Rain and Shine

With my new found hobby, it's a lot of fun taking shots especially during sunset and sunrise. My first love affair is with landscape. Firstly, it is always easy to take pictures of landscapes and secondly for beginner there's less effort put into getting good shots; no messy and tedious preparation. You just need to be there at the right moment and time, and vioalla you are done.
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This one is taken during my trip back from crocker range and the South China sea seem covered by thick cloud and at one area there already was rain pouring.
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A broader view show a couple of houses built on a hilltop overseeing the phenomenon.


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This one is a shot back in Kota Kinabalu during sunrise.


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Do drop by my flickr photostream to view more : Floyd's Flickr

Have a good weekend.
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Low Energy Office

The Daily Express reported that Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd has set up a Low Energy Office, LEO, using solar power.

It was completed in March but announced to the public only last month.

At this stage solar power is supplying electricity only to the “test building” itself which is smaller but SESB aims to extend the usage of such alternative power supply to the main office building in the future. By the way, the LEO is located at their Tanjung Aru office.

What I can gather from their meet-the media session is somewhat vague and question-inviting information as follows:

53 watts        – is the energy that one PV cell (PV – photovoltaic) can produce.
RM18mil       – is required to generate 200kW of energy (to light up 400 houses).
RM100,000   – is the cost to build a roof solar panel system.
30 years       – is the typical lifespan of solar panel.

One can always debate these figures as cost of setting up solar power systems is becoming cheaper every year due to the various incentives from the Government and popularity of this clean energy source. In fact there are still a lot of variations to that figures if we compare them to those implemented at other places in Malaysia.

In any case, LEO is the way to go!

* picture - courtesy of D.Express

How To Retire Gracefully and Thankfully

I will not talk from the point of view of a Financial Planner because that is one thing that every working person know and remember as retirement years are approaching. After all the hard work, and pain and joy in life as a working individual, the inevitable would welcome you as a member of that club - Welcome to the world of the retired people.

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Some wish it had not come while some can't wait to retire. While having enough money in one coffer is always the ideal situation and is desirable, a peaceful mind is attributed to many other factors.

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If we:

• have provided decent education to our children,
• are ready to live a lifestyle commensurate with the cashflow at retirement,
• are happy that we can retire and be with our loved ones more often,
• are not too worry about how to survive after retirement,
• have faith that we'll always our Providence at hand,
• have done our job to the best of our ability while still working,
• have been such a bless to be with,

then I believe we can retire happily, gracefully thankfully. We have nothing to worry about because we have done our part. The rest, let's leave it to Him.

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I'm dedicating this message to JM, a recently retired colleague of ours. I fully believe he is graceful and thankful for what he has. He has a lot still to offer to his society and he can contribute in many ways to the community he is living with.

Happy Retirement JM!

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