Tom Peters

Tom Peters is a management guru. His book "In Search of Excellence" launch the category of popular business books. Books on business were academic and serious. In Search of Excellence basically open up a new market where lots of money can be made writing on business subject. Tom has a superlative style. Everything seem to be an extreme. He loves to exaggerate to make his points.

Tom has a blog www.tompeters.com

Santa Claus is coming to Town

I love Christmas. Weather is cool, festive spirits in the air and carols, Christmas carols. Growing up in Singapore Christmas is a commercial activity. The malls are loaded up with trees, lights, decorations and since it is December it is usually wet. However the wet weather does not dampen the spirits.

Living in Canada change my perception of Christmas. It is time for giving, for rejoicing, for Thanksgiving, for family and friends. It is a time for celebrations, parties and food(weight watching time!). Giving presents and receiving presents. I appreciate Christmas as much as Chinese New Year. During Christmas break, it is nice to stay at home by the warm fire watching tv and snow falls. The break is 10 days until New Year on the 2nd. Boxing Day (26 Dec) Sales, Midnight Madness and other malls programs are interesting. A consummate booklover, I love to go to Chapters(Canadian version of Borders) and read in Starbucks beside a fireplace.

I also remembers before Ngee Ann City was built, it was a green slope. There will be a temporary pramid platform built and choirs from the different Churches will schedule different evening to sing the Christmas carols. Sweet memories of the good ole days.

Those amazing helicopters!

I returned home this evening from KL. Had a busy Monday and Tuesday. Both B2 and B3 were happy to welcome me home at the airport. B2 was insistent that we have to go to Compass Point to buy the helicopter. He was out with Mummy in my absence and saw the helicopters for sales in the atrium. He actually seek my permission to buy the helicopter on Monday night.

I was eating my favorite Ipoh Hor Fun at the staff canteen in Terminal 2. B2 was at his usual self, badgering and complaining that mummy refused to go to Compass Point. I told him I am tired and would want to go home to rest and then catch with my work. I saw his disappointed look. My heart melts and I told him we will go Compass Point on the way home. Both B2 and B3 were excited and looking forward to getting their toys. We bought two helicopters and one aeroplane. I damaged the first plane by putting a screw into the battery causing it to leak.

Both boys managed to fly the helicopter well. I am amazed by the ease of flying this helicopter. It is a fantastic machine suitable for beginners and novices.

Aeromodelling - micro planes

I bought a radio-control plane in the toy fair at Takashimaya basement 2. This plane is $40. It is a micro-light. Wish I can take a picture like Mr. Brown or Sze Li instead of relying on the 1,000 words I have to say now. The airplane has 2 pusher propellers and is virtually indestructible. Hence a great toy for the young and young at heart like me. It flys well and has digital proportional for power and can turn left and right by differential thrusts from the two propellers. B2 and B3 (2nd boy and 3rd boy of the family) had a wonderful time flying the airplane. Daddy had fun too. The battery is charge in minutes and can last a long time. I am very amaze by the design and technology. Best of all is the price. I drabbled into model planes and they are time consuming and expensive. It is easy to crash and very crash cost dollars running in hundreds. Now planes are cheaper. The time and skills required to fix the planes are enormous. Of course, it is a very rewarding hobby especially after you master the basics and start on aerobatics. I am still at the beginner stage and has not gone beyond beginner.

I am waiting to buy the micro-helicopter that is controlled by infrared signal. The kid who demo the plane and helicopter has such a good control of the aircraft. I am happy to bring my childhood dreams into reality today and best of all, at a very reasonable cost. Price of helicopter - $40 as well.

It is going to be....

a beautiful day!

The air is cool
Sky is blue
Sun is shining and mood is brightening
Gloom lifted, vision gifted
Sight was near, now afar


It is going to be a gorgeous day. A day to go out and relax. Wishing one and all a good weekend.

P.S. Kinokuniya is having a 20% for members today.

Influence and encouragement

Recently, I have been doing more book reviews encouraged by Sze Li's comments on her blog. Boh Tong motivates me too and he is a interesting story teller. I review and reflect on my blog. It has a serious tone, the writings are abstract with little imagery. It contains work related issues, personal health, family and travelogue. It is a tool to express my thoughts, feelings and let my friends know what is happening in my life.

The number of visitors is encouraging me to go on. Boh Tong and Sze Li have me as their links and I do get a number of referrals from them. Thanks to www.activemeter.com! Writing is a discipline. I decided to write everyday after reading Dan Brown's habit of writing without fail every morning from 5 am onwards. Cyberspace is a way of life today. It levels the playing fields for all with internet connections. I do not aspire to be popular and famous like Mr. Brown. Over time, I hope I can improve enough to be a author and have a book published. A teacher at heart with a passion for continuous learning, I like to make this passion into my portfolio of work.

To my loyal fans, please keep clicking and read. For first time visitors, I hope you enjoy the visit.

Red Herrings

Have you heard of the term Red Herrings? It is a common phrase in Canada. I always need explanation. Now there is a book to explain what Red Herrings mean. White Elephants is more common as we had an "incident" in Buangkok MRT station where lots of white elephants cutouts appears just before MIBs do their walk about.

Once in the factory, my boss show me a machine that descibing it expensive will be an understand and told me it is a "white elephant". He then start to explain to me that white elephant is a term use in America to describes.... and I interrupted him and told him "hey, wait a minute. We are in Thailand. This is the place the term white elephant originates!" I am not a sensitive guy or politically savy as you can see. Then I explains to him the King of Thailand would sent a white elephant to his subjects who have incurs his wrath. Since the elephant is white, it is not allow to work. Since it is a gift from the King, the receiver must take good care of it. As it is very expensive to maintain an elephant, the receiver will be ruin financially over a period of time after receiving a white elephant.

Red Herrings and White Elephants, the origins of the phrases we use every day explains them all by Albert Jack.

Strengths - Your Career Success

Peter Drucker was the first to bring the importance of developing and using one's strengths to improve business results. Gallup poll did a lot of research on "employee's engagement". The first book that come up from Gallup research is First Break all the Rules. This book list the 12 key questions that employees answers will predict business success level. This book suggest break the conventional rules of giving and getting more training on what you are weak in. Spend more time with your best and most productive employee. The usual HR process is to spend more time with the weaker employees to improve their performance. So out goes conventional wisdom. Hence break the rules!

The next book by Gallup is Now, Discover Your Strengths. This book develops the theme of concentrating on your personal strengths to improve your performance. There is a password in every book for you to go to their website to test your own strengths. The truncated or short report is free. You will need to pay for the full report. To understand yourself better read the book and do the test. You will discover yourself!

High School Musical

Yes, I agree! It is a good show. I wondered how come my B2(son no. 2) can watch this show over and over again in Disney channel and then request for the DVD. Now that I watch sections of it...YES! I agree, it is a good movie. Disney makes good family movies. It is a fantasy come true. Song and dance, this is what musical is about. Music is upbeat and set a good atmosphere and mood. The boys and girls are full of energy and have the right rhythm. Make-up was good and everyone looks good and nerdy.

This is a good escape. This is how life should be.

GSzeLi Thoughts aka My First Blog

Blogging helps strangers meet and become friends. I decided to go cyberspace about one and a half year ago. I penned my first entry into this blog. Imagine my surprise the next morning when I get an entry in comments section. SL stumbled into my blog and left a comment for me! We have common interest like books and bookstores. SL, write well and in good length. Her blog was mentioned in Today's paper. She have interesting pictures and pen her opinions on contemporary issues. I am a little sad she has decided to move her blog to private. Please go the my friend's blogs section and click on Sze Li. She has an interesting style.

I Ching, he book of Changes

I Ching is the ancient oracle of Chinese origins. There are many stories about I Ching. I remembered reading in Toronto Star that an experiment was done in New York to test I Ching ability to foretell the stock market. A sophiscated program was written and using I Ching the program foretell the stock index. The experimenter found that I Ching can predict the stock index to more than 90% accuracy. The question I have is why the experimenters did not make money. True, they were university students under supervision of a Professor. If I were them, I may think of a way to translate this experiment into a service to sell to mutual funds managers.

Roast Duck at Sunrise Resturant in KL

This "resturant" is a coffee shop. The resturant is open for business only from 12pm and will close once all their ducks are sold out. Usually before 2pm. Menu is simple - roast duck and quick boiled lettuce with oyster sauce. The chilli is tangy and enhances the flavor of the meat. I have a weakness for duck. With a Teochew mum, I guess my taste is inherited.

Eating the duck there is not enough. I brought back one. Mmmm, sumptuous. The benefit of frequent travel is my family get a chance to roast duck. Of course the star has to be aligned. I have to be able to have lunch and then pack a duck and go to the airport.

By the way, the duck cost RM40 each. Good taste, good value. This is what life is about.

Right things vs things right

A request for example...I have to rack my brain and put on my thinking cap....

First, what is right things? Right things can mean strategy or priorities. Things right mean tactics or process done correctly. So the right thing to do for example is to get the order first. Once you have the order, then you have to do things right. That is goods or service has to be delivered as promised. Sometime, quality did not meet expectation. Or some element of service was not good. If you fix the quality or service issue, even if some things are not done right. You still have the business. When a customer complains, she still want to do business with you. Complaints is the gift of business.

Leadership

What is leadership? Leadership is the act of leading. The capacity to bring to a conclusion. Leadership bring about change. Both positive or negative change. Leaders are in all of us. We are all trained from you to do things right. There is always one answers to any problem. In Science or Maths or History... even in literature there is a model answer. Doing things right is efficient. We have not been train to do the right thing. The right thing is effective. So even if we do some things wrong, doing the right things will bring in results.

We must prioritize in getting the right things done and doing things right.

Job or Business

It is a dilemma. People in business like to say it is better to have a job. And those with a job wants to be in business. Who is right? Henry Mintzberg writes a book on Management and says the book is written for those of us who spend our public lives dealing with organizations and our private lives escaping from them.

Why are we not satisfied with our jobs, lives or business? Why must we always looked for something different. How can we achieve Nirvana in the material world? A consummate booklover like me seeks my answers from books. There is a book titled "How to get what you want and Want what you have". Another title "Succeed at your own terms". "Get more done by doing less". These are the titles that piques my interest although I have not bought any of these books yet. I read lots of self help or motivational books. Nowaday, we can pay anyone to get their advice which used to be free through their books!

I always wonder after turning around two business from loss to profits why I am still contemplating on doing my own business. I was talking to my colleague in Thailand. I told her a lot people who work for distributors starts their own business very quickly. Her opinion is the skills of a corporate manager is not entreprenurial. It is not transferable to run one's own business. She also wonders if she makes a right decision to work for a big company. This is the golden handcuffs. It is hard to wean away from the steady income and good benefits. We put up with the frustrations of working a big organization because it is scary not to know the next paycheck. I have been conditioned by the system and social expectations. Study hard and get a good job. Work hard and get promoted.

With globalization, there is no job security. Seems like 40 years old is the magic age where one becomes obsolete in the world of employees. We must learn to make money work for us and do our own business. In US, it is celebrated to drop out of school and get rich by starting your own company. In Singapore, you will be shamed if you drop out especially if you are on scholarship. The new world is upon us now. Let's be brave. Take risks, take the plunge. Make the future happen.

Warm Comfort

This morning I go for my usual cup of warm comfort...Teh Halia. Something uniquely and commonly available in Singapore, my home. Teh Halia is not commonly available in Malaysia. Yes, they have teh tarik. Halia is not as popular and therefore not as common in the roadside stalls that I frequent in KL. It is definite when I drink it, I am home.

Flowers

I brought back some lily bulbs to try our my green fingers. I have also bought some seeds - cumcumbers, young corns and green peppers to see if I can grow them. It is always my dreams to be able to grow vegetables but have not been successful. I always blame it on the fact that plants does not grow well in pots. Now I know it is care and fertilizing them well. Hopefully, I can bear fruits...er I mean vegetables in a few months.

Unpleasant Surprise

Landing into Changi Airport, the first to-do was to call home. My Mother-in-law answered. She told me our bedroom is leaking water. It is serious. "Is it raining?" I asked. "No" she answered. I thought I heard wrong. How can water leaks if it is not raining. She says it is the water pipe. I exclaimed loudly. My wife retort I am always alarmed and loud. The leaks start at about 3pm in the afternoon. Thank God I was unreachable at that time. Otherwise the plane ride will be uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable indeed.

When we reached home, the water was still leaking. I have to turn off the mains. The leak was from the roof garden down to the stairwell and the bedroom in 3rd floor. What a nightmare! We called the developer. It is stressful. The damage looks serious. Did you know concrete is porous? Maybe it is poor quality concrete or workmanship (in the plumbing job). No doubt, it is an unwelcome surprise. Still home is sweet home...

One night in Bangkok...

The opening lyics of a song. I remember this song is the first time I go to a lounge in Grand Central Hotel in Orchard. Bangkok sounds exciting, very exciting for a young man who has not travelled anywhere out of Singapore. Bangkok, Bangkok... another song. Bangkok has attracted the modern poets. They put their inspiration into songs! I agree! Bangkok is an exciting place. Food is fabulous and of good value. Shopping experience is wonderful. The range is wide and selections wonderful. Service is excellent. Plenty of choice of products and many beautiful women walking in the streets. No wonder, Bangkok attracts poets of modern day - songwriters and composers. It is easy to be intoxicated by the beauty and energy of nightlife.

Thai language is gentle and polite. It is no wonder lot of Singaporeans love to come here. Again and again.

Familiarity breeds contempt?

This was an English saying I learnt in Secondary School. I know looking at the same thing everyday, we will soon not notices it anymore. We look but no longer see. For me, I love the familiar especially when I travel. I like to check in the same hotel and walk the same mall. It is like home.

So coming to Bangkok, it is the first time to come in via the new airport. The last trip I flew out of the airport on the first day of her opening. (I like to consider the airport a female.) The new airport is quite efficient and is easy to move around. Going through immigration is quite fast too. Not bad at all. It is airy and bright. I like it!

Warren Buffet

I am reading this book on How Buffett does It. 24 simple strategies from the world's greatest Value Investor. I learned about Warren Buffet many years ago. I know he is the greatest and has made many millionaires for those who invested in Berkshire Hathaway. It was difficult to buy his shares. It was US$50k per share. Yes, $50,000 when I first learned that you can piggy back on his wisdom and capability 10 years ago. Today, the same share cost US$106,000 each. To say it is out of reach would be an understatement.

The good news is you can buy the Berkshire Hathaway "B" shares which is worth one-thirtieth of "A" shares. This mean each share cost US$3,500. A lot more affordable. You can buy one share each from POEMS. US stock market allow single share transaction unlike Singapore stock exchange where minimum transaction is one lot or one thousand shares.

So I have read and learn about him. Maybe it is time to buy into his philosophy instead of reading about it. Take time to accumulate his shares. It will reward you richly over time.

Business Philosophy

There are different philosophy in Business Management. I believe in focus. Staying within our core competence. Jim Collins in Good-to-Great call this Hedgehog and the Fox concept. The Hedgehog know one big thing and the Fox know many things. Everytime there is danger in environment, the Hedgehog will withdraw and bristle out all it quills. The Fox in contrast will try out many different things.

Although our past results has been good and consistent, my soon-to-be ex-boss point out the risks of having one big business. Diversify to spread the risk he points out. Instead of celebrating success of strong performance and copying it, he worry that it is not diversified enough. Warren Buffer, the wealthiest fund manager has these words "Putting all your eggs in many baskets reduce risks and also RETURNS, I put all my eggs in a few baskets and watch it."

Wondering

I am now wondering what is happening with B1(eldest boy). He did not send any sms or email. He did not update his blog. "It must be inconvenient for him" I console myself. "Maybe be he is too busy" thinking up excuses for him. Does he think of Dad or Mum? Why is he not homesick? B1 always sleep with us until we relocate to Canada when he was midway(May) through Primary 1. There he and his younger brother have a room of their own. I am suffering from separation anxiety! How will I cope if he has to leave for University? Everytime a new chapter opens, the previous chapter has to close. Sigh! Life is like a book. We have to write from chapter to chapter. We can reminisce by reading the chapter we have written through photos and memory recall.

Wish

I wish I may, I wish I might, I wish, I wish....

What do I wish?

Life is like a journey by car. Sometimes we have to stop at the lights when we are impatient to go. It can be smooth on the flat highway, it can go up and down over the hills and valley. We can lose our way. At times, we have no idea where we are heading. Keep driving? Stop and have a break? How about go to a station to refuel?
Can we figure a way to look ahead around the bend? When the road is straight ahead, driving is a breeze. One can see far ahead. When the road is winding, full of lights and junctions, sigh! it become a challenge. A challenge to figure out the way to the destination.

Wish? What is my wish? I have no clue. All I know is I am not happy. I am not unhappy either. Am I thoughtful? I can't think properly either. Is this due to change? Maybe right now I am going to white water. Heard of white water? Well white water is when the water is white in colour. I am not belittling the intelligence of my readers. When the water is white, it is turbulent. White water is the part of the river where the rocks and fast water flows cause the water to boil. I guess there is no time to think or figure out what is happen. Only hang on tight to the raft and react to the rocky terrain. Shift body weight to keep the raft upright and stay bouyant.

What city folks missed!

I have been living in highrise all my life. Sitting up in my home office, I can see the dark clouds, lightning flashes and rain falling. The sad thing is another highrise is on its way up to cover my view of the sky. I realise looking at the sky is something I have not done alot of growing up. Highrise living in a city mean most folks will not have many opportunities to look up the sky.

I was in Tioman with my colleagues. We had dinner at a makeshift resturant. Alfresco dining at its best. It was a starry night. It was really easy to see stars. All you have to do is to walk of the bright florescent lights and the stars magically appears. The artificial lights in the city blot out the stars. We live in a city and it is always bathe in lights at night. I missed the time when I see shooting stars when I was five or six.

Teh Halia

Or ginger tea with milk. Every morning, I will go for morning tea in my favorite sarabat stall in AMK Ave 10 wet market. I enjoy a hot, creamy cup of teh halia gorang manis with a head of froth spilling over like draft beer. I have no idea when I get addicted to this beverage. I like it hot and spicy less sweet. I must go for teh halia fix the morning after I returned home from a trip. In Canada, I missed the tea so much that I tried to recreate it myself. I was very happy to get the taste resemblance. (You get plenty of time to experiments anything you want in long, dark and cold winters.)

The tea and ginger must be strong. After a couple of sips, I feel the warmth and my mind wakes up. It enhances the newspaper read tremendously. Life's simple pleasures!

Books, Proliferation of Books

Kinokuniya, THE bookstore for me. I spend this afternoon browsing. Plenty of new titles on the shelves. I wonder about the information overload. There are so many new titles sometimes I wonder where the authors get their new ideas. The time spent just browsing into the contents of each book is therapeutic. Time passes quickly when one get absorbed in an activity. There are so many sections to cover - new books, leadership, new age, psychology, finance, management. Purchasing decision become more and more difficult. It is like one title "The Paradox of Choice". Limited choice increases sales. Megastore bring scale and scope to book selling. Traffic increases with the range of choices. More traffic increases sales. What is the right formula? Kinokuniya is successful. It is a heaven for booklovers.

School Exchange Program

B1, eldest boy is now in Japan in Japan Singapore student exchange program. He just emailed to me. Three months ago, Hiroki lived with us for a week. Now he is living in Hiroki's home. Hiroki's dad is a stomach and intestine surgeon and mum a otolargynologist(ENT). The house was big and everything is novel to B1. The windows are automatic, no-hands toilet cover, lights that is different from Singapore. He finds the Japanese house high tech and amazing. It is an eye opener and obviously an excellent learning experience.

Finding Forrestor

Finding Forestor is an old movie. It is about a black boy growing up in the Bronx. William Forestor(Sean Connery), a Pulitzer prize winner with only one published novel, The Avalon Landing. This black boy is good in basketball and words. Forestor is a recluse who have someone to do his grocery and laundry. He will look out of the window observing the boys playing basketball or do bird watching. Jamal Wallace was playing basketball with his friends when he was dared to breaking into Forestor's home. He did and was surprised by William. In a hurry to run off, he left his bag behind. Jamal was pacing along the road at the base of the apartment block wondering how to get back his bag, when it drop right in front of him. He was relieved.

Later, Jamal found his notebook were edited with commentaries. He went back to ask if Forrestor will help criticise his writings. Forrestor was unfriendly and ask him to write a 5,000 words article on "Why he should stay the f*** out of his home". Jamal did and manage to turn around William and they became friends.

To cut the long story short, Jamal's writings which were quite good in the first place improved dramatically. A frustrated Professor Crawford was defeated in his bid to get Jamal expelled. I like this underdog story with a Cinderalla theme.

My dream - Teacher and Trainer

Will I ever achieve my dream of becoming a trainer and earn a living doing my passion? Training is a calling. I enjoyed teaching others. Training and development is built into my DNA. My colleagues, ex-colleagues, family and friends know this is my passion. Can I turn my passion into profit? Will I be able to earn my living conducting training?

I have taken concrete steps. I have trained my team on self awareness and personal effectiveness themes. I have conducted sales and leadership workshops. Next steps is figure a way out to turn my abilities into products and services.

Seasons

Living in a place with the seasons make it easy to remember event. The weather changes break the monotony of daily living. Term of reference is last spring or two winters ago or remember the snow storm when we had 14 inches of snow. The seasons become a easy mneumonic. Our weather pattern is so regular it is impossible to mark any event except with the calendar. For me, I do not remember any dates not even my own birthday.

Tonight, the weather is fairly cool. It reminds me of fall (autumn in England). Its been drizzling since the afternoon. This bring a nice respite to the haze. I am listening to music while writing. The memories of fall in Toronto. Back to school season. Summer is over. Time for kids to go to school again. Leaves have turned golden brown and falling like rain. Shopping for winter coats for the kids. Kids outgrown their winter clothing every season. Life is quite interesting. Outdoor BBQ become less and less frequent. Outdoor tables and chairs in resturants are kept. Necklines of women start to go up and hems of skirts go below the knees.
Malls and homes turn on heat instead of aircondition.

Sweet memories of fall...

NAFA

Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts has a kindergarden program. B3, my five year old attends the school in East Coast Road. The school curriculum includes music, drawings(painting) & crafts. It is a little expensive if we include the school bus fees. However, it is so much better than going to a regular kindergarden and bringing him to enrichment classes on the weekend. He enjoys school so much. He learns to play the portable sound. Today, he can play simple melodies on the piano. When he do art or craft at home he knows how to make sure he does not leave behind a big mess.

Today, is concert day for graduating K2. It is a way to let the parents know what their kids had learned in school. I must say the concert was entertaining and the dance and music were of high standards. Miss Yen, the music teacher deserves a lot credits for the music piece. By the way, she is very attractive.

Melancholy

I have sad feelings sweeping across my total self. My brain turned to stone. My heart is beating aimlessly. This is a mental state I get into periodically since I was since primary school. By the time, I reach secondary school, I seek solace in books - philosophy, religion, self-help, occult and others to understand the meaning of life, to understand why I was born, why are there suffering, why, why, WHY!

Quiet reflections or meditation is impossible. My mind is distracted by... I have no idea what. Biorhythms? Lunar Effects? Smells? Colours? What is the root cause?

Remedies? Mood changing drugs, fantasing, sleeping, movies escapes, yoga, exercise,... the arsenal is growing. The best cure? Time. Time heals everything.

Singapore girls

I am a loyal fan of our very own icon, Singapore Airlines. I said beside a German who lives in Cairnhill from 1994 to 1997. He work for Sembawang Shipyard at that time. He says to me the music inside the cabin reminds him of home. It was like enlightment to me. I agrees wholeheartedly. I remembers living in Canada the first time and was rather miserable. Life was cold, very cold. I spent the first three years there and have to return to Singapore to complete the sales of my house.
I remember clearly the moment I step into the cabin, the Singapore Girl welcomes me warmly with her Singapore accent. My heart actually sangs. I am almost home. At that time, Singapore Air still flies to Toronto. They have to cancel this flight because Air Canada felt that Singapore Air was a threat and taking away their business.

Want to know the what's inside The Sarong Kerabaya? I would recommend "http://bohtong.blogspot.com"

Great resturant, Fabulous food

Had dinner in a Malay resturant in downtown. I cannot remember the exact name but it sound like Brinjung. The food was delicious. We had beef rendang, bbq fish, french bean with prawns, sotong in coconut milk. Sound regular. This is due to my weak English. You should taste the food in this resturant. Satay was so-so. The coconut dessert was so good that 4 of us have second helpings.

Meeting is a good way to gain weight. Lots of pastries, fruits and of course we all sit down to listen and talk.

Downtown KL

Check into Traders Hotel in KL. First time staying in a hotel in downtown KL. Took a walk in the twin towers shopping mall. Kinokuniya is well stocks and books are slightly different.

I must say I am impressed by Shangrila group which Traders is part of. Their Golden Circle or frequent "flier" club has all my information even though someone else booked the hotel for me. I am impressed. I rarely stayed in Shangrila. Only twice in the last 5 years. Yet, I am still in their database. Usually I stay in Sunway Hotel and I have keep registering. First thought that come to my mind is it is a Singaporean company. I am proud. It is well run.

Shangrila, keep up the good work! Maybe it is time to consider owning some stocks.