Well, the reason of a dry month is because I have moved out of my old service apartment with internet access to a new place that unfortunately does not have internet access. Damn! I am looking into a few cool offers at the moment and hopefully will get a decent internet connection fitted into my new home shortly. I will try and do a few back posts using the magic of wordpress shortly as I have tons of pictures to share.

If you seen blog posts about my new apartment and my trip to hamburg, this means that I have successfully updated the blogs.

It is just under two weeks before I head home to Malaysia. I can’t wait for that!

Cheers,

Benny Ong

I went into the office today to have an experience of how BAT Germany is. They are currently located in a temporary office while their main office is being refurbished.

At lunchtime, we, the Malaysian contingency in BAT Hamburg headed to Haus5, which is a restaurant across the road for their famous sausages. It has tomato sauce on it and sprinkled with curry powder.

I left the office at 3.00 and made my way back to Southampton whereby I arrive at about 9.00p.m. in the evening.

Cheers,

GSD’s Europe Zone Meeting was to be held at Hamburg this year. I did not miss my chance to attend it although it is between my project deployment weekends. I flew British Airways which my peers have mentioned to have quite a reputation on delays. The in flight service was very poor and I can understand why people love Malaysia Airlines.

Song Yia picked me up from the airport yesterday and I was damn excited to see her after about a month apart. I took the chance in the morning to do some sight seeing before arriving at the zone meeting location in a hotel.

It was nice to see tons of colleagues from the Europe region and mapping the names to the faces. It was also a very good opportunity for me to expand my network. The meeting was very interesting with a lot of activities such as creating our master piece and also constructing IKEA furniture for a shelter home.

We also lighted up fireworks towards the end of the event and toasted champagne to a wonderful year 2007 was.

We soon had dinner at a restaurant which was walking distance away from the hotel. The food was glorious and very filling. I went for endless rounds and the beer made me full at the end.

There was Salsa dancing whereby the crowd took on the floor.

Cheers,

I am happy that I have finally moved in to my new place. The only downside is that there is no internet which I live for.

Well, the moment I got home, I headed straight away to ASDA to get a Digital Set Top Box. This will allow me to tune into over 30 free digital channels better than the 5 free channels that airs.

I am unsure how these channels earn money but I bet it is from advertising. It was recently highlighted that the sales of Set Top Box have surpass SKY (The equivalent to ASTRO in Malaysia) and other cable providers.

The setup of this is easy and took less than 5 minutes. The reception is depending on your location as I remembered when I stayed at Queensway, London, I only managed to receive limited channels and it was depending on the weather. Reception here have so far been very good.

I will be hunting for my internet provider next which I hope will in return give as much value as Freeview.

I finally moved out of my scenic apartment at the edge of Southampton to a one nearer to the city center. I like the new place as it is walking distance to various shops.

It has already got a new phone line fitted in but lacking the internet which I hope will be sorted out soon.

Here are a few pics of my new pad.

Cheers,

Benny Ong

Horsley Court

I spent the night at Horsley Court which is BAT’s International training Center. I have always wanted to come here ever since I heard of its existence. Staffs that are nominated for international trainings will attend them here from all over the globe.

Outside Horsley Court

The Garden

I had a chance to be here thanks to my new team. Here are a few of the pictures I took of Horsley Court.

The rooms are very nice and comfortable.

The Bed

The TV

iBase for iPod owners to play their music

All for now and I promise regular posts and updates… and Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

Today was fun to get out of the office for a day to attend a team building event. I was invited to join my new team last week. I woke up at 5.45 a.m. to get the 6.30 train to Horsely whereby a colleague Jim, picked me up with a hired Van. It is also the first time I have ventured out of Southampton ever since I arrived this year.

A heap of documentation was sent to me but I never bothered reading them carefully but in terms of expectations, I knew we were supposed to wear clothes that we no longer want. In my mind, I was saying how dirty could we get and only pack minimal change.

After everyone arrived, we took a drive to Surrey Paintball Center where our ordeal begins. I was told that I did not have proper shoes and luckily they found some for me. We put on an army like camouflage jumper on and proceeded to our first challenge after being split into team yellow and blue.

Me in Team Yellow

Team Yellow & Blue

We had to go through a course in the cold and muddy tracks while carrying a tire each. It looks really easy but I slip several times trying to negotiate the slopes.

Sliding Off A Slope

After the assault course, we continued the day with tug of war, shooting range and javelin throw. Soon it was lunch and we were told to remove our jeans underneath our jumper as we were going to get wet up to the waist. I thought to myself that they were mad and a bit hesitant because of the cold.

I Made A New Friend

When we were next to the river, something took over and everyone decided to go ahead and do the full course. We started running through the ice cold river and going through obstacles. It was a combination of a commando like training circuit. The muddy surface made it harder. I jump into ice cold freezing water, crawl under barb wires (I was told they were rubber look a likes after the event), squeeze my way through barrels and slide down muddy slopes. Although our team did not win, I walked away with this amazing experience.

Tyre Wall in the River

Ice Cold Water Waist Deep!!

Everyone At The End of the Course

Second Place (Note the Loser Sign by the Marshall)

I was exhausted at the end of the day but spent some time in the chill out room of Horsley Court which is BAT’s International Training Center with lodging facilities.

Cheers.

After a few dry days from posting, I would like to reflect on this few days that have been keeping me busy and tied up. Today, I manage to see a few Malaysian peers which was a good relief.

Ever since I landed here in the UK and undertaking a work of this scale, I never thought I would cope. I am thankful of the opportunity given and also the challenge ahead. The pressure of moving and managing a project at the same time never appealed to me but I believe I am prevailing.

I have survived through the first weekend of project deployment and am thankful for the support I have received from the people around me. The project was indeed a success based on the feedbacks I have received.

This experience has teached me to make key decisions and trust my instinct more. I used to get worried about petty things that distract me from my focus or main goals. It is also usual occurrences that I panic on things that can wait. Prioritization will be the right word or the solution I suppose. It is something that I am working towards achieving a balance of which I am sure that I can master with true dedication.

I have good news for tomorrow as I will be joining my new team for an event at the company’s main training hub. I would be waking up at 6.00a.m to get a train from Southampton to get myself there. I haven’t packed yet but I am very keen and looking forward to yet more life enriching experiences there. I will bring my camera to snap a few pictures.

Thinking about things, I can’t wait for this weekend’s deployment and also making my way to Hamburg next week for a company meeting.

I promise pictures in the upcoming posts.

Take care everyone!

The advertisment has been running on the TV countless of times during the week and I have been ignoring it until today. When I was in the office, it was a topic of conversation and everyone asked me whether have I placed my bet on Euro Millions. The team that was in my office was kind enough to buy a ticket on my behalf and pool the sum together for a shared ticket as well.

The odds according to the website is 1 in 76,275,360 to take home the jackpot and it was mentioned during our lunchtime conversation that it was equivalent to President Bush marrying Britney Spears. I know what you think! Very unlikely but not impossible

However, the odd of winning is 1:24 which means I can potentially walk away with some prize money.

Well, I have bought my share of tickets on the way home by giving Song Yia and my family a call. Each one of them gave me a set of numbers which I place a bet on. Each entry cost £ 1.50. I have to declare that I don’t have a gambling problem but 95 Million is just to good of an offer to refuse.

4 Chances of Winning GBP 95 Million!

Now, let me dream about what I want to do with all that money! GBP 95 Million equals to RM 597.235 Million. (est 6.3 forex rate) I will share my winnings with my loved ones and a generous sum to charity.

Well, I will check the results tomorrow. (Typing it while using the power of attraction)

Cheers!

Benny Ong

I remember reading about this on Reader’s Digest last year and now it has made its way into 2008 Guiness Book of Records as the most successful internet trade. Well, this is really hard to beat and there is a lot of a reason why it is a great achievement.

A guy named Kyle Macdonald started out with a red paper clip and a blog post with the aim of trading it for a house and he eventually achieved it a year later with 14 trades.

Wow, a paper clip for a house! I would really want to do that. There is even more that he is gaining from that venture such as book rights and also movie rights.

This is just amazing because anyone that would propose that idea to me will just leave me laughing but who has got the last laugh now.

Well, enough said and this shows that nothing is impossible. So I would start, anyone want to trade a red pin with a house? (I am willing to negotiate)

Cheers