Today would have been my brother’s 34th birthday. Unfortunately he passed away back in 2003 when he was still staying in Hamburg, Germany where we grew up as kids. He was my only brother.

About Karim

His full name was Karim Patrick Alexander Zahri born July 12th 1976 in Hamburg Germany. He lived in Germany all his life. Well has was in Malaysia for about a year back in 1991 but did not like it here. My brother was a very intelligent and gentle soul. He had a keen interest to help others, did a lot of charity work and had big plans to do humanitarian work in Asia or South America. He was a very simple man who loved his family and close friends around him.

If you are a muslim and reading this, I would appreciate it if you could donate an Al-fatihah for him. Amin.

Pictures of a 1,000,000 Memories

The World Cup final is tonight but with Germany’s last match played … I consider it over. I am so so happy with our 3rd placing. Had someone told me before the tournament start that we would in the semi-finals, I would’ve been happy … but having seen how well we played leading up the Spain match, I was rather disappointed how badly we were outplayed by Spain. Oh well!

So as an avid German fan, I would like to give my personal analyze and grades or “Einzelkritik” for the Mannschaft.

Manuel Neuer (7/10): Great future talent. I’ve been impressed with Neuer since his Schalke played in the UEFA cup a couple years back. Steady hands and a roaring personality make in a great keeper for many more years. Being so young obviously contributes to some erratic decisions.

Holger Badstuber (5.5/10): Had a great season with Bayern. Was happy to see him make the starting-11 against Aussie but got a lot of heat for allowing the fateful cross against Serbio .. which led to the goal. Very young at 20. Great future for Germany and Bayern.

Jerome Boateng (6/10): Watched him in a few youth match for Germany. Great physical presence and had a decent World Cup overall. I think he struggled mightily against Sergio Ramos of Spain. He will be player I will look forward to watch at Mancester City is coming season. With Ballack gone, I may just become a ManCity fan! Hehe.

His brother, Kevin-Prince, on the other hand is an arrogant prick. I think he is too cocky and not that good a player to begin with. I am glad he is not playing for Germany

Arne Friedrich (7.5/10): Super steady. Great tackles and always proves a handful in attack during corners or set-pieces. Together with Mertesacker absolutely priceless for Germany in center of defense. At 31 probably his last World Cup.

Per Mertesacker (7/10): At 26 has a another World Cup left in him. Overall played very well. No outstanding errors and together with Lahm played the ball very well out of defense to kick-off our offense. With his height, he should do a little better in attack during corners or set pieces.

Philipp Lahm (8/10): Superb World Cup. Not your typical captain but he lets his playing on the field do the talking. Whenever he gets on the ball, you can be 99% assured that his pass, shot or dribble is fruitful. Despite all that success, he will probably lose the armband once Herr Ballack returns to the national squad. Now 27 already, he will still be a force to be reckoned with for the next 4 yrs. I would like to see him make a move to the EPL over the next 1-2 years.

Marcell Jansen (6.5): Never been a fan of Jansen, especially during his days at Bayern. A little to erratic for my liking and tends to lack consistency and a steady head in crucial moments. That said, I think he played well when coming on for Podolski. His goal against Uruguay was probably 50% luck but crucial!

Sami Khedira (7.5): Another young one at 23. This tournament has been a breakthrough for Sami. He reminds me a lil of Dietmar Hamann, keeps the ball very well, sticks to his business and when moving forward can cause problems for defences. Great future for him and Germany.

Toni Kroos (6/10): I am a huge of fan of Toni. Have been following this prodigy since he played in the U17 team for Germany. With his talent, people (like me) perhaps expect too much too soon. He could’ve scored against Spain with his volley but oh well … at only 20 years, he is definitely a player to watch. This coming season he will be back at Bayern!

Mesut Özil (8/10): Another one of our breakthrough performers. Everyone who watches Werder Bremen knows of his gifted left foot but sometimes I feel that he himself lacks a little bit of confidence … but with the World Cup over, Mesut should be full of confidence and look forward to a bright future. My only other comment: instead of always dribbling the ball in front of goal … just shoot!

Bastian Schweinsteiger (7/10): Schweini Oh Schweini … he is player who has matured tremendously over the last 1-2 years. Gone are the emotional outbursts and now we have a steady more calmer Bastian. I like it. Played the match of his life against Argentina. A couple of crucial loss of possessions against Spain and Uruguay are probably as a result of over-confidence?! Like Lahm, it would be great to see him play in England or Spain. He definitely has the goods and is only 26!

Piotr Trochowski (5/10): Played great football 2-3 years ago. Has not been playing well this season and for me, he has been erratic for Germany at the World Cup. Did not use his chance as a replacement for Mueller against Spain. At this form, he will continue to struggle to make the starting eleven and rightly so.

Cacau (5/10): Strong physically but does not hold the ball as well as Klose which often led to attacks falling down quickly. I don’t see him as a regular first choice for Germany but than again, we don’t have that many options.

Miroslav Klose (7.5/10): After his lousy season with Bayern, I didn’t expect him to do well at all. No one did but like Podolski he impressed. Too bad he couldn’t add to his goal tally and equal Ronaldo. I think Klose may play at Euro 2012 but this should be his last World Cup. Good job!

Thomas Müller (9/10): Absolute star of the team. After only his first season in the Bundesliga, 20 year old Thomas is a world star! I think the experience in the Champions League proved crucial. I remember watching him against ManU and he was lost! Well lost no more. This World Cup experience and five goals should mean great things for him and Germany. Together with Kroos, Ozil etc they are our future. Did you know that Mueller is already married at 20!

Lukas Podolski (7/10): Also had a great World Cup. I never liked his attitude at Bayern. A lot of complaining. At times very wasteful, especially against Serbia. That was annoying to watch. Still young at 25 but should play for a better club than Cologne. He needs to be pushed or he needs to push himself. Will probably play in 2014.

Mario Gomez (3/10): Just like Euro 2008, absolutely useless! Can’t hold the ball. Can’t pass when it matters and doesn’t hit the target. I think Mario lacks confidence when he plays for the national side. Very disappointed.

The Team (7.5/10): Great performance overall. Fun to watch moving forward with fast passing one-two football. In Mueller, Ozil, Kheidera, Neuer, Badstuber and Kroos, Germany has a great future. If there are areas to work on, I would say that Germany needs a world class striker like Klinnsmann, the left back situation also needs to work. In terms of depth, yeah it wouldn’t hurt to have some useless substitutes. Overall, I am super excited and hopeful for the future of German football. Probably without Michael Ballack.

I am very excited to tell everyone that my wife and I are expecting a baby :).
Well we have not been to the gynecologist yet but we took a couple pregnancy tests and both turned out “hamil”.

We got an appointment for next week and hopefully everything will go well. My wife and I are super excited!

This post is about three weeks overdue but as most of you know, my wife and I were away on our super romantic and fun honeymoon (details soon).

So here it is, the beginning of my new journey, my akad nikah on the morning of the 3rd April 2010 at Masjid Taman Tun Abdul Razak, Ampang, Selangor.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETwtpeKMRHw[/youtube]

The night before

Wow. I definitely couldn’t sleep. My mind of occupied with bucketload of emotions. Super exited to marry the girl of my dreams but also nervous, anxious, worried hahah and everything else. I spent the night reading up on “rukun2 islam, iman, sembahyang etc” …. hahah coz you never know what they may ask.

oh and yeah … not to forget the lazaf nikah that I kept repeating over and over in my head

Akad Nikah at Masid Taman Tar

The morning on my wedding day was not all that bad. Surprisingly, I wasn’t that nervous …. until we got the “GO” from the masjid that our rombongan to move in … hahahaha …. dup dap dup dap … When we arrived, we didn’t really salam with everyone, didn’t my my wife-to-be … I was very focused on where I was supposed to sit etc but alamak!!!!!! ….. I sat on the cushion terbalik … this obviously caused some reaction from the crowd but oh well.

So, it started with an opening from the imam masjid, followed by doa and a pre-wedding khutbah where I fought hard to sit up straight, keep my composure and focused on my lazaf which I kept repeating in my head hahaha “Aku terima ….

After our cool imam cracked a few jokes here and there, he tricked my father-in-law to be the kadi nikah (is that the right word) … hahah. I was relieved that there was no soal-jawap. By now, the lafaz was coming up …. my heart definitely jumped. I pretty much blocked out everything else, including what was said to me …. I was waiting for my cue to say ….

… Aku terima nikah Rio Elani binto Rio Kamal Yuyha dengan mas kahwinnya sebanyak tiga ratus ringgit … tunaaaaaaai …

Kadi, imam and saksi’s looked at each other for a couple seconds and wham baam I was married! Hahaha single lazaf is what the wife wanted and that’s what I errrrrr brought hahaha. Things got a lil emotional after that but pictures speak louder than words ;)

To be continued ….

Following are 2 slideshows from my wedding last Sunday.

Kevin and Rio – The Beginning

This is a slideshow that I made myself showing how we met, our beginning and leading up to the wedding
[youtube width="600" height="486"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMkvSFfNNag[/youtube]

Kevin and Rio – Pre-Wed Pictures and Nikah

This slideshow was done by PrettyPeektures
[youtube width="600" height="486"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETwtpeKMRHw[/youtube]

New baju melayu? Slideshows? Well will be done tomorrow..Hantaran pun is ready …. Everything is ready… The day has finally come … wow! Can’t quite believe that I am taking the plunge tomorrow after some 31 years!

How do I feel? Obviously super excited but like anyone else I have to admit that I am feeling rather anxious, nervous and all kinds of feelings. Tomorrow is a big day. A day where a 31year old chapter will close and another opens.

Am I ready? Yeah! Definitely ready to commit myself and share everything … no more “you” and “me” … just “us” and “we”. Took me a while to get to this point … I remember in my mid 20s, marriage was the furthest on my mind …. but slowly as I hit my late 20s, the idea of starting a family didn’t seem so bad after all … being a husband and a father is something I can see myself doing …. and I wanna do it well!

Lets hope tomorrow goes well and that it marks the beginning of my family life with the women of my dreams :) … insyallah

More updates tomorrow.

Since I am getting married in April and am in my spending zone, I am in need to replace my current laptop, which honestly was a huge mistake buying in the first place. Don’t buy a Sony – looks good but thats about it.

So as my fiancee may tell you …. I have been bugging her with this for a while …. I need to definitely get a new laptop but also wouldn’t mind the additional juices of a desktop … or both?! And Windows or Mac?

I basically do a lot of web development work – work on Dreamweaver, Photoshop, some video editing, I dont play games ever (I have my xBox for that) and definitely a lot of multi-tasking.

Options: Desktop, Laptop or both?

So here is what I have for options.

• Laptop Only: I would be looking at another multimedia laptop with at least 15+ inch monster. Downside is that I’d be stuck with another big laptop
• Laptop + External Monitor: I was thinking buy a decent (13-14inch) laptop that carries some punch and when working at home, hock it up to an external wide screen monitor. I kinda like this option.
• Desktop Only: Well no brainer but i’d be stuck with my hopeless Sony laptop when moving around.
• Laptop + Desktop: Means I would have a mid-range laptop and a decent desktop to work at home. Problem I foresee are two – 1. File/email synchronization would be a pain (would working with an external hard-drive fix this?) and 2. I am very mobile (not really a problem, just a fact)

OS: Windows or Mac

Macs are cool but been on Windows for so long. Am a lil hesitant about the switch. Had power supply issues with Macs before and service parts cost a bomb!

Wow its has been a while since I last posted on my blog. My bad. I have been so much revamping kevinzahri.com, launching EmbunWeb.com, preparing for my wedding in April and yeah, celebrated a simple but hopefully romantic valentines with my fiancee. So since a lot of you want to see pictures, here ya go.

Pictures

Had to remove pictures due to some irresponsible actions by some parties. My apologies.

I know it has been a while since I last updated my blog …. do I have a good excuse? Hahaha hmmmm let’s just say that this last month or two have been the busiest that I can remember … let’s see

1. Maxhosting.com.my

This is my web company. We have been working extremely hard on making an upcoming merger with another company a reality for Jan 2010. 2010 will be a year where I shall reinvent myself in the IT/Web world. This website will also get a nice revamp.

Did you know that I have build over 30+ websites on my own? Not to forget KevinZahri.com and Cekodok.com … it takes a lot of work

2. PayComm

I am doing some very cool corporate communications work for a new company called PayComm. I am leading the corporate communications department since October and yeah, it has been extremely busy as well.

Check out an article on Sinar Harian or Harian Metro

3. New book and lots of talks

On the health front, I have been extremely tied up with upcoming books (Calorie guide and “Lose 5kg in 5 Weeks” eBook) and yeah been conducting various health and wellness seminars with the likes of Nando’s, Hitachi, Bursa Malaysia and others …

4. KevinZahri.com Online Store

Oh oh oh and I setup and online store @ kevinzahri.com that will soon feature eBook, books, supplements and more …. check it out! Not much there now but more coming soon.

5. Skin Nutrition Malaysia

In collaboration with Skin Nutrition Malaysia, we will soon be launching a website to sell their high quality skin care and nutritional products online via skinnutrition.com.my. We will launching it before the end of the year with nutritional and skin tips etc.

6. My Wedding

This is probably the most important of them all – my wedding in April 2010! Can’t tell you how exciting the whole wedding journey has been …. it sure does take a lot of time planning, traveling, discussions etc but it’s all good and yeah a lifetime awaits … I can’t wait!

Do check out the merisik pictures

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