The Angkasawan project is a joint programme with the Russian Federation. A project under the government-to-government offset agreement through the purchase of Sukhoi SU-30MKM fighter jets for the Royal Malaysian Air Force.

Agreement: Russian Federation will bear the cost of training (18 months of training at Astronaut Training Programme in Star City, Russia) of two Malaysians and to send one to the International Space Station (ISS) in October 2007.

However, some claims that the cost to send the astronaut to space worth RM 100 million. While our government says it is fully financed by the Russian government, as part of the Sukhoi-30MKM fighter jet purchase agreement. It is a waste of tax payer dollar or not does matter? Yes, if the whole program is what to be taking a taxi ride to space, see Spaceflight Participant as defined by NASA. Not, if the whole program has both scientific and technological objectives, but is also conceived as inspirational. I think most probably the whole program is just an inspiration for our future generation, why? do you think our Angkasawan are able to knowledge transfer his training from Russia to other people as we do not have our own space programme.
Either or not the Angkasawan bring us any benefits, but it definitely inspire our kid your children to have another ambition to chase for just like Yuri Gagarin (the first man in space) and Neil Armstrong (first man on the moon) still inspire many today. Maybe someday, somewhere in the future, there will be someone from Malaysia who really by his own ability to be able to become an Astronaut.

1. Tell me something about yourself.
The most frequently asked question during interview start. I'd be very surprise if you haven't been asked this question before. Recall back what you had answer at that time. Don't give every details of your life story here. You should give relevant information which is related to your job such as your education, your career history and your current life situation, this is adequate enough to let the interviewer know something about you.

2. Why are you looking for a new job?

You should already have something in mind and this question is pretty straightforward. Let's assume that you want a new job just because you had make a desicion to change your career path into a new direction which allows you to grow. Although your main objective is money but it is not encourage to mention about it at this point of time, it can make you sounds money minded. Unfortunately, if you are being laid off from your previous job, stay positive and be honest to give as brief information to your interviewer as you can. If you were fired, once again stay positive and explain to you interviewer. It's not always your problem, it just that you are not right for the job.

“After I was laid off from my last job, I took the opportunity to take some time out to examine my career goals and where I was going with my life. I have just begun my search in the last few weeks. I have a definite goal in mind and have been selective about the positions I consider. Your company and this position are of great interest to me.”

3. Tell me what you know about this company.
The first thing you need to do when you are called for an interview is to look for the information about the company. Do your homework at your end, no matter what position you are applying for in the company, you should know about the company or business you're going to work for. You can search for the company information on the internet, their website, friends or family. You need to know latest news about the company if it has any, you need to find out who are the people in the company you should know about (such as the CEO or your supervisor). Doing all these background work can make you stand the rest who didn't and this show that you are very interested in the company and the job.

Starter: “When I found this position posted in newspaper/internet I was immediately interested. I checked out the company website and mission statement, looked at the bios of company founders and executives, and was impressed. Once I had the interview appointment, I talked with friends and acquaintances in the industry. And, I’m sure I’ll find out a lot more in today’s meetings.”

4. Why do you want to work for this organization?
The question here is directly related to your research. You need to be sincere and any research you've done should have conclude you that you would like to work there.Relate it to your long-term career goals, mention your highlight forward-thinking goals and career plans.

5. What relevant experience do you have in this field?
If you have experience for this position, then speak about specifics that relate to the position you are applying for. What if you are switching careers and do not have experience? you may not have related experience to match the job you are applying, in this case, you should use your creativity and most importantly honest in relating your experience to the job you are applying and get as close as you can. 

6. Can you work under pressure and tell me your ability?
You should answer this positively and you may say that you thrive under certain types of pressure. Give an example from your past if you have one. There's no job out there without any pressure, take it as a challenge towards yourself, you can work well under pressure and actually prefer to work under pressure, you can thrive under pressure.

“I have no problem working long hours. I have worked 12 or 14 hour days. What I have found works for me is to work smarter, not necessarily longer. My goal is to get the job done, whatever that takes, in the most efficient manner.”

7. What motivates you to do best in your job?
Money could be the reason to motivates you but the answer to this one is not money. This is a personal trait that only you can say, you want your life to be more challenging, have greater achievement and get recognition. You want the best at your job and you want others to be leader in your field and you are wiling to help.

“The job before the one I am currently at, was my most rewarding experience for me. I worked in a wonderful team environment. There was a lot of camaraderie. I worked with a team of four people and we did some really original thinking. It is that kind of environment I want to be involved in again.”

8. What’s your strength?
This should be the key question during the interview. You should stay positive and give strength related to your work. Find some strength that you have and here's a fews you can take a look at, you can say you are an effective time planner with your ability to prioritize work, A good problem solver with very good attention to detail, you are willing to work under pressure with a positive mind and you can focus on any projects given and your skill/expertise definitely will add value to the company due to your rich experience you gain from your past.

9. What’s your weakness?
This is not designed to be a personal question at all. They are simply looking to see how well you’ll express yourself, as most people tend to look inside and it throws them off completely. If you answer sounds sincere and genuine, you’ll score 10 out of 10 in any interview. If you say you don't have any weakness, you're definitely lying, try to look for your weakness to job related and ways to overcome it.

Technical Person: “I am a technical person and I realise that my people skills may not be as strong as other people. In order to overcome this I have been reading people skills books because I know I need to improve.”.

“I’ve been told I occasionally focus on details and miss the bigger picture, so I’ve been spending time laying out the complete project every day to see my overall progress.”

“Well I used to have a problem saying NO to people, today I prioritize my day completely and in so doing I let my time management skills decide what I can truly say Yes & No to”

"I like to keep busy and productive at work. I always feel really bad during slow times because I feel that I am not contributing. So, when those times do come up, and that does happen on occasion, I have learned to ask other collegues if they need assistance or to ask my supervisor if there is anything that they would like me to help them with."

10. What is your salary expectation for this job?
A nasty question and a tricky game to play. If you answer first, you lose the game and somehow you are showing all your cards. Employee may always want the most and employer may always want the least. Ask the question back, in most cases the interviewer will taken off guard and if that happen, give a wide range depend on the details of the job. If you already have a figure in mind and you are very confident you can get that go for it.

“I would expect to be paid competitively and commensurate with the level of skill, experience and responsibility that this particular job requires.”

 “I’ll need more information about the job and the responsibilities involved before we can begin to discuss salary. Can you give me an idea of the range budgeted for this position?”

11. Are you a team player?
Yea, Of course you are a good team player. You should give examples to support yourself as a good team player. Give details that show you often perform more than request for the good of the team rather that yourself which is a very good evidence to show you have a good team spirit.

12. Tell me about a suggestion you have made
You need to get one ready and make sure the suggestion you give are taken and implemented. Tell your interviewer that the suggestion success story and has actually increase productivity or solve numerous problem.

13. What kinds of people do you have difficulties
Interviewer would like to know do you show the ability to be flexible and work in a diverse environment?. You probably say NO and YES you can actually work with anyone. 

“In my last three jobs I have worked with men and women from very diverse backgrounds and cultures. The only time I had difficulty was with people who were dishonest about work issues. I worked with one woman who was taking credit for work that her team accomplished.  I had an opportunity to talk with her one day and explained how she was affecting the morale. She became very upset that others saw her that way, and said she was unaware of her behavior or the reactions of others. Her behavior changed after our talk. What I learned from that experience is that sometimes what we perceive about others is not always the case if we check it out.”

14. Tell me about any issues you had with your previous supervisor/boss.
Question to trap you and don't fall for this one. This is a test for interviewer to see if you back stab your previous superior. Try to be diplomacy here if you do or else just develop a poor memory and say you never had any issues.

15. You work for the money or the work (job satisfaction)?
There is no fair answer to this question. Money always come first and it is OKAY to say money is important unless you have plenty of money and you just need the job to kill your time, that's not what you want to answer right?

16. How do you propose to compensate for your lack of experience?
Question for fresh graduate or whom who had little experience for the job they are applying. If you have experience that the interviewer does not  know about, bring that up and just relate the experience you gain to add value to the job being offer or if true that you don't have any experience at all, then you should say you are hard working, willing to learn, quick learner and take it as a challenge to motivates yourself to learn more as fast as you can. 

17. Why do you want this job and why I should hire you.
You need to have a positive mindset that you can stand out from the rest of the candidates waiting outside because you are great and you need this job. But that doesn't give a good answer as the rest of the candidate can say that as well. You need to point out how you can contribute to the organization and add value to it. It is not wise to make comparison with other candidates as you have your own strengths that match the job description.

“I’ve been very careful about the companies where I have applied. When I saw the ad for this position, I knew I found what I was looking for. What I can bring to this job is my seven years of experience, and knowledge of the industry, plus my ability to communicate and build customer relationships. That, along with my flexibility and organizational skills, makes me a perfect match for this position. I see some challenges ahead of me here, and that’s what I thrive on. I have what you need, and you have what I want.”

18. Do you have any questions?
Most common question asked when the interview end. You should always prepared some questions to show that you are keen to the job and likely to be part of the organization. Some very good question to ask are "If I were given opportunity for this job, how soon can I start working?". You may also ask about more details about the job description and what type of project will you be able to assist on.

Hope the questions above will give you some clues to prepare for an interview, although there is no way you can accurately predict the questions that will be asked in an interview, but if you go in well prepared, to win the interview is already 50% in your hand.

Good Luck!

Interesting related article:

• Great Salary Negotiation Tips
• What being "overqualified" really means
• Counter Offers: Do They Merit Consideration?
• Behavioral Interview Techniques
• Interview Tips - Ten Top Do's & Dont's for Winning Interviews

I was thinking what actually attracted most people, when you are having a conversation with a group of stranger. Yup, people would likely want to know where is the best char kuew teow in town. Probably you should had something on your mind to actually get into the crowd and start talking about char kuew teow.

Try googling around with keyword "Ho Chiak" (known as delicious in Hokkien dialect), some food blog out there really deserved some credit. Some blogger even show the map to the place.

SOME students from institutions of higher learning are willing to pay taxi drivers a hefty sum to use the back seat of their vehicles for a bit of hanky-panky.

“I don't mind if they just hold hands or hug each other, but if it reaches the stage of having sex in my car, it is a bit extreme, and I will not allow them to do so.” 

A half an hour drive for a price of RM100. It may sound pricey but maybe these students find their ways of excitement or fantasy for doing such acts in a taxi.

Here is a better idea, I just spotted one book, and maybe this idea can bring it to Malaysia. Hehe…it's interesting, it's called love hotels, it exists for decades in Japan, maybe once upon a time Japanese students also do such acts in taxi and this kind of hotels is built to satisfy their needs (just my assumption). Instead of that, it also good for couples, husband and wife, or as long as anyone got money to pay, you get the service with limited time. Maybe the room can be use for RM100 for half hour, just like the taxi fees.

Pictures by American photographer Misty Keasler

What's more is that checking in to love hotel is anonymous. Computerized touch screen system, Doesn't that sounds better than a taxi backseat?  

Uninterrupted sex and choose among your favourite fantasy with your love one. Doesn't that sounds great? It's cool, from hello kitty fantasy to classroom fantasy, such a good utility room for all the needy out there instead of a taxi backseat.

Related articles you might likes to read…

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OK, the network guy said it will be alright by 11:00 am. That's just an assumption, but many had left home, including me. This is not the first time network down in our office, most of our daily work depend on internet connection, without internet connection, there is nothing we can do. Better option is to work at home.

On my way back home, my friend called me, he said his office also got the same problem. Huh…that's coincidence I guess, I said my office too had the same problem. When I reach home, I found out that my mum had gone out to town, there is no one to open the door. I called my father, he said no one at home, he asked me wait at nearby restaurant. It seem like wasting time, I drove to nearby coffee bean and hope that I can connect to internet and do some of my task assigned. Huh…the coffee bean guy said their system crash, network down. What the hell on earth is going on?

One of my colleague sms me and said he was able to connect to internet but very slow and later he sent another sms and mentioned "APCN2 S7 (Asia Pacific cable network 2, segment s7) is down. Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand facing slow internet connection problem. Some site can't access at all."

Slow and connection problem, having to see that message, it's seem like another unproductively day. I waited for 2 hours and my mum reach home, however I utilize the 2 hours to do some shopping at nearby mall. Opps….I think there won't be any of my lead or boss reading my blog. However I had tried my best to get internet connection, but it seem not working.

When I reached home, plugged my network cable and connect. Woh…can connect, but the thing is I'm unable to connect to proxy server which is located in US. Seem like the whole day is holiday for me. Can't connect to any international link, mean can't work. I had tried my best and to my best, I utilize my time to go gym. Hehe…I tried, I guess my area is not working.

Hope it get better tomorrow and I had just read the news here. Seem like big problem to many countries.

Reason to get paypal account which could allow you to withdraw paypal fund can be different to individual's purpose, having been reading all source of getting such paypal account. Most likely people will just want to withdraw paypal fund earning from ebay, pay per post blogging, internet marketing, accept donation or another payment processor for their e-commerce site.

Why only paypal? It's a lot of payment processor out there and why people just want to get paypal and not source for others option (such as Moneybookers, 2Checkout and Egold). You're right to say that, but paypal is the only cheapest (Probably) solutions among its competitors and it manages over 123 million accounts. Does that enough to say that why only paypal?

Getting is a problem and using it is also a problem. If you thought off getting one or had using one for ages. Maybe you could possibly heard or read somewhere news about paypal frozing account. Do you think you'll go through it line by line? Paypal User Agreement

Since this is my compilation of Paypal & Malaysia, the purpose is actually how to get a paypal account which can allow you to withdraw paypal fund from Malaysia. There are tons of information out there, either you want to pay for the information, take your time to get the information for free or you are lucky enough to have a friend that is so generous in telling the step to get such paypal account. However I'm not so lucky, I choose to pay for the information and later I find out actually if you continue searching and you could find the puzzle of how to get it. Since, there is some free ebook out there which is giving out for free. It could possibly a good method but is not suitable for me, because it required USD1000 deposit.

Here is some of the link which could lead you to get such paypal account:
Chapter M - The first ebook to revealed how to get a paypal account and clickbank account.
MalaysiaPal - FREE ebook of alternative way to withdraw your money from paypal.
MoneyBlogger - Another FREE Malaysian paypal withdrawal ebook 
Ebay Forum - Information of getting paypal funds withdrawn.

Ha..Hope you find it useful, I could had miss some link and if you think you have better link, please share with me and others. Oh ya, there is another method of selling your paypal funds which advertised in some auction site or forum, it could be an alternative option but with risk, don't get the person runaway with your funds and also I had read somewhere if paypal find out, your account will be frozen.

Good Luck !

Useful article you might interested to read:

• Building eCommerce Websites That Work - Part 1
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I can say that cotton candy is amazing and why? Because have you ever wonder how to produce cotton candy? Yup, you can't produce cotton candy without a cotton candy machine. If you would like to know how they make cotton candy, see it at howstuffworks.

If you go through howstuffworks, you may find how easy it was to make a cotton candy with proper equipment, but you wouldn't want to make one because to get cotton candy equipment is very expensive, later on I will introduce you where you can get cotton candy delivers to your doorstep with reasonable price.

As you were know that cotton candy is popular because it fascinates people when producing it (watch the youtube below). The attraction is because of the coloring, which often comes with mixture of color or single color of pink (strawberry), purple (Grape), green (apple), orange (orange) and blue (blueberry). The most popular color is pink cotton candy.

People impression towards cotton candy always refers to sugar, and it's bad for teeth. But compare cotton candy against a bottle of soft drinks. Cotton candy is far lesser sugar than a can of most soft drinks out there. Also, cotton candy is not a high in food energy because of the less amount of sugar.

Some facts about cotton candy with fair amount of sugar:

• A teaspoon of sugar has just 15 calories. Sweet by nature and perfected in sugar beets and sugar cane, sugar is called the "gold standard of sweeteners." Often imitated, never duplicated!
• Sugar is brain food. Sugar-and carbohydrates in general-are converted to blood glucose, the fundamental fuel needed by the brain.
• Sugar makes nutritious foods tasty enough to eat. Just imagine what healthy foods like oatmeal, grapefruit and bran muffins would taste like without a sprinkle of sugar.
• Sugar helps heal wounds. Sugar has been used for centuries to successfully aid in the healing of wounds. Sugar dries the wound thus preventing the growth of bacteria.
• Sugar has been an important food ingredient for centuries. Experts place the origin of sugar in the South Pacific about 8000 years ago.
• Sugar caramelizes under heat. Caramelization gives cooked vegetables a pleasing taste, color and aroma. Sugar in glazes and sauces provides caramelized flavors for cooked meats.
• Sugar softens acidity in foods. Sugar improves the taste of salad dressings, tomato sauces and many other acidic foods by balancing their tartness.
• Sugar inhibits mold and yeast growth. Sugar increases the useful life of jams and jellies by binding the water needed by mold and yeast for growth.
• Sugar helps foods brown. When bread is toasted or cookies are baked, sugar combines with proteins to produce the appetizing brown color and pleasing aromas.

Guess now you know about how cotton candy is produced and how harmless cotton candy sugar to you. Try getting some to enjoy it with family or friends in this coming holidays season. I'm so lucky to get some order from Ms. Kathrina, She is nice and lovely girl, she is currently studying in UM and doing part time selling foods and gadgets at lowyat.net forum. Visit here and see how to place an order or personally sent her an email at katrinacsm[at]hotmail.com and don't worry, she is fast and good dealer.

Something about cotton candy:

• Cotton candy (American English), candy floss (British English), or fairy floss (Australian English) is a form of spun sugar.
• USA celebrates National Cotton Candy Day on December 7th.

Seem like people is just fascinate to watch how cotton candy produced, maybe sometimes out there you could try yourself. Also, according to Kathrina, it's just a small teaspoon to make a smart pack of Free2Fly cotton candy. Ermm.. imagine a small teaspoon, but in fact cotton candy consists of mostly air portions, servings are large.

Useful article for reading pleasure:

• 14 Easy Cooking Tips for Meat and Poultry Slow Cooker Recipes
• Chocolate Cake Recipes We Love
• Best Recipes: Merry Cherry Milkshake
• Christmas Recipes: Cakes & Tarts. No.7 of 7 - Christmas Swiss Roll
• Little-known Tips for Easy Holiday Baking

The next time you have problems with your computer, you should consult someone who knows about computers before sending it for repairs or you will be spending all your pocket money on something that is actually not spoilt, it might just be a loose wire in the computer. These situations does not only happen in USA but in Malaysia as well. The auto industry is notoriously known as not being honest as they would just changed whatever to new even it can be repaired.

Who should we blame? Yup, that's the big question to answer. Trying to be honest and not being honest will makes them pay for it in a period of time. However, I personally think that it will be better to get yourself to know some basic knowledge about computer so that you can resolve your problem if the problem is not that critical.

I believe that there are honest computer shop out there. If you don't have any friends or relatives to consult you, try to seeks help from tech forum (such as lowyat.net forum) and I'm sure there are alot of people out there who is willing to help, these will only apply for those who aren't so urgent. 

Useful article you might interested to read:

• P.C. Security & Housekeeping Basics
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Recently I was being called by one of my project head to a meeting room, the first thing came to my mind is "SHIT". Guess it could be related to an incident lately where I corrupted some database data in production system and another incident crashing the system and causes several thousand of user unable to login to the system for an hour. Well, I guess you could probably think that I'm into a "DEEP SHIT" situation. Seem like I'm doing more "SHIT" than others.

But in fact, I have taken many unsleeping hour to solve the problem. Having to be called to the meeting room makes me fear. Guess you might think I'm fear of what he will question me or I should have being complaint for not being concentrating on my job. But actually my fear is losing the job.

Phew ! I finally got myself released after knowing he called me in to discuss what I want from the organization and since he just got elected to head this project, he want to know more about people under him. As usual, I just briefly told him what I'm doing and what I will be doing soon. So, he said "Great and that's good", so he asked me, "What I want to achieve 5 years from now?". It's seem like an interview question, however, I guess I'm greed for higher pay and higher position.

Ermm..it started to remind me about the picture, he told me what's the criteria of being in management and how many corporate ladder do exist in an organization as define by him. He also told me some people will just stay at some position due to their individual needs or capability and some people who have family will rather prioritize their life for family and not career and someone will just take a big step to crawl into another ladder and climb towards their goals.

As for me at current situation, I personally think the best is to add value to myself and also to get more experience and learn more things which could probably leads to a better future. As part of that, it seem that fear and greed which is holding me to stay on a job, or maybe my thinking was just like others who want to stay on a job as well. I dare not to say that I'm now able to get over fear and greed unless I'm a boss.

I also don't know why I wrote this post and how to stop it, it could mean something I don't know how long I have to work for my job to a stable position in getting lesser "SHIT". I guess maybe you have the same thought, well, let's hope for the best in the coming 2007.

Cheers …