Politeness & Bluntness

Two of my loyal readers wrote to me today, asking me why haven't I been posting over the last couple of days. To be quite honest, I wasn't in the mood to write. Besides, I reckoned that since the whole of Malaysia has been engrossed in Mohd Saiful Bukhari's anus over the last week, no one would notice a few days' break on my part.

A different friend wrote me an email in response to my email to him earlier, and he raised something about my having the "guts to be vocal." He said he admired me for that. He said most people (especially Asians) are brought up to be polite rather than honest.

It occurred to me that he is not the first person who told me that. And so this gives me an excuse to tell a bit of my story.

Some people have criticized me for my bluntness when giving my opinions. I have also made "impolite" comments in other blogs. Since there are a number of people who've told me the same thing, then I suppose there must be some truth in it.

I have been criticized, for example, because of the way I expressed myself against my own father with his peculiarities. I have also been criticized for raising some things I dislike about my mother. Sometimes the truth sucks, and many of us would rather sweep the rubbish under the carpet. The truth hurts too. And the hardest thing to do is to draw the limits when balancing between politeness and bluntness.

One of my nieces stole my money when she was still a young girl. It was just a small amount, but I was concerned about her anyway. For a while, I was debating with myself whether to tell her mother about this problem. My sister had high expectation of her daughter, and perhaps because of parental instinct, she's very sensitive whenever any of us gave negative comments about her children. Most parents believe that they know their children the most, you see, and it is not often easy to shake that belief.

Then later on when I was talking with another sister, I realised that the rest in my family had known of the stealing habit for some time. When I asked them why didn't they tell her mother about it, they said that they pity the mother—that she would become very disappointed. Besides, there was that risk of her mother not believing us. I took a while but eventually told my sister about her daughter. She was indeed devastated, but I had the feeling that she did not believe me.

Years later, when my niece was all grown up and was in college, she was caught stealing the cellphone of her room mate. In fact, that was not the first time she did it. Several cellphones went missing until someone actually followed her secretly to the shop where she tried to sell the phone. Her parents pleaded with the dean for leniency. She was eventually suspended from school for a couple of weeks.

And now I see something "not quite right" in my 5-year-old nephew. I am not a child specialist, but I do read a bit about children. I see some peculiar signs in this boy—those which suggest autism. I happen to know that early intervention can help in autistic children. But as I said, I am not a child specialist. I am usually very blunt with my siblings. Hell, I am blunt with most people! Yet I don't really know how to tell my sister about her son.

I can of course be nice and polite and leave things as there are. That would probably save my sister the heartache of knowing that her son has a problem, although I honestly hope that I am wrong. Like I said, sometimes the truth hurts.

And then the other option is that I just tell her point blank and ask her to bring her son to see a specialist as soon as possible. One possible outcome is that the child is found to be normal after all and my sister may think that I'm just wasting her time. The other possible outcome is that my suspicion is correct and the specialist can help to remedy the problem a bit.

From my experience talking to people, I found that most of them prefer me to be truthful rather than polite. So don't tell them that they look skinny if actually I think they're obese. Don't say that they look good with short hair, when actually they look awful. Nevertheless, most of them can't handle the truth. When told the truth, they become hurt and offended.

So let's hear it from you all. If you have a choice between the two, would you prefer me to be polite or blunt?

Blood Test & Injections

Every year almost all of us in the office would have our annual comprehensive blood test. My partner started this program since ages ago. It is a good idea because, generally speaking, not many people would actually make it a point to get their blood tested every year. From these blood tests, one is able to detect possible health problems such as high cholesterol, diabetes, cancer warnings and so on.

Typically we would have it within the first quarter of the year. This year, our sports club decided to schedule the blood test a little earlier than usual, i.e. in January. So last Tuesday, those folks from Pathlab came over first thing in the morning to draw blood samples from all of us. Since there were about 70 of us, it took a week to compile all the results.

This morning, at around 10am, our results arrived. As in the previous years, there's always the excitement and commotion when they're comparing results—who's healthier and who's not. And to some people—who's not so healthy and who's even worse.

Ignoring the fancy folder, a typical result comprises 3 pages, listing the types of test conducted, and the summary of the respective readings. Whenever something is not quite right, for example a reading is too high or too low, the lab technicians would highlight it with a yellow marker. So it has come to a common practice to ask each other how many highlighted items are found within those 3 pages. Obviously the more yellow highlights one has, the more he is in trouble with his health.

After going through several years of these annual blood tests, I have come to the conclusion that perhaps half of the staff in the office would fail their Lipid Profile tests. It has been said that women are generally protected by the female hormones, but from what I've seen so far, that is not quite true. Quite a fair number of the girls in the office—some of them still very young—have high cholesterol. And of course the guys too.

I myself didn't get a perfect score this year. I had 2 yellow highlights in my result. And yes, both are found under the heading of Lipid Profile Test. My total cholesterol count is at 5.4 MMOL/L, which is a little over the 5.2 MMOL/L range; and the LDL cholesterol count is at 3.0 MMOL/L, which is over the 2.6 MMOL/L range. However, because my HDL cholesterol is 1.83 MMOL/L against the minimum 1.04 MMOL/L recommended range, my TOTAL/HDL RATIO is at a very commendable 3.0 (recommended range less than 5.0.)

Now that the results are out, one can expect those who've failed the Lipid Profile tests to be very careful with their diet for about 2 weeks. Whenever they eat anything, they will be conscious of the cholesterol and oil contents in their foods. But this is only for about 2 weeks, mind! People forget very quickly, you see. After that, they won't be able to control what they eat. It will just have to wait till the next blood test in a year's time before they are careful of what they eat again.

Try and ask the people around you, what is the most important thing to them in life. I bet high amongst the top in their lists would be "health". Yet, it is strange that very few of them would actually put in the efforts required to maintain their health, let alone to improve their health. They would spend a lot of money on slimming products or food supplements etc, but hardly ever break a sweat to exercise. Because of course all of them simply have no time for the workout.

Oh yes, I also have a bit of an issue with my Hepatitis B antibody. According to the result, my antibody count has gone down to as low as 27 MIU/ML. Below this figure is a comment which says: BOOSTER DOSE MAY BE CONSIDERED.

Then later on, I found out that CYP's reading for Hepatitis B antibody was at 77 MIU/ML, much higher than mine, but still considered low. And of course a booster injection is also recommended for her. However, she said she's not going for a booster jab. She explained that she had in the past taken Hepatitis B immunization injections. She took the first and second injections, and then before the booster injection was due, she became pregnant. The same thing happened when she had her third child. Always when it's time for the booster injection, she would become pregnant! So that's why she's not going to even consider a booster injection now.

Perhaps it's time that I get Grace or Pat to have a serious talk with CYP. I think she's getting it all wrong. Someone really has to make her understand that it's not the Hepatitis injections that caused the pregnancies; it had a lot to do with a different kind of injections which her husband administered.

Anyway, coming back to my own result, I really need to cut down on eggs and prawns. Although my lipid profile is not very serious at the moment, it may quickly worsen if I'm not careful, and it will be extremely difficult to remedy the situation when that happens.

Broadband Connectivity

About a year ago, I was walking around Wisma Merdeka during lunch break when I was attracted by the WIMAX Redtone promotion at the ground floor atrium space. People could try out the connection speed themselves on a laptop provided by the promoters. On one of those laptops, there was an online movie showing. I thought it was pretty impressive.

I had an account with Streamyx for over 2 years by then. But streamyx is slower than WIMAX. Perhaps it's because too many people are logged on all the time, thus causing congestion. As the result, it's not always possible to watch online movies or video clips such as youtube. It would lag so badly that it can be so frustrating. In fact, this recently Streamyx has been sending out their own promotion to ask us customers to "upgrade" for a faster speed for a small increase in the monthly charges. So as you can imagine, there is a bit of slowing down on the speed. I suspect that they're trying to give a good reason for us to "upgrade", you see.

Anyway, coming back to the WIMAX thing, I was seriously thinking of dumping Streamyx because of the above reason. But in the end I decided not to, because I thought it's just a matter of time before WIMAX too would become congested. Furthermore, WIMAX is charging substantially more than Streamyx. I decided to wait till later to see what's the feedback from those who subscribe to WIMAX.

At around the same time, Mia bought a new laptop so that she could bring her work home. The old laptop her company gave her was really old. But since she's bringing her work home, she needed internet connection. Actually, we could share the existing Streamyx that I have via a router. That would probably cost us a small amount on some hardware, but at no extra cost to the internet provider.

But little did I know when I came home one day, there was this ugly rounded thing beside Mia's laptop—apparently a receiver for her new WIMAX account. She had subscribed to WIMAX without even asking me first. So now we each have our own service provider, she with her WIMAX, and I with my Streamyx.

During the first few weeks of her WIMAX connection, it performed wonderfully. But after while, it, too, became subject to occasional no service problems. That is not a surprise to me, because to be quite honest, I had expected it. She had contemplated dumping WIMAX and then sign up with Streamyx. But I told her that both services are basically the same in terms of performances. Besides, I think there's a kind of condition the she's supposed to maintain her account for at least 2 years. Or is it longer?

As it turned out, the connectivity and speed aren't really the main problem after all. Each month Mia would receive at least 10 calls from the Redtone folks in KL, asking her to pay her bills. Mia would tell them that she had made payment to their KK branch. And for some strange reason, these people have no communication whatsoever between their KK and KL offices. They have no record whatsoever who has made payment and who hasn't. So they have to keep calling their customers all the time to keep track on billings.

It has now come to the point of annoyance. Mia is making sure that she's paying her bills on time each month. Yet they're calling up all the time and implying that services will be terminated if no payment is made. As I said, they have no idea who has paid. So now Mia has decided to wait for them to cut off the line and then she's won't do anything about it. She will simply give her business to Streamyx.

But I gave Mia an even better idea. If indeed she's discontinuing with WIMAX, I will get a router so that we can just share the existing account I have with Streamyx.

Those of you who're entertaining the idea of subscribing WIMAX Redtone, I'd suggest that you think again. They will be chasing for payments all the time even if you've been making payments promptly each month.

Price Controls

The prices of many goods and services in Malaysia which fall within the category of "necessities" are controlled by the government. In some cases, the government controls the prices via subsidies. For example, if the true market price of an item is RM10, the government may subsidize say RM5, so that the consumers will only have to pay RM5. Alternatively, the government can also control prices via statutes, i.e. by imposing ceiling prices for goods and services.

It was reported in The Star that the Health Ministry will review private hospitals' charges for room, equipment and medicine, which many have said are excessive. I have every reason to support this government effort because sooner or later I will become old and sick, and will inevitably require medical help whether I like it or not. But actually I don't really agree that the government should intervene in this case.

Of course medicare is a necessity—everyone falls sick every now and then. But I'm more inclined to support price control on necessities in cases where the consumers have no choice. But in the case of hospitals, we do have government hospitals in Malaysia. Sick people can go there to seek medical help. There is no necessity for them to go to the private hospitals. There is no necessity, therefore, to pay for the expensive medical bills of the private hospitals.

However, in spite of the more expensive bills, people in general prefer to go to the private hospitals, even if they can barely afford it. What is it about the private hospitals—in spite of the "excessive medical bills"—that would lure the sick people, rich and poor, to go there and not the government hospitals?

Firstly, I think it has a lot to do with psychology. People in general have the impression that the doctors and supporting staff in private hospitals provide better services to their patients, because otherwise there is no repeat business from those sick people. From my own experience, I have to say that there is some truth in this.

Secondly, I see private hospitals as a kind of luxury. The rooms may be more comfortable, lobbies larger and common areas more pleasing to the eye. But of course one may argue that when one is sick, the main focus is to stay alive and not so much about seeing something pleasant!

Thirdly, I can say that generally the government hospitals are almost always over-crowded. When one goes to the out-patient section of the government hospitals in the morning to get a number to see the doctor, he can expect to wait several hours, if not the whole day. Perhaps the scenario is different for emergency cases.

Finally, there is the general impression that government hospitals are training grounds for new doctors. This I don't believe to be true. It is true that many new doctors who took up the profession via government scholarship are obligated to work in government hospitals for some years before they can (and usually do) work in private hospitals, or set up their own clinics. But I know of some experienced doctors in government hospitals too.

But the bottom line is still that private hospitals should be allowed to charge based on market rate. I think if there is profit in it, that can be attractive for other private hospitals to be set up. And more people can benefit. Besides, when there are more private hospitals around, then competition will come into play. Yes, sick people will need medical help one way or another. But if there are many private hospitals, they have choices, and the competition will control the prices somehow. I don't think it is fair to compare a bed & breakfast with a budget hotel or with a 5 star hotel. Obviously the 5 star hotel should be allowed to charge higher for their rooms and services. If the public has a negative impression of the government hospitals, then perhaps it's time that the government do something about it.

The only exception, I think, is when we're dealing with specialist areas of the medical field where choices are limited. For example, when talking about heart surgeries. I know in KK, until recently, heart patients had to be flown to west Malaysia for surgeries. So in that case, I would agree to government intervention on pricing for the interest of the public.

When and if I fall sick, I think I would much prefer to be in a comfortable air-conditioned room, if possible all to myself, with TV and perhaps a nurse on standby round the clock. But I think I can expect to pay heftily for such services too. That's why I'm paying good money to the insurers to prepare for this possibility. And if I can't afford such luxury, then I guess I will have to settle with whatever I can get at the government hospitals. Maybe the environment there won't be as pleasant, but I'm sure that the doctors there are also capable people. If they're not, my insurers will have something to worry about.

Observing a Bank Teller at Work

How much is 6 pieces of RM100 notes?

Quick! answer that question without using a calculator!

That's easy, right? OK, let's try another one:

How much is 12 pieces of RM50 notes?

Again, try to resist the temptation to reach out for that forsaken calculator. I know most of you would automatically grab the calculator, almost sub-consciously. It is strange, but most people are becoming increasingly lazy to use their brains. Who needs brains; all you need are batteries?

Today I made a trip to the bank to pay up my insurance premiums. Well, actually I was paying for Mia's and mine. Last night, Mia left the 12 pieces of RM50 notes on my desk together with the premium due reminders for both our insurance policies. She had to pay RM576.30, whereas I had to pay RM590.70.

This afternoon I went to the bank which is located on the ground floor of the building wherein my office is located. After waiting for a while before my number was called, I walked up to the teller and gave the premium-due reminders. I told her that I'd like to pay for those. Automatically, she reached for the calculator to key in the amounts, and then announced to me the total amount due. I gave her 6 pieces of RM100 notes from my wallet, plus the 12 pieces of RM50 notes which Mia gave to me last night.

I watched the teller at work, which was quite amusing at first, but eventually becoming quite annoying.

She counted the RM100 notes first. I saw her lips counted, and heard whispering sounds of the numbers—one, two, three... six. Then she counted again the second time, just to make sure that there were indeed 6 pieces of RM100 notes. And then she counted again a third time before finally convincing herself that there were 6 pieces of RM100 notes. After she's absolutely sure that she had 6 pieces of RM100 notes in her hands, she wrote it down on a piece of paper, i.e. RM100 x 6. And then she proceeded to key in the figures into her calculator—the kind which would print out the figures on the tiny paper so that she could cross-check later. I thought it would never come, but at last she was able to really be sure that she received RM600 worth of RM100 notes from me!

Next, she continued to deal with the RM50 notes. She counted with her hands, and again I could hear the whispering sounds—one, two, three... twelve. And of course the second and third counts respectively. Yes, 12 pieces of RM50, they're all there. So again she wrote it down, i.e. RM50 x 12, before proceeding to key in the figures into the calculator.

Finally, she's able to arrive at the grand total: RM1,200, voila! And then, once again reaching out for the calculator to do a bit of calculation, she was able to determine how much change to give back to me.

Talk about paranoia!

Heart Rate Monitor

Since running the New Balance Pacesetters 30KM last Sunday, I've done 3 short runs this week. I did a 6km recovery run on Tuesday, a 10km speed-training run on Wednesday, and a 7km run yesterday.

For the first time in my life, I made these runs with the Heart Rate Monitor (HRM). Quite an experience running with the HRM. Actually, I don't fancy the idea of running with all these accessories, but well, in the name of pursuing a personal record (PR), I reckoned that I should at least give it a few months' try.

From my experience running at the park, I think I can safely say that only a very small percentage of the runners have HRM. That is quite logical because most runners at the park are not really running to achieve PR. They're doing it for a bit of exercise. Of course some boys and girls are also using the park as an excuse to meet and flirt with each other—we all know those creatures, don't we?

Anyway, while I was running, I met a doctor friend who said she did not know what the HRM is for. Her face seemed to say "HRM is a bunch of craps!", especially since the device cost quite a fortune! So I reckon it might be a good idea to share here my experience with the HRM so far.

The first thing that came to my mind when I arrived at the park to run on Tuesday was that I now know what women must be going through, having have to put on bras like 80% of the time. I felt a bit funny with something strapped on my chest. At first, I thought it's gonna be very uncomfortable when I run. But on the contrary, I got used to it quite quickly. Of course the kind of "strap" I have on is not for the purpose of "load-bearing" as the bras, so I suppose one may argue that the two are not exactly the same.

Attached to that chest strap is a small device known as the transmitter. This battery-powered device sends signals to the computer-wrist watch which in turn analyses those signals and then displays the heart rates. Before the run, the user sets the prescribed training parameters, such as ranges of heart rates, pace, distance etc.

During the run, if one runs faster than the upper limit of the range, the watch would beep. Likewise, if one runs slower than the lower limit of the range, the watch will also beep. So the runner is "forced" to maintain a certain pace throughout the run.

According to the manufacturer of the HRM, it has carried out long term research on what could be expected from training at the numerous heart rate zones. Hence the tagline "Listen to your heart." So that's exactly what I'm trying to do. And so far, I must say that the HRM seems to work well on me in that I can take better control of my pace now. But obviously it's still too early to tell if I can really improve on my time in the long run with the HRM. I hope it can help me, otherwise I'm really gonna kick myself in the butt for spending almost RM1,000 for the HRM! In fact, earlier I even entertained the idea of buying one that cost RM1,500!

Oh! and those of you who may have the same wavelength as mine—yes, the watch does tell the time too. In fact, it does most of the other functions of the ordinary digital watches, e.g. date, alarm clock etc.

Apart from monitoring the heart rate, there is an additional device known as the footpod, which is a small item meant to be attached to the shoelace. It is also battery-powered and sends signals to the watch. With it, the runner will be able to see the distances covered, and hence the pace of the run. And no, while I was running, I hardly noticed the footpod on my shoe, and I did not feel its weight.

Well, this better be good. Now it's just a matter of time to the Borneo International Marathon on 02 May. I would really like to dip below 04:30 for the full marathon (42.2km). But before that, it's time to find out if I can dip below 02:00 for the half marathon by now. In the previous 2 half marathons that I joined, I was only able to achieve 02:04 and then 02:03 after training so hard. I will have another chance to find out if I can do any better in the coming Energizer Night Marathon on 27 March. Keeping my fingers crossed...

International Medical Corps—Help Haiti

If you are keen to donate to the Haitians in the aftermath of the recent earthquake, but have not done so (or would like to give more), you can donate through the International Medical Corps. I have put up the widget on my sidebar.

If you would like to know more about the International Medical Corps (IMC), please click here. And this is where you can find out a bit more about IMC.

If you have further questions, you can also write to Ellie Brown: ellie@imc-haiti.org