It’s All In The Planning!

Dear reader,
Thank you for visiting this blog on the WordPress server.
For the past year, I had been penning my thoughts here but effective mid-July, I have moved my blog to its new home at ssquah.activeknights.org
Please click here to take you to the new home of It’s All In The Planning!
Regards
Quah, Seng-Sun
Penang, Malaysia

Do more than belong: participate.
Do more than care: help.
Do more than believe: practice.
Do more than be fair: be kind.
Do more than forgive: forget.
Do more than dream: work.
- William Arthur Ward (1921-1991)

Recently, I heard about this Taiwanese artist who has become an inspiration to many people in this part of the world.
Hsieh Kun-Shan paints with his mouth, having learnt this skill after losing both his arms and a right leg to a horrendous factory accident when he was 16-years-old. He’s now 48, so that accident must [...]

Before you speak, listen.
Before you write, think.
Before you spend, earn.
Before you invest, investigate.
Before you criticize, wait.
Before you pray, forgive.
Before you quit, try.
Before you retire, save.
Before you die, give.
- William Arthur Ward (1921-1994)

This short essay is often attributed to William Arthur Ward (1921-1994), one of America’s great motivational speakers. However, I greatly suspect that the text may be even older and the original author may be someone unknown. Nevertheless, it’s quite interesting and we can apply the lessons to many aspects of our everyday lives.
 Click here to [...]

There is a very interesting tale presently unravelling on Jeff Ooi’s blog, Screenshots, regarding SMS spam messages.
Here is my own experience with SMS spams, the latest one occuring at 1.41am this morning. I was woken up from my sleep when my mobile went off, I saw the message and immediately sat down to write a [...]

Here is an interesting experience that was shared with me by a senior HR person. My appreciation to Ismail:
In every company, there are always employees coming to ask their Finance Dept for the pay day and Finance’s normal response is to send an email to all the staff to tell them of the appropriate day [...]

The past 11 days have not been easy for me and I’ll tell you why.
On 3 May 2007 evening, I received a telephone call from a old family friend from Chicago to tell me that his brother had passed away in Penang. Our families have known one another for more than 50 years.
Click here to [...]

Yes, I’m back. After a self-imposed 20-day absence to re-assess myself and catch up with some backlog matters in my life, I’m back.

My wife asked me yesterday whether I had read the Letter To The Editor which the FMM President had released to the newspapers. So I went to the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturer’s website and saw that it was already in the public domain. Moreover, as newspapers such as The Star have already carried it, I [...]

It is with a deep heart that I report the demise of the Venerable Suvanno, Abbot of the Lunas Buddhist Hermitage today at 6.30am. He passed away at the Lam Wah Ee Hospital where he had been warded since 31 Jan 2007.
Click here to read the rest of this post on my new It’s All [...]

Aw …. aren’t they cute? I got them from my wife. She wants to use these red packets for our nieces and nephews but I got to them first! They’re for my blog, you see, and there are a few more that I’m keeping for next year.
In the meantime, I’d like to wish all my [...]

I’m all flustered up this morning. My wife received an SMS saying a friend has succumbed to cancer. Our second friend in 12 days.
Kean Beng was our ex-colleague from the old Ban Hin Lee Bank days. I got to know him first when he joined the bank in Pulau Tikus at the height of the [...]

It was not an easy weekend for me. You see, one of my old school friends - one whom I’ve known since primary school days - passed away.
Beng, our macho sea-faring ex-captain, fought a hard fight against the Big C and never gave up until the end. Though he stayed in Sabah for much of [...]

Every few months, I go through the ritual of clearing all the old newspapers and magazines from my storeroom. And then, selling them away. It’s quite a stack, you know.
But I think I’ll do something different this time. Instead of selling them, I’ll be donating them to the Tzu Chi organisation in Penang. After all, [...]