Procrastination

The great liar, the consummate thief, the slow killer.

Procrastination fools you into thinking there is more time than you need.
It lulls you to sleep, makes mediocre books seem facinating, enraptures you with inane sitcoms.
It whispers of sunny skies, laughing children, flying frisbees.

Procrastination steals your energy, channeling it into a thousand distractions.
It robs you of minutes, pockets your hours, gobbles up days.
It diverts your eyes, types url's in your browser, answers your mail.

Procrastination would be your end.
It alienates you from collegues, builds tension with your partner, chases away children.
It makes you work late into the night, increases your BP, triggers those migraines.

Oh why didn't I do this damn report earlier?

Good Bank, Bad Bank

There's a little ditty they're singing in the city.....
No, it doesn't go Om-pah-pah, it goes "Be rewarded, Feel rewarded"
I mention this because the bank advertising with that catchphrase gave me particularly fecal service (almost as bad a Citibank, but that's another story) when I took a car loan from them last year. So much for a so called 'anchor bank'.

My best experiences ever with banks were/are with;
[1] Phileo Allied
Alas, Phileo Allied was violated, pillaged, decimated and digested by a larger bank, and they (and their good service) are never to be seen again.
[2] Alliance Bank
Why do I like them? They know exactly where to invest so that the customer benefits. To be precise, they have a branch in IKANO that's open Sat and Sunday, when we working class drudges have some time to do banking. Even when the branch is closed, they have USEFUL (please note, Mr 'anchor bank') machines, such as cheque payment autotellers so you can pay your loan/credit card easily while doing your weekend shopping. Of course, the cash ATM's are also there.
Even the tiny Alliance branch in TTDI has a cheque payment machine. Certainly this is one bank I would prefer to do business with.

CAVEAT: Excellent impressions aside, one must note that all institutions have their share of dunderheads who make your life difficult. I am not saying Alliance won't botch up YOUR banking experience. What I am saying is; so far, I have had nothing but excellent service from them. Also note that there ARE other banks which have branches in shopping centres.

ASIDE: By the way... the ass who said that 'banks not working on Saturday' would encourage electronic and/or internet banking was thinking with his rectum.
Making my life harder is not 'encouraging' me to use electronic banking.
'Encouragement' would be:

1. Increasing the security and functions available in all banks' internet banking websites, so we have better facilities as well as more peace of mind.
   
2. Making sure the banks take responsibility for their errors. We Malaysians should not have to accept financial institutions' legal disclaimer's that basically say "if ANYTHING goes wrong, it is the customers' fault".
3. Instituting protocols for inter-bank transfers via internet transactions: why can't I pay my VISA bill from 'XYZ' bank using my savings account in 'ABC' bank? I can do this with a cheque, but not a networked computer.
   
4. Increasing the competitiveness of our ISP's - I regret signing up for streamyx - by making them more service oriented & customer focussed.
5. Improving the infrastructure: if the banks must close, perhaps they should setup kiosks in their ATM rooms so people have access to their internet banking facilities 24X7. I have seen this in one Maybank branch in KL, though I did not check to see if all MBB2U functions were available.
   

Thank You... you may now return to your regular programme.