ChanKelwin.com

It was a little strange to visit the Malaysia Today website moments ago only to find it going absolutely berserk. That is, the blog kept refreshing itself thus it was unable to display the content.

A quick check on the source code reveals the evil behind it all.

<META http-equiv="refresh" content="0;URL=http://malaysia-today.net/2008/">

One line of code that did some minor harm (considering that it only happened for a couple of minutes).

What the code does:
When you load the Malaysia Today website, the code tells the browser to open up the link http://malaysia-today.net/2008/ in 0 seconds — which literally means immediately. When you reach the above link, which is the same Malaysia Today website, the same code appears thus calling the browser to constantly refresh itself.

That was the cause of the website refreshing itself madly as if it was having mad cow disease. Here is a link to Wikipedia on Meta Refresh.

I wonder if someone managed to tamper with the website’s files or someone within the MT-TEAM screwed up badly.

I am not sure what could have happened to the website if this were to happen for a longer period of time. During the election period back in March, the Malaysiakini website was inaccessible (through the domain name) because the DNS servers blocked requests to Malaysiakini.com after receiving an enormous amount of request in such a short period of time. The same thing could or could not have happened to MT.

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Ah, just when I was about to publish this post, the Malaysia Today website is doing the mad cow dance again.

Someone screwed up or someone is being screwed?

A few months ago when I started working in PJ, I had a strong urge to go to the gym. My body is really out of shape (was it ever in shape anyway?) and I really had to do something about it. I must have looked like I am a couple of months pregnant with my belly sticking out. I need a solution quick before my “water breaks”.

The True Fitness center at Jaya 33 Petaling Jaya is nearby where I work and the place looked really amazing from the outside. I was very much tempted to have a peak at the inside. One day after work, I drop by the fitness centre to have a look at their facilities and what packages they have to offer. The place is truly amazing. They even have an open air swimming pool on the forth floor. There is also a spa there. However, Homo sapiens with scrotums are not allowed in it. Damn it.

After the tour, I sat down together with the counselor and discussed about the packages. I was offered quite an affordable deal but I still wasn’t sure if I really needed/wanted it. I do not want to tie myself down with a contract and end up not fully utilizing the gym. I told him I will think about it and left.

A few weeks later, I was fortunate enough to be able to get my hands on a coupon with a 1 month “free” full-membership access trial. I bought it from a friend for RM30. I wonder why they call it FREE. KNN.

Moving on…

I packed my bag and headed to the gym happily knowing that I will be able to try it out for one month before signing anything. Little did I know what was waiting for me.

I was served by a different counselor this time. After showing me around the fitness centre (again — it is their procedure), I told her I did not want to sign up yet and wanted to try it out for a month before deciding. She excused herself and went into the office, only to return with a more senior employee. That was when I started feeling extremely uncomfortable — very much like having something stuck up in my arse.

This guy was very pushy. “Shooting” me with all the sales talk he must have learnt from the “Sales Talk Boot Camp”. Even after 10 to 15 minutes of saying NO, I was still getting no where with my membership trial. It felt very much like being cheated into thinking I was getting a free shag but only to be told to sign a commitment letter while having to pay for the service monthly. Well, at least I am guaranteed of several humping sessions per week for the next 12 months, right? F…

After deep consideration between tearing the free 1 month True Fitness membership coupon and signing up for a 12 months package, I decided on the latter. I really needed and wanted to workout. The bitterness I felt was simply due to how I was coaxed into signing up.

After getting home, I didn’t feel any better after finding out numerous complaints about True Fitness over the Internet. I felt miserable. I then called one of my best butt friends whom have been a gym-goer for the past 3 years or so. I told him about my experience at True Fitness and this was (more or less) what he said.

The tactics used by the sales people is common. They will try their best to push their customers to sign up. Since you had a 1 month free pass, they will be multiple times more pushy on you.

The tsunami feeling I had in me suddenly disappeared. I was enlightened. “No wonder that fella was so damn blardy pushy lah!”, I told him. After that conversation, I no longer have the bitterness I had earlier on.

It is now over one and a half months since I started working out at True Fitness. I have to say that apart from not being able to save a little more each month, I have no regrets in joining this fitness centre. There aren’t any hard feelings between me and the “pushy guy”. In fact, he is a pretty nice guy whom I have had a few good chats with in the past few weeks. I even thanked him for being pushy on me.

I wouldn’t completely write off the complaints targeted at True Fitness though. When there is smoke, there must be fire. To be fair to them, I am sure other fitness centers such as Fitness First, California Fitness etc do have their critics and complaints as well.

Some of the things I learnt from this experience include, read and understand the damn contract before signing it, never tell them that you have a credit card (if you do not want to sign up) and just be thick skin and tell them straight in the face that you are just there for the free trial, nothing more.

I did my very first business presentation yesterday. Before I was assigned this task together with several other colleagues, I was asked the million dollar question — “Have you ever done a presentation before?”

I sheepishly replied, “Errr…yes…back in my university days”.

Naturally, that wasn’t a very comforting reply. Nevertheless, I was given the chance to shoulder the responsibility and was given between 10 to 15 minutes to finish my part of the presentation.

All these while, I have only been involved in the development process behind the scenes and meeting up existing clients for support and further enhancements. Therefore, this is a totally new experience for me. Needless to say, I was very nervous.

I only had a couple of days to rehearse my slides. Since most of the slides weren’t prepared by me, I needed to do some research on the things mentioned in the slides. The last thing I want is to get caught with my pants down not prepared during the Q&A session.

I started rehearsing my slides only on the night before the presentation. I did a few more rehearsals with my colleagues a few hours before it and that has helped me in preparing a lot.

My presentation went O-K. Well, there were one or two minor hiccups in between but very much acceptable to me. I have learnt a lot by observing how others conduct their presentations. Maybe I should have searched for some tips on how to conduct a successful business presentation first to better prepare myself. Oh well, maybe next time.

At least I know that I survived my first business presentation.

Caught on tape but RTM is not releasing it. Anyone recorded the parliament session where Bung Mokhtar Radin was alleged to have shown the ‘palm hitting a clenched fist’ gesture? If I had it, I will make a deal with one of the online papers.

It should be worth some money. Maybe I can buy a packet of nasi lemak or something.

If you are so innocent and have no idea what the ‘palm hitting a clenched fist’ is, just take a look at the video below. Finding this video as an example was easy. In fact, this video featuring present/former(?) MB Pahang Adnan Yaakob immediately came into my mind.

Well, I could be wrong though since the video isn’t aired yet (if ever). I mean, I can’t think of any other ways a ‘palm hitting a clenched fist’ that looks obscene.

He denies doing the ‘palm hitting a clenched fist’ but instead said he was just “hitting his palm on the back of his other hand”. I wonder what that gesture is supposed to mean. Maybe he’s trying to be a trend-setter. Let’s see if this gesture catches on in the streets.