Starbucks Coffee

At the mention of Starbucks, one would think of coffee beans, drip brewed coffee, espresso, cappuccinos and all those mouth-watery brewed beverages that's hot, frosty and richly blended! Any younger generations in today's world would know what Starbucks is about, even to the very remote corner of world!

I am one person who enjoys having relaxing time at Starbucks outlets. I love the ambient of these outlets. The sweet sound of melodies swaying softly and the smell of aromatic roasted coffee beans and chocolate cookies, and the good taste of baked cheese and chocolate cakes makes this place feels like home to me. Hmmm, I really really love those good feelings!

It is not difficult to find these outlets at where I live and work. At our office premises, there is one outlet just next to our Cafeteria and another is located at Bintang Plaza shopping complex. So, no problem in finding a place to wind down and stretch out plus also stretching the budget a little!

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: [3]; SEHK: 4337) is a dominant multinational coffeehouse chain based in the United States. Named after the first mate in the novel Moby-Dick, Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world,[1] with 7,521 company-owned and 5,647 licensed stores in 40 countries, making a total of 13,168 stores worldwide.[2] Starbucks sells drip brewed coffee, espresso-based hot drinks, other hot and cold drinks, snacks and items such as mugs and coffee beans. Through its Starbucks Entertainment division and Hear Music brand, the company has ventured beyond refreshments into books, music, and film. Many of these products are seasonal or specific to the locality of the store. Starbucks brand ice cream and coffee are also sold at grocery stores.
From its founding in Seattle, Washington, as a local coffee bean roaster and retailer, Starbucks has expanded rapidly. In the 1990s, the company was opening a new store every workday, a pace that continued into the 2000s. Domestic growth has since slowed down, though the company continues to expand in foreign markets and is opening 7 stores a day worldwide. The first location outside of the U.S. and Canada was established in 1996, and they now constitute almost one third of Starbucks' stores.[3]
As of February 2007, Starbucks had 7,521 company-owned outlets worldwide: 6,010 of them in the United States and 1,511 in other countries and U.S. territories. In addition, the company has 5,647 joint-venture and licensed outlets, 3,391 of them in the United States and 2,256 in other countries and U.S. territories. This brings the total locations (as of February 2007) to 13,168 worldwide.[2] Starbucks can be found in many popular grocery chains in the U.S. and Canada, as well as in many airports.
Starbucks' corporate headquarters are in Seattle, Washington, United States. As of March 2007, the members of the company's board of directors

are Howard Schultz (Chair), Jim Donald, Barbara Bass, Howard Behar, Bill Bradley, Mellody Hobson, Olden Lee, James Shennan, Jr., Javier Teruel, Myron Ullman, III, and Craig Weatherup.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starbucks

"Delight yourself in the surprises of today."

Hoo...Haa....TGIF

This early afternoon, while working on my PC, I was startled by a seemingly rude outcry “HOOOO……HAAA…” from our office’s PA system. My butt rose from its seat and my heart missed a beat.

A short second of silence and then an announcement was made reminding SMEP staffs regarding tonight’s GAWAI OPEN HOUSE that is to be held at KRP (Kelab Shell Petroliam) from 5 pm until late. Ah! Not to be alarmed then. That’s just a “WAR CRY”.

Phew! What a relief! I was so engrossed in trying to keep up with the workloads left unattended for the last 3 days since I was away on an offshore trip to South Furious Platform, North Sabah. Together with 5 of my colleagues, we were housed in a so called “Kota Belud Hotel” managed by SSB/SSPC as a transit and living centre for SMEP staffs and contractors who go on either a daily or 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off basis, to offshore platforms located within the North Sabah Operations.

People, this hotel is nothing like a 5-star hotel, rather it’s like a detention centre. Except for operation reasons are one allowed outside the fencing, otherwise everything one does is confined within! LOL! Outrageous but amazing!

Thank God, that call over the PA earlier on wasn’t something too alarming! It’s a call for PARTY TIME! Yeah! Yeah! I am going to ROCK the night away. Shaky shake shake, I will be back.
Wishing you a wonderful and blessed week. Take care and be safe.

Ticklish Ribs

There was one day way back few years ago where my nieces and I dared each other with few riddles as we drove along the Pan-Borneo highway towards Sibu for a Gawai Dayak’s celebration at their father’s longhouse in Selangau district.

To ease our boredom and making the journey more lively we challenged each other with a few riddles-cum-jokes. These are what we had in our thinking hat then.

The questions were:

Nieces: Which animals wear bra?
Me: The monkeys! They are very silly and funny animals, right?
Nieces: Wrong answer. The answer is Zebra! They blurted out.

“Gee! I didn’t know Zebras are sexy animal,” I said. “Wonder what style and color are their under wears? Pink, G-strings?”

We had a good laugh!

My Questions

Me: What road sign in Sarawak show the reverse spelling of a snake?
Nieces: Don’t know? .
Me: Don’t know is a wrong answer. Try again. They grinned cheekily when they saw me threw back the question to them. I smiled at my nieces’ “rabbit teeth” when she smiled.
Nieces: I don’t know. You tell us la! Please, they begged.
Me: Sure you don’t know? Well, the answer is “AWAS”.

“Why AWAS?” they argued. I replied, “If ‘AWAS’ is spelt backwards it reads “SAWA” which means “python” in English.

We had another good laugh and got a little teary.

Me: Who died the other day while trying to walk on the overhanging telephone cables unaided on a rainy day?

Nieces: What? I didn’t know of this news. Where did you have this information?
Me: I laughed my heart out and said, “Is that your answer or another question?”

“Hey Auntie, we are serious you know. Don’t play play one!” they said.

“Well, I am the witness to this accident and it was never reported until today, to the two of you. And you know what, this happened right at my doorsteps," I said.

“True kah?”, they said in a slang’s way and gotten a little worried by then.

“Actually that little soul was a BIG FAT RAT! A DEAD RAT”, I said.

The three of us roared into laughter! Didn’t realize the three of us were all having funny bones!

Now with Gawai Dayak festival just round the corner, I have gotten one more joke to share with them at our family gathering on the first day of Gawai this year.

Q: What are the tallest towers nearest to you that you could see while lying down?

Till then, here is wishing all people from all walks of life joining in to usher in the Dayak's festival

Selamat Gawai Dayak,

Gayu Guru, Gerai Nyamai,

Senang Lantang Nguan Menua. Hoo..Haa!

Be safe and God bless always.

~ Flowers leave their fragrance on the hand that bestows them.~ Chinese proverb.

Netball

The company I work for is celebrating it's mega work-life-balance activities and this year will be organising a series of outdoor and indoor games in the run-up to April's Mega WHPH. Eligible staffs are encouraged to participate, both in the run activities as well as during the mega event in April. The "heat" of most of the event has started as early as March and I am participating in the netball game. Netball is not a foreign game to me but a new sport for me for the reason that I have never ever play netball before in my life! Due to the shortage of players to form a team in our department, I was invited and I voted myself voluntarily as "reserve". Well, my team members believe I could do better than as a reserve player so they put me as "centre" and/or "wing defense" player.

Prior to the BIG Day, we learn more about the game rules; we practised, keep fit and held a few friendly game with other teams. Our first game was held on Friday evening 9th March at the Petroleum Recreation Club's netball field in Lutong. We lose in our first game but we won on another, which was held on Friday evening 16th March at the Basketball court of the same club.

Now we are looking forward to more competitions lined up for the next few weeks until April 2007.

The above picture was taken during our first game. Those ladies wearing yellow bibs are my team members and see how aggressive they all are! LOL!