Australia trip planning - Great Ocean Road and Goldfield Route

I have been doing the research on where to stay... where to visit... and what to do for the 10 days in Australia next month.

Initially, my plan is just to chill in Great Ocean Road and Melbourne but at the end after i planned, I realised that we have more time. So decided to cover the goldfield route which includes Ballarat which i will have my graduation on Dec 10th 2015.

Am excited to visit the underground mining, visit the great scenic drive of Great Ocean Road and looking forward to graduate in Federation University Australia :)

Yay~ Let's countdown now... 

MBA Final Semester

My final semester has started. This semester I'm taking two subjects i.e. Accounting Finance and Marketing Management. According to our senior, these two subjects are not tough. Can I party over these two subjects ;-)

Anyway, still gotta focus on the study to make sure I finished the MBA by July 2015. Since my MBA was sponsored by the company, I don't need to pay a single cent to obtain this certification. So the only thing I gotta do is to work hard and get over it. 

Last semester was the worst as there were 3 subjects and all 3 were not so straight forward. It took time to do the assignment and study the subjects. Anyway, I got them all passed!!! ;-) My only concern now is how i could make use of my MBA to get a better job in the future. Maybe i should ask, could I get a better job with my MBA?

When you throw a stone and you might hit MBA graduates on the Central Business District (CBD), just like now degree holder is just a paper to go into the working life. So what about MBA? Sigh~ 

Okay~ i shouldn't be so emotional in the Friday afternoon which most of you have planned how to party over the weekends. I'm waiting for my classmate to arrive in a not so quiet but empty Starbie... Don't ask me why eh~

Starbie on Friday Afternoon

 

Busy months in ahead....

My 2nd last semester for MBA has resumed on Nov 29th 2014.
This semester I'm taking 3 modules. In other word, more sleepless night~
Each module has two assignments (individual and group) and two of the modules have final exam which have to score at least 40% out of 100% to pass the module. Scary eh~

Anyway, I'm looking forward to end this semester and i say MY LAST SEMESTER which is coming in March.

December
As you know, there is a trip to Myanmar already planned and the execution date is Dec 19th - Dec 25th 2014. Yes! We are going to spend Xmas in Myanmar.
After coming back from Myanmar, I'm gonna make a trip to Singapore for year end countdown... 

January 
Hehehe... my birthday month, anyone wants to celebrate my birthday?
I can foresee my January will be packed with group assignment and presentation. Which one of the group assignment due on January 4th 2014... *sob sob*  I have to bring my lappie with me to Myanmar.

February
Chinese New Year month but this CNY is a study CNY... right after CNY is my final exam. Sigh~
Anyway, I still haven't decide whether should go over to Ho Chi Minh City or stay in Kuala Lumpur. *Flipping the Coin*

Looks like 24 hours is not enough for me... I need 48hrs maybe 72hrs...

Usual Saturday night chill out place!!!...

I sent my cousin this via whatsapp...

Cousin replied: Starbie rite... I saw u d :)
my replied: kub

We usually visit Ikano Power Center (IPC) after our dinner. My mom, aunty, uncle and cousin usually head over to Popular bookstore for books. I usually chill in Starbie IPC. Starbie IPC is quiet and less crowded on Saturday night. I get to online over in Starbie while waiting for them to come over and look for me after they have done their reading at the bookstore.

Last Saturday night, as usual I order a drink at the counter and headed my usual seat in Starbie IPC. A seat that can view the whole activities in Starbie IPC. I ordered Chocolate Cream Chip Frappe...

Chocolate Cream Chip Frappe

Started to study my Project Management Exam next week... All of sudden people just rushed in and the whole place was getting noisy. Toddles were shouting and making lots of unwanted noisy. What i hoped was they leave as soon as possible. But they were not... Too bad~

I ended up settle with my earphone to reduce the noise...

3 hours down, 2.5 hours to go...

Thanks god, my project management exam has finished. Now waiting for another one more in the afternoon. The International Business... Hopefully i can score Distinction for this paper ;-)

Exam is coming to town

You better watch out, you better get prepared,
cause exam is coming to town.

Yup~ My MBA exam is coming to town. On the way from Australia... ;-) This semester examination schedule was a disaster. 2 exams are scheduled in a same day. 5.5 hours of exam in total~

Maybe because of my Project Manager - professional instinct, I have given the coordinate an heads-up that we have to plan the examination schedule upfront as the examination actually dropped on Diwali timeframe. Unfortunately no one bother to take into the consideration of this clash.

Few weeks back, the challenge has arose and for those whom celebrates Diwali found difficulty to have the exam especially Diwali eve. They started to panic and requested the coordinate to change the timing... too bad it's too late~

No more ranting and talking...

Let's get to work and prepare for EXAM eh~ 

Huh? You haven't been to Hong Kong...

What so surprise I haven't been to Hong Kong...

During the brunch on last Sunday with four friends, we were talking about the up coming Hong Kong Trip in end of Oct. Four friends of mine have a very surprise facial expression when they heard me said "I haven't been to Hong Kong"

Picture adapted from http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/49450149.html

4 friends: Huh? You haven't been to Hong Kong
Me: Yup, I haven't been to Hong Kong, but I have been to Hong Kong International Airport for many times, transiting to US. How's Hong Kong?
friend: You will like it but bare in mind, you might feel catastrophic because of many peoples squeeze into a small cubic of land and full of tall buildings too.
Me: Is it like Tokyo? *I been to Tokyo and found it very systematic, not an issue for me*
friend: Not really, not so systematic too. With the PRC, Hong Kong might be even messy now. 
Me: Oops~
friend: You will see when you are there...
Me: Hope my exam schedule will not clash. 
friends: *everyone silent for a few seconds* Sigh~

I'm looking forward for the Hong Kong trip but unfortunately i was stuck with not able to buy ticket due to my exam schedule yet to be confirmed. So now just have to wait for the confirmation, so i could grab the air ticket and leave for Hong Kong....

Dear coordinate, please CONFIRM my exam schedule eh~. Thank you!!~

High chance to ditch my Hong Kong trip

My friends and I have planned the Hong Kong trip for months and I'm looking forward to go to Hong Kong. I never been to Hong Kong other than Hong Kong International Airport which i have been there many times. If everything runs perfectly, this trip would be after my exam for this semester i.e. Oct 21st - Oct 26th 2014.

The "Potong Stem" news came about yesterday evening during my dinner with my friend. I was a bit upset as i have given an heads up to the MBA course coordinator to ask him to ensure we do not have any exam during the Deepavali period. As a result the an unofficial schedule drop on the Oct 22nd 2014. Sad eh~

It's not that i have to celebrate Deepavali like my Indian classmate, guess what? i was the only one who concern the exam schedule... So my Indian Classmate actually kept quiet when i raised my concern, one of them even challenge me as if I'm celebrating Deepavali... I told her, i'm not but i would like to plan a getaway from the city of potholes to the Pearl of the Oriental. (City of Potholes vs Pearl of the Oriental - which is your choice?)

Now, my plan has to put on hold until the final schedule is out... The air ticket to Hong Kong is going to be more and more expensive as the departure date is getting closer... and i might have to make a call on TO GO or NOT TO GO... What would be the decision?

...

MBA - not Married But Available

I was working on my MBA assignment for the past few days... It's not a tough assignment per said but it's a lot of thought to come out a reasonable assignment for gaining as many marks as possible. In fact I'm suppose to review and revise my write up and submit to my team for consolidation by today. I'm not in the mood of writing the assignment. Sigh~

Lots of my friends were surprise that i still further my study to get my MBA... This dream suppose to be materialize couple years ago but unfortunately i refused to be tied down to scarified my weekend and social night out.

Year 2013, i have made up my mind to pursue 1.5 years MBA and made my dream come true. TZ is a student now... Anyone wanna treat a student a nice meal?

PS: Can i exercise my student rights? No need to pay for my meal... Any sponsorship?

Aunties = Cars

I was rushing for my exam this afternoon... It's around 12pm. I was rounding for 20 mins to search for a  carpark at the public carpark besides PJ Hilton.

Bingo~ Finally i found a blue color car was ready to come out in front of me. Happily put on my signal to wait for the car to come out. Guess what? Two aunties with umbrella went to the car that were preparing to come out. Initial i thought the aunties wanted to board the car. But there were no sign the aunties going to board the car.

Upon the car came out, the aunties were hijacked my parking space by standing in the middle of the parking, reserving the carpark for her friends whom was driving the car from the other end... WTF~ It was the carpark i found before you. I asked the aunties to leave but they refused and kept pointing at the other friend of them driving the car... I shouted at them...

Me: Hey i'm not gonna to give you this parking space. Get out of my way.
Aunty: *still insist of pointing at her friend whom are driving the car at the aother side*
Me: No way i'm going to give you this. *I honk at the aunty and slowly reversed my car*
Aunty: *discuss between themselves, i couldn't hear what they say*
Me: Hey are you going to leave? * continue to reverse my car, I'm very careful make sure i don't knock into the aunty... and keep pressing the honk to draw everyone attention. Aunty have no choice but give up, walk away*

I parked my car, got down and straight to the pay machine to get the voucher for the parking and place it at the dashboard, and walked away. I don't even want to look at the them... I bet the aunties were cursing me... maybe that's why my exam got postponed. Sigh~

To the three parking space hijacking aunties,
For your own safety, please do not do this again... you were lucky that I was not intend to hurt anyone and calm enough to just shouted at you... Do you know you are so sooooo annoying and easy to agitate someone fierce enough to give you a big slap or punch you in your eyes~ Is this what you are looking for?... LoL~

MBA : Married But Available

Gaining the Married But Available (MBA) status is not as easy as i thought. Not so much of the tough syllabus on the course, it's the time commitment to finish the assignment and preparation for exam. I was tied up with all the assignment throughout the Chinese New Year, that's why you don't see me continue blogging for a while which i have so many things to blog about.

Anyway, tomorrow is my first Final Exam for this semester. I will have to hit the book again. Will slot in sometime whenever i feel like taking a break. ;-)
 

Porter Value Chain vs Porter 5 forces...

Both are tools to evaluate company strength and weakness... True or False?

The Porter Value Chain evaluates the strength and weakness within the company value chain including the supply chain of the company and its infrastructure. This is more on looking from a single company.

The Porter 5 forces analyzed the strength and weakness of the company from the Industry perspective. This covers the comparison among competitors and have the holistic view of where the company stands within its own industry.

By using these two tools, we could analyze how competitive the company is to its surrounding as well as how strong is the company internally...

So, what is Porter Value Chain?  What is Porter 5 Forces?

Examination preparation

Let's get started to study on the Exam...


The final exam for MBA semester #1 will be starting on Feb 19th... So I need to kick start on the study. It's so different in Exam Study nowadays with the technology... which totally different from the convention way (using books only). When i was a student in Canada, I only read books and notes. Now, YouTube have given a short cut to learn the subject.

No wonder the Y and Z generation learn things so fast~ 

How will 2014 be for TZ ?

2013 was an enjoyable year on travel but a tough year for my career... It's a wake up call for me too. Because of this call, I have finally decided to pursue the MBA Master of Business Administration after years of dream but no actions. Now I target to complete within 1.5 years and looking forward for the graduation. It's too early to say whether i could finish by what have been set in the program. This is due to unknown factors in my coming job scope and many more changes yet to be known. All these factors were unknown in this challenging year. Anyway, MBA is NOT Married but Available. LOL

Time flies and my MBA study for first semester is halfway through. It's interesting to go back to school and learn something different. I hope i have the opportunities to apply what i learn in the near future.  Moreover, i met an entrepreneur whom has only high school cert yet he is running the operation side of the business. Sometime when we discussed about business operation, it was amazed on how he could handle the operation by learning from experience people surrounding him. I really salute him. 

Year 2014, some people has a great start like how US stock market. But the US stock market investors are not sure whether the champagne can continue to flow or not... Just like those people whom has a great starts. Are they able to maintain throughout the year whatever greatness they have?

For those whom started with not getting what they hoped / wanted... DO NOT disappointed. There are always some reason why you don't get what you wanted or hoped for... maybe there is something which is better waiting for you in the near future. Who know eh~ Just like what i have been through on year 2013... trying to get a job / career in Singapore but ended up so many disappointment, if i got a job in Singapore, i might not be making my mind to pursue my MBA. So, when  my current company offer sponsorship of the MBA and i quickly applied and went through numerous interviews and got selected from 60 applicants.

So now i'm sharping my knife and to the world...  I'll be BACK...