Happy Ox-Picious New Year

I'm Getting Married

Finally the day comes to end my bachelorhood. I'm tying not on 1st Feb 2009. The bride is from India.
I will import her to Malaysia.
Hope all your blessings are with us.

GE 30k - 18 Jan'09

This would be the last official race before I end my bachelorhood and my 1st official 30km race.
The weather was supportive asd it was cooling till 25km and warm for the next 5km.
The starting was abrupted as the were no proper call for start. I just went on my own pace as I'm worried about injuries.
Thanks to Teck Sin to pace me for the whole Hartamas loop.
The track was chalengging as it was hilly for atleast 8 points. Towards last 15km, I told Teck Sin that I'm feeling tired, but he said "Just keep the engine moving". That sentence made me to stay still till the finishing lane.
Although there weren't anyone to pace me for the last10km, I followed the 20km runners till the final point.
Upon reaching the finishing lane, I asked the timekeeper and he said that I finished at 2:26. That's great, I did my personal best and manage to finish below 2:30.
My next race would be KL cross Country. Lets see whats happens next.

Run for Glory

Detail results of my teammates:
Men Open 30km :
2'03'10 - Richard Habeya, Pm26 (5th)
2'11'xx - Jasni Khairil2'20'47 - Khoo Yit Kiat, Pm28
2'20'55 - Ronnie See, Pm12'24'25 - Ben Swee, Pm50
2'25'31 - Stanley Cheong, Pm53
2'26'xx - Meyyappa Manickam, Pm58
2'28'xx - Raymond Ng, Pm48
2'30'xx - Sam Chee Wang (Penang)
2'31'05 - Tang Wern Tian
2'31'20 - Kenny Tan, Pm27
2'33'25 - Mohammad Azali, Pm46
2'33'45 - John Tan, Pm30
2'38'37 - Ahmad Farid Elias
2'42'02 - Chin Teck Sin
2'42'37 - Mohd Hailmi Masro
2'44'18 - Wong Ram Bo
2'45'00 - Victor Loh
2'45'01 - Omar Khaliff
2'49'57 - Zulhassan
2'50'49 - Frank Chong, Sub Pm6
2'51'17 - Yip Kit Weng, Pm9
2'59'18 - Lai Fong Sang, Pm38
3'10'xx - Teoh Chun Ming, Pm17
3'13'43 - Muhammad Fadhli Fadzli (Afad), Pm56
3'20'01 - Kevin Chow, Pm32
3'34'38 - Steven Khoo
0'00'00 - Hamidon Mat Aris

Men Veteran 30km :
2'29'18 - Tay Poh Chye
2'29'42 - Alam Shah
2'45'11 - Lee Yee Sum
2'45'11 - Daniel Tan
2'51'02 - Choi Chik Choy, Pm42
2'51'30 - Mohd Yaziz, Pm7
3'14'23 - Kelvin Ng, Pm2

Men Open 20km :
1'24'xx - Syahidan bin Alias (8th)
1'31'35 - Naresh Kumar, Pm37
1'36'48 - Suresh, Pm47
1'37'15 - Nazib Ngainin, Pm14
1'37'55 - Thurai Sarasaidy
1'38'44 - Hashul Sham, Pm34
1'41'50 - Zulazlan Shah, Pm43
1'46'20 - Wong Kei Ming, Pm55
1'48'23 - Vijay
2'15'07 - Tan Kean Peng, Sub Pm5
0'00'00 - Chen Keat Hoong, Pm8
0'00'00 - Gunaselan Rajagopal, Pm39

Women Open 30km :
2'47'14 - Ameba Chan (4th)
2'52'15 - Lynn Guan
2'52'24 - Tan Chin Chin
0'00'00 - Idazumi Othman
0'00'00 - Haslinda

Women Veteran 30km :
4'29'52 - Julie Wong

Women Open 20km :2'25'xx - Chek Yin Huay

Wild Wild Run - 8th Mar'09

Date : Sunday, 8th March 2009Time : 7:30am Sharp

Starting Point : Zoo Negara, Kuala Lumpur

Website : http://h1.ripway.com/pm1/wild2run09.html

Enquires : 016-2166277 Wong Kei Ming OR 012-2795208 Ronnie See

Proposed Itinerary:

06:00am : Arrival of volunteers

06:30am : Arrival of runners n Distribution of bibs

06:55am : Last call for bibs distribution

07:15am : Briefing by designated spokesman

07:30am : Race officially starts for all categories

08:05am : Estimated arrival of top men finisher

08:10am : Estimated arrival of top women finisher

08:20am : Light breakfast will be served

09:00am : Estimated finishing time of last runner

09:30am : Trophy presentation to all age category winners

09:45am : End of Event

Registration : Open!!!Registered participants who do not turn up on race day will be disqualified and no medals will be awarded.

Registration Fee :RM35 per participant (zoo entry fee is included!)

Register Online :Online registration must email to Race Director Wong Kei Ming (wongkeiming@hotmail.com) with Full name, D.O.B, age & contact number.

Payment Method :Payment can be bank-in to Maybank account No: 1-12241-11208-3, payable to WONG KEI MING. Your entry will be confirmed only after payment has been made. Kindly make your payment on or before 15th February 2008. Please inform us after you have made the payment.

Distance :9.25km (1.85km x 5 loops)

Category of Age Group :-

Men 29 & Below-

Men 30 - 39-

Men 40 & Above-

Women Open

Finisher Medal :All finishers will be awarded finishing medal regardless of completion time at the finishing station, located a short distance from the finishing line.

Trophy :Trophy Allocation :- Men 29 & below (5 trophies)- Men 30 - 39 (5 trophies)- Men 40 & Above (5 trophies)- Women Open (5 trophies)Refreshment Station :There will be refreshment station from the 2nd loop onwards, located 10m after the starting point. Both isotonic drinks and mineral water will be available to all runners at the end of each lap. We urge that you drink at every lap to hydrate yourself.

Collection of Bib :Participants shall collect their bib number during the reporting time. Please take note that bib number will not be distributed after 7.00am.

Runners who fail to report themselves before 7am will not be entertained. Runners that do not wear their bib number will be disqualified. The race will be flag off at 7:30am sharp, therefore your punctuality will be much appreciated.

Breakfast / Group Photographs :Food and refreshments will be served after the race. Please throw the rubbish into the provided garbage bags to facilitate cleaning up. Do to keep the park clean and LITTERING IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED.

If you wish to have group photographs taken, kindly ask our cameraman on duty for assistance.

Parking :Ample parking is available at the Zoo parking spaces, FREE of charge.

Public Toilet :20 cents per entry (Open @ 7am).

Check Points :Due to a number of shortcuts available along the Zoo routes, there will be checkpoints along the way, to ensure a fair competition for every participant.

Marshalls in charge will also record number of lap you have run to ensure each participant completed 5 loops for all participants. Due to some confusion of the junctions, the mashalls incharge will guide runners to the correct ways that runners have to run.

Waiver Clause :The participants hereby agree to abide by the rules and conditions of the race, participants are entering the competition at their own risk and shall not hold the organiser responsibility for any accident, injury, death, loss of property however cause before, during and after the race.'

Do train hard and smart prior to the race as you will be rewarded with a well deserved a unique designed trophy for all your hard work and effort.

'brought 2u by der Pacemakers Network 2009
Route Map of Zoo

Happy Ponggal

Financial Tips

Determine how much is the right amount of saving for you and save that amount first. It is even better if you can have a regular and automatic saving scheme.- The more we save, the less rate of investment return we needIn fact, the more we save, the less risk we need to take in financial freedom planning.

Let's take an example of RM5,000,000 accumulation goal. Let's assume that you are 45 years old, and planning to retire at 60. If you can save RM50,000 per annum, you need to achieve 23.9 per cent of rate of interest (ROI) for RM5,000,000 goal.If you can save RM120,000 per annum,you need to achieve 13.4 per cent of ROI. If you can save RM180,000 per annum, you need to achieve only 8.3 per cent of ROI.Of course, RM5,000,000 is only the example.

The lesson to be learnt is that the more we save, the less ROI is required to achieve the same accumulation goal. When we do not need to achieve a high ROI, we do not need to stomach too much risk and volatility. The less risks we take, the more peaceful life will be.- How much to save?I believe most of us understand the importance of saving. In fact, almost every time I was interviewed by the media, I would always be asked, "How much of their income should Malaysians save?"To some financial planner, it is not a very difficult question for them to answer. Some would say 20 per cent. Some would say 30 per cent. Some would even say 40 per cent.

However, this is quite a tough and tricky question for me to answer.Based on my experience of developing many tailor-made financial plans for clients, I know that the right saving rate varies from one person to another. For example, if you have a monthly income of RM3,000, the right savings rate for you may be 20 per cent. This is because you need to spend majority of your income to sustain your standard of living.However, if you have a monthly income of RM50,000, the right savings rate for you may be 50 per cent.

This is because you don't need to spend the majority of your income to sustain your standard of living. Of course, this is just one of many examples, but it shows that there is no standard "right saving" rate for every one.Therefore, each of us should have a tailor-made financial plan to determine the right savings rate for us.Only then, would we know that we are saving enough to meet our future commitments.- What if your saving is under target?If the savings and contributions are less than target planned, you may fail to achieve your financial freedom.

If the gap continues, chances are that you may not be able to achieve your original financial goals set.In the situation whereby the actual saving is less than planned, we must review our cash flow statement to identify the discrepancy and take necessary recovery measures.If we have confirmed that the planned saving target is unrealistic, it is important that we readjust some of our financial goals and asset allocation strategies.

By: Yap Ming Hui is the managing director of Whitman Independent Advisors Sdn Bhd, the first multi-client family office in Malaysia
Source: News Straits Times (11 Jan 2009)

KLAVA Back to Nature Relay - 11 Jan'09

This is my 3rd time taking part in the competition. I just ran 25km yesterday and today for another 3.3km speed. I was having running nose towards night. With proper medication, I went to bed.

When I got up today, I started coughing. But I didnt wanted to disapoint my teamates. So I got ready with my untensils and marched to the battle spot.

Upon reahing there, got to know 31teams are taking part. I realised, it's going to be a tough one. Anyway, I told Suresh and Thurei just to complete the race.

I was the 1st runner, the baton was heavier than normal. It looked like the plumber's pipe. Once, started, I was among the top 20 runner. The pace picked up. However after 1km, some slowed down. So, it was my time to overtake them. My aim was to finish top 10.

As reaching the lat 1.5km, the road was uneven with spills from cement factory which was not properly leveled. I do realise if I slow down my pace, there would bve around 5 runners who can overtake me. So I just pushed my way to the finishing line and passed the baton to Thurei.

Thurei prooved that injury doesnt scare him again. He managed to keep himself not to be overtaken by anybody from our category before passing the responsibility to Suresh.

The anchor and captain of the team, Suresh, maitained the pace since there were nobody to pace him from back and front.

The verdict, we were placed 6th out of 31 teams. Something to be proud of with a team of amatuers. A great booster for me towards next week's Great Eastern Run.

My achievement

Logi & Monti Show

They are Back

Logi n Monti are back with their another comedy showcase. Logi is the First Runners Up in World Championship Speech Contest. People pay RM200 per hour, but now you can witness both their show only for RM50. The actual price is RM67, but I'm selling it at discounted price.

This offer is only for the show on 18 January'09 @ 3pm. Other days will be at normal price as stated in the poster. So, why wait? Call me now to book your ticket.

The comedy will be based on current Malaysian Political Saga.

Now & Then

Then

Now

I joined Ernst & Young from 5th jan'09.

2009 Target

Here are my target for 2009:

1. To be a Chartered Accountant
2. To complete a marathon race within 6 hours
3. To achieve Distinguish Toastmaster (DTM)