Posts

Waking Up Earlier. Three Months Reflection

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I  gave myself a birthday gift - "To Wake Up at 6:15 am Everyday", on my last birthday (Jun 2024). This post is a short note and self-reflection for practicing it. I thought it would be hard to persist before I started it. But it went well. I felt a huge productivity boost in the first month because I suddenly made an additional one-and-a-half hour available daily. I used to wake up at 7:15 am but spent the time preparing myself to work (7:15 am to 8:00 am). Now, I wake up, brush, wash my face, get a coffee, and immediately jump to work. By 8:00 am, I have a full good one-and-a-half hour of uninterrupted work. The best part of all is on the weekends - I can now spare time to have weekend breakfast (usually after 9 am)  with Caren if she wants to eat out and not feel guilty. I'm a better leader because I spend time planning the work before I enter the office. I'm more well prepared. I had a lower focus after 2 pm, especially in the first two weeks. Fix it by making tho...
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WIT Penang 2023

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Here are the notes taken for attending WIT Penang 2023. Here are the travel indies attending the event: Part One - "Things-to-do" Segment Most users refer to tours and activities as "Things to do". Thanks to Google. People over 40 search for "things to do" upon arrival and on-trip. People younger than 40 search and plan for "things to do" before the trip. Why? Because they want to squeeze in as many attractions/cafes/locations as possible to get lovely photos (for their Instagram, TikTok posts) Because of the above, there's a demand for Things-to-do booking engine. Who influences their choice? KOL. KOL stands for key-opinion-leader; they're influencers. KOL has outperformed Google Ads in attracting bookings because customers look for opportunities to take photos and videos (mimicking KOLs).  Types of tours and activities Attractions - lego land, zoo tickets, circus, etc. Entrances with a ticket/passes. No assistance. Tours - jungle tracki...
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Hotel Kiosk Project

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The first outbreak of the COVID pandemic in Mar 2020 has put Malaysian hotel businesses to a halt. The first Movement Control Order (MCO) was imposed to contain the outbreak. However, while the MCO contained the outbreak, it also hampered all the business activities. In the next twelve months after Mar 2020 (the first MCO), I learned all the bad news - hotels shutting down, hoteliers getting laid off, experienced hotel veterans retiring earlier (VSS, volunteering separation scheme), etc. My fellow friends who used to travel before the COVID to attend expos tried to stay connected with tons of online seminars and panel sessions. I remembered watching those video footages on the news showing empty streets and logo of familiar hotel brands with headlines - "Another hotel shutting down". In the office, at Softinn, worried looms. Though I appeared calm from the outside, I believe internally, I'm stressed. Caren (my wife) noticed the "uneasiness" in my sleep while I n...
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Transfer money from Malaysia to Nepal. Malaysia foreign transfer

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I recently engage a blogger in Nepal to promote my product on his blog. To pay him, I learn about Wise.com. I tried making the payment, and it went smoothly. Try it if you are looking for ways to make a foreign transfer (Foreign TT) from Malaysia. I will make RM 150 if three users signup using this link, and your first transfer will have zero charges. Signup using this link  https://wise.com/invite/u/jeel62
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Just a Dream?

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I had a dream yesterday. Not sure if I should consider it a bad dream, but it's definitely a weird one. I dreamt of strolling the shop lot corridor near my office. While I'm walking to the other end of the shops, my neighbours greeted me as usual. Everyone wears a happy face, talking, doing their daily chores, warm greetings as what used to be a typical day. BUT none of them is wearing a face mask! I felt threatened and confused in my dream. I'm scared. I tried to recall (in my dream) if we have won, the COVID is no longer a threat.  And I woke up to it. Realizing it's a dream, I feel relieved and yet sad. I feel sad because we have yet to win this! Stay safe, everyone!
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Reading is a great hobby to have

"Reading is a great hobby to have" - I was told since born. Yet, I have not picked up reading until I started my own business.  Why made me wanted to read? I discovered reading after I started my own business. I'm always on the hunt for knowledge, skills, tips, and advice online to improve business, which brought me to reading. It started with casual online reading - news, blog posts, etc. Slowly, through the citation, it evolves into a reading book. Where did I get my book? I started at the local book store - Popular. For someone who hasn't bought any book, Popular became my first place to treasure hunt. It is quickly proven wrong. Haha. Don't get me wrong, it's a good place, and I still visit Popular once in a while to get the pleasure of discovering exciting new titles and genres. Now, it's no longer my first choice to hunt for business-related materials.  (to be continued)
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Interesting Announcements in Microsoft Build 2021

MAUI will be replacing Xamarin. It will seamlessly bring hot reload (like web app) to desktop and mobile app development. The XAML skillsets can be reused in the MAUI development because it's using XAML still. With Blazor, web developers can now build desktop and mobile app using their current skillsets. I believe this is not relevant to Softinn, but it's good to know. I suspect Blazor won't have lots of community builders. It's a tool to entice web developer to use .Net technologies and adopt MAUI. This is big  - .NET 5 is the first step in converging .Net Core and .Net. Then, .NET 6 improves the converged libraries to better performance. So, if Softinn skips the .Net core era and adopt the .Net 5, we will get the performance upgrade while enjoying cross-platform hosting (e.g. hosting on docker, Linux, Amazon etc). Best of all, Microsoft offers tools to assist the upgrade. The  .NET Upgrade Assistant  helps upgrading .Net 4 projects to .Net 5 / .net 6, it's in prev...
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