The showroom at Bobby Electrical Company located at Unit 9, Ground floor, Block B, Abdul Razak Complex.

Some of the wall lights available at the showroom

Now that’s a milestone to know of a local company that has existed for more than 30 years. If you are looking for electricity appliances especially bulbs, switches or fans, then head yourself to Bobby Electrical Company showroom based in Gadong. To be more specific, they sell electrical engineering products, from industrial cables and accessories to even LED bulbs.

The in-thing now is the LED bulb and I own a few to myself because it’s very economical and environmental friendly since it uses less energy than normal bulbs.

It was the first time to visit the showroom at Gadong and they actually revamped the showroom back in March to showcase to their customers on the benefits of the bulbs (GE, Meagan and others) and switches the company supplies. I’m quite sold with one bulb from “Meagan” where it has bluetooth capabilities as the one I’m currently using requires WiFi or wireless connection.

You may not think of it but hey, switches are quite important too. Bobby Electrical have brought in different variety of switches for your home or office. They have the Legrand “Arteor” range of switches or if you prefer the “Mallia” range from the same brand, a much more affordable brand. You can view the products from Legrand here.

So if you are looking for a minor refurbishment for your home before Hari Raya, Bobby Electrical Company can tailor to your needs and wants.

Apart from switches and bulbs, the company also sell electrical fans (mounted on ceiling) and also water heaters. So do check them out 😀

Perhaps you want something efficient for your home, Bobby Electrical Company also bring in this awesome product Fibaro Home Centre, which can support up to 200 devices especially if you have a big home. This means you can preset the environment of the particular rooms to “dining mode” or “movie mode” or “working mode” and by just a press of button, that all can be achieved.

Since it’s payday, why not allocate a budget aside and beauty your space before the Hari Raya season. Bobby Electrical Showroom is located at Unit 9, Ground Floor, Abdul Razak Complex (not far from Escape Square).

The down lights for your ceiling

The switches from Legrand.

Another range from Legrand, a higher end.

The in-thing now for LED lights because the shape allows to be fitted in most socket

Testing out the lights

More range of switches that are available

My favourite Bluetooth ready bulb from Megaman

Something for Hari Raya and quite lasting too

Water heater for your bathroom

Electrical fans too

 

Almost the half way mark. It’s been a while since I actually blog, blog.. If you know what I mean. I’m still recovering from fever but the medication has been treating me well. So how have my year 2016 been so far? I would say it’s been amazing on many levels. A few ups and downs but mostly on the rise. Now let’s see how to categorize this in a simple manner.

Travels. It has been a slow period for my travels as compared to previous years. Surprisingly Singapore only once so far (or what is it twice?) I can’t remember but I did remember it was for the recent Volkswagen Sportsvan trip and a short one as well. I traveled to Taiwan (missed this city and it was raining cold then), Ho Chi Minh, Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan and Jakarta (too much traffic) as well.

I was more intrigued with my Ho Chi Minh trip because it has been 10 years since I visited the city. Back then, I was skeptical about my trip to Vietnam due to the passport issues that most Brunei Permanent Residents will face. It was known that the brown look-a-like passport known as Certificate of Identity (CI) has been an ongoing issue in other countries (not regional) but I was surprised that Vietnam made it difficult for CI holders. The best trick is to bring an official letter from the Vietnam Embassy in Brunei and show it to the immigration officer to make our CI document legit to enter their cities.

Other than that, I love Ho Chi Minh and how they have diversified as well as becoming more developed. Even the cinemas were up to scale like those in Singapore and Thailand. Even a 4Dx experience. Interesting indeed. The food are great as usual and they have choices of halal restaurant (mostly run by Malaysians) but some of the food are a hit or a miss in these halal establishments. I love their coffee too. A must try if you happened to fly to Vietnam. Oh thank you to Fitflop for flying me to Ho Chi Minh City last February.

My next trips could be to Manila (supposed to fly with the boys last weekend) and KK (mid July) and if all goes as planned, Singapore 😀 So I would rate my travel trip so far a 7/10.

My second trip to Ho Chi Minh City.

I did my shopping at Mustafa Centre, Singapore to donate to the orphanage back in May. Thanks Volkswagen Brunei for the opportunity.

Shawn buying a few cartons of the Mi Goreng crackers called Chitato. I have to say it’s nice but quite salty.

The much hyped indo-mee cafe was such a disappointment in one of the malls at Jakarta

Friendship. Ah, Rano is heading onto a personal road now. It has definitely shifted over the years and I realised that has been my pattern. If I look back since I came back to Brunei after my studies, I have at least 5 cycles that I went through and I believe that’s part of life. I still rank friendship as the highest form of love and I’m blessed that all the cycles I have been through, they are still my buddies to date. It’s just that we have parted to different directions but still respect each other as friends.

Now my circle of friends are mostly from tennis and toastmaters as they are the bunch of people I interact with the most. That’s for the simple reason that I’m quite involved in these said activities. Of course, they are still a small bunch (outside those circles) that I catch up with now and then. But of all the “cliqs” that I went through, it was both my “awesome foursome” gang (2009) and RA6 (2003) that I missed a lot.

I would want to talked about relationship but it has no relevance for now since I’m not dating anyone. After a mutual break-up late last year, the transition took a little while. Well, that’s the case for most post-relationship scenarios, right? One thing that I would to share is that I’m blessed that we can still be friends and catch up with no expectations at all. Now, won’t that be an excellent approach in any relationship? … which is very hard in any case to give unconditional love and care.

Right now, I just focus on my mission to empower people to the best I can and be the light for others. Relationship is secondary and age is just a number 😀

The impromptu reunion of the RA6

The awesome foursome. Shot taken at Hua Hin, Thailand back in 2010.

BU2562. Now what is the significance of this number? It’s my plate car number and it belongs to my 13 year old Hyundai Santa Fe. Now I bring this up is because I finally have to give in, the fact that my car has already exhausted all the possibilities to be safe on the road. Now with a faulty transmission (hard-to-find spare part), it’s almost impossible to not be worried while driving on the road. Twice the car suddenly turned off its engine while I was turning in and locked my steering wheel. I was fortunate that there weren’t any cars heading my direction.

My almost defunct Santa Fe is still in the workshop, waiting for its parts to be replaced. It was tough to let go as it has so much sentimental value to me. It was my form of transportation to secure deals with clients and meeting friends. In other words, it was also a mark of my independence as I wanted to be less dependant on my family. Even through my hardship (financially), I won back the car twice from the HSBC Car Yard. That’s how much I value my nameless car. But for now, I’m driving my brother’s secondary car as my means of transport. Well, it’s better than nothing. But at the same time, I’m also hunting for a good deal on cars.

A small parody on my car classic car

Clienteles. This year, I must say, it’s quite challenging. Due to the drop in oil prices, it indirectly affect my blog in terms of advertisement. In the end of the day, it’s about how you climb out of that rut because this is also a test of your resilience. Back in the early years, I had a lot of homework in finding clients, meaning that I was trying to close sales for my blog. Yes, it was fun back then and it has been a while since I actually do that. I have to pull my socks up and be more active.

For this year’s sungkai, I saw a huge drop in clienteles but it was necessary for my case because I was aiming for quality in recreating a different avenue for my clients. For that, I have to thank Filterworks Production (do check out their videos) for providing that extra edge in our Sungkai coverage and the responses have been very encouraging. This also has opened new doors and opportunities due to our collaboration and now we already secured a few jobs.

A big thank you to all my clients (past and present) for utilizing my services and trusting how it can be impactful in getting the messages across. The remaining 2016 will be an interesting one indeed.

Our latest project with Filterworks at The Potters

Filterworks on the set at Pepperlunch two weeks ago

Toastmasters. How can I not mention of this topic. My friends kept saying that my Snapchat has tons of tennis and toastmasters. It does show how passionate I am in giving back what I learn to the community. There are plenty of reasons why I’m passionate about toastmasters. It’s not just only about public speaking but also on your leadership track where it tests my patience, my discipline and my responsibility. It totally has changed my perspective as an individual as I used to be quite defensive and judgmental when I get evaluated by my peers. Now I’m much calmer and able to listen on constructive feedback for my own good.

Speaking of toastmasters, I will be chairing a mega toastmasters event this October to be held at Rizqun International Hotel. Excited and nervous? Hell yes!!! It’s just four months away and our team has been very busy preparing for the convention. We have three international speakers, two of each are former World Champion of Public Speaking – Dananjaya and Willie Jones. It’s open to all of you and of course, there will be a fee involved which is BND 200 for a three day event. If you are interested, you can reach me ranoadidas gmail.com. I can assure you that this convention will be a great eye opener and I highly recommend for you to sign up for the convention 😀

The moment I pretended to be Dwayne Johnson in one of my speeches

Click image to enter our official website

Movies. Another passion of mine after toastmasters and tennis. Those who know me well know that I’m a movie buff but not necessarily that I will watch all movies. There are a handful of blockbuster ones that I choose to miss – Ride Along 2, TMNT 2, Divergent and a few more. Overall, I’m quite content with the 2016 releases for the first half of the year. I have to say though that the summer movies haven’t been all that and it fizzled after the release of Captain America: Civil War in early May. But thank god movies like The Conjuring 2, Central Intelligence and Finding Dory gave me some hope for summer movies.

The best movie this year so far have been Captain America: Civil War and Zootopia. I would also like to highlight Deadpool and it’s one of the best comic adaptation. It actually made more money than X-Men: Apocalypse (not to my liking).

Summer movies so far have been mediocre. TMNT2 (judging from Rottentomatoes), Independence Day (bleurgh), Now You See Me 2 (super ridiculous), Warcraft and even X-Men: Apacolypse are all subpar at best. Last year’s were better with movies such as Inside Out, Jurassic World, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation and Mad Max: Fury Road (my no.1 movie of 2015). Well, the summer releases this year are not complete just yet but I’m not hoping for much though.

One of the best movies of 2016. I can’t wait for my blu-ray to arrive from the States

Totally disappointed. It feels like a combo of Independence Day with Transformer 4 and Transporter

The era of Snapchat? Only in 2016, I have been heavily invested in using my snapchat more than my Insta. Well, I still scroll on my IG feeds and catch up on my friends’ feeds too. However, Snapchat has a more personal touch. So what if the posts get deleted after 24 hours. That’s the point and the fact that no one can comment or like that particular post makes it less intrusive in a way. Snapchat surprisingly is still new to some and not all are inclined to install Snapchat as they are more comfortable with their current social media accounts.

I would say that Snapchat will slowly grow in numbers and many corporate companies will see the benefit by using Snapchat as part of a marketing tool. Right now, the demographics of Snapchat users are relatively young. For my feeds, since I follow too many people on my list, I have to honestly say that I didn’t go through all their “stories” and surprise, surprise (or no surprise at all) is that Snapchat eats a lot of your data… mmmmmm. To let you know, I’m not so much into the filters inside Snapchat as most of my peers are.

So if you want to follow my snaps, just add me @ranoadidas and catch the personal side of me.

Have you snapchatted? 😀 Is there any such word though?

 

KBSentral Management with one of the recipients

KBSentral Shopping Centre in Kuala Belait contributed donations to six recipients today who are underprivileged, in an event organized by staff from the KBSentral Property Management.

Presenting the donations was the KBSentral’s Marketing & Event Manager Anwar Rosly, who explained that the donation was aimed to alleviate the recipients’ families’ burden during the month of Ramadhan.

The charity effort which is called The Limpahan Kasih Donation Drive is one of KBSentrals Corporate Social Responsibility project on lending a helping hand towards the underprivileged families.

The contributions were also intended to assist the families in preparing for the upcoming Hari Raya celebrations.

Among the donations given were kitchen goods worth $150.00 from KBSentral itself as well as donations handed to KBSentral which were sponsored by Jaya Hypermart such as Pensonic Toaster Oven, cartons cans of Pepsi and Sunny Soya Bean, Mee Goreng Sedap and Soto Sedap, packets of Beras Wangi and tins of Jacob Creamy Crackers.

One of the recipients, expressed gratitude to KBSentral and the Management staff for the assistance extended to those who are in need of help.

The event included a group photo together as well as mingling with the recipients’ families, getting to know them and understanding their plight as well as well-being.

For further information, please call 3339889 or email to kbsentralmarketing@gmail.com

Anwar Rosly, KBSentral’s Marketing & Event Manager, handing over Beras Wangi to one of the recipients

Norazizah Awang Damit, KBSentral’s Marketing & Event Assistant handing over a donationa to one of the recipients

 

Take advantage of The Potters Ramadhan Special Offers

Short skit with Filterworks Team yesterday

Katie Alice. Kitchen Kraft. Stoneware Gourmet Cheese, Maxwell & Williams and many more.. These are the popular brands from the UK for plates, cups and cutlery and not forgetting the utensils you used behind the scenes in the kitchen. Being the in business for 6 months, The Potters have brought it more brands to give more variety for their loyal customers.

The next few weeks will be ideal for The Potters’ customers as they are having discounts ranging from 10% to 70% on selected items. So what are you waiting for? Furthermore, you can enjoy accumulating points by having $10 voucher from the $100 you spend on top of the discounts.

The Potters is located at Unit 8, Setia Kenangan 2, Kiulap (opposite Pepper Lunch) and it’s open from 10am to 9pm and you can also follow their IG @thepotters_bn or contact them at 242 4000.

Kilner Special Offers at 10% discount

Filterworks Production on work

Maxwell & Williams also on 10% discount

Stoneware Gourmet Cheese going at 70% discount

Kitchen Kraft also on discount

 

Are you catching Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice? I just got my tickets at The Mall Cineplex. It’s gonna be epic 😀

 

Katie Alice. Kitchen Kraft. Ginger. And many more.. These are the popular brands from the UK for plates, cups and cutlery and not forgetting the utensils you used behind the scenes in the kitchen. Normally we have the normal standard ones that we see at our local departmental stores. Now we have a dedicated cutlery and kitchen utensil physical store called “The Potters”.

It’s opening tomorrow officially to the public and it’s located at Unit 8, Setia Kenangan 2, Kiulap (opposite Pepper Lunch) and it’s open from 10am to 9pm and you can also follow their IG @thepotters_bn or contact them at 242 4000.

If you are interested in making sambal, this is convenient 😀

 

Yang Berhormat Dato Paduka Awang Haji Bahrin bin Abdullah, the Minister of Development and Chairman of Royal Brunei Airlines (5th from left) with board of directors of Royal Brunei, representatives from Darussalam Assets and Department of Civil Aviation during the launch of Operations Control Centre at Brunei International Airport last week

Outgoing Deputy Chairman of Royal Brunei Dermot Mannion in his welcoming remarks. This was also his final working visit in Royal Brunei Airlines.

Royal Brunei Airlines (RB) officially launched its Operations Control Centre (OCC) at Brunei International Airport last week.

On hand to officiate the launch as the guest of honour was YB Dato Paduka Awang Haji Bahrin bin Abdullah, the Minister of Development and Chairman of Royal Brunei Airlines.

As RB explained, at the Operations Control Centre the Corporate Business Unit and Operational Department handle the task of managing and coordinating execution of daily schedules as planned, while the OCC also houses the processes and personnel responsible for managing real-time operational decisions.

Its roles and responsibilities include proactively managing the impact of unplanned changes to schedules, providing quality service to the maximum number of passengers and directing the most cost-effective plan to return to published schedules.

Speaking at the event, Captain Saiful Bahrin Awang Bahar, Chief Pilot at RB Flight Operations called the launching “an important milestone”.

“As we are all aware, airline schedules typically do not operate as planned,” he said. “Hence, it is in every airline’s best interests to ensure that there is a proper management process in place to manage and coordinate the execution of daily schedules.”

Captain Saiful Bahrin Awang Bahar, Chief Pilot at RB Flight Operations delivering his remarks

Ribbon cutting to officiate the opening of the Operations Control Centre (OCC)

Viewing the OCC

This room is vital for monitoring flights. I’ve been one at Seattle and it’s huge.

Group photo at the OCC

Dermot greeting the pilots at OCC area

“OCC plays this important role for the day-to-day operations of all scheduled flights departing in and out of the Brunei International Airport.”

The newly structured OCC will see the integration of all the different but relevant departments involved, ranging from Ramp Handling, Reservations, MCC and Engineering Line Maintenance, in the same physical location, which they previously were not, Captain Saiful explained.

“In doing so, this will enable a more cohesive and coordinated workflow, as well as a faster and more informative decision-making process to help ensure the smooth operations of all scheduled flights.”

He added that, as and when required, the OCC can also function as a mini crisis centre able to handle disruptions far more effectively with all the affected departments in close proximity.

Speaking to reporters after the launch, RB’s new Chief Executive Officer, Karam Chand said, “The idea here is to get everybody into the same room and take advantage of all the technologies that are available.”

“I think by having people of all the key disciplines represented in the room, it helps in terms of decision-making. You can get to make a decision quicker, you can consider different scenarios. This is a live environment, you are doing your very best to have your aircraft flying as quick as possible. So by having all the disciplines, it really helps.”

“It’s really to make sure that we are looking after our customers,” he explained. “For example, in an operational environment, you would not normally see a commercial person, so now we are going to put a commercial person in this room as well. We’re always thinking about our customers ahead of everything.”

The outgoing Deputy Chairman and CEO of Royal Brunei Airlines, Dermot Mannion also spoke at the event, saying, “This is a state-of-the-art facility. Any airline in the world would be very proud to have the facility that we’ve now got, and as Karam says, in one area now, we have all of our key operations people present, which means they can monitor all of our activity across the network and do so very effectively.”

“It’s operating 24/7, so there could be 20 people operating in that area at any one time. In addition to the permanent staff in there, we have all the crews visit the area when they’re preparing for flights, so it’s a very active area all through the day and all through the night,” he added.

Also in attendance to witness the opening of the OCC were the RB Board of Directors and Darussalam Asset representatives as well as RB senior management and staff. Text by Danial Norjidi of Borneo Bulletin.

The photo of Captain Sharifah Czarena, Senior First Officer Dayangku Nadiah binti Pengiran Khashiem and Senior First Officer Sariana binti Nordin that spread around the world. Image courtesy of Royal Brunei Airlines’ Facebook Page.

There are so many things that I wanna talk about this picture. It went so viral that even big names such as Mashable and the newspapers in the UK were talking about it. The sharing of the image on Facebook reached into the millions of viewers with thousands of shares. It’s just phenomenal reach especially for a small country like Brunei.

The image of the three female pilots was taken during their flight from Brunei Darussalam to Jeddah during the 23rd February, the National Day. It was stated by former Deputy Chairman of Royal Brunei Airlines, Dermot Mannion, that it was coincidental that the roster featured three female pilots then.

Dermot was very proud that the RB brand has become viral even after weeks of posting. This is also a testament that there is an increasing number of female associates in the company namely engineering and also in the management team.

The incoming CEO of RB Karam Chand hopes the number of female representatives in the RB’s work force will improve to 50-50 especially in the management section. Currently it stands in the region of 40% of female employment.

Keep up the good job, RB! I’ve always been proud being a passenger of Royal Brunei.

 

The dance performance in closing the Japanese Language and Culture Week

Ms Bella won first place and the prize was presented by Ms Yuki IIDA from the Embassy of Japan in Brunei Darussalam

Times Square Shopping Centre ended its Japanese Language and Culture Week last Sunday, 20th March 2016. The event was held on 18th March, Friday until 20th March, Sunday at 10:00am till 10:00pm. The event was organized by Embassy of Japan in Brunei Darussalam, Times Square Shopping Centre and Japan Foundation. The co-organizers include Brunei Association of Japan Alumni (BAJA), Community Education & training Division (CET), BERSATU/SEAYP and supported by Japan Brunei Friendship Association (JBFA), The Japanese Association Brunei Darussalam, Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO), The Japan Council of Local Authorities Relations (CLAIR), BJFA-UBD chapters, Language Centre, University Brunei Darussalam, Youth & Sport Department in the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, Brunei Kendo Alliance, Tsuburaya Production Co Ltd, Human Capacity Building Consultancy Services (HCBC) and One Universal Production Sdn Bhd (OUP).

Throughout the event there was a Manga workshop by a Manga artist from Japan, Ms Manaru Tenkawa, as well as a Calligraphy competition. The closing ceremony that was held yesterday started with the appearance of the heroes from Japan, Ultraman. The prize presentation then followed and was presented by Ms Yuki IIDA from the Embassy of Japan in Brunei Darussalam. For the Manga competition, the third place went to Khairul Anwar bin Abdul Aziz, whereas Justine Lim came second. Ms Bella won first place, walking home with two tickets to the Ultraman show. All the winners were also presented with manga related prizes sponsored by Ms Tenkawa.

The top 3 winners for Calligraphy competition were Redzwan Haji Nasir who came as first place, bringing home a CANON digital camera, whereas Lim Nyuk Lan came second, walking home with a G-Shock watch Afwan Jali won third place, bringing home $100 Kaizen food voucher. The event ended with a dance performance of “Soranbushi” by UBD, JENESYS and SSEAYP.

Moreover, Times Square Shopping Centre will be having a DC-themed Mini Carnival: 9th edition on 23rd March to 29th March 2016, followed with a Wedding Fair on 7th April to 10th April 2016. For further information, please call 2338208 or 2338006 during office hours. Press release by Times Square Shopping Centre.

One of the winners of the Calligraphy competition last weekend

 

Wu Chun as the ambassador for BMW China

Very few people in the world had the chance to be a brand ambassador for world-class brands such as Coca-Cola, Levis, Guerlain, Canon, Osim, Mido Swiss watch, Disneyland, Gatsby, Seven-Eleven and few others. BMW China has recently chosen Brunei’s second biggest export after oil and gas, Wu Chun, our very own international superstar as their spokesperson, who is also a brand ambassador for Royal Brunei Airlines.

A new car for the modern family— the first-ever BMW 2 Series Tourer was officially launched in the China market. Its also the first time BMW China has appointed a celebrity as their brand ambassador and they have chosen Wu Chun mainly because of his signature cool-trendy, inspiring and healthy family man image in the eyes of the public which BMW needed for this new target market.

In the BMW Group centenary year, the launch of the fourth localized BMW product – BMW 2 Series Tourer is another important milestone, a marker of BMW Brilliance’s localization process and commitment in China. This new car addresses a new customer group, strengthening the leading position of BMW brand in the premium car market, taking on a full vitality for “The Next 100 Years.”

Anton Heiss, president and CEO of BMW Brilliance remarked, “The first-ever BMW 2 Series Tourer marks a significant milestone of BMW Group’s commitment to China. This car precisely captured the new consumer trend in China.”

Wu Chun who recently did a TV commercial shooting for BMW just right after he wraps up his first Hollywood movie in Australia shared,” During my TVC shooting, I have the chance to drive the first-ever BMW 2 Series Tourer and this car comes with an innovative concept, combining BMW’s signature driving pleasure and versatility, and how customer-oriented BMW is.”

The award-winning BMW 2 Series (iF Design Award 2015), stands out as the most dynamic tourer car in the class. The extreme dynamic bodylines add a cool and sporty harmony, illustrating the signature look of a BMW car.

Jochen Goller, Dr. Anton Heiss, President and CEO of BMW China, Wu Chun and Olaf Kastner

Dr. Michael Liu, Kun Ling, Wu Chun, Dr. Anton Heiss and Jochen Goller