Berbuka Puasa @ Everly Resort Hotel, Melaka (2010)

The team, getting together to Buka Puasa

It has become somewhat of a yearly tradition for our department to organize a "breaking fast" (buka puasa) dinner. This year was certainly no exception to the rule....

The task of organizer for this year's event fell into the hands of Asri, who I was fully confident could find us a great place to dine, with great value-for-money too. Thus, after some scouting around, the venue selected was none other than the Everly Resort Hotel (formerly known as Riviera Bay Resort).

This year, there were quite a number of new faces, due to the dynamic nature of our organization. Though this was traditionally a *closed* department-only event, this year, we had some guests from other departments to join in the festivities. Unfortunately, our own stalwarts, Bayah and Juliyana, could not make it due to some other engagements, so from the core team, it was just Yan, Asri and myself.

The recent unification of 3 departments has left us with the largest team members in the entire history of our existence (a period that spans nearly a decade).

Back to the subject matter of food, drawing some comparisons against my recent buka puasa experience with Zufri at the Holiday Inn, immediately one can see that the variety of food here was HUGE! I'm ashamed to admit that I barely managed to sample even a quarter of the assorted cuisine that was laid out for us to feast upon. Getting old, so cannot eat as voraciously as before.... :)

Eric checking out the dishes for the buffet-style dinner

Hmm, after tonight, may have to go on diet...? :)

To top it off, it was much more affordable here (only RM45++ per pax). Even though our event was held on a week day (mainly to facilitate a few of our friends who were from out of town), the entire restaurant was packed. Guests were pouring in by the bus-loads!

Alas, a minor communication hiccup between Asri and the hotel liaison staff in his request for "16 people" left us with 16 chairs on 4 separate tables. They did not have another table to spare (the restaurant was really packed, remember?), so we tried shuffling the tables and chairs about until finally we settled for an inline configuration. A little bit snug, but we managed to get everyone seated down comfortable by the end of the exercise. Actual turn out was a head shy of the planned total.... :)

4 individual tables, not very good "feng shui"

Briefly, it was musical chairs (and tables), without music...

Finally, when all else fails, use a straight line!

At the end of the day, we were stuffed and totally satisfied with the chosen venue. Hats off to the event organizer, Asri, for pulling off the event with such aplomb. Tonight's event was actually a milestone, as it was our first "extra-curricular" since our team expansion. Besides joining our Muslim brethren in the spirit of inter-cultural understanding, it's good that events such as these help to foster closer ties and friendship bonds amongst colleagues.

Waiting patiently for our Muslim friends to break their fast....

Still got time to send SMS before thinking about food.

The new "fearless leader", Tan CC (far right) and the rest of the new team.

As I sit here and type away on my laptop, I can't help but smile fondly, recalling past times spent together with former colleagues and friends. Too many to mention, so I won't start naming names here. To all of my friends out there, may you and your families be well and happy always, and specially to my Muslim friends, Selamat Berpuasa and an early Selamat Hari Raya greeting to all of you...!

Arriving early has it's privileges, at the expense of looking "lost"! :)

Asri demonstrating the fine art of "sucking" snails out of their shells....

T.N.G - The Next Generation (candid shot!)

L-R (guys): me, Eric, Chiang, Ang CK, Wee WL, Loh CK, Asri, Tan CC, Desmond, Syukri, Lew WK
L-R (ladies, front row): Grace, Chong SL, Yan, Lay Peng

Farewell to Saiful

It's become quite common place for these "farewell" posts throughout the year. This month of August 2010 seems to be no exception to the rule....

Last Thursday sees the exit of Saiful from IT. There goes a friend and excellent source of tech support. We've gone through many tough times together, such as blue screens and Vista...! :)

It was unfortunate that I heard that he was leaving the company on Friday, one day after last Thursday, so (once again), I missed the opportunity to meet personally someone on their way out. Did get an SMS from him though, so at least I could SMS back a parting shot to him.

During the time he was here, Saiful was an excellent provider of technical support when it came to IT. True that he was scurrying all around the plant almost single-handedly, most of our woes were resolved by him promptly once attended to. Not everything could be tackled via remote access, after all....

Well, another entry in my ever-growing list of friends moving on to better prospects. Let's see when my own name makes the list...! :)

Berbuka Puasa @ Holiday Inn, Melaka (2010)

It's the holy month of Ramadan once again, a month of fasting and moderation observed by our Muslim friends. Thus, as per standard practice every year, I treated my good friend, Zufri, to a "buka puasa" (break fast) meal. This time round, we opted for the buffet at Holiday Inn Melaka.

It was a working day, leaving the office in time would be a challenge, as usual. Luckily, I managed to wrap things up early, and thus made it out of the office at 6.15pm, enough time to beat the traffic congestion to our destination, some 30 odd minutes away.

During our drive, we were a little concerned about having no place to park, with the sky giving just a hint of an impending drizzle / downpour (who knows for sure?). To our pleasant surprise, the small parking lot right in front of the hotel entrance was barely half filled with cars. Ample space to park, but where was everyone?

Proceeding into the hotel lobby, we made our way up to the "ES.SENSE KITCHEN" on the first floor, where Zufri had made earlier reservations. That may have been unnecessary, as there was less than 30% occupancy throughout the entire course of the buffet dinner.

Now, the food was served in typical buffet-style, with many, many dishes to choose from. So many, in fact, that I failed to sample each dish, even taking minute portions of just about every dish I came across. Stomach capacity seems to have gone down, compared to my younger days...! :)

To be honest, the food wasn't anything to cry home about. At least the, um, ice-cream was soft and creamy (that's all that comes to mind at this time). Cost per pax is RM78 per head, before adding in the customary 5% government tax and 10% service charge. A comparison of Ramadan buffets in the city revealed that this was pretty much the going rate these days.

Well, there was a down side to tonight's episode. Barely three feet away from our table was situated a large, LG flatscreen LCD TV (quite a norm these day). Instead of something cheerful or entertaining on, I found myself watching a 10-second delayed telecast of a tourist bus hostage situation in Manila on BBC. From what I gathered, a disgruntled policeman held up a bus of mostly Chinese tourists with a semi-automatic rifle. His demands? To be re-instated into the police force after being terminated a year ago.

You can tell from the detail I am relating here, how attention-sapping the news was. I felt sad for those tourists who were held hostage - especially since even the police did not know if there was anyone left alive in the bus. Read more about this and the conclusion over at the BBC website : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11055015

Back to the present, I'm happy and give thanks to be able to treat my friend to a nice meal (call it our personal annual dinner), and look forward to holding on to this "tradition" next year too! :)

VSM Annual Dinner & Dance 2010 - Olympic Night

After much toiling in the production floor, reaping "output", it's that special time again for the staff to kick back and relax during our Annual Dinner and Dance!

Backdrop for the night. Real fire not allowed, so those torches are as close as we got to the real deal! :)

This year, our theme was "Olympic Night". Of course, 2010 is right between the last and upcoming Olympic games (for those who don't know it yet, the Olympic games are only held in the year which can be divided by 4 with no balance, ie, 2008, 2012). However, World Cup Night was deemed too restrictive on costume variety (not everyone lives, breathes and eats football). So, the scope was widened to encompass all sports in general.

The advantages of the Olympic Night Theme:-

• You'd probably have already a costume fitting the theme, sitting somewhere in your wardrobe (unless you don't play any sports)
• If you really had to buy something for the night, you'd be buying something you can wear casually to work or outside without attracting undue attention (in contrast to, say, Cowboy night or Halloween night)

The dinner was held at the Grand Ballroom of the Equatorial Hotel, Melaka. For entertainment, as usual, the resident band performed during the 8 course dinner. We had also engaged the services of Kenny Lee, a local known for his spot-on Sudirman impersonation. For the record, he's really good, though a bit heavier compared to the real (late) Sudirman in his heydays.

Not to be left out, we were also entertained by our very own shift performances (3 shifts, plus Office Hours). The quality of their presentations was improving with each passing year, which was a good thing as it really raises the bar and expectations for the follow year.

As this was the first dinner to be held in two years (last year's dinner got differed, in light of economic down turn), coupled with the fact that there were many new staff who had never attended any of our annual dinners before, this year's attendance peaked as the highest ever yet!

As for me, this year, my duties as photographer were supplemented by the efforts of Lew Wei Keat and Tee Sie Yen, so less running around taking pictures as before.

Well, from the response, it looks like "we've still got it". I'm sure everyone was happy to attend this year, and look forward to an even more encouraging turn out in 2011!

Link to a small photo gallery on my Multiply site : http://mcwk.multiply.com/photos/album/86/VSM_Annual_Dinner_2010_-_Olympic_Night

No, before you start applying for jobs here, this is not one of our staff, but a member of the EQ resident band.

Local talent Kenny Lee a.k.a. Melaka's Sudirman.

Members of the organizing committee taking a shot together.