Case Study: Damien Green, MP

Damian Green, MP

Damian Green is the sitting member of the House of Commons for the constituency of Ashford. He has been representing that constituency since 1997. Currently, he is serving as the Shadow Minister for Immigration. Here is the link to his website (pops up in a new window).

You must be wondering “what case study is this?“

If you notice the tags and the category, you would realise what the idea is all about. Basically, I’m conducting a market research to offer my copywriting/corporate writing services to members of Parliament (either the Dewan Rakyat or the Dewan Negara) and the respective State Assemblies. Now this case study on Damian Green, MP is actually a case study on his presence in Cyberspace. The findings will enter my proposal paper on the proper services and packages which I can offer these public figures and other who require the same.

Keperihatinan - What it does mean?

I’ve been trying to find the translation for the word ‘keperihatinan‘. Unfortunately it’s rather hard to find out without the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Malay Dictionary. If you know the English equivalent, do post a comment. But why the trouble for this word? What I can deduce is this: the translation for keperihatinan is concern. Concern as is ‘The company’s concern in the welfare of the employees’. Now to answer your question: the word keperihatinan have been used over and over again in Malaysian Mainstream Media to describe the Federal Government’s efforts as well as the move by Egyptian PM who promised a one month bonus to demonstrators in Cairo. Apparently, in the news, the Federal Government and anyone anti-Opposition (PAS, DAP, KeADILan) are all perihatin - or concerned - of the plight of Malaysians. There’s only one problem…

Maxis Broadband Service: From Bad, Then Tolerable to Worse!

Yours truly is a subscriber to the Maxis Broadband service. From being on my recommended list, Maxis broadband has now joined ACER in my Avoid Like a Plague List. Am I happy about it? I’ll give you 68 monthly reasons why I aint happy as well as the phone bill - which I am yet to see for this month.

First, the modem came late. 3-4 weeks after I signed up and paid RM100. Then I cannot use the battery - the modem being problematic again - without the power chord. They sent a technician over, but the problem persists. Regardless how many battery replacements I may face, the problem will be the same - the modem is faulty, I suspect.

Anyway, today I called customer care, and they guided me for 20-30 minutes - including the 3 time hold. It’s not the line, I deduced. It’s the modem! They want me to lodge a report - by calling in their customer care, again.

*Takes a deep breath*

If it was not for the 18 months contract, expect the modem to be joining my Acer laptop in the football field.

What’s the problem with Maxis Broadband?

While http://192.168.0.1/ tells me that I’m connected and all, I still have problem downloading pages. If it was as elaborate as Maxis’ own website, I can understand. But even Google takes perpetuity to download! My God! How ‘heavy’ is the Google logo and the search box? The ‘Page Not Found’, ‘Server Not Found’ and ‘Server Busy’ page never appeared. Instead, you see “Looking up X”, “Connecting to X”, “Waiting for X”, “Connecting to X”, “Waiting for X”, and you wait… and wai… and wait again… Please, do not forget to wait some more. *Grumbles*

Take this as a lesson: this is NOT how you want your customer to react. As they say, a dissatisfied customer would tell 10 friends. Now I’m telling the world at large. Maxis have successfully turned a very satisfied customer to a very dissatisfied customer who shares his experience to the world at large.

Oh yeah, it’s been ten minutes and the browser I opened is still “Waiting for Google.com.my…” Talk about ‘High seed internet access’. At this rate, even dial-ups are faster compared to this service.

Speaking in Tongues - Business-Wise

“Heart Speaks to heart” (Cor ad cor loquitur) - St. Augustine

Was going through the archives when I stumbled upon this long forgotten entry. Take note that this entry - written over a year ago - is among the top visited page in recent times. While Influential quotations from Augustine’s writings may be religious, I assure you that this entry isn’t. Rather, this entry revolves around commerce and the material world. When it comes to writing and sales, many forget their true function: to sell. The question is how do you sell?

Acer I Will Not Buy

My first laptop was an Acer and it got stolen. My second laptop is an Acer, I insisted on getting an Acer because it made such a god impression on me the first round. After some time, the monitor becomes problematic.

At first, I got a green pirate treasure map. The picture just froze before it became totally white.

As I type this entry, I’m trying to imagine what is being keyed in. The monitor is having an earthquake. It’s either i type with both hands - and complete my job faster or I type with one hand with the other holding on the scfreen.

Besides the monitor, the sound system is just terrible. Another reason it stays in my room.

Needless to say, I DO NOT RECOMMEND BUYING ACER. Not only is the product below expectation, the customer service is just terrible. The next laptop I’m buying is Dell. Anything as long as it is NOT ACER. When I do get that new laptop, I’m donating my Acer as a football. Kick it about all you want.

Inspitational Infusions

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

- Robert Frost

How often have you taken the time to pause and reflect on your life? The mistakes you made. The successes you have seen. The failure you face. Have you questioned how life would be if you had just taken that extra step? Or what would it have been like if you missed that particular turn? I know I have - over and over again. Then the question pops up: is this worth all that?

Presentations… Legal Research and Re Webster

A day of presentations: one for Legal Research and Methodology (partnering with Azira Aziz a.k.a. Chibi-Chibister) while flying solo for Re Webster for Administration of Trusts. Yesterday’s presentation was on The Importance of Being Ernest by Oscar Wilde. Hmm… What do I have for tomorrow? Just Cyber Law, if I’m not wrong.

The Headache…

The headache’s agonising… The cause? Lack of sleep and the absence of a fixed sleeping hours… Whoa… Talk about the number of words I need to describe this to you… Yes, it’s like there’s a construction site in the skull. 100 tiny workers drilling into the wall… scores of machine piling up the ground… Better get some rest. Have a very important presentation tomorrow at 9.45am. Being slow is a bad way to screw up a presentation… (I should stop with the hardware talks already.)