Breakfast at McDonald's

This is a good story and is true.

I am a mother of three (ages 14, 12, 3)and have recently completed my college degree.

The last class I had to take was Sociology.

The teacher was absolutely inspiring with the qualities that I wish every human being had been graced with.

Her last project of the term was called, 'Smile.'

The class was asked to go out and smile at three people and document their reactions.

I am a very friendly person and always smile at everyone and say hello anyway. So, I thought this would be a piece of cake,literally.

Soon after we were assigned the project, my husband, youngest son, and I went out to McDonald's one crisp March morning.

It was just our way of sharing special playtime with our son.

We were standing in line, waiting to be served, when all of a sudden everyone around us began to back away, and then even my husband did.

I did not move an inch.... an overwhelming feeling of panic welled up inside of me as I turned to see why they had moved.

As I turned around I smelled a horrible 'dirty body' smell, and there standing behind me were two poor homeless men.

As I looked down at the short gentleman, close to me, he was 'smiling'.

His beautiful sky blue eyes were full of God's Light as he searched for acceptance.

He said, 'Good day' as he counted the few coins he had been clutching.

The second man fumbled with his hands as he stood behind his friend. I realized the second man was mentally challenged and the blue-eyed gentleman was his salvation.

I held my tears as I stood there with them.

The young lady at the counter asked him what they wanted.

He said, 'Coffee is all, Miss' because that was all they could afford.

(If they wanted to sit in the restaurant and warm up, they had to buy something. He just wanted to be warm.)

Then I really felt it - the compulsion was so great I almost reached out and embraced the little man with the blue eyes.

That is when I noticed all eyes in the restaurant were set on me, judging my every action.

I smiled and asked the young lady behind the counter to give me two more
breakfast meals on a separate tray.

I then walked around the corner to the table that the men had chosen as a resting spot. I put the tray on the table and laid my hand on the blue-eyed gentleman's cold hand.

He looked up at me, with tears in his eyes, and said, 'Thank you.'

I leaned over, began to pat his hand and said, 'I did not do this for you. God is here working through me to give you hope.'

I started to cry as I walked away to join my husband and son. When I sat down, my husband smiled at me and said, 'That is why God gave you to me, Honey, to give me hope.'

We held hands for a moment and at that time, we knew that only because of the Grace that we had been given were we able to give.

We are not church goers, but we are believers.

That day showed me the pure Light of God's sweet love.

I returned to college, on the last evening of class, with this story in hand.

I turned in 'my project' and the instructor read it.

Then she looked up at me and said, 'Can I share this?'

I slowly nodded as she got the attention of the class.

She began to read and that is when I knew that we as human beings and being part of God share this need to heal people and to be healed.

In my own way, I had touched the people at McDonald's, my son, the instructor, and every soul that shared the classroom on the last night I spent as a college student.

I graduated with one of the biggest lessons I would ever learn.

Ain't this one a real touching story?

Now that all the 3.3 billion units of the ASM has been fully subscribed, rumours abound that the government will open a further tranche of Amanah Saham Wawasan 2020 (ASW)for public subscription.

For the uninitiated, ASW was launched in 1996. All Malaysians can subscribed for these units.

There are two types of accounts. For adults aged 18 years and above and the Youth Accounts for those aged 6 months to below 18 years old.

The unit price is RM1.00. The minimum unit allowable is one unit and purchases are thence subscribed in multiples of 1,000. The minimum for those using EPF is RM1,000.

Thus far, there is no maximum imposed. The sale of ASW units will be stopped once the offer units are depleted. The current fund stands at RM14 billion units. There is no cooling-off period. Once subscribed, it is considered sold.

Interestingly, there is no sales nor redemption charge. Payment is done on the spot when you sell your units.

The financial year-end of ASW is August 31.

For the years ending 2006, 2007 and 2008, the dividend pay-out has been impressive at 6.8%,8% and 7%.

These rates are better than the paltry 2.5% for fixed deposits offered by commercial banks currently.

So, hop on the bandwagon if this sale is true.

Total Recall-Schwarzenegger's Yesterdays

Based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, "We Can Remember For You Wholesale",Total Recall continues to be an engaging movie.

The year is 2084. Douglas Quaid is a construction worker. Every night Doug has been having horrible nightmares about the planet Mars and it has become an obsession.Doug goes to "Rekall INC", a company that simulate false memories of ideal holidays. When Doug has a false memory of a holiday on Mars implanted, it all goes terribly wrong.

Doug has lost his memory and he is being chased by a group of assassins and his beautiful wife Lori is a agent who claims his whole life is a fake and he isn't who he is. After discovering he is Hauser, a former Mars Intelligence agent, Quaid goes to the colony on Mars, hoping of find himself.

He then meets a woman named Melina who was the woman in his dream. Together they wreaked havoc on Mars and saved the planet from destruction.

The eye candy, Sharon Stone and Rachel Ticotin impresses. Arnie in his younger days was more punchy. Not like today where he is only paunchy!

Good movie.

Beware of Hidden Costs!

So you think buying a house is no big deal?

When you have agreed to buy a house from a seller, there are hidden costs to consider.

Ask any lawyer and he will tell you that apart from the house price, there is the transfer fee that has to be paid to the government. If the house is below RM500,000, then the government takes 1% of the house value. If it is above RM500,000, you will be slapped with a 2% rate. This easily translate to about RM10,000 for a RM500,000 house.

What about the lawyer's fees?

If the house is RM150,000 and below, you need to pay the lawyer 1% and if it is more than that, you will have to fork out 0.75% of the house value. Get ready to spend about RM4,000 on lawyer fees for a half million ringgit house.

Taking a loan from a bank will add more to your hidden costs. These include:

Processing fee of RM200 or so.

Valuation fee of up to 2 % if your house is RM500,000 and beyond.

The lawyers fee for the loan will be subsidised by the bank up to 75%. You foot the balance.

Remember you also need to buy MRTA insurance to ensure when you are dead and gone, the loan gets paid via insurance.

Lastly, you may want to do up the house-renovation is certainly a big deal as well.

You must ensure the electricity and piping is in ship-shape. Then you may have to repaint the house, polish the terrazo and marble floorings, re-sand the parquet or replaced it with wood flooring and maybe put in fans and airconds.

Then you may want to invest in building up the party walls between your neighbours as well as put up a electronic gate.

So, its spending galore, my friend when you want to buy a house.

Think twice my friend when buying a house.

It is a big deal!

Snapped up like Butter Cookies!

Business Times Singapore reported about the Amanah Saham Malaysia. It is a good write-up and so I am attaching this to my postings.

KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 — All 1.6 billion units in a state-sponsored unit trust offered for sale yesterday by Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) were snapped up by risk-averse Malaysians looking for a safe return.

PNB is Malaysia's largest fund manager and, originally, had offered 3.33 billion units to all Malaysians on the basis of a race quota whereby 50 per cent would be allocated to Malays, 30 per cent to the Chinese, 5 per cent to the Indians, and the remainder to “other” races such as the Eurasians.

Only the Chinese took up their quota while both the Malays and the Indians were unable to do so. PNB then offered the remaining 1.6 billion units to all comers for seven days beginning on July 21 with the proviso that each applicant would only be entitled to a maximum of 20,000 units. Even so, they were snapped up within hours yesterday. The overwhelming demand for a “safe” return epitomises the growing risk-averse profile of Malaysian investors fearful of the uncertainty posed by the global financial crisis. It also illustrates the excess liquidity in the banking system and the relative propensity of Malaysians to save.

But the fact that the units were sold out only when they were offered to everyone irrespective of race could also trigger carping from Malay commentators about the relative prosperity of Malaysia's Chinese community vis-a-vis other Malaysians.

It's also easy to see the attraction of the units. PNB was set up in 1978 by third premier Tun Hussein Onn to boost Bumiputera — indigenes and largely Malays — participation in the economy. Towards that end, the corporation — fuelled by government funds — was allowed stakes in some of Malaysia's choicest companies courtesy of the New Economic Policy which, among other things, mandated that any company going for listing had to set aside 30 per cent of its equity towards Bumiputera interests.

By 1981, the corporation had grown sufficiently large to allow ordinary Malays to participate in its returns — it currently has significant interests in over 300 companies including some of the country's largest, such as Sime Darby, Maybank and United Motor Works.

Investors were offered participation through unit trusts which were then exclusive to Malays. The first two trusts were spectacularly successful, giving out annual returns of between 10 and 22 per cent.

In 2000, the first PNB trust open to non-Malays was launched and since then, every single one has been sold out completely.

My Comments:

Even so, ASM as a unit trust has also its down side. It is no bond and can slide down into negative territory just like the state Amanah Sahams. Even at the federal level,look at its sister funds for medical, education and pensions administered by PNB. Except for the pension fund which has lost 5 sen to 95 sen, the others are not doing well-mostly below 95 sen per unit. I do not know whether, enough dividends have been paid out to cover the current losses of these units.

Also, take note. Now that new listings do not need bumiputra institutions or partners, the chances of PNB having assured share allotment is no longer there.PNB will henceforth have to go into the open market to compete with individual bumiputras for a reduced cake of 50%.

The new circumstances will certainly make PNB to play on a more level playing field and they will now have to hire the best brains to help provide the strong dividend payout in an unknown market.

So we may yet see some restructuring of the staff profile of PNB as non Malays and foreigners are hired to "sniff out" good shares to buy and play the entry-exit game on the Bursa! Happy hunting, PNB!

Ten Commandments of Marriage

Truth be told, doesn't these actually reflect real life situations and not the vows at the altar when your exchanged wedding vows?

Let's hear them and reflect. And snigger a little if you want to if it applies to your current situation.

Commandment 1

Marriages are made in heaven

But then again, so is thunder and lightning.

Commandment 2

If you want your wife to listen and pay strict attention to every word you say,

Talk in your sleep.

Commandment 3

Marriage is grand - and divorce is at least a 100 grand!

Commandment 4

Married life is very frustrating.

In the first year of marriage, the man speaks and the woman listens.

In the second year, the woman speaks and the man listens.

In the third year, they both speak and the neighbors listen.

Commandment 5

When a man opens the door of his car for his wife, you can be sure of one thing:

Either the car is new or the wife is.

Commandment 6

Marriage is when a man and woman become as one;

The trouble starts when they try to decide which one.

Commandment 7

Before marriage, a man will lie awake all night thinking about something you said.

After marriage, he will fall asleep before you finish.

Commandment 8

Every man wants a wife who is beautiful, understanding, economical, and a good cook.

But the law allows only one wife.

Commandment 9

Marriage and love are purely a matter of chemistry.

That is why one treats the other like toxic waste.

Commandment 10

A man is incomplete until he is married. After that, he is finished.

By now we are all sombre and likely wiser, I assumed............

Higher Revenue, lower PR Image

Petronas Gas continues to bring in the money and yet it failed miserably in the PR department. What a gas!

This morning at its AGM, it could only provide morning tea or coffee. Not even a croissant, sandwich or cookie. At least Ranhill gave those at their latest EGM at Concorde KL recently.

Lunch was at the coffee house but as usual, the unruly tahpau group came by and make a bee-line for the food and dished them to bring home to their hungry members waiting at home.

Petronas Gas should be more sensitive of its image. Gaya-lah sikit! At the next AGM, best if the Petronas Gas Communications and HR Department provide light refreshment such as finger food as well as a good door gift.