Walking with PGA Tour players

It was my very first time walking and witnessing a golf tournament as it was ongoing. And this was particularly special because it was an official PGA Tour challenge hosted in The Mines, Malaysia. Of course, this happened thanks to my friend; Philip, for the invitation and tickets.

All visitors had to go through an entrance where most sponsors are given booths to sell their products. Once you reach that exit, you’re given a free umbrella, stress ball and even a pair of disposable binoculars.

This experienced was definitely the closest I ever got to a PGA golf professional. Watching it on the television is one thing, but being able to stand only few feet away from them was just another feeling.

Practice range and Leaderboard

Patrons whipped out DSLR cameras and even video cameras to record some professionals warming up on the range. It was a beautiful morning with lots of sun as you can see.

Walk walk

Philip’s attended the event before so he had much tips to share for this event. Like instead of trailing the top players which plenty of others will trail, we opted to follow a different pair – Rory Sabbertini and Lucas Glover.

PGA professionals have it rough too

If you play golf, landing in the rough is one of the most dreadful things. In the above situation, looking for a ball approximately 1 inch big in that mess of knee deep rough would be a nightmare. Plus, Philip told me apparently you’ve only a limited amount of time to spot it, otherwise you’ll have to play on with a penalty stroke. They did find the ball in the end.

Quiet please

One of the things I wish I could’ve taken back were the volunteer’s sign. The one you see printed “Quiet”. LOL! It would’ve been a sweet souvenier. Too bad none of it were for sale – I just might make my own.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg1reIk3enA]

This was a collection of short videos from the event. It’s just to give a rough summary of what was experienced when you walk with the pros. But from this experience, I may not walk the event every year. The heat was really much and visitors are required to walk a longer route – sometimes making you miss tee offs.

Hence, sitting in the comforts of your home, watching the game under much shade may be a better option when the PGA is in town.

The Doubletree by Hilton affair

Me and Ariel attended the wedding planning party organized by Doubletree Hilton Kuala Lumpur. Purpose of me visiting is to learn where I can, at the same time meet up with my friend who I thought would be there. Unfortunately, she had an emergency.

Like a wedding but not a wedding

Nonetheless, I happened to bump into my friend’s sister with her parents and even a Webcamper! Lol. So small is the world we live in. 🙂

The first part of the party was kicked off with a fashion show by wedding couture designers – Carven Ong and Eric Choong.

Gown designs by Eric Choong

And emceeing the event was William who’s a radio host, from which station I do not know.

Emcee William - Can't touch this?

By the end of Carven’s show, me and Ariel were pretty hungry since we didn’t really have breakfast and not grab a light snack before heading over. I was hungers till my tummy started growling.

Never be misled by tasting portions

When the show continued, we listened to both master photographers; Jim Liaw and Zung talk about their work and what couples should be doing when wanting to engage a photographer. There was a real difference in presentation and style from the works of both photographers.

Beyond the memories is the ka-ching machine

But we’ve already found our master photographer – you’ll know soon enough.

Nearing the end of the event, I was looking out for people from Wishing Tree because I wanted to touch base with them on decoration ideas we had. At the same time, have a better idea of the budget we should be allocating. It so happened we bumped into them when I was just thinking about it – the universe is amazing. 😉

We didn’t stay until the end but congratulations to the couple who walked away with the Conrad Bangkok package. And thanks to Doubletree for inviting us.

P.S.: Only had my trusty iPhone 3GS with me and I still miss you, Steve. 🙁

The 2011 historical Malaysia event

Without doubt, I’m putting this recent Malaysia rally; Bersih 2.0, as the historical event of our country for 2011.

bersih 2.0 rally
It was a peaceful rally - honest

Apparently this is the 2nd rendition of a campaign run, hence the two-point-zero since 2007. Its purpose still remains the same – raise the awareness and demand for a fair electoral system independent of third parties.

I’m not a person likely to discuss politics and I prefer avoiding any of conflicts whatsoever. I love living a fruitful and un-stressful life with loved ones while doing what I love doing. Thus, I’m only going to write about the noticeable affects to this event.

Unnecessary traffic congestion due to roadblocks

Days leading up to this day, some of my friends have complained roadblocks on highways causing congestion. And a day before today, another friend on Facebook shared that some roadblocks made congestion last until 2:15AM into the morning.

Malaysia traffic congestion at night
Hope there were rest stops

I seriously wouldn’t want to be caught in that situation. Imagine if you had to pee! OMG!!!

Nationwide curfew rumor caused concern

It did make me worry. Not because whether I’d bump into rally members. More so because of police roadblocks and being unnecessarily questioned. Plus, the whole idea of curfew was plain dumb – Malaysians mamak and clubbing hours is part of our culture. But yeah, I don’t like being in cumbersome situations.

Escalating news coverage

In the morning, news of the rally had begun coming in. By the late afternoon, its flooded my Twitter timeline. But it was good to know what was happening, despite my neutrality.

malaysia police barricade
1st time I've seen them use this

Especially by being an outsider, you’ve the benefit to observe both sides.

Acts affecting businesses

Hear say some people got hurt in the rally by authorities. But I’ll leave that to be clarified by the news publishers unswayed by third parties. Instead, after watching a video of the authorities having to use tear gas, I thought to myself, “wouldn’t business traders nearby be affected too?”

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=616ODL1z6dQ]

Plus, they fired more than 1 tear gas canister into the area. -_-|||

We (Malaysians) are really intuitive people

Friend of mine actually took this opportunity and came up with a pet project of his own to aggregate information of the event. Let me highlight one of the geeky things about the project.

malaysians around the world
Malaysians sharing the burden

That’s a map showing the Twitter conversations happening in areas co-relating to this event. If you zoom out, you’ll even notice the event affecting Malaysia across the world from the US to down under Australia.

The wonders of technology. And Malaysia’s historical event of 2011.

P1 One Plan Broadband Bundle

I still remember the event when P1 first launched their Wimax service in the country. Since 2 years ago, I’ve made some great friends in P1 and I even got the chance to review the Lenovo Ideapad V360 Wimax laptop. And yesterday, I was invited to attend the launch event to cover the P1 One Plan broadband bundle which was hosted at the P1 paddock – customer service hub.

I bumped into Nuffies; Rachel and Dustryhawk, when I got there. There were more bloggers whom I wasn’t familiar with but I guessed so much, they were the Nuffnang bloggers. Unfortunately, I ain’t one of the A-list bloggers so I was invited personally by P1 instead. 😉

Speeches and Games

p1 one plan montageThe gist of the P1 One Plan is it’s a 2-in-1 broadband bundle consisting of the P1 4G modem with WiFi AND the slick P1 4G super wiggy – portable modem.

p1 home modem and wiggy modem
P1 4G modem with Wifi on the LEFT and P1 4G portable modem on the RIGHT

This plan came about primarily because after P1 did a consumer study on the Malaysian broadband behaviour, they found only 7% of portable modem users correctly utilized their device. Yes, I went what the fack too. And what was even more surprising, apparently 45% of subscribers use their portable modems exclusively at home too.

Now, for the non-techies, here’s what Michael Lai (P1 CEO) wants you to realize.

…portable modem is not optimized for indoor usage.

Yes, it’s a fact, size does matter. Especially, the antenna of the device.

So, what does the P1 One Plan broadband bundle prices look like? Have a gander.

p1 one plan packages
Click image for larger version

Once all speeches by Michael and Ikhwan was done and the questions and answers session finished, P1 arranged mini games for us bloggers. There was a quick puzzle game which me and another blogger won a prize, what looks to be a laptop sleeve. Then, a final game of tossing balls into a pail was played.

By the end of the speeches, I was already hungry. So the moment we were given the chance to feast, I dived right into the grub.

pizzas

I gobbled 4 slices of already cold pizza and I don’t think it was meant to be our dinner. Oh well, at least I left without an empty stomach. 😀

PC Fair 2011

It’s the first leg of the PC Fair for 2011. Instead of having PC Fair each quarter, PIKOM decided to have it only 3 times a year now. Well, to be honest, PC Fair is no longer a place for bargains to me. However, I did catch up with someone yesterday at Foursquare Day and she mentioned most rural visitors who come to PC Fair do make purchases.

I guess a hosted event like this in KL Convention Centre is more beneficial to them than consumers like me who resides close to the city. Hence, PC Fair visits to me is more of an opportunity to brush up on my portrait photography.

I’m not proud with the outcome as I’ve seen some creative and better composed shots by others. Probably means I’ve to bring out my camera more often and understand my 24-70mm better.

Did you buy anything from the PC Fair?