Chatterbox

My colleagues and I went to Chatterbox as Shelly from Taiwan wanted to eat the Hainanese Chicken Rice. The price is now at $19.90. I had prawn laska as I wanted to try something different. The food was good. The decor is different with red, shiny plastic tables. We had good conversation and after dinner, the girls went for shopping while I send my two Indian colleagues to their hotel.

Long meetings and talking is can be tiring. This is day 3 of sitting, eating, talking, more sitting, more eating and talk, talk, talk. This is hard work. It also good fun to build relationship with colleagues and office. I change from no social life in the office to maximum. This change is quite drastic and dramatic. I am still getting used to it.

Greek Culture at Chijmes

My first meal at the Chijmes. I remember CHIJ girls in their pinafore holding hands with ang mos and boys from St. Joseph Institution. This school also has the notorious reputation of highest unwanted pregnancies. I guess it should not be an issue anymore with sex education.

I saw Hog's Breath nearby. I do not pay attention to the resturant's name as usual. It is Greek food. The garlic bread and salads was heavenly. We have grilled meats and fish after. The meat is good but not the best I have eaten. I like Greek food. It is quite delicious and healthy. The dessert was tiramisu. Although, I was stuffed and could hardly finished my main course, I love the tiramisu. It is one of the best I tasted. The meal is a little expensive. It comes up to $890 for nine.

We had good conversations. First meeting with my new boss. Lots of talk about family in different culture. We have two Indians from India, a Shanghainess, a Taiwanese and three Australians, my boss and two marketing managers. So there was lot of learning about each other. Our group has all married men and the two girls are single with one getting married in September this year.

We adjourn to Long Bar after. Everyone has a Singapore Sling. The music was good a tat too loud. It was a long day we end at a 11pm and I send some of my team members back to the hotel before going home.

Staff Meeting

Have my first staff meeting with my boss and all his direct reports. Long day just to get to know each other and presentations, presentations and more presentations.

I like short and sharp. So my timing was good. I am not sure if it was well received. I think my style is "let's cut to the chase".

We had dinner at Crystal Jade. I am glad the group like the food. We had Beijing duck, deep fried prawns, ginseng chicken soup, pork ribs and yangzhou fried rice. Yummy! Our vegetarian cooeagues has vegetarian fried rice, deep fried toufu skin, and lo han hotpot.

It is late, so goodnite...zzzzZZZZ

What Peak Performers Do.

Research on Peak Performers are aplenty. What is Peak Performance? Peak Performance is the maximum and best work.

Peak performers come from all walks of life. People doing their best work in the context of their jobs.

- I love it...peak performers like what they are doing and enjoys their work thoroughly. They does because they feel rewarded by the work itself.

- Missions that motivate...peak performers may be doing a small part of a big job. This story should be familiar with some of you. Long ago during the Roman empire, a wise man approach 3 bricklayers building a church. He asks the first bricklayer "what are you doing?". "Can you see, I am laying bricks" he replied. He goes to the second bricklayer "what are you doing?" "I am earning a living and providing for my family" he replied. He was to the last bricklayer and asks "what are you doing?". "I am building the world greatest cathedral" he replied. Guess, I need not tell you which of the three has the highest productivity and quality.

- Results in Real-time...peak performer get immediate feedback. Tiger Woods, the legendary golfer does not socialise after every game. He will go to bed early and wake up early. While having his breakfast, he will watch a replay of his previous day's game. Hence, feedback is the breakfast of Champions.

- Invest in yourself...peak performers never stop training themselves to improve their game or competencies. Peter Drucker, the management guru, contravene conventional wisdom by recommending that you train yourself on areas you are strong in and NOT where you are weak. Training yourself on what you are good mean learning is fun and enjoyable. Best of all, benefits are huge.

Success Intelligence

I bought this book today at Kino. The author does research on Happiness. I kind of agree that happiness is more important than money or power or sex. I have another book titled Successful Intelligence. The "ful" make a big difference. Success Intelligence is like IQ or EQ, it is a series of articles that tell you how to define success. Whereas Successful Intelligence discuss how intelligent people becomes successful.

I like one quote from Success Intelligence "Madness is doing something over and over again and expecting different results."

High-end Property expect to rise by 20%

DBS Vickers held a talk on investment at SMU today. I cannot remember what the stock analyst presented. I like the property forecast. The only problem is high end property is out of my reach. It is expected to rise by another 20% this year. High-end properties are those in the news recently. Properties that are selling for S$2,000 per square feet or more.

The other interesting fact is HDB resale flat price is expected to go up with the increase in CPF. The 2% increase translate to $50,000 more in load servicing. So let hope for the CPF increase. I like to see house prices going up.

Sex, money and power

This is formula for bestseller. It is also the formula for blog stickiness and blog popularity. The website on stories of cabin crew have the number of visitors drop the moment juicy stories stops. My blog has no visitors because there is no story with the 3 important ingredients. Since sex and power is not up in my alley, I may have to work on money piece. Next will be business cookbook style or recipe.

Let see if I can start to be more creative.

Jerry McGuire

Tom Cruise and Renee Zellweger acted in this movie about Free Agent. Tom Cruise was a very successful sport agent and make lots of money. One night, he was inspired to write up a plan on how Sport Agency should be run. His secretary type and make copies for his presentation to the senior management. Guess what! He was fired. He tried to retain his clients but his backstabbing peer moved faster than him. He is left with one black football player.

He was broke and his secretary lost her job too. He went to look for her one night as he had nothing to do and no place to go. After one beer, she told him "I care about the job. But mostly I want to be inspired." With that they started the business together.

My boss in Canada, Barbara Leavitt told me Jerry McGuire is one of her favourite movie.

Malaise since China trip

Getting sick during travel is business as usual. However, getting sick for three weeks is unusual. I feel weak in the afternoons and my bone aches. I feel feverish yet no fever. My strength has left me and desire for exercise is non existent. In general a feeling of malaise. This morning, the tea halia perks me up. Now I am like a potted plant without water, limp and wilted. I need some thing to perk me up. What can I do? How can I get out to this trap?

I feel much better in the morning after my morning tea. In KL, I will walk to a local coffee shop for teh C. Hotel's tea does not meet my expectations as they usually use tea bags. Am I addicted to caffeine? Maybe I should check into a spa and get myself de-tox.

Nice Korean

Newton's Third Law: For every action, there must be an equal and opposite reaction. After meeting the nasty white trash, I have a nice ride back home with a Korean gentleman. He was sitting beside me and we get into a lively conversation. He was in KL for a week and bought a condo in Damansara. He says it is a nice place up on a hill and there is a mountain behind the house. There are many resturants within walking distance. So it sounds interesting...

He had a 4 hours wait to transit to LA. So when the Singapore Girl pass out the immigrant card, he says he will take one and then decide when he want to go out for lunch. He asked me if I know any good Korean resturant. I told him one of my country manager in a previously loved this Korean resturant that every trip to Singapore he must eat there. Since my wife is picking me up, I thought we can go and try out this place in Phoenix hotel. We drove there immediately. The floor we entered was vacated. Ha! I thought rent renewal time. We look at the directory and found the resturant was located at fifth floor. It was vacated too. On other empty lot there were sign stating the business new address. However there were none for the Korean resturant. I ask the Customer Service in John Little. She says the resturant could not find another place to rent. Sigh! we were out of luck.

Mr. Kim called Hyundai Contruction and Engineering because he heard from the Managing Director who was stationed here in Singapore that one of the manager has left Hyundai and had set up a Korean resturant and the standard was not bad. The long and short of it is he manage to find the name and address of the resturant. It was not far right at the old Apollo Hotel. The food is quite nice and he know what to order. We had a great time. He paid for the meal too.

The interesting thing is I was originally booked for the 2pm flight and change it back to 10am yesterday. He was booked for the same flight in the afternoon and decided that 45 mins was too close for transit to a US flight and decide to go at 10am as well. Coincident or Karma link?

Shitty French Man

Today, I lost it. I was never so pissed in a meeting in my career. A French supplier insists the project is over by Friday and everything is fine and dandy. A simple request for more information turns into everything is fine, by Friday it will be done when all I asks was who will deliver the information and when. I blew my tops. Yes, I did. Not a good thing to have an emotional outburst.

To add insult to injury, this French man did not pay attention to the information that was presented. Then he is incompetent, an arrogant bigot that has serious capability issue. I am so disappointed that my whole team has wasted our time and we have wasted so much money.

This is a very expensive lesson.

Food Reviews

The pen is mighty than the sword. Reading the Sunday Times reviewing the new year goodies, Singlong Peanut Cookies gets four stars. Five stars mean tastes heavenly. I assume 4 stars must mean very good. Peanut is my favourite nut. It is cheap and tasty. It is also addictive. Once I starts, it is hard to stop. I am nuts about nuts.

With 4 stars, I was hungry for some and since I am in the homeland of Singlong, I went looking for it in Giant. The bottle was stuck it a big price tag. So I know it must be the display. After searching the shelves futilely for several minutes, I decided to take the last bottle. I open it to savour the taste of peanut cookies. When the expectations are high, disappointment sets in. It tasted quite ordinary rather than out of ordinary as described in Sunday Times. I guess my tastebud is not the same as the reviewer. Probably the other reviewed Peanut Cookies tasted worse. Whatever it is, the mass media can move my opinions.

Sunway Lagoon

Sunway Lagoon, I missed this place. It is like coming back home. Change happens in the last two months. New resturants, new stores, new year decorations...as change happens some things still stay the same. The coffee shop that sells hawker food, the mobile lok-lok(steam boat) van at night, Ramlee burger joint, ah yes, the 7-Eleven. 7-Eleven is like McDonald or Starbucks. It is a familiar sight and you can expect the same things.

Our team meet for the first time this year. We have three new members in the team. It is good to get everyone to foster through teamwork. Our value system, business model and philosophy is very simple and needs to be passed to the novices. We are now in the forming and storming stage. Hopefully, we get to the performing stage when the meeting is over.

2007, we are ready for you.

Off again

It's Sunday. I am off to the airport again. Have job Will travel. Busy time in the beginning of the year. Meeting, meeting, meetings! I have to go to meet. I have to stay to meet. Work is a series of meet.

The Importance of Water Filter in a pond

The outdoor pond I have is "high maintenance". Water turns cloudy with algae, algae clogged the pump, the pond looks dirty most of the time. Yes, it is "natural" look, I convinced myself. The fishes cannot be seen. "They must be hiding in under the rocks" I reasoned. My wife was adamant. "Water must be clear, then it is a pond" she admonished. "Besides, it may not be good for your career." she would point out using her scare tactics.

I have procastinated for two years. Now the water filter has been bought, installed and operating, it is amazing how nice the pond looks. It is does not require a consummated handyman or a subcontractor to install. It is so simple and easy to install that any nincompoop will be able to complete the installation. I am a nincompoop when it come to tasks around the house. As you know, my abilities are in books...

Well, well! Now I am getting praises from my wife(she insists on my wife instead of The Wife). Actually, I kind of regret why it took me two years to figure this out. During the two years, I have probably read twenty or more books and fifty magazines (courtesy of Singapore Airlines). To install the pond water filter takes about the time to read two chapters The Definitive Drucker.

For everyone who read this article, to keep your pond water clean and clear, please install a water filter with UV light. The pleasure of seeing the fishes in the pond is rewarding.

Family

Family is one that cares for each other.
Family look out for each other and be there when needed.
Family are related by blood or by bonds.
Family loves each other unconditionally.
Family shares your joys and your joys are doubled.
Family shares your troubles and your troubles are halved
Family sometimes fights but will always makeup
Family is the best!

White Clouds, Blue Sky

It was shocking to read today's paper where there are flash floods in the Singapore. We are not even aware of that other areas were flooded if not for the papers. Right now, it is clear skies with white cotton-like clouds. Looking at the sky, it is hard to believe it poured yesterday. Man has short memory. There is a saying in Chinese that says after a great disaster, the survivors will enjoy good time. I am not sure how accurate is this saying. I am quite sure the earthquake victims and tsunami victims are still struggling to survive.

Life is about living and not about death. We always look forward and move on. It will be terrible to be stuck in the past.

Weather is unpredictable. Even as I write, the sky has darkens and is fill by dark, heavy and ominous clouds. In the few minutes, it is threatening to rain. Life is similar to weather, unpredictable. It has ups and downs. It has good times and bad times. When time is good, make hay while the sun shines. When it is bad, it is time to hunker down and wait for it to pass....

The Future of Working for Yourself

This is the subtitle of Free Agent Nation. I read the introduction and first few chapters. Do you know this is how it work in Hollywood. Everyone works for themselves. Every movie has a producer, script writer, cast director, financier, actors and actresses all acting independently coming together for a project (aka The Movie). After the project is over, everyone is disband. You are basically working for yourself.

Author is a free agent too. You write books and articles and sell them. Micro-entreprenuer. You must be able to sell your work. Many occupations are free agents in Singapore. Tutors, music teachers, artists, actors(a lot are employed by Mediacorp), real estate agents and insurance agents. Training is one idea I have been toying around with. Instead of becoming unemployed (dirty word), let's all become free agents.

Lucky me!

After finishing The New Mind, I was looking for Daniel Pink's first book Free Agent Nation. Kinokuniya does not have it nor did Times. I doubt MPH would have it either. It is available at Amazon.com. This is getting frustrating. Why no bookstores in Singapore have any copy?! I was thinking to order it from Kino. I do not trust internet. Ya, ya! I know the Straits Times just reported US$155b sales transacted on the internet in US alone. I am not going to risk my credit card numbers getting into the wrong hand. The kiasu attitude. I call this behaviour risk avoidance. Kiasu is too demeaning and it is inappropriate anyway.

I am in KL today and Borders is five minutes walk from the hotel. As I was browsing, I chance on The New Mind triggering my memory that I was looking for the Other book. After searching futilely for half an hour (did you hear if men asks for directions, millions of hours will be saved for better use), I went to the information desk.

I ask the girl at the desk if they have a copy of Free Agent Nation by Daniel Pink. Pink as spelled as P-I-N-K. She nods her head with a dismissive "YES! I know PINK!" look. The girl types into the computer and in less than 10 seconds, she says "We do have a copy. Let me check the shelf" I followed her like a obedient dog. Her eyes move from top shelf and downward. She squats down, pull out one book to check the title, then another and third book, she hits the jackpot. Total time of search? Probably less than a minute.

So why did I spend 30 minutes looking for the book? Well, I did not exactly just look for this one book. I enjoys the treasure hunt. As I search, other interesting titles comes up. I saw Real Magic by Wayne Dyer. This is not available in Kino or Times either. There is also another book by Victor Frankl other than his classic "Man Search for Meaning". The only problem is I cannot recall the exact title for you.

So I must say it is a good evening for me at The Curve.

The Creative Brain

I pick up this book by Nancy Andreasen in the airport. The interesting part(at least) to me is the last chapter on Building Better Brains. It contains "life changing exercises for your brain". I was intrigue by the claims.

The recommendations are as follows:

1. Choose a New and Unfamiliar Area of Knowledge and Explore It in Depth

One of the best way to think creatively is to tackle a new field that you know little or nothing about. So if you are a computer science graduate, take up biology. If you spend your life in the business world, try learning about geography, earth science or oceanography. If you have longed to learn to play the piano and have had no training in music, start doing it. Just choose something that is quite different form your current interests or occupation.

2. Spend Some Time Each Day Practicing Meditation or "Just Thinking"

"Just thinking" in a free and uncensored way. Just let your thoughts flow. Meditating is focusing your mind on one thing or emptying your mind which is to focus on nothing.

3. Practice Observing and Describing

The goal is to look intently and in detail so that you observe aspects that you would not normally notice.

4. Practice Imagining

The human brain's capacity for imagining is another resource for creativity. According to Lobsang Rampa, imagination always win over willpower or control.

For Tots(kids)

a. Switch off TV
b. Read Together, Interactively
c. Emphasize Diversity
d. Ask Interesting Questions
e. Go Outdoors and Look at the Natural World
f. Get Them Interested in Music

These are all commonsense suggestions. It can be also challenging in Singapore context. We are living in a highrise city. Everything is man-made. Grant we are a garden city. Nature for us is a manicured lawn and shady trees. Our nature reserves like Macritchie or Pierce Reservoir gets boring very quickly. It seem like tv and computer games can hold my kids attention much better than nature. Good thing is B1 and B3 is interested in music.

As for myself, I used to think a lot. Recent changes in my job and my team has keep me busy with a lot of tasks. Also I have to do a lot of business with internal department. This is taking a toll on our team's performance. We are still growing well but not like before. Thinking is an important part of my job. Figuring out all the different scenarios, possibilities and then deciding which path we take for the business.

I like the Creative Brain as the approach is commonsense and easy to understand. However, as Mark Twain puts it "Commonsense is not so Common."

Backyard Boon

The Wife has decided it is time to upgrade our backyard. In the earlier entry "water feature" I claimed territory rights for anything outside the house. You know now know this is my futile attempt to gain some authority at home. When she decides, it is decided. I sulks and use a sneaky approach. "Go ahead and do it by yourself. Count me out." I says. She went ahead and dig out the old tiles and rearrange them. Then she does her research in the internet. She has her way with me. "I need to go the stone place." she says. Guess what! We go to the stone place on the weekend. We go to the garden place after she pronounce she has found the stone.

We went to Jalan Kayu Stone, Thomson Road Nurseries(the place that floods), Bah Soon Pah Road(heard of this place?) and she decides made a phone call to her contact for granite supplier. Yes, they have the granite 25mm thick and best part? It is 30% cheaper than Far East Flora's granite or our current concrete tiles. She do up all the measurements and map out our backyard on the spreadsheet. She then calculate the number of pieces of 1 X 1 ft square or 30 centremetres she will need. She have the pieces at the edge of the backyard cut to the right size to fit. The granite tiles arrived last Thursday. We bought sand, subsoil lining, levelling tool and a 5 pound mallet yesterday morning. In the afternoon she and our maid dug out the mud from some area to improve drainage. Then they pour in the granite chips. After that I help to lay out the subsoil lining and we pour in coarse sand. The maid level the coarse sands and then we add a layer of fine sand. She will level the fine sand and make sure the height is just right for the granite when laid will be level with edge of our house.

I helped by pounding the granite tile with the mallet to the tiles are flat. The pounding also compact the sand and make the sand substrate stable. This way the tiles will not wobbles when we walk on them. It is quite easy to get the hang of it. So we have a rhythm. The backyard is done this evening. We spend a total of not more than 8 hours. She stand there quietly for more than an hour. She must be admiring her handiwork.

The sense of accomplishment must be awesome.

Downside of Travelling

I had running stomach in China. My throat was feeling sore two days into the trip. The change in weather, the food, the long hours and moving from place to place may take their toll on my body.

I wake up reluctantly. Nose is congested, breathing is labourious, a general sense of malaise. Next week another trip and the week after. Sigh! Will I be able to get well?

Maybe I missed our local food. In the last two days, my weight has ballooned by another two kgs. With this kind of yo-yo, how can my body cope. Why am I so weak mentally? Have no discipline to control my diet. The Sunday Times today reports that Singapore Girls has a long list of don't. I wonder if the stewards has the same list. Maybe I should be a steward like Boh Tong. I will look as good as him by the time my training is completed.

Ahhh! I forgot! I must first pass the selection and interviews. Shoot! I will not be able to benefit from the SQ Cabin Crew Training. I may have to invest one of the slimming salon or California Fitness before qualifying. Bad idea...

Maybe I should try yoga again. Recently, research are reporting it is more important to stay fit than to trim weight or waistline. Have all these reports sunk into my subsconcious causing me to eat more?

My philosophy is eat when you are hungry. We live to eat and not eat to live. It may be overdue for me to shift my paradigm.

Nature at my doorstep

It has been raining all day. In the fields, the bull toads are croaking loudly to attract their mates. It is deafening in my front yard. This little critter is like a bull horn. My pond has attracted a toad shouting for a mate last night. Tonight, the croaks were back and I decide to check it out. There is a pair! Soon, I may have tadpoles in my pond.

This set me thinking... I thought the toad manage to find my pond somehow. Maybe it is because my pond has wildlife(a couple of fishes from Pierce Reservoir). Then I remember we had caught tadpoles from the nearby fields and put them in our pond. The tadpoles grew to toads and left home. Maybe and just maybe they have returned to pond they up grew up before leaving home to seek their fortune. Now it is time for them to come back home to spawn.

What do you think?

Water Feature

I have a rectangular water feature in my front yard. I designed it with long sump so that water can flow in and out of this oblong shaped pond. Pictures of water features always fascinates me. So my deal with The Wife is outside the home is my territory and inside she has full authority. I am lying to you and myself if you believe this deal hold water. She has strong influence over the outside as well. Anyway, I get my pond.

My first design did not work well. It required lots of maintenance. Cleaning up the sump or the pump is a major project, a back breaking job. So we discard the sump and have just the pond. Soon the pond has lot of algae. The water pump now needs to be cleaned every two days. I have also added some water lily and this makes the water even dirtier. My intent is to have a micro-ecological system. Women folks do not like nature. So the grumbles soon turns in pressure to clean up my act. Finally, I bought a pond filter that have a specs of 5,000 litres per hour with in-built UV lamp to kill off the algae. Cost me S$360. Way over specs too but the store owner convince me that it is better to filter system can handle our tropical climate as the sun has strong effects on the growth of algae. I install the system DIY way. Today, I completed my project with a water sprouting out from rectangular rock stack. It is really nice to sit and watch water flowing out and listening to water falling into the pool. It is very relaxing. A sense of accomplishment. A concrete and visible achievement.

Do-it-yourself, the best prescription for wellness.

Rain, Rain

From cold winter to rain water. Was happy to get home. I thought rainy season was over. Now in the news, the last 24 hours period has the same amount of rain in a typical month of January. Is the signs of time to come weather pattern changing or is this just a once in a while freak weather?

It will be a few more years in the future before we can tell if this come the trend or just once in a couple of decades blip.

If my memories serves me right, Lobsang Rampa mentioned in his books that weather patterns will change. There will be hotter summers and colder winters. Earthquakes become more frequent. All these are signs of the earth shift to come. He predicted more land will be under water. Canada and Australia will be powerful nation in future. The desert in the center of Australia continent will be green after scientist using nuclear bomb to crack a layer of imprevious rock to release water trapped underneath. I do not know if all these will happen in my lifetime. If so, I will be witnessing the turmoils on earth.

Glenn Sosney

I remember clearly the first time Glenn Sosney comes over to my office. I just started in my new job as Associate Product Manager, Trays and Sharp. I look up and saw this young good looking man with a little goatee. He introduces himself "Hi! I'm Glenn Sosney. I am an Inventory Analyst. Chris Davis used to work very closely with me." Chris Davis was my predecessor. After he introduced himself, he says he is just want to say "hi" and since my predecessor worked closely with him, he thought he will make himself known to me.

I guess he must be sizing me up too. I had an entry about Glenn earlier. Glenn was instrumental in my success in the company where I had a standing ovation during the National Sales Meeting. This was many years ago and in Canada Asian is a minority. There are less than 5 Chinese in the company with staff strength of more than 400. The positions we held were secretaries(2), technician and Product Manager(your truly).

Glenn, if you are reading this please leave a comment.

Shanghai

Shanghai is bright and sunny when I landed. A little on the cool side at 6 degree celcius. It is a busy, busy day. I was in the office all day with different meetings. Out for meals and then conference until 9pm. It is another long day. We made progress. So it is good to feel that we are making traction. No time to look at the shops or what is available in Shanghai. Hopefully I have some time tomorrow just to walk about the street.

Dinner - cheap, cheap! good, good!

We attended the sales meeting of our partner in Xiamen. This is their first sales meeting. There were 30 in attendance including my colleague and I. The investor of the company was there together with his wife.

When I enter, another supplier was there talking about his products, market and competition. All in Mandarin. He is quite good in representing his product and explains everything right. Somehow I find the style a little archaic. Maybe because it is traditional and there is no sizzles. Don't get me wrong. I am not the sizzles type myself. I am all steak. Have you heard of sell the sizzles and not the steak. This is a favorite saying in Canada where it is important to sell the frills of the product rather than the product itself.

My colleague presented and unveil the incentive program for our partner. The sales team was excited and charged up. They even request for more to go for the incentive trip provided they double the growth expectations. I agreed. We adjourn for dinner.

The resturant was nondescript. It is like any live seafood resturant in Singapore. We had more than 15 dishes and many bottles of red wine. The food was delicious with a few famous local dishes in Xiamen like fried mee suah, brinjal, fish soup, chicken with french beans,...then biggest surprise was the bill. 3 tables, red wine, so much food for S$300. I have to pay S$300 for one table in Singapore without any alcohol.

It would be fantastic to earn in Singapore and live in Xiamen.

Get ready to leave

Want to let everyone know I am going to China for work tomorrow. Have a tight schedule and busy will be an understatement. Today was rough too. My apologies...next few days will be sketchy if I can sign in.

Will keep my promise to write whenever I can.

Write stuff

Sunday morning, Sunday Times. It is a habit, a routine that has been acquired over time, just like Teh Halia. Now it feels funny not to read the papers in the morning. Blogging is the same. It grows on to me. Now I enjoys penning(typing?) my thoughts.

I am laggard when it come to blogging. Finally decided to start a blog a year ago. I was surprised someone actually read my blog and leave a comment for me. I write sporadically waiting for inspiration. The turning is when I read the court case of Dan Brown of The Da Vinci Code where he was sue by another author who claims that DB plagarize his plot. Details of Dan Brown work habit was published. He wakes up at 5am every day to write. It is just like going to work. Hence I resolved to do the same thing. Write everyday. It was tough in the beginning. I have plenty of writer's block. It is face with the blank screen of "Create" wondering what to write. Before computer age, it was a blank paper on a typewriter.

Over time, I made more cyber friends. Sze Li was the first and now Boh Tong. There are a few who are still anonyomous to me. Writing is a habit that can be cultivated. Now, it takes a couple of minutes for me to decide on a topic and starts writing. I loves to read. So I do book reviews. It is short summary of what I think about the books. The books I usually read are business books.

It is fun to write and read my friends blog every day. I hope you enjoy as much as I do.

Horoscope of Pig (2007)

The year of the PIG will be upon us soon. A new year and change for the better. How do I know? Like the heading, horoscope. Yeah! it is all superstition the thought crop up in your head. Darn it! you are right! Nowadays, everyone with knowledge for feng shui is writing annual and forecast for the upcoming year. It is very reasonable in price and available at all the news papers vendors and mamak stalls.

Different authors give different predictions for the year for different animal year. I browse through the different copies. I bought a copy that say this under "Career Luck"

"If you can make use of good opportunities, this will be a year of fame and profitability. There may be sudden changes in the favourable career luck. Make some reservation before carrying out any plan so decided."

Something about horoscope...it is sometime gray and full of contradiction. It is nice to get good predictions.

To everyone, have a wonderful and prosperous year of the PIG.

LifeCycle

It seems like human life cycle is quite standard and boring. First as a helpless baby, then curious toddler, off to school, work, get married, having babies, becomes old and shriveled, and move on to "greater reality".

Is there any other ways? There may be minor variations. Major cycle is the same. Some may not have babies, other do not get married, less common is same sex marriage.

The other big concern is global warming. Canada has its warmest winter in a decade. No White Christmas. Weather is going weird around the world. Scientists are giving dire warnings. Will human race survive? Looking at the major trends, our concerns on jobs security, globalisation, elitism, may no longer be something we need to worry about. If the sea rise by 1.3 metre i.e. four and a half feet, what will the impact be? When will the gardeners of the earth "plow" the earth to replant new crops? When they do, we will all be wipe out! Life on earth start afresh.

Remmington Steele

I have some time on my hand this Saturday morning. Usually, Saturdays are a series of errands and shuttling the B's from one place to another for tuition or extracurricula activities. So I decided to blog.

Turn on the TV. Remmington Steele is on Channel 5. It is a old TV series by Pierce Bronson, better known as Bond, James Bond before Daniel Craig. This bring back memories of my more youthful days. I was entertained by Macgyver, Mr. & Mrs. Steed and other detectives series. Watching the show over again, I enjoy still but have a different perspective. It looks kind of tacky and jaded. The clothing, the actions, all dated. However...however, I still like the storyline. So stories are enduring.

Before I sign off, I also like KITT, the car that has intelligent computer, talks and have moving lights in the front where the air intake is usually situated for sport car.

Meetings

Life is a big corporation is meetings. We sit all days talking and listening to each other. Issues are discussed to death and revives when new players joins the meetings. Some like to hear themselves speaks, other keep their opinions to themselves. Have you heard of "passive aggressive" behaviour? It is agreeing in a meeting but not doing anything after. In an environment where everyone is nice to each other and has the diplomacy to say the right things in a group meeting, but not really agreeing or believing in the discussions.

Why passive aggressive behaviour is prevalent in large corporation? My theory is it is company's culture. If the company promotes, retains and rewards people who says the right things rather than bring the right results, the outcome will be everyone saying the right things to get ahead. In a big company where the responsibilities are divided, it is hard to account for one's results. Hence those who rise to the top have strong influencing and political skills. The key is to make sure you can leave the right impressions and not to offend anyone who can obstruct your career in the company.

It is not capabilities or results, it is who you know and who know you. Meeting is the place and time to cultivate relationships. So my advice for those who want to get promoted, brush up your diplomatic skills. You will get to the top one day.

Good luck!

Weekend is coming:)

It is nice to get to the weekend. It takes a while for the engine to tune up to full power. So this coming weekend is good for easing me back so that next week I can throttle up again. Next week will be a full week. Two cities in China. Meetings and food...mmmm. Enjoys first then worry. About what? Weight of course! My weight is creeping up again. I am fighting a losing battle on my bulge.

This year will be challenging. New products, strong competition, challenging targets, what else is new. Work will be a lot of fun. Time of some serious thinking.

I am reading this new book The Definitive Drucker. Really effective decision makers make only a few decisions in a year. I will need to decide on a few things. Deciding on the critical few is tough too.

Working from Home

Working from home is very common in US and Canada. The reason is simple - commuting. In US and Canada, people commute long distances and time to get to work can be a couple of hours. Hence working from home makes a lot of sense. The telephone and fax machines together with Fedex make this possible. Then come laptops and remote access to office servers. Today, with broadband and VPN(secured access through broadband), access to the office networks is fast and safe.

There are lots of advantages working from home. First, no time to spend in travelling hence more time can be spend on work. Second, less interruption while working. Third, time to focus and think. Fourth, no office rental or supporting services e.g. aircond, water, network, desk, etc.

Working from home is quite unusual in Singapore as it is a city and it is easy to get around. I attended a seminar by a trainer. He says he works from home and the audience is skeptical. Maybe skeptical is an understatement, incredulous will be more appropriate. It is hard for Singaporeans to fathom working from home.

There are many studies done. People who worked from home works harder and spend more time at work. In the book Sleep Thieves, the author find sleep is usually sacrifice when people work from home as they have to tend to domestic responsibilities.

With the globalisation and the companies moving to low-cost countries at the drop of a hat, more and more Singaporean will find that they will be working from home. Home-based businesses, eBay, even blogging bring income. My dream is to writes books and teach. I know I am ready to realise my dreams when the traffic to this blog start to increase...

Blessed by Work and School

It was hard to get up this morning after getting used to getting up late for the last few days. Boys have to go to school. Traffic is back to normal busy state. After B1, B2 and B3 were off to school, it is teh halia time. Market is busy too. Guess everyone is up like me.

First work day! Reports to write and send, emails to reply and follow-ups to do. It is not in full swing yet as many in the office is still out on vacation. It is nice to get into the swing of things. Work and worries, issues and resolution, plans and execution, yup! Time to put my brain to test again.

I always look forward to Mondays. In Canada, this is seen as abnormal. The norm is to have a life after work and celebrate the weekends. On Mondays, we spend the morning talking about what we have done on the weekends or on hockeys. This is an important cultural requirement in the workplace. Otherwise, it will be difficult to integrate. I was always seen as the one who "cut to the chase". No warming up, just go straight to the point.

One of my supplier asked me during dinner what is my hobby?, what do I do in my free time? Work! Work is play for me:)

A Whole New Mind

I have seen this book in Times before and was interested. I usually spend some time evaluating and consider any book seriously before buying it. This book was recommended by another book Why We Want You to be Rich by Robert Kiyosaki and Donald Trump. By then the Times bookshop in Plaza Singapura has closed and is moving to a smaller shop lot right besides where it previously occupied. So I looked for it in Kinokuniya. This book is situated in the shelf where all the IT books are placed. Interesting!

I have been bringing this book around everywhere I go. I feel like I was in my student days again. Reading wherever and whenever I have time. This book postulate about the future and what to do about it. I have not read The Lexus and the Olive Tree by Tom Friedman or Globalisation and Its Discontent by Joseph Stiglitz.

The author set the stage well. Left thinking has serve us well in the last century. From development of education to Abundance, Asia and Automation. We have all the material things from factories from Asia at the low price and even services are outsource to India from programming to reading x-rays.

After convincing the reader, he map out a set of recommendations. It is full of gems and ancedotes. He guides the readers on what to do and where to go. Besides recommending books(usually by most other books), there are websites to go to. It is a treasure house of tools and tests you can take to assess yourself.

Are you ready for the Brave New World? This book will help you be as prepared as can be.

Reflections

It is quiet in the morning. The road is deserted when I go for my usual morning teh halia. The market is not as busy with a number of stalls closed. This is not unusual since it is Monday and there are no pork sellers and only is few fishmongers have their stalls opened.

After tea and newspapers, I did some gardening. My papaya tree is dying and I have no idea why. I planted some herbs for the Wife. My neighbours were doing the same thing. Guess holiday is the best time for gardening and maintenance. Doing the same things reminds me of life in Canada. In spring we will all be planting flowers or vegetables. In summer, cutting grasses. In fall, raking the leaves and in winter shovelling snow. Somehow the neighbourhood is always busy with the same activities around the house. Yes, the good thing about living in Canada is doing everything yourself. The bad thing about living in Canada is doing everything yourself. DIY or do-it-yourself is an industry and huge market as labour is very expensive. Skilled and semi-skilled labour like plumbing, mechanics or carpentry is costly. These skills command $20/hr to $35/hr. Income tax is at 47% and GST 7% so you will need to earn $200 to pay for $100 worth of service. Kind of sucks doesn't it. Hence, everyone DIY in Canada and the US except for the Super Rich. Foreign workers does help keep our services affordable to average wage earner in Singapore.

Today is uneventful. New day of a new year. It is a quiet holiday. A day to enjoy doing next to nothing.