Am I excited or what?

Now,... The best news this year was the Michael Schumacher (schuuuuuuuuuuuuumiiiiiiii!!!) is returning. Floyd said so.

Anyway, I got my parents to come to Singapore for the race. And am I excited or what?
Looking at what Singapore put together this year, 2010 will be the biggest party on the planet.
I am going to get tickets for turn 1 or 2.. No matter what (La).

Countdown now. At home. Not in the mood to go out. Bottle of Barcadi with me. Good food and movies... Roooooar 2010!

Other trips that are planned for the coming year: March to Hong Kong, Japan (finally) and Germany.

We are moving and staying

It has been an exciting year. Launchpad turned 1 and we look back at an eventful year. The company has been voted into the top 10 of brand consultancies here in Malaysia (2008, A+M Malaysia). Business is moving ahead fast.

The Saffron, our place of residence, is slowly filling up. We can also see the changes around us. Sentul, which is known as the railworkers town, is slowly becoming a hi-end SOHO type thing.
We decided to stay one more year.

Christmas was a time to reflect and rest. We have not done much but lazing around.

Worst Airline: KLM

One flies and learns. We were sent to a fair by our client. The location was Duesseldorf.
KLM was the cheapest and was supposed to get us to Duesseldorf.

- Flight to Duesseldorf departed late, hence we missed the connection
- We ended in Amsterdam, next flight to D-Dorf 12 hours later, so we go to Cologne
- Naturally, you have to figure it out all by yourself, little help from the airline
- In Cologne, the staff did not know what was going on
- Eventually, 5 hours late, we arrived in the hotel

The way back:

- The first flight leaves earlier than scheduled - NO prior notification was given
- Then we learn that we fly to Singapore first, then to KL - NO notification given
- Total delay: 4 hours again, only 1 hour transit time in Singapore
- Compensation: Have to beg for it and figure out an obnoxious web system to claim

Rating: this has been my worst trip of my life.
Yes, flights are delayed and so on, but 2 times on one trip?
And the way they handle it??? Lousy!

Next year I fly Air Asia to Europe!

Cold in Germany

Nicole is running around Germany, taking pictures of everything that there is to photograph. Here a snapshot we took during one of our walks though the north-German forests.

It is not as cold as it should be. And raining every day. It is difficult enough to have some entertainment in a small place like Bad Muender (Does that explain the high number of drug consumers here??), but with rain...

It is scary to see half the shops in towns like Hameln or Bad Muender being closed, up for sale or struggling to survive. The German Government announced that the business world is vvery positive and that the economy is growing. Not sure if they are talking about the same country.

Off to Germany

We are hopping on board a KLM flight to Duesseldorf tonight.
For the next two weeks we will be in Germany.

Spike is with is buddies in Taiping. For the first time he got angry with another dog.
It is speculated that Spike doesn't know that he is a dog...

Nicole has pulled out all her winter clothes. After 3 years in 29 Degrees all year round it will be fun to see cold weather again.

The way to go down

In 20 years, I want people to post comments like this about me:

Is Stefan Pertz still alive? I remember him from the decline of western marketing:the Launchpad years.He was doing an interview in his swimming pool drinking Glenfiddich straight out of the bottle and his mom was also there.Very surreal!!

And round and round it goes

November: Hong Kong, Singapore and Germany.
Loads of travel and stuff.

Have to see if I still have winter clothes somewhere...

I see dead people

There are 17 road fatalities every day in Malaysia. Yesterday I was passing an accident with two motorbike riders being ran over by a truck. They bled to death on the spot.

Having spent 45 minutes to cover 2 Kilometers, there is a chance that the ambulance came too late. There were plenty of people just gaping at the bodies and people on the other rod side slowed to catch the sight of their feloow (dead) countryman. I have now seen more dead people on the road in the one year I am here than in my entire life before. The other day we passed this accident where a truck crashed through the barriers and straight into a car on the other side of the road. It was said the driver lost control over the vehicle. The part of the road is straight and flat; sun was shining.

Last weekend they stopped dozens of truck and bus drivers, testing them positive on drug abuse.

Post-it Twitter

This is one way of letting others know what you are up to. Lucky no further details from this "lamp-poster" are known.

Modern Art

Went to this art exhibtion. This one is called "Halo". See the halo on top of the roll?? The artist says this symbolises one's life. It is all going down the tubes...Took him ages to drape the paper the way he wanted with the 2 folds as these symbolise turns in life.

Selling price: 20 000 USD. Want?

Toilet signs around the world

This is almost as cute as the traffic light man in Kuala Lumpur. I found this in the Baiyoke Sky Hotel, 82nd Floor in the restaurant. You should have seen the sign for the female toilets (LOL).

One night in Bangkok - And a day in Jakarta

We went to Jakarta for a day-trip yesterday. What fun we had.

Upon departure we got to know that there is a departure tax. Needless to say that we spent all our cash. Now, in many other countries this would not be a problem. You simply pay by credit card. In Indonesia that doesn't work. The banks close at 3:00pm, so no chance to get money there. We got out of that dilemma with the help of a gentleman also living in KL...

We paid him several rounds of beer and his money upon arrival back home.

Nicole got a wrong stamp from the immigration officer. She was "overstaying" as the passport was stamped, reflecting she is allowed to stay until 31 August. What a fun country!

Then again, they seem to be on a mission to kick all Super and Hypermarkets out of business by creating the next level of shopping: the Shopping town!!

They are all animals here!

I am staying with Floyd and Farah (again). Floyd has helped us a lot with advise, board and food, writing and whiskey.

As we are heading to Robert's birthday party last night, Floyd turns around to the taxi driver and asks him what the big hoo-haa is all about... "Formula 1"... Floyd says:"They must all be animals. Or why the cages?".

This morning I found out that I am not doing enough sports, drink to much of the wrong liquids and perhaps eat too fatty. Floyd is 20 years older and outran me this morning. Depressing. For me. Next time I am here: Revenge.

Down South again next week

Next week it is Singapore. Got an assignment from a client and will be heading over. As usual, I will be staying the my favorite Editor (no names please). Hopefully, we can finally go for a jog, as we have planned for the past 3 years.

Funny thing: when you walk around Taiping (Malysia) people wave at you and say hi if you are a stranger to town... They must love tourists.

GI Joe the movie?

In the 90s we used to go to the cinema every week. I still like to see a good show on the big screen. Kind of different. With all the surround sound, the lights dim and popcorn and such.

Nowadays it is quite rare to find a good movie. Somehow it seems that Hollyschutt has lost the ability to come up with good plots. Look at Heat: 6 different stories interwoven. Tight. Smart and an "believable" story. This could really happen. And the shoot-out at the bank is amazing! One of the few movies that actually convince the audience that there are weapons in the game.

Next big blockbuster (HA!) is GI Joe. What is next? Mikado - The Movie? Monopoly 1,2 and 3? Or Checkers (Dame) as a soap opera? Movie adapatations of board games? Better to watch a bucket of paint dry up. I am going to bed now to see the rise of another Cobra.

Various business trips: Penang and Hong Kong

Tomorrow is a weekend. That means I can sleep a little longer. We will get up at 5:30 to go to Penang. This weekend we have a small job there to distribute ZoCards (http://www.zocard.com/).

Sunday we are planning to go fishing. Since we are around. Later that week, Wednesday, I am off to Hong Kong for a meeting. Have to get up at 4:00am. Nice one.

Hopefully the weather is nice as I am hoping to take some good pictures again.
Will be meeting some "old friends" too.

Who wants a postcard?

Too busy to...???

Ok, I know it is just an excuse. But I have just been too busy with work to post something. Besides, the idea is to write about interesting stuff here. And who would want to know about me going back and forth from home to town to meet people. That's what you do on Twitter, right?
(Twitter, in my opinion, will be dead and gone in 2 years latest...)

So.. I will not bore you with irrelevant stuff.
Or do you REALLY want to know that Spike had rashes?

Off to an Island

It has been a while.. The last time we went to a small island was back in Hong Kong. We used to go to a neighboring island every five minutes.

This weekend we are going to Perhentian Islands, Malaysia.
No phones, no laptops. Just diving and snorkeling.
http://www.perhentianislands.com/

A short trip over the weekend, but for sure deserved and well worth it. Only trouble is, I need to get used to fumbling contact lenses into my eyes as otherwise everthing will be blur.

Launchpad will rest Friday, Saturday and Sunday...

Nomen est omen - Omenclature...

Not that I am an expert in naming thing, people or labels, but I am not sure if this is gonna fly...

The fashion though is said to be of high quality.

I just can't see myself proudly saying:"This is a Fart Suit!"

Business bound to fail

Before I started Launchpad, I thought about these business ideas:

- A pork barbeque shop in Dubai
- Railway service in Andorra
- Driving school in Greenland
- Farmed sharks for Chinese Soups
- Hamburger joint in Mumbay
- Cactus farm as entertainment park
- Garlic flavoured ice cream

Well... ideas are better not realised. I guess...

My apology to mother Earth - And who is to blame

I am not a tree hugger. Nor am I a big fan of accentuated activities like Earth hour. However, I try to do my best to preserve the resources we have, waste less and use eco-freindly products whenever I can.

For a while I have tried public transport. This morning I have been pushed over the cliff though. Once a week I work in a place 20 Km away from home. The train station is just across the street and on the other side a short taxi ride will take me there.

I rocked up at the train station at 7:30, scheduled train at 7:47. Cancelled and the next one at 8:07. Nice in the heat here. Eventually the train arrives, leaves late and takes over 1 hour to get to the place I have to get off. Then the taxi drivers tell me that they charge three times the metered amount for the 2 minute ride. Total time spent: 2 hours for 20 Km. I was running this in the Hong Kong Marathon.

Sorry guys, next time I am going to call my Taxi-Man with his worn out taxi that burns oil and uses fuel as lubricant. Somehow, 4 hours of commuting is not worth 8 hours of work...

Daniel and Craig

There he is. James Bond's long lost brother. We met him in the Zoo in Taiping, Malaysia.
We spent an afternoon "shooting" animals. Dad and me in a competition for the best photograph of an animal.
On Saturday the whole family went to Penang to see some culture. We had a really cool hotel overlooking the sea. Balcony and own beach. Naturally, all of us went to the night market to grab some bargains.

Creativity in Asia

Just when you thought you have seen it all... This is a chopstick (yeah, usually you eat with it) used to lock the toilet door in a Dim Sum restaurant...

Hopefully it stays there and does not find the way back to the tables.

My parents arrive in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow morning at 6:30. Let's see how much damage the entire Pertz family can do in one country.

What I love about my work

I love my work. Simply because I have the privelege to see things that you would normally not see or experience. Like the view from this construction site. My client hired me to assist with a photo shoot and we went up and down new buildings before they were completed.

Or like the Argo. Seeing a product before it is available to the public is something special Knowing what is the next big thing or being involved in what companies are planning to do is really exciting. Like for my clients I know what they are thinking of doing the next weeks, months and years.

Someone said in an article that accounting is boring. Well, shame on that person. Different things do different things to persons. I can see how an accountant gets excited when all the figures click into place. Maybe that person thinks that the pictures I took are boring, cos it is just concrete, glass and metal...

Jobs that aren't fun

I snapped this picture yesterday at Sepang International Race Course, while watching the practicing for the Formula 1 Race. Is this a confusing message or what? A "Smoking Forbidden" sign in a stall selling Cigarettes??

Right now we are checking if there are any labels on our bed, forbidding us to sleep on it, pots we are not allowed to cook with and cars that should not drive on roads.

Driving around

Will be in Singaore on Thursday and Friday. Got a few things to see, discuss think about...

Yesterday I made it into the top 10 at the Annual Go Karting Championship of http://www.bmcc.org.my/ Not quite the Schumacher, but massive amounts of fun.

My parents are coming in May, so got to plan a roadtrip throught Malaysia...

Seconds from Desaster...

You see the car behind him? He didn't...

Adopt a pet!

Nicole dashes out of the house at 8:30 this morning, telling me she is looking for an abandoned Rottweiler in Bangsar (part of KL). Turns out that some %^*### has bought a dog he could not handle and left him tied to a lamp-post. So she goes, drags the scared doggie into the car and deposits him in a friends place. A post on a blog (power of internet) resulted in a call from a dog lover that came and adopted this lovely pet. The picture above is one of six ads we (Launchpad) have donated to SPCA - www.spca.org.my

Ueber den Daechern der Stadt

Dieses Bild habe ich heute morgen um 8:40 aufgenommen. Ich stehe auf der Aussichtsplatform / Dachterasse des PNB Darby Park. Mittich im Hintergrund steht der "Menara KL". Die Fernsehantenne Malayisens.

Observations on Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day. Big thing in Asia.
So we head out to a restaurant, run by a classmate of Nicole's. Great thing about the restaurant is that you can bring your dog. Not to eat!!! As accepted part of the family...

Anyway,... It is "Couples Only" night and here is how they look:
She: Absolutely gorgeous, best clothes, new handbag, make up, happy, smiling.
He: Annoyed, sneakers, the oldest T-Shirt in the closet, Jeans and frustration all over his face

Down south this week

This week I will be in Singapore for a business trip.
At the same time I am tasked to bring home some Conditioner, stuff we cannot get here in KL.

Finally I am taking on Floyd to see who is fitter when it comes to running.
We are on for a sprint along the Eastcoast Parkway.

Up north for the weekend

This Year, Chinese New Year comes early. It is the year of the Ox, which is me.
We are leaving KL on Friday morning 3:30 am to head up north, trying to avoid the traffic. 10 million people working in the south will go north and another 10 million from the north will head south.

Since there is hardly any traffic, jogging is the flavour of the weekend. I am planning to put in some 100 KM over the 5 days there.

Numa - Numa YEEEAAAH

Endless surfing on the internet finally got me this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrKXxUyUpPo

The author of this video has done an outstanding job.
I loooove the penguin knocking over the other one at about 1:26 min.

This is what I call evolutionary improvement of an already awesome song.
Someone has put an huge amount of effort into this. Watch it full. Starts strange, but gets better all along.
Kamlesh..?