The day my least fave purple shirt turned to out to be my lucky charm....

It was like any other working day...
Except this time, I was actually early for an assignment. LoL.
Due to that, I was asked by the PR company if I wanted to join Tes*co SuperMarke*t Sweep Challenge with two other media and seven top Tesc*o Clubcard members...
Since I had to wait another 30 mins for the main event to start (and nak makan lunch pun macam tak sempat je), I said yes...

You see, the participants had to compete with each other to hunt down 50 Price Cut product items (the challenge is in conjunction with the launch of Tesco Price Cut Campaign) in 20 mins.
The speediest  not only take home all the items in their respective trolley but also some cash vouchers...

There were 10 teams - which consist of a participant and a Tesco staff - and each was given different set of items to look for.
Like yours truly, it was snacks, chocolates and biscuits.
Ada yang dapat household essentials like rice, minyak masak; ada yg dapat pet food, drinks and ice-cream; and ada yang dapat personal care products....etc.

Dengan baju kerjanya, and heels (lucky it was only kitten heels!), pun berlarilah macam nak gila cari barang...
Ok, we have shopped at that Tesco a few times before but, seriously, when u nak cari barang tu, masa tulah tak jumpa kan...
I was lucky to get a very competitive and cekap partner...

We managed to sampai the cashier 9 mins before time habis..
Masa tulah organizers confused siapa yg patut doublecheck and tally our loot...
After like 2 mins, barulah nak kira and found out satu item tersalah ambil..
Apa lagi, i ran as fast as i could to cari the correct oreo cookies, while my partner check barang di counter...

Then, problem lagi, the price of our items tak tally dgn the list..
We just print out the receipt and run as fast as we could (dgn trolley skali) ke info counter...

Muka penat tengah tunggu the judges buat keputusan rasmi

Selepas double check, we found out it was OK and we dapat 2nd price!!
Which is RM2K worth of vouchers! Alhamdullilah sangat!
First place won RM3k worth of vouchers, 3rd place (RM1K) and consolation (RM200). Each of us won whatever in the trolley too...
Which, most of it i bagi to my partner....

Menteri KPDKK, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and CEO Tesco Stores Malaysia, Tjeerd Jegen during the price giving ceremony.... (Picture courtesy of UMMB)

My partner : Holisah who helped a lot during the race

 It was a great, unexpected day indeed!
And I thank my husband who practically forced me to get out of the bed early morning to lari-lari anak around the block. lol...

And finally, dapat juga merasa macam mana participant that game show dulu-dulu (Supermarket Sweep) rasa... :-)

Oh, what a beautiful surprise!

It was a good-surprise kinda of morning today. Hubby dengan senyuman penuh lebar, bangun awal pagi and pergi kedai beli paper. (He could get the paper for free from the office as he is working today)..

Balik-balik, dengan senyuman lebar tu, dia buka paper and SURPRISE! 

His first picture byline! Byline nama dah banyak kali keluar, but byline bergambar ni  pertama kali!

Even Si Bunga panggil "Abah, Abah, Abah!" when she saw this picture.:-)

Dear Hubby, 

We are so proud of you and reading your piece, one could see your passion in this particular subject (bukan subjek paksa rela which u have to write on something)...Keep up the good work and finally, I can say out loud and in public, "Thats my Husband!" (even bukan di finishing line pun...) :-P

For the full article, please click here

Berbuka puasa di pejabat

One might think berbuka puasa di pejabat is a sad, sad thing. Yelah, tak dapat berbuka bersama keluarga, makan air tangan ibu (or kaum keluarga lain) sambil menikmati gelak ketawa mesra family....

But in Utusan, keadaan a bit berbeza. Yes, you still tak makan masakan ibu, but u are definitely not lonely.

Utusan has this tradition -- Berbuka puasa beramai-ramai. Macam you pergi kenduri kawin, macam tu lah berbuka puasa di Utusan.

Akan ada dua meja panjang yang dijadikan meja bufet lauk (both placed at opposite corners) and beberapa meja panjang (and of course seats) utk mereka berbuka.

Lauk, buah and kuih-muih are usually disediakan oleh pihak katering/kantin and there are some occasions where companies like banks, glcs akan sponsor the berbuka puasa by having their own caterers datang ke our office.

i think for them lagi senang buat macam tu berbanding nak jemput sorang-sorang berbuka di hotel and tak tau sama ada akan datang ke tak....plus, it is also an opportunity for the companies to jumpa the bosses and staff sendiri and interact, daripada nak jumpa masa event biasa...

Unlike the years before where the berbuka is usually held kat dewan kecik yang nicknamed, Ballroom Utusan, this year is a bit different. We all berbuka di kawasan padang lapang (sikit) dalam compound office ni, di bawah khemah.

This is because 'Ballroom Utusan' dah jadi kecik sebab bahagian baru kosmo took over half of the dewan. Jadi tak muat dah untuk semua warga utusan.

For those yang tak tau, Kosmo is under the Utusan group and the editorial deparment yang terletak di jalan chan sow lin ni consists of Utusan, Jawi, Suppliment, Kosmo, Photography and its graphic unit.

Our marketing is based in PJ, while Corp. Comm and HR is in Wisma PGRM and Majalah and printing di Bangi. (Don't ask me why its all merata...)

So, sekali berbuka puasa adalah lebih kurang 150 orang, akan ramai esp minggu kedua, ketiga puasa sebab masa tu peak nak siapkan stock story/page sempena persediaan nak raya...

and, the majlis berbuka ni akan start dari hari pertama puasa, sampailah ke hari terakhir sebelum raya!

Although i takdela akan berbuka setiap hari di pejabat, tapi, every year since i started working here 6 years ago, this has been part of my working life.

like today - the first ramadan 2010.

In a way, i'm glad that utusan organise this every year without fail (ingatkan tahun ni takde since takde dewan). it really does mendekatkan lagi warga utusan. i get to talk/see ppl that i don't normally bump into....

eventho berbuka dengan keluarga lagi seronok, having this tradition make the company unique in its own way.

Apart from that, the surau also organises terawikh and for those who work untuk the weee hours at night, sahur pun disediakan....