My partner Ming came down to Penang on Monday for a business trip mainly to meet up with the team at Netccentric and plan our overall marketing strategy (since our website is due for launching soon).

The little office I work in has gotten a little crowded since with me working at my usual desk but Ming taking up a position right beside me.
So once in a while out of anger and annoyance… I would shoot an angry look at him to remind him that he’s taking my space!!!And he would then shoot back a rather confused look wondering what the heck I was staring at him for…. since obviously.. IT WAS HIS OFFICE TOO!!!

So before tensions got too high, we decided to call a marketing meeting to involve the technical team of the company to brainstorm for ideas on how to market our product.

Now Ming and I have always wanted Netccentric to be a “forward-looking” company.

So rather than having the typical brainstorming session that has people shout out ideas, Ming suggested we try something new.

Ming was the Chairperson of the meeting so he directed everyone on what to do.

First, everyone was to take a piece of paper and fold it to divide the paper into 9 parts.

Then in each part, everyone was to come up with 9 ideas of his/her own and write it in his/her own piece of paper without talking to anyone else about it.

After that, we took the piece of paper, tore it up to 9 pieces (one idea on each piece) and then spread it out on the floor in front of us.

Then of the 9 pieces in front of us, we each took out 3 ideas that we thought were crap

and chucked it into a basket.

Then of the remaining 6 pieces for each person, we separated it into two groups.

3 pieces from each person to go into a pile that was what the person thought was the BEST of his ideas and the remaining 3 pieces per person was to go into a pile for “Second Best” ideas.

So there you have it in this picture.

The CRAP ideas were in the basket.

The Best Ideas on the left.

And the Second Best on the right.

Then we wrote all the “BEST” ideas (15 of them) on the white board and discussed them altogether.
We expanded on each of those 15 BEST ideas and when we were done with those we moved on to the 15 SECOND BEST ideas and then on to the 15 CRAP ideas.

Mind you… the crap ideas are often good.

Just that it’s sometimes so silly that people are too embarrassed to call it a great idea themselves 😛

By the end of the meeting, we all came up with some very good marketing ideas and one revolutionary one (which I can’t discuss here at the moment).

We prepared meeting minutes which stated exactly which person had to follow-up on each idea (Ming and I got the bulk of the work since the technical team was already buried in work).

So our brainstorming session turned out to be quite a success.

But of the sea of ideas we had, some turned out to be quite funny.

In my “CRAP” pile, one of the ideas I wrote was “Company Musical/Soundtrack”.

WHAT WAS I HIGH ON?!?!

Either ways… we had some great ideas there… something that many of you will see in time to come.

So when our company has launched and you’ve seen its creative marketing campaign somewhere, remember that the idea probably came about in this boardroom meeting of a small dotcom company.

Yesterday a rather nice girl named Jasemaine sent me an e-mail.

Jasemaine is the talented girl who designed the hamster and even the banner for Tuitionhamster.com
Back then, we basically went to her and said that we wanted our hamster mascot to look FAT and cute!

Skinny hamsters are not cute!

It was an almost impossible task for her to do since the cutest hamster in the world had already been drawn ie Hamtaro (which is still not as cute as Ah Bop btw).

But I must say I was pretty impressed by whatever she came up with (although some bastard friends of mine think that the hamster looks more like a bear… IT’S A HAMSTER DAMMIT!!!).

Jasemaine went on to say
” Ya know, I thought the tuitionhamster.com was a college project at first! I didn’t know it was a real business untill I read an article about it in the newspaper one day! :)”

I corrected her.

The truth is that it was and still is a college project meant to help whatever teachers and students we could and NOT an actual internet business.

Actual internet businesses make money… and they charge commissions to make money! Tuitionhamster till today is totally free!

We’ve had potential buyers who were interested in taking over the website but we resisted since we knew it would stop being free to our current users.

The website has been left on auto-pilot for the past one year and since then the count of teachers have grown to over 530.

Unfortunately, some teachers signed up with us have complained that they haven’t gotten any students through us. But we have seen other teachers receive plenty of tuition requests through our website and all for free!

That is what we set out to do in the beginning and I can comfortably say we achieved that we considerable success (considering the tiny budget of RM1,700 including the web hosting that we paid for in advance for the next 3 years and we had and the full-time jobs we had back then).

Anyway, Jasemaine sounded a little awkward in saying this but she e-mailed me to tell me about a charity event happening on the 11th of February 2007.
After telling me about the charity event she went on to say
” Would it be possible for you to highlight this event in yourupcoming blog entry? Your support is much appreciated! If you can’t,it’s totally alright.”

Now I think that is a rather silly question!

Why wouldn’t I want to mention a blog entry on a charity event? (something I’m sure my kind-hearted readers would be very interested to hear about too right?)

I’m sure even you guys would love to hear about it right?

So here are the details.

Hearts N Lightbulbs Valentine Event
DATE: 11TH FEBRUARY 2007 (SUNDAY)
TIME: 8PM SHARP
VENUE: HARTAMAS SQUARE, SRI HARTAMAS
PERFORMERS LINEUP: JERRAL KHOR & ZALILA LEE, NICK DAVIS, DIPLOMATS OF
DRUMS, SAER ZE, YURI WONG, SOFT TOUCH, ESTRELLA, REZA SALLEH

Or you could check out their website here.

Before the Blog Meet last weekend, I found myself in Sunway Pyramid with my partner Ming and another friend.

We were looking to kill some time before the blog meet so we decided to take a short walk and perhaps get a drink.

But before we got to our drinks, I spotted a newly opened Beard Papa store in the distance so I quickly asked Ming
“Have you tried Beard Papa’s cream puff? It’s expensive… but damn good!!!”.Ming said NO, so I brought him there, ordered a few puffs and quickly ran off to the toilet.

While I was away, Ming was talking to the other friend who was with us and saying
“Wahlau! These cream puffs are really quite expensive wei!”.

A man behind the counter overheard him and came up to explain that the cream puffs were expensive because almost all (or all) the ingredients were actually imported directly from Japan including the Katana that he was about to use to cut Ming up if he didn’t stop saying the cream puffs were expensive.

The man went on and on about the cream puffs and Ming went with his hunch saying
“Hey… are you the Boss?”

And the Boss he was!

Meet Mr Goh H C, Beard Papa’s franchisee for Malaysia!After I came back from the toilet, Ming introduced me to Mr Goh and we all sat down together on a table for a chat.

Mr Goh shared with us the many business experiences he has had even before Beard Papa came along.

Much of his business dealings in the past have been with Japan so Mr Goh here speaks fluent Japanese.

Yes by fluent I mean able to speak the language.

And NO, just in case you were wondering, knowing how to say words like “Yamateh” or “Kimochi” does not count as being fluent in Japanese (Sorry to disappoint you Chapree).

Overall, it was truly inspiring meeting another fellow entrepreneur… and all by accident.

So the next time you go to Beard Papa and if you’d like to meet the Boss, just say out loud
“YAU MOU?!?!?! WHY SO DAMN EXPENSIVE WAN THESE CREAM PUFFS?!?! MY BOLA ALSO DROP!!!”

Today I attended the blog meet at Sungai Wang’s Wizard Cafe.

For all of you who missed it (including Cely and Earl), the blog meet was pretty fun!

Now some people say blog meets are for bloggers to meet other bloggers or just for some young people to have fun in a group.

But listen to me when I say this.
Blog meets are organized JUST FOR bloggers to take many many pictures of themselves (cuz bloggers loveeee camwhoring) !!!

So let the pictures begin!

My snap with Cheryl

The very bubbly Kelz
William, Albert and Kelz .
and “Shaz”.

Halfway through all the camwhoring, I found our shamelessness attracting more and more attention from the outside.

It almost felt like we were in an aquarium with all the passer-bys on the outside looking in like we were human exhibits on display.
Perhaps they were just amazed by the sheer number of cameras there were in that one area.

And not just small little point and shoot digicams!

BIG BIG ONES!!!

It’s almost as if we bloggers feel that the bigger the camera a blogger has… the longer the c*ck.

Just like Albert here with his rather long…. schlong.

But back to the pictures.

I also managed to meet this handsome dude.

Who upon seeing me quickly said hi and shook my hand telling me how he reads my embarrassing blog.

I love meeting readers.

Then of course, moving on there is Yee Hou with his camera flash that had a sanitary pad attached.

And a group picture of Ken, Smashpop, JustMilk and William (another one of my favourite readers!)
Andddd of course… Aprilcherrie
Jennihsurf
Rames

A random picture of us
A group picture of Pink Pau, Jolene, Me, Ming, Amanda and Mikel!

Andddd of course… every meet there are some newcomers that often feel lost.

Meet Sue Ann and Yee Leen (that left in a hurry after I introduced them to everyone else).
And the last picture for the day… Amanda!

Whew… that was one shitload of pictures!

We Penang People are an amazing bunch.

We think that helmets are for pussies.

And number plates are for whimps.We also think that it is only polite to spew black smoke in front of other motorists.

Just like how we think that there’s nothing funnier than parking at spots meant for the disabled.
We Penang People find side parking to be a waste of time.

Especially when we have a 4WD.

To further decorate our city, we love to hang dirty plastic bags on the water meters of our neighbors.
and since we think it is inefficient to have fire hydrants only serve one purpose (provide water for firemen).

We find other uses for them.

Oh and lets not forget that we Penang People love signs which warn us that we will be fined RM500 if we were to litter.

We get high just from ignoring them.

We Penang People are caring and helpful.

Whenever any fellow Penangite is in need of help, we will be at the scene along with the rescue crew.
To watch what’s happening so we have another story to tell our wives and kids when we go home.

We Penang People are smart people.

We know when a truck is too big to go through a road.

But we do it anyway… for the kick of it.

When it comes to pumping petrol, we Penang People love to talk on the phone while filling up our tank.

Not because we don’t believe the theory that the phone will ignite an inferno, but because we feel that we just have to do it since other people tell us not to.

We Penang People ignore any wordings that are not in Hokkien.
Even if it’s as simple as “NO PARKING”.

If you want us to listen, please have it say “Beh sai park chia”.

We Penang People love to keep our roads clean.

So much that we often wash it with red/pink water.
But most importantly… we Penang People are a patriotic bunch.

We proudly hang our country’s flag wherever we deem appropriate… and we take damn good care of it.

Don’t you all wish you were Penang People too? 😛

Dedicated to all my fellow Penangites!!!

PS: Thanks to Cely for the pics.

Some people say Steve Jobs of Apple Inc is the best presenter in the world.

Watch the first bit of his recent Mac World Speech.

Tell me what you guys think.

Months ago I wrote about a party that Wingz and some of his blogger friends were organising in December 2006.

Unfortunately, due to some complications, they had to postpone it to this March.March is just around the corner, so they’re now relaunching it.

It’s going to be bigger… better … and probably more fun.

They’ve even got sponsors like Pikom in.

How touching to hear companies willing to sponsor us bloggers to have a good time.

Perhaps buy us some balloons… help us pay the rent of our function room… and even pay for our orange juice.

The bad news for some though.. is I don’t quite think there’ll be any booze there…

But if you’re looking for scenes of dancing girls like this…Then please do come…

Our blogger ladies at this party will be just as happening… right Wingz?

Check out Wingz site for the details.

Every city in the world has to have a HIP place for the COOL people to go to.

Singaporeans have places like Holland Village or Clarke Quay.
KL people have places like Bangsar, Hartamas…

or even the famous Bintang Palace Night Club at Imbi which I hear is the place to be when you are in your 40s, successful, driving a Mercedes S-Class and looking for the company of some pretty girls.

These are the places where everybody who is anybody goes on a Friday/Saturday night.

Similarly, Penang has its own hip place where the COOL people go and where only those among the Penangite elite hang out.

Where the crowd is sophisticated and exclusive and where the grass is green and the girls are pretty.

Welcome to the Green Lane McDonalds in Penang.
Now before you KL people go about saying
“CHIIIUuuuuuu GO TO HELL LAR BOSS STEWIE!!!”

LISTEN FIRST!!!

This is not just ANY McDonalds!

The Green Lane McDs is not only the most profitable McDs in Penang, but it is also the most happening!

Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 52 weeks a year, it is ALWAYS busy and full of people at ANY time of the day…
Well except in the mornings since I reckon Penang people would rather have a traditional Bak Kut Teh breakfast than a McBreakfast.

But late at night, especially on Friday and Saturday nights… this McDs is FULL of young people!

That’s right… young people, some even dressing up almost as if they were going clubbing (some just dropping by for a bite just after clubbing).

Then of course, there is the ‘cooler‘ crowd.

The crowd that I never quite understand.

The type that goes to sit down at Coffee Bean or Starbucks just to surf on their laptops.For those of you who like this kind… GOOD NEWS FOR YOU… CUZ WE HAVE THEM HERE AT GREEN LANE MC DONALDS TOO!!!

And of course apart from the ‘cool’ and ‘hip’ atmosphere, there is the other reason why people go to the Green Lane McDs.

FOR THE GOOD AND HEALTHY FOOD.

Like this double helping of french fries and apple pie I had which is low in fat and carbs and FULL OF VITAMINS AND NUTRITION.

So if you’re ever visiting Penang, be sure to visit the Green Lane McDs!!!
Okay okay…

Okay….

Go ahead and give it to me guys…

How many of you are going to say
“BLOODY HELL BOSS STEWIE… ARE YOU RUNNING OUT OF THINGS TO BLOG ABOUT?!?!”

*cry*

Okay okay!

I’ve been getting a lot of flak from you guys lately hahahaa…

Somehow you guys seem to be taking the “FIRST!!!” game very very seriously with some readers complaining that others are getting hints on when I’m updating my blog.

So here… to make everything fair… I will tell everyone EXACTLY when is the next time I update my blog so it’s fair for everyone ok?

Alright, I will next update my blog tomorrow Tuesday 30th January at 10.00am!

Don’t say I didn’t tell you ah!

Saturday night, I was way too exhausted to go out drinking since I had already been drinking the night before.

So I decided to stay home and watch a movie.

But no movie is complete without POPCORN!And to “complete my movie”, I decided to make my own MICROWAVE POPCORN.

For those of you who’ve never made microwave popcorn before, this blog entry will be very enlightening.

Step 1: Put on the “They Killed Kenny” shirt that you bought five years ago for RM5.
Step 2: Buy a “Pop-Secret” Microwavable Popcorn.

Step 3: Open the box to take out one packet of Popcorn Seeds.Step 4: Look for the instructions that are normally located on the side of the external box.
Step 5: Instructions are for pussies… REAL MEN USE THE FORCE!

IGNORE AND THROW AWAY THE INSTRUCTIONS.*Try not to be a moron by catching your foot in the picture.

Step 6: Chuck it in the microwave and as for how long to put it for… USE THE FORCE (I chose to set it on HI for 60 minutes).
Step 7: Leave the microwave completely unattended. The longer you stare and look at it, the longer the popcorn takes to cook.

Go watch TV, take a shower or anything you do to pass time (men have an extra option in this).Step 8: Come back to the microwave, take out the popcorn. Don’t worry, popcorn packet will not be hot at all so use bare hands to pick it up and pour it into a bowl (if you have ballz… hold the packet from the bottom and not the top like what I’m doing).Step 9: Enjoy!!!