Asian Tiger

In my course of discharging my duties, I find myself working with more and more clients on a global scale.  With business flourishing (more work for me), I find that I being to lose touch on the details.  This is something that I am unable to escape as I have many clients and many ongoing projects with many more in the pipeline.  Looks like work is cut out for me for the next 2 years.

I suddenly realized that I need tools to help me in my work to increase my efficiency and productivity.  I needed tools to help me collaborate on documents with a multitude of customers and fellow project members.  I need something online and yet free. I found 3 tools that I could use.

First is of course Google Docs.  Totally online and easily shared among netizens.  However, I’m quite limited to word processor, spreadsheet and presentation.  You will need to work entirely online on the documents.  If you do not have a stable Internet connection, don’t bother. You will need a Google account for this.  It’s free.

Second is Microsoft Office Live Workspace.  I am able to create folders and share specific documents or the entire folders.  All that is required is a Windows Live account. I found that I was able to upload other types of documents into individual folders or workspaces.  There is a Microsoft Office plugin so that you can work directly on your local machine and yet update/create documents on Office Live Workspace. It’s free.

Third solution that I found was Zoho.  It has a multitude of applications including project, CRM, word processing, spreadsheet and the works.  Loads and loads of tools.  However, the free version has it’s limitations in terms of users and storage.  You will need a Zoho account.

In the end, I chose Office Live Workspace as I normally work with Microsoft products and the same for many of my clients.  I love the fact that I’m able to work offline and yet update online on an on-demand basis.  If you are in my shoes, try any of these tools.

Beginning today, Malaysia Airlines is giving away zero fares for its domestic fares.  There are terms and conditions attached to it; something on the line of no change, no show, no refund, no flight change, no passenger change, etc etc.  Best to read their fine prints on their website.

I’m a little surprised that Malaysia Airlines is going this route (i.e. free fares) similar to that of AirAsia’s. I’ve flown both airlines before and frankly, 90% of my flying is done with Malaysia Airlines simply because of less flight delays, no hassle during check in, no need to line up to board the plane, no need to elbow the person next to me who is trying to get the best seating, no need to argue with fellow passengers who booked an entire row for his/her friends, no need to pay for checked in luggage, no need to pay for water or maggi mee.
Now that these 2 airline giants are competing against each other aggressively, I as the consumer wins.  Now with this latest offerings by Malaysia Airlines, I get cheap flights with great service.  About 15 minutes ago, I’ve just booked 6 seats to Kuching on this offer which cost me RM1,440. I did a quick comparison (kiasu-ness kicks in) with AirAsia’s economy promo price and that ended up with RM1,560.

With Malaysia Airlines, I’m getting best of both worlds.

Heard of the age old saying “charity begins at home“? I’m sure we all have and I’m pretty sure there are many out there who is as baffled as me on the meaning. We all know that charity is good and we should practice giving away to the needy when possible. I would understand that most of the time, we have our own constraints and our wallets/pockets don’t seem to fatten up. Who says you need to be charitable from your own pockets?

FreeRice.com which is a sister site of Poverty.com has came up with an ingenious way to help people be charitable. It combines a vocabulary puzzle and prize for every correct guess. Each correct guess earns 10 grains of rice which will be donated to the needy. All you need to do is make correct guesses. You have nothing to lose and all gains go to the poor.

The puzzle does work up your brain muscles as some words are unheard of. I had a great time testing myself and managed to reach a vocabulary level of 27 with over 2000 grains of rice won. They had me at “twaddle“. If you want to know the answer, it’s nonsense. Now, do your bit for charity and enjoy yourself at the same time.