valid acceptance of greater than 99.9% of the total Symbiosis shares that Nikki did not already own. Symbiosis is the software company that develops and licenses Symbiosis OS.

The closing of the offer is a fundamental step in the establishment of the Symbiosis Foundation, announced on June 24, 2008 by Nikki, together with AB&C, LP Electrics, Kokorola, NTG Dacima, Sammysong, Sonia Erika, ST-MYZ Wireless, Texco Instruments and Voodefun. More information about the planned foundation can be found at www.symbiosisfoundation.org.

All Symbiosis employees are planned to become Nikki employees on February 1, 2009.