Shooweb.net - Just blogging

About … let’s see.. 5-6 years ago, I hired this Bangladesh boy who responded an ad at my place. He was around 18-19 years old trying to find work - peniless, jobless and without a visa. I offered him a job as a print operator. Being a digital printer, everything runs on computers - and these are unix based printers.

I gave him a try and from my first impression, he was hard working. I had always these perspective that they are either gay or lazy or dirty or a nuisance to the nation that roam pudu raya on weekends and tarnish our nation’s image. Worst of the lot compared to the cambodians or mynamars.

He did what was told and worked really hard - and believe me he really treated me like I was GOD - refusing to let me carry anything heavy. Practically I did not lift anything at all. At times we had to run shifts on a 24 hours basis. He would worked from 9 a.m. till 9 a.m. and I’ll force him to go back to sleep and will be back to work at 12 p.m. the same afternoon. I dont blame him as he needed the money but he could go on for days with little sleep.

As years went by, he stood by me loyally - he basically could operate the whole business without me being there. He could open files, send files to print, ensure that the output was correct and of quality, finish the product and get it ready for delivery. He even played some parts in sales. Of course throughout the years, we became not only as an employer employee relationship but rather closed friends. I bought him a motorcycle which he brags among his friends that he is the only bangla that has a motor and a private house to stay in - not a hostel or above some dodgey shop lot . When his brother came to Malaysia, I employed him too. We were basically like families looking out for each other and they were the people that I could count on when I needed anything done. They gave practically everything to the company and me. Even when at times the company was not doing so well, they supported me by taking a salary cut or working overtime without any pay. The Malaysian employees left the company taking their last pay, sensing that the company was in trouble but the Banglas were the ones that stood by me through good and bad times.

The elder brother is about to leave to go back to Bangladesh and yesterday he invited me for breakfast as he wanted to talk to me. He said that I was the only friend that they could rely on and though he will miss me, he will never forget me and the things that I given these two brothers - the headaches dealing with police when they were caught. He told me to take care of his brother and though there may be some things that he does not approve of what the brother does, he knows that the only person that he’ll listen is me.

The brothers left the company to pursue something better which I gave my blessings but they call me once in a while to check on how I was doing and whenever I needed help, they were always there for me.

The perception of bangla workers hasn’t always been a good one but frankly after being with the brothers and their community I think they are a much better employee than the other nations. I have hired mynamars but I feel that bangla workers are a much better worker.

I shall miss that elder brother who will be leaving Malaysia next week but I hope this blog entry will be a message to us all that dont be a prejudice of the bangla workers. They are only here to earn a living and send money home so that their families back home can have a better life. They are the very few people I know that put their lives ahead of others.

I have been to quite a few airports. Here are some of my verdicts on these airports.

Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) - nice spacious airport with loads of 24 hours restaurant, cafe bars, toilets but only one smoking room (after the aerobridge), lousy tv entertainment, nice chairs and free wireless + some PCs for you to use for free. To think about it, it is the only airport that offers free wireless connection. Here are my ratings for KLIA :
Checking in : 7/10 - Crowded but smooth flowing
Immigration : 10/10 - I am Malaysian so it is always smooth flowing.
Shopping : 6/10 - Changi’s airport is the best
Restaurant : 7/10
Signs : 7/10
Ambience : 7/10

Kansai International Airport, Osaka, Japan (KIX)

This is Kansai Airport. More of my second home airport and one of the most sophisticated airports built on a man made island. Every time I land here it feels like landing on a aircraft carrier. This airport was catered to be earthquake proof.

At the checking in lobby, there are loads to see, shop and eat. Things are a little pricey but we could get by buying small souvenir items or snacks which aren’t too costly. Once inside passing through immigration, there isn’t much to do but free and limited internet stations, japanese channels on tv or just sit down and be quiet till you are asked to board.

Checking in : 7/10 - Crowded but smooth flowing
Immigration : 7/10 - Strict but smooth
Shopping : 6/10 - Changi’s airport is the best
Restaurant : 7/10
Signs : 7/10
Ambience : 7/10

Narita International Airport, Tokyo, Japan

This is Narita International Airport. A very busy airport. I was here on transit and I just love their vending machines and high tech pay phones. They are so high tech, I didn’t know how to use them. I was here on two transit to the USA and my comments are - quite interesting. I cant comment on the checking in or immigration but overall ambience and feel of being in this airport is 7/10. I wouldnt mind spending the night here.

San Francisco International Airport. Great food airport. Just love the pizzas and shopping there. Was also on transit to Utah so I can’t comment much but the airport is huge and complicating but I wouldn’t mind staying here longer but I had to rush to catch my next plane.

Overall : great experience.

Utah International Airport. My most scary experience at the airport was that I was supposed to fly to New York for work. All travel arrangements was made and at the last minute, I got an email that the meeting has been diverted to Utah, Salt Lake City. I panic! I was in Singapore waiting for my plane to San Francisco at that time. Talked to the United Airlines staff in Singapore, they punched the computer and came up with a USD1,000 for me to divert to Utah from San Francisco or worst case scenario, continue flying to New York and book another flight to Utah. I decided not to pay the fare and try to change the flight at San Francisco. At San Francisco (almost 24 hours later), I talked to the United staff of our predicament and she punched the computer, made some calls and put me on the next flight to Utah FREE OF CHARGE! Now that’s customer service!

Other airports I have visited are :
- Perth
- JFK New York - worst airport I have been to - everything was closed by 9 p.m. - no restaurants or shops.
- Utah International Airport
- Melbourne International Airport

- Sydney International Airport
- Changi Airport - best airport for long haul transits - had to transit there for 10 hours for my flight to the US.
- Incheon International Airport, South Korea - EXPENSIVE! but the excellent part of it was its open 24 hours!
- Siem Reap
- Don Muang, Bangkok - quick massage while waiting for your flight
- Phuket - Lousy.
- Los Angeles, California - so so..
- San Diego International airport
- Auckland International Airport & Christchurch, New Zealand - great sandwich.
- Hong Kong - most children friendly airport I have been to.

My verdict as the best airport among all of the airports I have been to? I have to take my hats off Singapore’s Changi Airport. Have spent 10 hours (9 p.m. to 7 a.m) in Changi Airport waiting for our next flight out from Singapore. There are many places to sleep, even a dark room for overnighters, free internet booths, great shopping experience (some open 24 hours), 24 hours restaurants, 7 eleven, post office, night garden at the roof top for those who want a fresh air or a smoke. A place to work, charge your notebook, phone, etc. Loads of phone booths, jazz bar, tv programmes with cool seat, and many many more. It was a well thought off airport catering to all of my needs. 

Some people who wishes to blog has asked me if I could help them install wordpress onto their web hosting site. I have decided to do a tutorial on this instead.

Shooweb.net comes with CPANEL and Fantastico - basically Fantastico is a tool for you to install certain web applications like forums, content management and blog tools like WordPress.

Login to your cpanel - usually can be found at http://www.yourdomain.com/cpanel - a pop up with appear and you have to put in your username and password. And something like the screenshot below will appear.

Scroll down and you will noticed a smiley face with the description FANTASTICO on it under software and services. Click on it.

Under blogs - there you will find wordpress on the left navigation menu. Then click on new installation (2.5.1) at the middle of the menu.

1. Installation location - Install on domain - choose which domain you want to install it in - if you have more than one.

2. Install in directory - leave it empty if you want to install it in root. Alternatively you can type : blog - for it to be installed in http://www.yourdomain.com/blog

3. Admin username : your username

4. Admin password : your password

5. Your site name or blog name

6. Your email

7. Description and lastly click on INSTALL WORDPRESS

Then you are good to go! Lastly they’ll ask you if you wish to email the configurations. Just typed in your email address and remember that the admin page is http://www.yourdomain.com/wp-admin (if you install it in root) or http://www.yourdomain.com/blog/wp-admin (if you install it in a blog folder).

Good luck!

I have been in business for the past *shrug* 5-7 years but I have been brokering deals longer. Even when I was a teenager I had it in my blood. Always finding news ways to make an extra buck or open to anything new that could potentially make lots of money. I was in the era of the dot com boom. Saw a lot of dot coms come up, gained lots of venture capitalist funding - It was at that time I started with a few friends doing web application & some hosting - we did an e-commerce bookstore applications, property applications, crm, etc. When the so called bubble burst, technology or the dot com word was a taboo. We wrapped the business up but continued to stay in touch with it as it was our passion.

So lately I met a friend who is in the IT business for quite some time and we were talking that it isn’t easy surviving in business these days - in actual fact any business. It is always better to find a job and live the salaried life whereby at the end of the month you’ll definitely have some money in the bank. It is a less stressful life compared to us business people. Our fathers did not fund our business, in actual fact we started off with nothing but the growing process has always been painful but we learn. But then again you see some guys driving the new S class and ask yourself how did these guys do it. Was it just pure luck, did their fathers have ample cash - how how how. To-date after so many years of operation, I am still seeking for the answer.

My take it that your friends & network are your biggest assets in any business. Without the people around me I wouldn’t have half the chance of surviving in business. With friends, you have to play a part in being a friend as well - taking care of them whenever a lead is introduced, etc. To proof a point : Robert Kuok, Lim Goh Tong all had powerful friends which brought them to higher levels.

Go listing - When I was applying for the MSC status, I asked the consultant how does companies go public. His advise was : good SOLID business plan, technology focus, something new, get contracts from reputable companies (fortune 500), make a profit of a million ringgit, be friend with an investment banker and you should be good to go after that.

How does one get contracts from reputable companies - tough question - again, recommendation from friends - your highschool friend now could be the GM of that multinational bank, etc. Offer your value proposition to the company - either could be cost saving, increased revenue, etc.

Next and final tip from my experience is networking. I spend days and nights, weekends - most of the time neglecting my family @ mamaks, cafes, restaurants, hotels — networking and meeting people. I am not a great sales man but if people see your value, it may come in handy in the project that you are bidding. Sales are made not because of the product or services you offer but because of you.

I like to stress that owning your own business is a lot of pain, stress, sweat and sleepless nights in order for you to even see a light at the end of the tunnel (well unless you have a rich dad to back you up) — if you are not game on this sort of torturing, then I would suggest you stick to your day time job.

Once you have your emails and web hosting all set up - now is the time to learn about ftp. From Wikipedia, FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. There are quite a number of FTP tools to download from but I highly recommend that you use FileZilla - downloadable from http://filezilla-project.org/

Once downloaded - click on this icon.

Now we are going to add in a host - which is the web hosting account that you have just purchased. Click on NEW SITE below.

Fill in the details provided by the web hoster as shown as below :

Click on connect and you are good to go!

Once connected (provided you have keyed in your username and password correctly) - you will be shown your web hosting directory.

Once this is done,your htm, php files can be dragged from your PC/Notebook file system to your web directory by dragging and dropping it.

AND that’s FTP. I will discuss more on web design tools in my later entry but till then good luck!