Toastmasters Installation

I was commissioned to photograph a dinner held by Bayan Baru Toastmasters Club. There were like 200 members, family and friends coming to support the event.



Last year, I was invited to their dinner. But this year, the event is very much organised..thanks to the organiser Krishen. I loved the animation he did by blending cartoons with family friendly songs.



After dinner, the crowd is entertained by members who compete to win a Humorous Contest. While the crowd laughed out loud, the contestants have a platform to practice before proceeding to the Area contest.



Personally I do enjoy the evening, and what I liked most is that publicity through word of mouth is rather effective. I received a call for another assignment within weeks! Will blog about that on my next post

Be Smart at McD's

McD's are always a favourite place to "hang out" and grab the most delicious fast food. They are the largest profit makers for little kids, and children at heart. Having been in the Burger business since 1940's, they can sell ANYTHING with a premium as long as they add "MC" in front. - McEgg, McFries, McChicken... Who knows when we'll see McPod, McBook, McPhone...

As my parents are away these few weeks, I've to get my Dinner somewhere. Well, where else but my friendly neighbourhood McD's. They are having this Ramadan promotion with "Spicy Chicken McNuggets". Simply say it's Nuggets with some chilly pepper, but I just have a soft spot for nuggets. Simply ordering 6 pieces is never enough...I need at least twice that amount.



When I was queuing for the nuggets, I found something strange:

Ala Carte:
4pcs - RM 3.50
6pcs - RM 6.25
9pcs - RM 8.65
12pcs - RM11.55
20pcs - RM18.40

Now why are the prices goes up if you order more? Are they charging a McPremium for their Deliciously Alluring Spicy McNuggets (short DAMN)??? Let's do some calculation:

If I'm about to order 36 pieces of DAMN, I can
A. Order 9 packets of 4pcs - RM31.50
B. Order 6 packets of 6pcs - RM37.50
Calculator: B - A = RM 6

DAMN...that's a whole lot of price difference!!! Besides, for every 4pcs I buy, I'll get a free "new and improved" sauce. Well boys and girls, the next time you are craving for McNuggets....bring your calculator

Order Dinner Online

Virtual shopping has been mushrooming all over. We can have books shipped to us from the other side of the world, we can get clothes, gadgets and everything else to fulfil our needs (and wants). But this is the first time I've tried to order dinner online.

It's the day of Permatang Pauh's by-election. And being worried about the traffic created by all the political supporters, we choose to stay indoors. Mom was craving for Pizza and ask me to call Pizza. But when I went searching for the phone number I found out we can order online!



Click on "How to Order" and you'll see an image for "Online Ordering". The instructions are pretty straight forward and anyone who knows how to read this blog should know how to use it. All you need to do is to register a free(of course) account, enter your address and phone and choose the pizza of your selection. Don't worry about paying online as you can choose to pay it as the Pizza is delivered to your house.



Next question might be...How long will it take? Well, to my surprise, I received a call in 15 minutes. Eating the pizzas are as good as any Pizza takeaways, just minus the boring part of waiting for the que, and pay the bills over the counter.



That's dad and mom having fun with their dinner. [Pizza Hut]

Happy Feet

There's Sauna, Jacuzzi and Foot Message, but now in Penang, there's Fish Spa. Before going for a friend's Birthday party, I bring Irene to "Happy Feet" located in New World Park. This is the first time we visited the place. We were greeted with warm smile by two receptionist, clean our feet, and given a seat to soak our legs into the pool.


The moment our feet touches the water, these fishes came an nibble on our feet. It's so ticklish that we start laughing out loud. The other customers smiles at us like telling us "I've been there before". After the 30minutes session, our feet feels much cleaner, cooling and lighter. The shoes we're wearing feels bigger than usual.


clean white feet = happy customer

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Shuyi's Birthday

After the session, we drop by Shuyi's place to celebrate her 21st birthday. Mutiara Villa has a nice pool and a large canopy for parties of such.


Birthday girl with her parents

Photo with the Birthday Girl

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Fook & James's Farewell

It's been a long time I didn't meet with Irene's friends, since two of them are leaving Penang I took a point to hang out with them at Babylon, Upper Penang Rd.


(from left) AiTee, Isabell, Irene, Timmy, James, Fook
Bon Jour Fook & James.

Penang Muar Chee

Image from gbchye

Muar Chee, is a snack made of steamed glutinous rice served with ground peanuts, sugar and sometimes sesame seeds. Click for Receipe. It's a very popular in Penang and here's a photo to prove just that..


What a coincidence !!!

Camera spec: Fuji F47fd at ISO800.

JID Photoghaphy

Event photography has never been something new to me. But yet, getting photos taken and expected to deliver it before the end of the evening is a new challenge I have to face. Before the event, there are more stuffs to pack

1. PC with LCD into 2 large suitcases (incl cables, chargers, power stabilizers)
2. Laptop & extra CD burner for backup
3. Camera equipments ( D300, 3 lenses, 1 flash, 2 tripods, and whole lot of memory.
4. Design a marketing plan to sell the CDs

When we arrive at the venue, I scratch my head on how to bring all these stuffs down. Thanks to Christopher, we managed to get a trolley from the reception and setup the booth inside the ballroom.

But since we are in a short of time (4 hours of prep), Irene was rushing until her hands shiver when cutting the words out. But the results does pay off..


Fig1: Irene taking care of the booth

That night, I was busy up and down the stage, not only to take photos of the winners, but also getting up there to receive my awards.


Fig2: Receiving the award for "Toastmasters of the Year"


Fig3: Photo with the other winners of Area Level

Throughout the event, I'm really thankful that Irene helped me up in the booth - promoting, collecting payments, burning CDs and issuing tickets.


Fig4: Photography as a business

Post-event

After the event, there's post processing, compiling and labeling all the CDs.


Fig5: Final Product - CD menu


Fig6: Autography session by Irene

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Lesson Learn:
Taking good photographs has become easier with the help of digital cameras, but being a professional photographer's path has not. For a 14-hour assignment like this, do you think i'm making any profit charging RM15 per CD? But there are over 400people attending, and I hope that I'll receive more calls to cover other paid events

My parents came over to have a look at my booth before the event. I believe they do support me in this dream I have, just like how they would support me when I stood on stage singing my 1st song in kindergarden. Thanks Pa, Ma & Irene.

My Yang2

"How much is that dog in the window..." goes the old kindergarden song we used to sing. This is the picture of a young dog we adopt 2 years ago. His expression is so adorable when he guards the Durian eventhough he have never eaten one before (until that evening)


Guarding his precious
I think he has seriousADHD. Even when he visits the Vet to get an injection for his shampoo alergy, he's still actively hugging his mummy.


At the Vet

Reason of this post? Well...cute mar :P

TrojanhorseGallery

I got the Trojanhorse for the 3rd time in the past few months. I didn't pay attention to the problem until I get these so-call wallpaper informing me that I got a problem in my system

For the past 2 times, I deleted my entire hard disc and installed a fresh windows. But this problem keeps coming back to bug me.

This evening after a meeting with an assignment I'm covering this weekend, I came back with the same nuisance bugging me to format my computer. This time, I noticed that there's a link on the wallpaper. I tell myself, "what the heck, just give it a try" and luckily it managed to remove the problem without harming my computer.

Now I have a problem with msmgr32.exe which have been bugging me for quite a while. Can someone please offer me some help here? Please