Can you appeal DBKL assessment rate?

Having moved house recently it was no surprise that the local authority's assessment came shortly afterwards.

After reading the fine print, I realised there was a time frame to object to it (14 days) and without delay wrote a letter to appeal.

Within about a month time, I received a notification to attend a Hearing. Since I was inexperienced I tried to call and ask what are the possible factors which DBKL will take into consideration but alas no hints were given.

So there I was at the DBKL office at 10am only to find out that the venue is at Menara TH Perdana (Tabung Haji) beside Maju Junction. On the way there, I found out I was not the only one who made the mistake. I mean it's only common sense that the hearing would be held in DBKL premise right?

Anyway having reached there I was given a queue number and waited outside. When the door to the conference room opened I note a lot of people coming out and after asking around found out that it was a group complain with DBKL cos they have yet to receive their CF (certificate of fitness) for their properties.

So there I was a bit petrified that my case was too petty for the hearing... so when my turn came, I was ushered into this long conference room with 7-9 pairs of eyes looking at me... There were representatives from the Legal Department, Valuation Department as well as others which titles were too long for me to remember but there were this big shot "PENGERUSI" (chairman) sitting at the centre of this longgggg table.

To cut the story short, I just received another notification from DBKL stating that after the hearing, they have decided to "MENGEKALKAN" (maintain) the assessment.

Sigh! So much for the effort of writing the letter and attending the hearing... well on the bright side at least it gave me something to blog about ;p

Hot hot summer is here to stay!!

With the current hot weather with temperatures rising - it's really hard to stay cool even in one's house.

I dont know about you but I have this habit of keeping water containers in the room, about 3 of them. It could be just a cup or glass jar cos I have this notion that the presence of water could cool the room.

Just like a display case in a watch shop with spotlights on, staffs will keep small cups filled with water in them which works in the same theory.

Another benefit, which may not be so apparent can be seen in M. Night Shyamalan movie SIGNS (2002) as apparently the aliens in that movie are terrified of water. So it was good fortune that Mel Gibson's daughter like to keep cups filled with water scattered throughout the house.

Jokes aside, I do notice that on really hot weather, I have to top up the water more often as they tend to dry up faster so who's to argue that my method does not work ;D

Dont take me for granted!

As I grabbed a tissue in the car and I noticed my sister had kept an air sickness bag there as well. It was taken from MAS from her recent flight to Kota Bahru.

Was pleasantly surprised to find it there as most of us do not give much thought to such product. I mean when was the last time you or anyone you know uses such bag.

But she reasoned that you'll never know when someone in the car might have the "urge" to vomit. This is especially true for people who hardly travel in a car... err.. I am glad to say no one in Malaysia or Kuala Lumpur I hope.

Anyway I recalled a story related by a friend on how he had to send someone (from Myanmar or Cambodia) from KL to Port Dickson. Throughout the journey he could not turn on the air-con and hence drove with windows opened.

Not only that he had to occasionally pull over to let the passenger recompose himself. So he said that day he broke all speed records as his only aim was to reach Port Dickson in the shortest time possible.

But with the rise in modern living, the only place still supplying these bags is in airplanes. Not sure about cruise ships but the other time I took boat ride from Phuket to Phi Phi Island they only supply plastic bags and "minyak angin" dabbed on a piece of tissue. Such a drag..

So the next time you see an air sickness bag, take a moment to appreciate it. You'll never know when you'll need it but when you do, you'll need it like NOW!