Over the week, it's my usual trip from Kuala Terengganu [1] to Putrajaya [2]. This time to conduct a training session related to comparative economics and internet databases for the Ministry of Finance [3] in Putrajaya. Also on the weeked I have my fifth semester seminars on research methodologies and data mining techniques at Open University Malaysia [4] campus in Kuala Lumpur. After my pleasant experience with the new Firefly aircraft [5], I decided to do the same again for this trip. Again it was a pleasant flight from Kuala Terengganu to Subang airport [6]. Read on for more photos and commentaries on the trip.

Early on Saturday morning of 6th September 2008, I took a flight onboard Firefly [1] departing Subang Airport [2] to Kuala Terengganu. Firefly is a relatively new budget airline carrier in Malaysia which operates with twin propeller aircrafts. This is my fourth time flying with Firefly. The first time was on Hari Raya Haji day in 2007. So what is it like to fly as a passenger on Firefly ?

Earlier this morning I received an email from ZDnet about salary benchmarking for those in the ICT profession. I am always tracking the latest trends on salary benchmarks to ensure that I can justify the salary recommendations that I make when recruiting or retaining the staff in the software unit. I have even developed an internal salary scale for the unit which is now based on 3 industry benchmarks. The salary scale is an important component in communicating (some people say money talks) to the staff on how well they are doing, whether they are meeting the expectations in their role, and what is required for them to move further in their career. It is also an important strategy for retaining your resource based competitive advantage over other organisations.

Eventhough, my current salary is below that of the Malaysian average of a person in my role. I am satisfied and happy after discounting for being able to work in Kuala Terengganu (which is a great place to live and work) and discounting for the opportunities given to explore a lot of other things and possibilities. You can read about the results of the salary benchmark for a person in my current job role here.

A study conducted in the USA [1] found that corporate software development was marked by budget woes, protracted project lengths and dissatisfied end users. Only 37 percent of finished projects met user needs. It also reported that about a third of projects are abandoned after being implemented. This is a large waste of money and resources. Read about what to do to avoid being part of this waste statistics.

Kod Fail Majlis / Cawangan adalah bagi membezakan Majlis dan Cawangan apabila data-data digabungkan (consolidation).

Bagi PBT di Terengganu, Kod Negeri adalah 11 manakala Kod Majlis adalah seperti berikut:

According to the Petronas media releaase on its 2008 results announcement, Petronas paid a total RM4.8 billion to the state governments of Terengganu, Sabah and Sarawak. That is a lot of money.But why are these states also among those that have the highest percentage of the poor ?

On Thursday I travelled from Kuala Terengganu to Kerteh to Chukai to Kuala Lumpur (a total distance of 450km) and today I made the trip back from Kuala Lumpur to Kuala Terengganu, but through Jabor, Bukit Besi and Jerangau. All this travelling alone on my small green fuel saving Proton Savvy which set me back about RM80 for each trip.