Christmas Cheer!

As I was laying out the tables, in anticipation for the arrival of the orang asli kids (OAs), I wondered how they would be like. We had sponsored and entertained kids from an orphanage at the hotel before, and I had no doubt that OAs would not be too different.

However, I was in for a surprise. There were 30 of them, and all of them were bubbly and chatty. As this was their first time stepping into a hotel, they had put on their Sunday best. The organizer, Dr Peggy Wong who is helping to raise funds to feed and educate these preschoolers, told us that ever since they heard that they were going to celebrate Christmas at Grand Kampar Hotel, they were extremely excited and had been asking loads of questions, the most popular being “Is the Big Day happening tomorrow?”

My eyes welled with tears when I heard that these chirpy kids had hardly ever enjoyed a proper meal. They would be lucky to get chicken once a year! In fact, by the surprised look on their faces, I realised that they had not seen nor tasted ice-cream before.  Suddenly, I felt that I was actually bringing cheer and hope to these children. Through our small and limited contribution, they could experience love and joy, which in fact should be the spirit of Christmas.

I have been most blessed by these children as they have reminded me how much God has blessed me with and how I should use my gifts to bless others. This Christmas, may we be inspired to think of ways to be a blessing to the less fortunate. 

(used with permission from Grand Kampar Hotel)

For more info, please visit http://www.livinghopemalaysia.com/home.htm

Congratulations to all UTAR graduates and adios!

We would like extend our heartiest congratulations to all UTAR students who are graduating this year! Hope your stay with us had been pleasant and our best wishes for your future endeavours!

Our Latest Van Service Route & Schedule - add in Oxford Station effective from 25/11/2010

FOR ALL MANCHESTER RESIDENTS - Survey on P1 Broadband Service

Since 29/10/10, P1 has installed new equipments onsite to improve on its internet service. Kindly let us know if you think P1’s service is acceptable by sending us an email at csdept.dh@gmail.com. In your email, please state:-


1. Your opinion of P1: Like P1 / Don’t Like P1, with reasons;
2. Your Full Name;
3. Your handphone no;
4. Your house & room no.
5. Deadline: 3/11/10 (12pm)

This survey is only opened for our Manchester residents only. Your feedback is important and will play a big part in determining if P1 deserves a chance to serve you. Should you require more information, please call our Customer Service at 05-4671763 during office hours. Thank you for your feedback.

Announcement : ARP issue in Manchester

During these past few days of diagnoses on our Manchester Houses network, we discovered that 'ARP Spoofing' was widely used. Once a student or a Computer became infected by the worm activating the ARP Spoofing attack, it would effectively 'block' and deprive other users from accessing the Internet i.e 'unable to online'. In this regard, P1 would like to recommend for the tenants to install the following Firewall Softwre. Please click the link below for downloading Firewall Software:

http://personalfirewall.comodo.com/free-download.html   

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9HDsFeE0mM&feature=related

Safety & Security Awareness Talk

   Safety & Security Awareness Talk

     When : 25 October 2010, Monday, 07.45pm

     Where : Palong, Mezzanine Floor, Grand Kampar Hotel

     Speaker : Kampar OCPD

     Deadline for Registration: 23 October, 2010 (FREE Registration)

This talk is opened to all UTAR / KTAR student. Please register at Customer Service Counter at Danish House Main Office or Manchester Office during office hours.

Refreshments will be provided

Free gifts for 1st 36 pax!

Seats available on 1st come 1st serve basis.

Hunting Line: 05-467 1666 (Main Office)

05-467 1763 (Manchester Office)

Organizer:- Danish House

Partners:- Kampar Police & Grand Kampar Hotel

New Schedule & Route On Our Van Service Effective From 1st October 2010

Thank You for Your Support on our Van Service

Just 6 months ago, we are contemplating whether we should close down our van service as on average, we had about 1-2 passengers per day. However, since May this year, we saw a tremendous surge in demand, with more than 1,000 passengers for the month of Aug'10. This has definitely smashed our previous records and your support has assured us that we should continue providing this service.

Polystyrene Foam Report

(extracted from Earth Resource Foundation, http://www.earthresource.org/campaigns/capp/capp-styrofoam.html)
What is it?
Polystyrene is a petroleum-based plastic made from the styrene monomer. Most people know it under the name Styrofoam, which is actually the trade name of a polystyrene foam product used for housing insulation. Polystyrene is a light-weight material, about 95% air, with very good insulation properties and is used in all types of products from cups that keep your beverages hot or cold to packaging material that keep your computers safe during shipping.

Why not use it?

The biggest environmental health concern associated with polystyrene is the danger associated with Styrene, the basic building block of polystyrene. Styrene is used extensively in the manufacture of plastics, rubber, and resins. About 90,000 workers, including those who make boats, tubs and showers, are potentially exposed to styrene. Acute health effects are generally irritation of the skin, eyes, and upper respiratory tract, and gastrointestinal effects. Chronic exposure affects the central nervous system showing symptoms such as depression, headache, fatigue, and weakness, and can cause minor effects on kidney function and blood. Styrene is classified as a possible human carcinogen by the EPA and by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). A voluntary compliance program has been adopted by industries using styrene. The US Department of Labor, Occupational Safety & Health Administration unsuccessfully (a federal court overturned the ruling in 1992) tried to limit the amount of worker exposure to styrene to 50 parts per million (ppm). According to the Styrene Information and Research Center (SIRC), they still encourage their member companies to comply with the 50 ppm exposure limit. This program would reduce styrene exposures to a 50 ppm TWA with a 100 ppm (15 minute) ceiling.

-OSHA (US Dept of Labor, Occupational Safety & Health Administration)

A 1986 EPA report on solid waste named the polystyrene manufacturing process as the 5th largest creator of hazardous waste.· The National Bureau of Standards Center for Fire Research identified 57 chemical byproducts released during the combustion of polystyrene foam. The process of making polystyrene pollutes the air and creates large amounts of liquid and solid waste.

Toxic chemicals leach out of these products into the food that they contain (especially when heated in a microwave). These chemicals threaten human health and reproductive systems.

These products are made with petroleum, a non-sustainable and heavily polluting resource.

The use of hydrocarbons in polystyrene foam manufacture releases the hydrocarbons into the air at ground level; there, combined with nitrogen oxides in the presence of sunlight, they form tropospheric ozone -- a serious air pollutant at ground level. According to the EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) more than 100 million Americans currently live in areas that fail to meet air quality standards for ozone. California, the Texas Gulf Coast, the Chicago-Milwaukee area, and the Northeastern U.S. all have "serious ozone air quality problems," according to EPA. Ozone is definitely a dangerous pollutant. The EPA says: "Healthy individuals who are exercising while ozone levels are at or only slightly above the standard can experience reduced functioning of the lungs, leading to chest pain, coughing, wheezing, and pulmonary congestion. In animal studies, long-term exposure to high levels of ozone has produced permanent structural damage to animal lungs while both short and long term exposure has been found to decrease the animal's capability to fight infection." In other words, prolonged exposure to atmospheric ozone above legal limits might be expected to damage the immune system.

By volume, the amount of space used up in landfills by all plastics is between 25 and 30 percent. -"Polystyrene Fact Sheet," Foundation for Advancements in Science and Education, Los Angeles, California.

Polystyrene foam is often dumped into the environment as litter. This material is notorious for breaking up into pieces that choke animals and clog their digestive systems.

Many cities and counties have outlawed polystyrene foam (i.e. Taiwan, Portland, OR, and Orange County, CA).

Can polystyrene be recycled?

While the technology for recycling polystyrene is available, the market for recycling is very small and shrinking. Many Americans are hearing from their curbside recycling agencies that they will not accept PS goods. The good news is that the current Biopolymer revolution (biodegradable polymers) is charting a path for producing environmentally friendly packaging material to replace those peanuts. Corn based and other seeds known collectively as soapstock waste lead the way. Some are already available as replacements. Perhaps the problematic recycling situation will be solved by replacing the product.

Polystyrene recycling is not "closed loop" - collected polystyrene cups are not remanufactured into cups, but into other products, such as packing filler and cafeteria trays. This means that more resources will have to be used, and more pollution created, to produce more polystyrene cups.

-"Plastics Industry Grasps for Straws," Everyone's Backyard, January/February 1990, Citizen's Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste, p. 6.

Does polystyrene deplete the ozone layer?

Initially a portion of polystyrene production was aided by the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), the chemicals that break down ozone in the troposphere. When this issue came to light, polystyrene manufacturers negotiated a gradual phase-out of CFCs in the production process and no CFCs have been used since the late 1980's.

Though polystyrene manufacturers claim that their products are "ozone-friendly" or free of CFCs, this is only partially true. Some polystyrene is now manufactured with HCFC-22, which, though less destructive than its chemical cousins, CFC-11 and CFC-12, is still a greenhouse gas and harmful to the ozone layer. In fact, according to a 1992 study by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, HCFCs are three to five times more destructive to the ozone layer than previously believed.

-"Study Finds CFC Alternatives More Damaging Than Believed," The Washington Post, December 10, 1989.

Why Use Alternatives?

Post-consumer recycled paper, bamboo, corn plastics, etc. are easily renewable resources.

All of these products biodegrade when composted.

Paper products can be recycled at most people's doorstep where community recycling is in place.

In 1995, 40% of all US paper was recycled, including 32.6 million tons of paper & paperboard. (EPA)

Every ton of 100% Post-consumer waste recycled paper products you buy saves:

12 trees

1,087 pounds of solid waste

1,560 kilowatts of energy (2 months of electric power required by the average US home)

1,196 gallons of water

1,976 lbs. of greenhouse gases (1,600 miles traveled in the average US car)

3 cubic yards of landfill space

9 pounds of HAPs, VOCs, and AOXs combined

390 gallons of oil

~End of Report~

 

Danish House Comment:Recently in Malaysia, there were news report that turtles suffered a declining population, partly due to the irresponsible disposal of polysterene by the sea side. Once ingested, polysterene would block the digestive system of the turtles and at the same time, affecting the turtles' movements as polysterene caused them to stay afloat. Nearer to home, polysterene packagings are seen afloat at our beautiful Westlake which in the long term, would be harmful to the inhabitants of the lake. In addition, there was an alarming article on Sunday 22/08/10 on the Star that talked about how polysterene affect the growth hormone of our bodies, thus resulting in some undesirable and abnormal effects. http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/8/22/nation/6899636&sec=nation

Therefore, we would like to encourage everyone to think twice before utilising polysterene, to protect not only our environment but the animals who share the planet with us and ourselves.

Some good alternatives would be to purchase take-away containers and reuse them whenever we go out, such as stainless steel take-away containers or Tupperware that could be reused many times. This may caused inconvenience to us as we have to lug the containers around but I am sure if the animals could speak, or our own bodies could talk back, all of them would be saying "Thank You" to us for being considerate!

Green Prize April'10

Manchester – Lot 1594

Harvard & Yale – Lot 2175 (from Harvard)

Tsing Hua – Lot 1397

Oxford – Lot 1213

Congratulations to the residents residing in the houses above during the month of April'10. Kindly come to our office to collect the vouchers!

Who wants to be a millionaire?

Another inspiring talk given by Mr Ravinther...it has definitely moved me to be a worthy millionaire!

Good morning ladies & gentlemen,

In this fine morning, let me start the day by asking you this question….who wants to be a millionaire?
I always wanted to be a millionaire. When I first started to work in 1992, I used to have this thought that in order to become a millionaire, we must always seek and find where the millions are. So, every Sunday morning, I will start my day by jogging around the rich mans area in section 5 near Jalan Gasing. My hope was maybe an old lady or an old man who walks around the area would fall down and I like a hero would go to their help and rest is like in the movies I will inherit their wealth and so on. But for years I tried but so far no success.

Well, just a week ago, I met a friend who told me that all of us are already millionaires without we really knowing it. He asked me this following questions……..

Are you willing to give away your two limbs for a million ringgit? I said no

Are you willing to give away your pair of eyes for two million ringgit? I said no.

Are you willing to give away your kidney to a rich man who is willing to pay a million for it in Taiwan? Of course I said no.
Then, you are already a millionaire. He quipped.

Ladies & Gentleman,
Look at our feet. Do anyone in this hall, has the same feet like us? Maybe the shoes could be the same brand but if we open our shoes and compare our feet, no feet is the same. Look at our hair, some short, some long, some even losing hair…….look at the colors black, brown, red. We are all special.
We are all fearfully and wonderfully made by GOD as millionaires. Let us be proud of our existence as no millions can buy what only belongs to us. I am a millionaire …………are you?

Inspiring Articles to Share!

We are privileged and delighted that Mr Ravinther Kunju Raman, the CEO of Ask Education & Training Sdn Bhd, has given us permission to reproduced some inspiring articles authored by him.

He has held senior position with Panasonic Malaysia and with it, gained a wide insight in training, motivating, and inspiring people for the next generation. He is a proud father of four and is an avid Aston Villa fan.

For the coming months, we will be posting some of his articles on our blog. We hope that you will find his articles useful and inspiring!

Fear - the four letter word

The year was 1976. It was one of my many meetings with her. She tall, slim, gorgeous and the most beautiful women I have seen before. As she speaks I would just look up in aw. Her mere presence sends chill down my throat. I know for sure, if given an opportunity that very moment I marry no one but her. But all that changed on that ill fated day.

It was the classic Monday blues. Everyone drags themselves either to work or school.. I got up the school bus and traveled approximately 60 km to my primary school in Johor Bahru town. At about 7am, I reached the school and enthusiastically waited for my beloved Ms. Quah, my class teacher. She is my favorite teacher and she really captivated me with her grace and calmness.

However, that day she finally gave up on me. She has been telling me many times to change my pencil and improve my hand writing. However, I couldn’t do that. My mother have a principle that I should use the same pencil the whole year. She dictates how sharp the nip of the pencil to be. Obviously, she ensures that the nip is just enough to write. Short and stocky, my pencil produced one of the most horrendous one could have seen. Ms.Quay gave up on me. She called me in front of the class. Asked me to turn back and pegged my exercise book on my back. On the exercise book she rode, Bad Handwriting and she splashed a BIG D on it.

Being a seven year child, I was totally devvasted and flabbergasted. I couldn’t care lest and ran out from the class together with the book pegged neatly up my collar. Tears running down my cheek. Wiping it I owed not to go back to class again. I waited for my school bus outside the school. The school bell rang. School was over. I anxiously waited for my friends. Sri Kumar told me, Ravi you are going to be a dead meat tomorrow. The teacher is going to kill you. He added insult to my injury. After reaching home, I kept quiet and did not tell my mother the incident. Anxiety was my close friend that night. Fear started to dominate me. Fear took over my life. Fear crippled my appetite to eat.

Tuesday morning appeared. I know I have to face the truth. I know that going to school is a nightmare to me. What am going to tell Ms.Quah? The teacher who I loved most became my nemesis.

Her class starts at 10 o’clock. She came, she taught and she left. Nothing happened. No questioned was raised regarding my running incident yesterday. It looks like miracle. On that day at the age of seven, I changed my prepective of my life. Live for today and do not worry of tomorrow. Fear is a four letter word. Do not use it. Live life without fear.


Used by permission from Ravinther Kunju Raman, a trainer for Ask Education & Training Sdn Bhd

Green Prize for March 2010

The winners are finally unveiled - and there were many more who were close to winning too! (but of course I can't divulge who lah, else I might get into trouble...)

Manchester - 1594 (each resident only needs to bear RM8.50)

Yale & Harvard - 2074 (each resident only needs to bear RM1.80)

Tsinghua - 1291 (each resident only needs to bear RM12.90)

Oxford - 1151 (each resident only needs to bear RM3.70)

Well, if you are not the winner, don't be disappointed! You could still stand to win for the April 2010 Green Prize! (provided of course, that you haven't check out prior to our annoucement) :(

Mar'2010 Green Prize - Tick Tock Tick Tock

Well, its that time of the month when our staff is busy adding, dividing, adding, dividing...to unveil the houses that save the most electricity!!

Have you been consciously switching off lights, fans, computers when not in used? Did you keep a look out for unattended fans or lights in the common area? Are you aware that by so doing, you are reducing your carbon footprint? Most of all, if your housemates and you have been conscientiously doing all of the above, you may stand a chance to win the GREEN PRIZE for April 2010!

Keep a look out on this blog for the winners! Winners will also be notified via SMS.

Winners of Basketball Tournament Apr'10!

Here is our 1st Prize Winners:-

Our 2nd Prize winners:-

Our 3rd Prize Winners!

Well Done to our 3 elite teams!

Players in Action! 10th Apr 2010

Here are some pictures of the basketball competition that took place last Saturday!

Kampar Storm

We may not have hurricane, but our Kampar storm is certainly no laughing matter. Yesterday's episode of torrential rain and strong wind as left behind a trail of damages such as leakages, fallen signboards and uprooted trees. Here are some pictures:-

Let's hope that such storm do not occur frequent.

Thank You For Your Participation!

We would like to thank all of you, for playing, cheering, and helping out during our bastketball competition last Saturday. Although the prizes sponsored by our "yellow tiger" were a little below our expectations, we hope that our cash prizes (ahem, sponsored by yours sincerely) would more than make up for it!

Well, as organisers, we are certainly glad to know that this competition has been well attended. We hope that you will keep a look out for our next BIG EVENT, which would be held in conjunction with MDK.

Meantime, let us sort out some photos before posting them on the blog. (*sigh* back to work)

Green Prize Winners - Feb'10

The Winners of Feb'10 Green Prize are:-

Manchester - Lot 1594
Harvard & Yale - Lot 1548 (from Yale)
Tsinghua - Lot 1290

Oxford - Lot 1213

Congratulations to all the residents who reside in the above houses. Please collect your prizes from our respective offices.

Each winner is entitled to RMXX  food and beverage voucher with our corporate partner, Grand Kampar Hotel Sdn Bhd.

Green Prize Feb'10 - tick tock tick tock

Our Oxford office has kindly given me a glimpse of our February 2010 charges for Tsinghua and Oxford! Well, I can't disclose the Green Prize winner yet but this is what I know - it is going to be a close call!

For your information, a total of 25 units of Oxford houses and 10 units of Tsinghua houses have NIL extra electricity charges in Feb'10. Our residents staying in these houses would know that for the month of Feb'10, they don't have to pay anything for electricity charges! This is good news indeed both from money and environment point of view! Does that mean that we are getting greener? We certainly hope so!

As Manchester office is in the midst of finalising our winners for Manchester and Yale/Harvard, I will be posting the winners on this blogspot soon or you could keep a lookout at our respective offices. The winners will also be notified via SMS.

Meantime, I would like to congratulate all of you for playing a role in saving electricity and contributing to a greener environment! Keep up the good work!

Basketball Competition 10 Apr'10!

Please register at our customer service counters located at our Manchester and Oxford offices.

Hope to see you there!

Enjoy Smart Card at Beijing & Oxford

As a pilot project, we are implementing smart card door access for our Oxford and Beijing tenants. “What is a smart card?” you might ask. Well, this smart card system comprises of the following feature:-


• Touch & go at the main door access of your house unit;

• The smart card reader has a memory that stores up to 2,500 records of users who had gained prior access to each main door, thus providing additional safety measures to the residents;

• In future, the same smart allows the user to “touch & go” at our guard houses, pay rentals and make other payments.

To test the practicality of this system, we will commence installation at Oxford and Beijing at no extra costs to our residents. For residents who stay in Manchester, Tsinghua, Yale and Harvard, please be patient as we will need some time to collate feedback from users to ascertain that this will be a permanent feature at Danish House.

Stay in Oxford or Beijing to drink McD's water!

As part of our effort to improve residents' comfort at Danish House, together with our landlords, we are now offering our Oxford and Beijing residents an internationally renowned water filter, Everpure, in their respective house unit. Everpure is manufactured in the US and has gained worldwide recognition via their high profile customers such as Burger King, Kentucky, Starbucks and McDonald's.

Now, not only do you get to drink free flow and high quality "McD's" water but save time and money on boiling water or procuring drinking water! All of these at no extra cost to you! Now, you can sit back and enjoy the extra time saved!

Click here for:
A Few Of Everpure's Customers

(Note: the installation of water filters will commence in March 2010, please refer to our notices at our Oxford office)

You Are Now A Part of This!

Finally, we have unveiled our banner to inform all of our residents these 3 services that are on offered:-

Shuttle Van Service
Increased van service for those who want to drop by at the old town to grab a bite or indulge in buying some stuff.

WiFi
As we are all aware, there is now a new internet service provided in town, P1! Despite many many many complains from us to telekom, their services are still below our expectations. Therefore, we have applied for some extra P1 for residents whose line has permanent problems - this is on first come first serve only.

In addition, you can now make use of our Wifi at our Manchester office. To get the password, please see our IT personnel at Manchester Office

Green Prize Contest
This will be exciting as February has just ended! Very soon, we will be annoucing the winners for the Green Prize! The lowest electricity consumption unit will be selected from Tsinghua, Oxford, Manchester and Yale/Harvard, a total of 4 houses will be picked. Please keep a look out....you might be the WINNER.

A New Year

After sometime of hibernation from blogging, I think its time to start again. This year, Danish House has a list of activities lined-up. In fact, the promotional banners should be out after Chinese New Year but I will enclose a teaser here…


Green Prize

Last year, we received feedback from some of you on the high electricity charges encountered. Therefore, to encourage “team spirit” in energy saving for individual houses, we have come up with a Green Prize competition. This will be held from February to April’10…so, watch out for that space and start saving electricity to win prizes!

Basketball Tournament

Due to the overwhelming response in our previous Sports Carnival in October 2009, we will also be organizing some tournaments this year with the first one being Basketball Competition in collaboration with Maybank. Therefore, do drop by at our Customer Service Counter to register (for free) so that we can prepare for the Big Day! If you are interested to be part of the organizing committee, please sign up soon before the spaces are taken up!

Improved Van Service

We are in the midst of increasing and improving our van service. Soon, our free van service will not only bring you to the nearby shops but also to selected venues in the Old Town and Train Station. If there is a place that you would like to patronize in the Old Town, do let our Customer Service Staff know, so that they can start compiling the popular drop off & pick up points there.

Launching of Residents Committee

This year, we will be launching a residence committee, comprising of students who stay with us. Your roles will be to initiate and organize students’ activities in Westlake such as sports competitions, health talks and financial planning seminars. Danish House will be working alongside with a number of corporations to sponsor and provide the necessary infrastructure to ensure the success of each activity. If you are interested to be part of this “busy body” residents committee, please enquire at our Customer Service counter.

Change of Guards

We noted the poor performance of our security guards station at our guard houses over the past year. As we have signed a two-year contract with them, we were unable to terminate their service last year. However, after numerous negotiations, we are able to reach an agreement with them and they have agreed to terminate by this month. Therefore, there will be a new team of security guards manning the guard houses starting in mid-February 2010. We would like to thank you all for your patience and tolerance of the previous company. Hopefully, this new team could bring forth better services to the residents at Westlake Home.

Wow, with so many activities in the pipeline, I foresee that we will have a busy but fun 2010 year. Meantime, Danish House would like to wish all of you a blessed Chinese New Year. To all of you who are travelling, please drive safely.