A Hot and Dry Bangkok

The swamp that is right beside my business partner's office is all dried up. I have been there a few times in the last few years. It was always wet except this time. Little signs like this is worrying.

News about Global warming in Financial Times which has an article that argue that developed countries who contributed most to the global warming has lots to gain and also has the money to cope with any changes brought forth by the warming trend. Whereas underdeveloped countries will not have the economic means to deal with the changes. Straits Times reports the lessening of the icebergs and milder winter.

How we as human race react to the change? This is history as it unfolds....

Thailand - the Land of Smiles

It is always nice to come to Thailand. The food is yummy and cost is reasonable. The people are gentle and polite. The girls are gorgeous and very feminine. It looks like it is business as usual. Maybe the disturbance is somewhere else in Thailand. I hope the problems are resolves and peace can prevail. Violence and disruption just hurt everyone including the perpetrators.

My wish is peace and prosperity for the Gentle Land of Smiles - please stay Gentle.

Heatwave in Bangkok

Bangkok is hot, very hot. Temperature is at 40 celcius. My friend, S says it is due to the El Nino effect. The heat is much higher than usual. A Singaporean, S has live in Bangkok for more than 6 years. She feel that this is unusually hot.

Where I am, everything is normal even though my wife heard the news there are "disturbances" from terrorists impersonating as miltary personnel.

Today, I did not do well with my food intake. I had food in the lounge, eat again during the flight, then have lunch and dinner. Will my weight yo-yo back to 87kgs again? The good thing is I did not have carbo.

Thai really knows how to cook. Hence I can stop eating....

Hurray, weight and weight, weight and...

90.5 FM was humming "work and work...work and work" this morning. And me?! After looking at the weighing scale, it is weight and weight... weight and weight. Guess why I am so euphoric?

Good news. NO! Fantastic news! My weighing tells me I am at 86.1kg this morning. Yeah, man! I am making so progress. I was not updating on my diet progress because my weight is like a yo-yo on a string. It is up, it is down. So up and down. When up, I feels guilty. I reprimand myself for eating up all the good food during entertainment dinner.

Well, I am off again for another working trip. Hence more delicious, yummy, tempting good food. I am tempted by the food devil all the time. Will see if I can resist well. Wish me luck:)

Musings

What kind of training will be good for a group with two new members? Team building activities? Communication Styles? Product Knowledge? Business Process? Book Reviews?

I have also open up my training to staff from other department. What kind of train should I give to them? Discover yourself type of tests? Self management skills? Influencing skills? Mind training?

Decisions, decisions, decisions! This will be what I thinking of when I am free for the next few weeks.

The Rise of the Creative Class

I read a few pages of this book by Florida. He basically refute Daniel Pink's Free Agent Nation position that more and more people are becoming free agent. He quoted statistics that prove that self employment is on the decline in US. The creatives are still working for large institutions.

I will read this book next time and review it here.

Last Man Standing

I have colleagues over from US. They requested dinner at the KL tower. It is the tallest resturant in KL with pananormic view of the city. The view was clear and the city was a flood of lights. It is good to meet up with friends from half the world away with good food. Food is buffet with a station for local flavors and another station for western. Dessert was a fabulous spread of about 30 items - healthy cut fruits, yummy chocolate dips, cakes, mini tarts, mango glutinous rice, ice cream, sigh! I could go on forever...

I heard my counterpart in Europe has resigned. This mean I am now the last man remaining in the business at my level. The higher ups were gone a long time ago. It is getting lonely....

Where are the Taxi when you NEED them?

I thought I wake up early to get to the airport as it is Monday morning. I called the usual 6552 1111 Comfortlink for a cab. Engaged. Tried again, engaged. After three tries, I managed to get through. "Do not hang up. Cablink is despatching your order now..." "Press 2 to try again" No luck. Hangup and redial - engaged. So my wife help me by bring out the phone book. We tried limosine service, every other cabline available. Some like Comfortlink are engaged. Others only operates during the office hours.

This is madness when you try to get a cab and not getting anywhere with all the different numbers and multiple tries. Finally and it took more than half an hour to get confirmation a cab is coming. I was lucky. I managed to get through in the nick of time for my flight

Monday is a bad day to call a cab. And if it rains, you might as well give up.

Angels, thanks for all your help.

Superb Sunday, Manic Monday

Sunday, God take a rest after busy for the first 6 days creating heaven, earth, man and all the things we know. At least this is the first few paragraphs of the bible tells us.

Sunday is a rest day for our family as well. We did not create heaven neither did we do all the wondrous things God did. However, like all other regular city folks, we worked and our kids worked in school. It is a good day of enjoying the freedom to do what we like. The boys played computer games, shoot basketball and some homework. B3 play with his swing racer and swim. My wife read the Sunday Times and do whatever she does. I relax at the poolside reading the papers and a book.

Yes, tomorrow is Manic Monday, sorry Sumiko Tan, I plagarize your headline. Yes, I am so "sian".

A Simple Sunday Morning at Swensen's

Cabin fever. This is the term for being coop up in the house for long time. This is especially appropriate for Toronto during the long, dark and cold winters.

So I decided to read in a cool, airconditioned place out of the cabin. The place that yuppies hang out. Talking about yuppies, I rarely heard this term use nowadays. The nearest mall for me is Compass Point and since my wife and baby boy is there, Starbucks will not be a good choice. Swensen has breakfast menu! This is new market Swensen is tapping into. The breakfast is good value. For $7.90 you can get pancake, hash brown, two sausages, juice (orange or apple) and coffee or tea. Not bad value considering McDonald breakfast will cost $6 with one drink. The food is serve in real plate and cutlery. Omelette set breakfast is even cheaper at $6.90.

I had a latte and "Authentic Happiness". Reading the book and sipping latte. B1 and B2 joined us after mummy called them and read out the menu. It sounds so yummy that they cannot resist. B3 does his drawings, Mummy read "We want you to be rich" by Donald Trump, B2 does Science homework and B1 read the comic, Alchemist. This is family togetherness, family bonding and family time. Three hours in a nice environment for $31. It is a good deal!

Pure and Simple Pleasure.

Reflect

Sometimes, I wonder what life is about. What do we have to study? Why do we have to work? Why we get married and have kids? Why some do not and some become monks? Why we grow old and die? Life is a cycle and always going in a circle - from cradle to grave and reproduce more of ourself. Life has ups and downs. Plenty of joys and periods of pain and uncertainty. Is this God's Will or part of a master design? What about the animals? What are they thinking? How do they feel? How come we do not see any dead sparrows or any dead stray cats around? Why? Where did all the wildlife in the city go when it is time for them to go to heaven?

Why only some are rich and many have to live in poverty? Why must there be crime? Why do people kill or rape another? Why are there diseases and human and animals have to get sick? Why do we have to eat to live? Why? Why? Why???

Heard of Sungei Api Api?

It is in Pasir Ris Park right at the end of Elias Rd. There is a bicycle rental kiosk and bbq pits. It has cycling trails, boardwalk into the mangrove swamp, public toilets, free car parks and is very shady. There are bungalows bought by HDB, PSC, PUB and other local big companies for their staff benefits. The bungalows are very nice. It is good to live the lifestyle of the rich for vacations or even a long weekend. Right in the middle of the sea between the coastline and the islands opposite were two kelongs. The kelongs are fairly big and established. It is like an interesting place to visit too.

B3 turn 6 today

My baby turn 6 today and we celebrated his birthday with a McDonald meal in school. He has interesting classmates in Nafa. One girl had a French father and a Malay mother, another had an American father and Malaysian Chinese mother. A third girl just relocated back from Shanghai while her father remains there. Just from the kids in school, it is easy to tell how global the world has become.

Parents from all over the world, parents in different part of the world. The globe has become a village. Ethnic groups start to blur in Singapore as kids of inter-racial marriage become more and more common.

The Best Gift....

B2 (middle son) informed me he scored 50 out 50 for his Science test. He is the top scorer in P6. It is a small school. He is very pleased with himself. Mummy has worked with him a lot recently and the result is showing.

This is the best gift I got from him. I am very proud of him. He is showing if he put in his efforts he can drive results. He just need mummy to close supervise and motivate him.

B1(eldest) is putting in more time on his school work. The pressure is on. His fellow classmate, CK who used to be at the top boy in class is lamenting that it is not fair that he works so hard and another classmate who plays with gameboy all the time gets better results than him(CK). I explained to B1 that is such a thing call intelligence. He also need to know perception may not be reality. The boy who play a lot in school may be working very hard at home. I gave him examples I know when I was in school. A lot of my classmates and schoolmates plays very hard in school. At home, I discover they have done extra homework with tuition to help them. Their results were tops! Many of them have scholarships for the university later.

The Pursuit of Happiness

What is happiness? Does money buy happiness? Is happiness more important than peace or health? Why happiness? Why not nirvana? Why not money? How about rich?

I am thinking about happiness recently. There is a whole raft of new books on happiness. Authentic Happiness has the most cited. I am thinking of using some of the questionaire in there for my younger colleagues and find out the results.

Old Guard - Inflight Supervisor, The BDP

BDP is Best Demonstrated Practice. Or the best example.

Today, I took a flight from KL to Sin. Short sector, about 40 mins. When I reach the aircraft door, there was an old gentleman in grey suit. I now know this guy is a inflight supervisor instead of a crew chief. This old guy had his reading glass on. He has a receding hairline, may be bald would be a better description. He was extremely courteous. He notices I have a Starbuck coffee with me. Since my hand was busy, he showed me to my seat and put my luggage up to the luggage compartment for me. I am very impressed by him. He has done something the SQ crews have not done for long time. Nowadays, the crews will show you to your seat and the open the luggage compartment and wait patiently for you to put up your luggage yourself.

Kudos to you, Victor Lim. I hope SQ recognise you and give you a service award.

The verdict is out....

Old Town Kopitiam kaya toast is better than the Kluang Koptiam in The Curve. The butter does not have the rancid taste and the toast is like Ah Kun's - crusty outside and soft and moist inside. The kaya is sweet and brown in colour. Taste a little like coconut sugar. I still prefer Ah Kun's kaya which has a rich pandan taste. The other favorite kaya of mine is Mei Chin in Marine Parade. Mei Chin is a tradition coffee shop. Extremely hot and humid during the afternoon. The kaya is heavenly and the custard puffs are delicious.

Home Sweet Home

Will be going home tomorrow. I am looking forward to sleep in my own bed. Look forward is a nice warm feeling. Yes, a home is an anchor, a sacrum, a place to recover and restore.

Famous Kluang Coffee at Railway Station

I had tea and kaya toast from the Kluang Famous Railway Station Coffee shop franchise. The tea was ok except milk may be a little strong and hence very filling. The kaya bun was not so good as the butter tasted stale and smell very strongly of being in the fridge for too long. The price is reasonable at RM3.25 for toast and tea. In Singapore, Ah Kun cost twice as much. Ah Kun's butter taste good as the butter are kept in ice rather than the refrigerator.

Warm Welcome for My New Teammates

I met two new teammates today, Michelle and KY. Both joined us for a two or three days now. It is good to welcome new comers to the team. We have been shorthanded for a while now. Michelle is a number cruncher and KY will run the office.

Lei Gardens at Chijmes

My boss' boss is here today. I took him to visit two enduse customers and a distributor. After that we had coffee in Tanglin mall. Dinner was organised my colleague from other division. She decides on Lei Garden in Chijmes. I had Lei Gardens before many years ago and I remember the food was excellent. At that time Lei Gardens was at Boulevard Hotel(no longer in existence).

Lei Gardens in Chijmes did not disappoint. The food was delicious. I enjoyed the dinner thoroughly. Once again, my diet is defeated. The company was good and there a total of 16 of us. We had shark fins, sauce and wine chicken, abalone vegetables, a whole host of delectable dishes. We had a enjoyable meal.

Clams, Free Clams, A Whole Bucket Full

Two younger boys were out with me to our favorite fishing spot. There were a couple of Malays who were fishing. They use a long net to catch the fish. A middle age guy came to tell me I have the wrong trap. The trap will catch not anything. He explains that he grew up in the kampong here. Then he ask me to follow him. He showed me where all the clams were. We have to walk deeper into the woods. A city boy like me, I was not that comfortable but with him leading the way, I follow him obediently. Then he "aw png", I froze. He cross the drain and continues. He realise I did not follow him and ask what am I afraid of since he is with me. Then he told me it is just a baby. I could not see anything. He says it has went into a hole. I was worried that if it is a baby, I may meet the mama. He was not concerned at all and I jumped over and followed him. He go down to the mangrove swamp and start picking up clams. I have no idea how he can see them. He will pick one and then he tell me clams are very "pan tang" or superstitious. Once you see one, there will be a whole group of them. Through enough, everytime he digs, there are usually 5 or 6 of them. I saw a lot lying on outside and start to pick them up. He instructed me not to as those are dead and will be smelly. In less than 15 mins, he dug up a whole pail for me. He is a great guy. He justed wanted me to have the harvest from the sea.

I brought the clams home and have them cleaned up. As instructed, I soaked them with fresh water to clear the mud inside. Will let you know how they taste tomorrow.

Feng Shui - the ancient art

Feng Shui is the ancient art of harmony with the energy to generate wealth and well-being. It is gaining popularity now. Books, courses, tools - Lo Pan, figurines, Pakua, are easily available. Masters are everywhere. Taiwan, Malaysia and Hong Kong masters are giving courses. Some of the masters are doing well. Maybe doing well is an understatement. Lillian Too(Malaysian) is a multimullionaire.

The REAL masters usually are not so rich. They are devoted to their art. Some of them are monks. According to Lobsang Rampa, true Psychics are not rich. Material wealth weakens their pychic powers. I wonder if the same principle apply to the Feng Shui Masters.

Haze is back!

I am up at half past six. Dinner last night was excellent. We had Korean food at Chang in Dempsey Road. After that we had a drink in Robertson Walk. I usually do not go out at night in Singapore. Our night life is vibrant. Future of young adults who were out drinking. The place was crowded. Orchard Road was full of people walking along the street. The city is alive and well.

At about 7am in the morning, I can smell the haze. I look out and see the sky is quite hazy confirming that the haze is back. The burning is back. When will the environmentally unfriendly practice stop? Why can't the government do anything?

Centurion Card

I just heard American Express has this Centurion Card where you cannot apply. By invitation only. There is a 24 hours conceige service where you can request for anything you need e.g. book a flight at the last min or get flowers in New York. There is no limit to the card. You can buy a house with this card. It is an amazing service that American Express is differentiating themself from competition. If you decline the invitation, you will never be invited again.

American Express says there are only 100 card members only. However the estimates is it is likely to be 1,000. Tonight, I had dinner and drinks with two of the members of the most exclusive club. One gentleman is a respected customer of major brand like Sony, Toshiba, Fujitsu. He has a picture together with Sony CEO, Howard Stringer.

I had valuable lessons today. Must be positive . And God will grace me.

Boh Tong teammates are in the news

Boh Tong, a writer of interesting stories about travel, men and women who serves, has a group of teammates who voluntary retired from a highly respected airline is in the news. The group split over differences in running the consultancy training company for airlines inflight service. I bet he has the scoop and is probably having coffee with his ex-s to hear their gripes.

Seven to one. So you know who hold the key to the door of the company. One wins.

Global Warming - Doomsday Coming

Global warming is hot nowadays. Look like doomsday is coming. Arctic will be ice free by end of this century. No problem - I am not going to live this long. Accelerated computer model indicate this scenario is possible by 2040. Maybe I will experience some effect of global in my lifetime.

Weather is getting freaky and Melbourne and places in China are experiencing water shortage. Earthquakes are in the news. It is due to better communication that we know all these event rather than the change in weather?

What can I do as an individual to be more "green"? The convenience of modern city life requires a car, aircond, hot water shower and other high energy consuming devices. Work today also require travel. Plenty of travel. Airplanes not only consume energy, also emits plenty of pollutants high up in the sky. The questions is if I stop doing all this, how will I live? No income to for basic living. Look at Al Gore. He won the Oscar for "An Inconvenient Truth". This is a documentary about global warming. Yet, he lives in a huge mansion with a heated pool. Kind of hypocritical right? Well he claims that he purchase the CO2 rights from others. What difference does it make? He is not walking the talk. Leadership by doing what I tell you and not what I do.

Singapore has good pollution controls

The sea is teeming with fishes. At low tide, the water is so clear we can see all the fishes. The fish look like Lo Han fish that was very popular a couple year back. While the water is still brackish and dirty because of the mud and plastic bags, empty cans, styrofoam boxes, it is clear enough for us to see all the fishes. Of course the water in Tioman, Redang are much better as they are crytal blue or green and you can see right into the bottom.

I am glad to see the sea is alive and well at home. It not only support life and it is full of abundance. Right close to heavily built-up area. The canal run through to Ang Mo Kio Ave 5. This is the best indicator that the strict pollution control measures set by the government is working. I am very happy to have nature so close by and full of life.

Hope

I have one wish. I wish Mr. Kim will be available on Sat so that I can get the chance to bring him out for dinner. I am very lucky to meet him. Knowing him is my blessings. The bright spot I have this week. Count your blessings when you are feeling down.

I have a wonderful family
I am healthy
My boys are growing up well
I still have a job
I have a nice home
I have wonderful team at work
I have good movies to watch
I can fish anytime
I have good books to read
I can swim anytime
I enjoy good food
I have a beautiful wife
I have some good friends at work - Rosnah and Kate
I have the freedom to choose
I have a wonderful sound system
I enjoys simple pleasure like teh halia, teh C
I can have my latte and read
I meet very nice people like Mr. Kim
I have wonderful business partners who work hard for my business
I have a good boss
I have good colleagues at work
I have strong results at work
I have...
I have lots and lots of good things and wonderfully blessed.

Goodnite....zzzzZZZZ

Ever had a horrible week

This week is nasty. Changes in the office, engagement with the larger organization, just everyone driving their own agenda at the expense of everyone else. Is it the people or is the organization? Is it because no one has a larger picture or is it because everyone is doing their job so well that the customer is forgotten?

My focus always has been on the business. Now it is on everything else. This is draining my enthusiam. No longer do I enjoy my work as I spend time doing things that do not add value to the business. To my career and make everyone else happy - YES! So, maybe it is time to move on. Move on to be a trainer, a writer, a teacher, a student, a consultant, a business owner. Anything other than an organisation man.

Organization Man

In exchange for security, we give up our ability to decide and think for ourselves. Working in a large organization is both rewarding and punishing. While work give us meaning and make us feel useful and contribute and of course the money help maintain life, it can be become boring and a burden. Which way it will be depends on the external factors and intrinsic values.

Fish Trap still did not work

Test the fish trap again and still it did not catch any fish. Maybe the fishes are too smart or too wary. There were many large fishes as the tide come in. The problem is no bite. We caught a few schools of fish frys. They become live seafood the moment they enters into our pond.

868 Good number

Very Tired and Sleepy, Yet Hard to Sleep

Ever in this state before? I am all hot and bothered by what is happening at work. I am so tired and had a wonderful dinner. My big mistake is to continue to work at night. Some emails came in that cause me to be upset and frustrate. Our office is filled with people who have nothing to do except to demand paperwork to be done so that they can be gainfully employed. An incredible waste of resources. This is one company that I sincerely believe will never be competitive with this kind of system and processes. It is huge and have huge cashflow. But it is living in the past. The control and more control is going to reduce efficiency and effectiveness of the organization. Over time the bureacracy take a life of its own.

I am a "leader" when they needed to pin responsibility for not making something happens. When I try, they make me jumps through hops and more hops by filling up paper and getting more details and then no answer. It is a no-win situation. Yes, it is still a good company with steady pay. The economy is getting better and turnover is increasing. Over time, it will have to review its policy and systems. Maybe the rumours may come true and it get bought out by a more dynamic company. There are loads of potential for this company but it is wasting all the goodwill and capability.

Thank God there is a self correcting mechanism in Wall Street. As long as we are not making efficient use of the money and brand equity, there possibility of something happen dramatically will increase. Until then, I can only look forward for D-day.

Diet - Out to Lunch!

Yes, my diet is out-to-lunch er, I mean dinner in the last two days. Mr. Kim is at 80 kgs and his target is 75. I am at 87 plus and my target is 82. Plenty of starvation days ahead for me!!

Family Dinner with Mr. Kim

We have dinner with Mr. Kim again together with my wife and three boys. Mr. Kim is a very nice gentleman. We had Korean BBQ at the Korean Resturant in Explanade. Our boys enjoyed the dinner very much. B3 who usually eats very little had a hearty appetite. He says it is the best dinner he ever had. We had the seafood pancake, bbq beef, bbq pork, the mixed rice and mixed fruit for dessert.

B1 and B2 ate loads of food. Mr. Kim enjoys looking after the kids. He is like a grandfather to my boys. It is very cosy as we are in a private room and the atmosphere is like a big family. I am very glad we had the dinner. We adjourned Hagen Daaz for ice cream after. I felt very guilty to let Mr. Kim pays for the dinner and the ice cream. However, he insist and respectfully, I did not fight too hard.

I promised to myself I will bring him to a Chinese resturant for the next meal so that we can repay Mr. Kim's generosity.

Running Out of Steam

Weight watching is easy part. The hard part to feeling hungry and not eating. I succumb to my hunger pangs. So now I am back to square one. My weight is now oscillating between 86.5kg to 88.3kg. Birthday celebration, Mr. Kim, snacks between meals...

I will get back on the program. 82 kg is the goal. So it shall be.

The Importance of HR

HR function has an important role to play in an organisation. The key role of HR is to make employees are happy and productive. It is imperative for HR to work on talent retention and recruitment rather than finding ways to turn the organisation into a communist state where everyone has the same salary range and benefits. The key argument of HR is other people with the same job scope complains about inequity or how unfair someone else is paid more for the same job. So to be fair, HR will equalise everyone on the "same" job.

Conversation with other senior staff in the company, I know our HR is causing morale problems. The attitude of our HR manager is driving down morale and motivation to work and bring in results for the company. Senior staff is critical to the running of the company. The impact of the role is huge.

Support function like HR role must be clearly define to help the businesses to run. When HR start to run down senior employees of the company, the company will be in a state of decline. Performance and results will suffer. There is a bright spot for this sad state HR created. Competition get to grow bigger and more profitable.

Chang, the Korean Resturant in Tanglin Village

Chang is window in Korean. It is a new resturant just open in November last year. The ambient and decor is very modern. The food is excellent (beautiful in Aussie term). We had vermcelli with beef, beef tartare with pear silvers, charcoal grill beef and rice with mixed vegetable. I forgot we also have seafood toufu soup.

Chang is located in Blk 18, Tanglin Village, the old Mindef buildings in Dempsey Road. The old building has been transformed. The resturant is bright with high ceiling and clean straight lines. The aircond make it very comfortable. The occasion? Remember the Mr. Kim I met on the plane from KL back home? He is back here for visit. He just spent a week in Dubai. A couple of days here and will go to KL for two days. After that, he go to Hong Kong for a week, then to Tokyo for 10 days before going to Seoul. By the way he lives in London. He is a real globe-trotter!

Build Your Own Fish Trap

I decide to google and check out what kind of fish traps available and hey presto!, a fish trap made our of plastic soda bottle. I have a half empty diet coke. I drank the coke but was too much. So I encourage my sons to drink up the rest. Once it is empty, I get to work immediately. After 20 mins, it is ready. I put in some bait and hurry to the fishing spot together with the boys. The trap did not work, the fishes were not going into the trap.

Coming back home disappointed, I decided to check out the blog again. I did not follow instruction completely. I have to saw off the neck of the bottle. B3 has a good idea. Instead of walking for 10 mins to try it, we test our trap in our pond. After about 10 mins, it works. A couple of goldfishes enter the trap and could not get out. Then some guppies were caught as well.

Time for the live test. We went to the fishing spot when the tide is rising. We could not catch any fish. The fishes were not attracted by my baits. I have to figure out what kind of baits that will attract the fish.

To learn how to build you own soda bottle trap, go to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bbum/20834919/in/pool-make/

Fish Aplenty, Just how can we catch them?

The river mouth, rather the end of the monsoon canal is teeming with fishes. Fish of all sizes and school of them. Once in a while the whole school will jump out of the water to escape predators. Several fishermen like me were there. They use live bait like prawn and small fishes. No bite whatsoever. It is frustrating to see all the fishes and yet can't catch any of them.

Life as a fisherman must be tough. Or maybe they learned how to catch fish well. Otherwise they will starve. I wonder if there is a trap that will make fishing a lot easier and less frustrating, more fun, with less time and less dependent on luck.

Lazy Sunday

It is a lazy morning. Breakfast at Maxwell Road market. The Zhen Zhen Porridge stall is very popular. B2 waited patiently since he decided to try our the porridge. It is more than 45 mins wait. The porridge tastes good. It has a good flavour and the condiments like spring onions, fried onions bits were generous. The sliced fish was generous too except it is still full of bones. Price? $2.50. No wonder, it is excellent value and well worth the 45 mins wait.

We had other items like curry chicken noodle and China Ngor Hiang. The food is cheap and good. For dessert, I recommend Peanut soup at 70cents per bowl. Enjoy.

86.7kg

Tonight, I am back below 87kg. Phew!

Advantages of Working from Home But...

There are many advantages in working from home. I enjoys the freedom and the ability to work and take a break at my own discretion. I can have the radio on or tv and nobody will be bothered. I need not put on a show to be respectable. Baring my top do not invite HR to discipline me for my dress code.

But the camaderia of colleagues, the conversation and the grapevine are missing. The rumours can be interesting if not fun. No politics is quite peaceful but no colourful stories about the office can be boring. No excitement, just work and family. Office life can get spicy. It is not just the airlines that has interesting stories. The office is full of romance, office romance. Just like the serial Grey Anatomy, once man and woman mix together, there can only be one outcome....nature takes her course. The sizzle is the spice of rumours, office rumours that is.

Terrible news! Arrrrgh!!!

My weight is at 87.6kg. Lunch with Kate! I have stopped enjoying Thai food...er I mean all food. This is terrible. It is so easy to add 0.8 kg and so hard to lose 0.2 kg. Life ain't fair.

Wonderful Lunch at Rama Thai

I invited my colleague for lunch. Was hungry for Shark Fins. And Rama Thai has promotion today advertised today. I lucked out. I ordered the shark fins at S$28/bowl, it was goooood.
The others items were what I ordered every time in a Thai restuarant - fish maw with prawns, crab tanghoon and kangkong belachan.

We had good conversations. My colleague is a tall, gorgeous blonde. Unlike those in the movies, she is smart as a cookie. She broke the news that she is returning back to US in June. I am sorry to lose a friend like her. The best part of lunch is she paid for it. (Actually, I swallowed my male ego and let her pay.) Bon voyage, Kate!

Hungry, I'm Hungry

Pangs of hunger is waving through my mind and stomach. I have drank one cup of water and 2 cups of tea. It is not helping. Guess I am having withdrawal symptons for my teh halia. It is unsettling. Hard to concentrate. It is a contest of will as my body shouts for attention.

No more Teh Halia

I wonder how many calories teh halia contains. One report from Malaysia claims that the high incidence of diabetes is due to teh tarik. It contains high sugar from the condensed milk. I drink teh halia gurang manis(less sweet). When I see how mamak(vs barista) made it, it is still two teaspoon and then they add evaporated milk. So beside high sugare at less sweet level, it is artery clogging as well.

Yes, cutting down has other benefits too. It free up time to do more blogging. However, I no longer read the papers. Somehow teh halia and newspapers go well together.

I am gaining traction on....

Weight reduction! 86.8, 0.2 less than last night. Hip! Hip! Hooray!

Now, on today entry...

I was in my office in KL on Monday. My female colleagues all notices my hair. It is too long. So I went to the barber today for my haircut. The barber is watching his TV serial as he cut my hair. I am not comfortable that he is distracted by TV while doing his job. He is the boss and I was the only one there. His shampoo girls were watching the serial as well. Obviously, he is setting an example. I have no idea if I should remind him to focus on my hair.

What will you do? Tell him or just stop going to him. Is this practice common in hair salons?

More Progress....

Weighing last night, the scale read 87.0! Progress. The problem I have is every time I made a little progress, I wanted to slack. Teh halia was what I wanted to celebrate with this morning. So my wife reminded me to stay strong. A simple advice and I followed. I realise with support it is easier to abstain and bear with the deprivation. After a while, it will become the norm and I will not missed it anymore. At least this is what I learned from the motivational books.

To 82, I am coming!

Less is More

Many cooks spoil the broth.
Teach less learn more.
More is less (The Paradox of Choice)

A little perspective on BIG COMPANY Operations

Everyone in the Big Company want to learn about small business. Then they start telling you what to do. No one wants to listen and learn. We are BIG COMPANY and We do not want our partners to control our growth. Big company has big egos. We know best is The Attitude. Simple thing become complicated. Soon We are entangling and tying Ourselves into knots. And soon it will become a complicated situation. Complicated situation become Big problems.

Big company with plenty of resourses. We will solve the Big Complicated Problems by engaging Big Name Consultants. Big Name Consultants mean Big Money that only Big Company can afford. Big Company do business with other Big Companies.

When will Big Company learn again why they grow big? When will Big Company learn size matters, but SPEED matters more. When will Big Company learn More is Less?

Nirvana is when Big Company learned Less is More.

Silence is Golden

Atmosphere was tense for dinner last night. My attempt to loosen up the team was not working. It is like drinking coke with no fizz or bubbles. One girl was upset as I tighten up her ability to spend. It was possible to cut the atmosphere with a knife. Old Town Kopitiam is like Ah Kun in Singapore except it offers meals. The menu is simple - curry mee, ipoh hor fun, nasi lemak and chicken rice. The food is simple and good. The coffee was very good albeit calories laden.

We adjorned to Starbucks in Borders. We orders caramel macchiato - 2 each cold for the girls and hot for me. Sitting quietly, everyone just read or browse through magazine. Later, temperature kind of cool and everyone opens up and talk. Silence has turnaround the atmosphere. We chatted about reading habits of Malaysia. It is hard to get an empty chair or seat in Borders Singapore. In KL, there were plenty. Malaysians on average read only two pages per year. Sad statistics.

One of the girl's boyfriend is in website hosting and is doing well in his career. He is running the operation with two other colleagues. At the same time, he has an idea that he is working on with another partner. Side business! The Way of the Future. The young ones are creating work of the future. The paradigm of working for an organization and subjugating our individuality will be obsolete.

The conversation become enthusiatic. They are game to do book review again. I suggested we should idea generation to get side incomes and the group becomes excited. I may develop this idea further and test it out in my next quarterly meeting.

I wanna to grow Thin, I wanna to grow Thin, I wanna...

Volkov says he(I assume and if my assumption is wrong, apologies...) wakes up every morning saying I wanna to grow fat and he did! With a little help of course.

I will start chanting "I wanna to grow thin" and see if The Secrets works. Ya, ya, I know, I know. I was a disbeliever after trying this method and did not get my desired "O" level results. Hey! time has changed and many years has passed. Who know?! If my weight drops, may be I can credit to this chant method. Of course, I will maintain my food intake reduction, exercise and any other program that may help. If I do the lipo-suction, I will not credit the success to "The Secret" method.

Diet is Discipline

I have a colleague who is working to slim down just like me. She is much more disciplined in her food intake. I can see her food intake has reduced dramatically. She also become member of California Fitness so that she can exercise daily. Another female colleague in HR has slimmed down dramatically and she looked fabulous and absolutely stunning. I am impressed by the results and the willpower of women. They have earned and command my respects.

Seeing the results, I encourage and motivate myself to work toward my set goal. I think I have not done enough to reduce my calories intake. The good change is I have increase my water intake.

Just like writing, after a while it become a habit. Today, I am updating my blog daily. Yeah, I do missed a day or two when I am travelling. I now can write in small time slices.

So 82 kgs here I come!

Zen, the wonderful place for Japanese food

Dinner was at Zen Resturant, Sunway Pyramid. For Monday night, this place is busy. The resturant is full. I counted 4 courting couples. Groups of eights, fours and the long tables were all occupied. Diners talking, waiters and waitresses scurrying around, man! I am surprised by the roaring business it is doing.

Our Korean guests and I ordered beef teppanyaki and another colleague had sashimi. The beef was excellent. We had california maki, unagi and mixed tempura. The unagi was very soft and melts in the mouth. One of the best unagi I every tasted. California maki and mixed tempura is only so-so. Our guests had Japanese shojiu. The total bill is RM380. Pretty expensive meal by my stingy standards. However, for a Japanese Resturant it is should average.

Another Day, Another Million

This is one statement that stick. My classmate say there a guy who makes a million a day. This is what he utters every morning the moment he wakes up.

I was watching CNN in Japan the (only English channel) in the hotel. There is a new book that is just launch. Title is "The Secret" The book prescribes that this is what you have to do repeat something you want to happen like a mantra and miraculously it will happen. CNN show a vignette of a woman who was diagnose with cancer and was later cleared. This woman was repeating "I no longer have cancer" over and over again while she was working in the kitchen.

This was very popular in the motivational books of the 70's. I tried it myself for my GCE "O". Repeating what the ideal result I hope for for more than a million times in writing and verbally. The conclusion I have is if I had spent the time studying and revising, my results would have been better than what I got.

Sons

For the practise of writing, I want to write about Sons.

There are many different ways to write about this topic. I can take a disinterested and clinical approach and write about sons from a third party point of view. I can also do research and get pros and cons on the topic of sons vs daughters. Or even sons view of their parents.

Instead of any of the above, I want to write about the joys of having sons. I have 3 sons. B1, B2 and B3. Their pet call sign is B's! and B's is anyone of them. B 1, 2 or 3 is the brainwave of my wife. Baby no. 1, Baby no. 2 and Baby no. 3 of the family. B3 is the baby and will always be as we stop at three.

Sons are important to the well being of our family. The joy of watching them grow is very rewarding. It is sweet to hear "daddy" every time. Nurturing and caring for them when they are sick is Mom's top priority. Tutoring and sitting patiently with them while they do their homework is Mom's territory. Mom buy clothing, shoes, textbooks, stationery and all other material needs. As I rattle on and on with regards to Mom's responsibilities for our sons, I thought hard about my own.

What do I do? Why I love them so? I could not figure it out. I love them because they are my sons. I love them because they are under my care. I love them because have my blood. It is hard to explain logically. I am a logical person. When it come to describing emotions, I am totally incompetent. Yet, now I am trying to explain why I love my sons. My sons are well-behaved and teachers are quite happy with them. They get their homework done and does well academically. They enjoys computer games, basketball, TV, toys and reading in that order. They get along with each other (not all the time) and do not stress me too much(maybe because I am in only part-time).

I enjoy making them happy within the limits of course! I have my rules. Just like LKY running Singapore:) There are banned items - game cards and computer games(internet make this hard to control), controlled items - candies and french fries and OK items - food or books. I think this is a good system. B1 is a smart kid with high IQ. B2 has strong language skills. B3 is good in art and craft. Different strengths in each of them. It is a joy just to have them around.

Bs I love you all.

Eating and Enjoying Food is my Work!

I have to go to KL because my customer decide to drop by to visit. I will need to go to host him. What does this mean? Eating is part of my job. So how to lose weight?

On reflection, I have this kind of work for many years. I never have weighty issue. At least I am trimming down because I wanted to. Not I have to like the cabin crews in Singapore Airlines. Looking good is part of their responsibilities.

Lifestyle change and age must be catching up. Gaining is easy, losing is hard. How I wish money behave the same way. I just weighs myself and it is 87.5kg. No change. By the way, I skipped dinner tonight.

Will update my weight on Wednesday. Only with the same machine, the weight measured can be consistent.

Water for Health, for Life, for Love

When I have sore throat or headache my fellow blogger will always recommend drinking water. I need to reduce weight. "Drink more water" she advise. When I am out of sort, drink water!

There is this professor in Japan who studies water. Dr. Masaru Emoto studied water crystals. He found a method to photograph water crystal. He experimented with written word on a clear, four sided bottle of water. For example, the word are love in all the different languages. Then he freezes the water samples. He finds that positive words like love, beauty, happy produces beautiful well-formed crystals. Those with negative words like hate, war, bad, weak either no crystal formed or it is deformed.

He also experimented with prayers. He advertised on the papers and managed to get a group of Japanese to come to a polluted pond early one morning to pray. After some time, the pond water became clear and no longer stinks. He now has a website to dedicate and promote his work on water research.

To find out more, go to http://www.gaiachildren.net/

My talk with Chief Steward

I had an interesting conversation with I think the Chief Steward. I am not familiar with the colour coding of SQ uniforms. He wears a grey jacket. From his demeanor, I guess he is senior in rank.

The facts of some of Boh Tong articles were verified. The SVP who have to leave SQ after 35 years due to disagreement with the top mgt. The promotion exercise is highly dependent on the interview whereas before Seniority rules. The position of CCE was eliminated. Weight of cabin crews are monitored - male and female, no sex discrimination here.

I like to share his perspective. It is actually harder for a male crew to get promoted. Turnover for male cabin crews is low. As turnover for female is higher, the chance of getting promoted is much higher. I asked why CCE were "retrenched" rather than offer other jobs in SQ or work as cabin crews. He has quite sound reasoning. CCEs do not have the skills for the office e.g. accounting or IT. CCEs are extremely well-paid. So it will be a demotion to be Crew Chief. The job has also changed. Before all the travellers were well-off. Today, the range of different type of passengers is a lot broader, hence more complex. Crew Chief has to also service passengers nowadays. Historically, Crew Chief just supervises and do not have to perform the duties personally. It will be difficult for them to adapt.

As for the group that train Emirates, he expects the contract ended in a year or two. After that the group has to look for smaller airlines to sell their service. He also felt that the trainers may not be so successful in training crews with more international mix. They are successful in SQ because the majority of the crews are Singaporeans or Malaysia. Culturally, we are aligned and accept the trainers instructions. Whereas foreign crews are professionals and get their job done but will not do more than their scope.

I learn a lot from him!

Guess What is my Weight?

Rushing home from the airport, after hugging and kissing the boys, I hurried to my room and stripped and step on the electronic bath scale. I was eagerly anticipating on the progress of my weight reduction program. The number flash at 87.7. I was disappointed. Maybe I drank too much during the flight. I managed to pee 200 gms off. Now my weight is officially 87.5kg for tonight. While I did not make progress, I did no worse by not gaining any weight.

SL suggests exercise more. I did during this trip. I walk a lot when I can, in-between my meetings and working on emails. Yummy food is hard to work against.

Weighing in back home

I am both excited and a little fearful that I may not have reduce my weight this trip. I planned to eat less by eating seafood. That did not happen. Deep fried pork, deep fried seafood, deep everything. Yes, the oil may be supposed to be healthy. I am sure it is not going to be weight-reducing. Actually, sitting down my jeans feels tight. It was not so on the day of departure. Well, I will work on it during the meal service in the aircraft.

Hopefully, I weighs below 87.5kg. Man! this is hard. Good food and weak will - it is a fattening combination. Stay tuned for my next weigh-in.

My Wife predicted the Stock Market Plunge

For all the skeptics out there, I did not believe myself. Just before CNY, she insist we have sells our stock as she felt the stock market is due for correction. We are very small investor in case anyone think I am trying to show off.

After CNY, the stock market actually continue to go up. I was cynical and she was very stressed and was disappointed with all the "opportunity monies" she could have made. Before the stock market corrections onWednesday, her stockbroker told her a lot of his clients has got out of the market anticipating a drop especially in China. She felt much better there are others who thought the same and acted.

On reflection, I am wondering if why she has this hunch and why others have the same. Is this cosmic energy and wisdom? Or is this just a self fulfilling prophecy that because a few anticipated and started to sell and their brokers spread the news that it actually happen like Wednesday. I am now seriously considering to be more aggressive in investing if she can predict consistently. I can now achieve my dream of retiring early.

In future, I can introduce myself as a "private investor" instead of a sales rep.

Tempura - most famous chain in Tokyo

At least this is what my colleague tells me. This ia branch of a resturant that is very famous in Tokyo. We had tempura for lunch. Usually this resturant is very crowded. Today is Saturday and we are early at 11am. I pick a 9 items set that come with tuna and cuttlefish sashimi. The tempura is excellent. It is served fresh from the deep fryer. The items are cooked individually and served. Only then is the next item is fried so that it arrived fresh. The oil use is sesame oil which is very light and healthy.

The resturant has two other table occupied. So it is very quiet and the background music is traditional Japanese music similar to Chinese Gu-zen. The experience is very "zen". I feel like I am meditating while having my meal. It is a surreal and uplifting at the same time. It is hard to describe. I felt calm, detached and at peace.

The Origins of F U C K

Wandering about bookstores that carry a limited selection of English books, I often come across gems that Kino or Borders does not have in the 200,000+ titles on the shelves. I picked up a book Port Out, Starboard Home or POSH is a collection of facinating stories on the words we use.

Flipping through the pages I find this entry interesting and like to share with you. There several unauthorised versions:

* The origin was in fifteent century, when a married couple had to have permission from the
king to procreate. Hence, Fornication Under the Consent of the King
* During the time of the Puritans, a person imprisoned in the stocks would have his or her crime
displayed on the timebers. Because space is tight, when adultery is involved the acronym
FUCK which represented the words For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
* It originated from medical diagnostic notation relating to soldiers in the British Imperial Army
When a soldier reported sick and found to have VD, the abbreviation FUCK was stamped on
his documents, short for Found Under Carnal Knowledge

The real McCoy is fuck is a Germanic word related to middle Dutch fokken, Norwegian fukka and Swedish focka.

Osaka after dark

Where to dine in ancient city of Osaka where gourmet resturants are everywhere can be a challenging decision. I was treat to a delectable Japanese meal. The flavour is quite unique and we have a good mix of fried chicken, bbq chicken, salad, beef soup, grilled beef rare with one beer and a glass of red wine. I was tired and sleepy after dinner but had to work. So I decided to kill two birds with one stone - walk for exercise and get a Starbuck coffee. Actually, three birds! as I explore all every bookstore around the station.

I like this place. There are more than 5 bookstores. The stores are huge but filled with only Japanese books. Most have a small section for English books. The books are quite similar. Most carry Sherlock Holmes and other classics. The large bookstores carry abridged classics that have graduated levels for readers at different English proficiency. Another observation is the classical titles are different from those commonly available in Singapore bookstores. Han Christian Anderson Fairy Tales is one that our local bookstores do not carry in the low price version.

Other observations about Osaka. There are more pretty girls in Osaka than Tokyo. The buildings are dark at night. This is may be the reason why Japan has lowest consumption of energy in a developed country. To Osaka, With Love.

Central Station Osaka

Hotel Granvia Osaka is right at Central Station of Osaka. There are so many trains lines that the map looks like colourful spaghetti spat on paper. The number of people moving about is like peak hour in Raffles Station except it is all day long. I shudder to think when our population reach 6 millions.

I am on the 24th floor and have a paranomic view of the city. Osaka is quite historical. The buildings are still low and gray. The skyscapers are fewer than Tokyo. I can see the hilly outline at the far end through the dust and smog. This hotel is quite interesting. It occupies top 5 floors of the building. Below the hotel are 3 levels of resturants and department store Daimaru.

On the way from the airport, we past by industrial areas and the factories are rusting and had seen better days. Traffic is actually worst than Tokyo even though the city is much smaller. Probably cost of owning a car is lower here.

Food wise, the resturants here are specialized. Unlike Singapore, a Japanese resturant will have noodles with sushi, sashmi, fried chicken or yakitori in the menu, here if it is tonkatsu, there will be like 10 different tonkatsu. Tempura resturants only tempura in many variant but still tempura. I like varieties so I have to come many times to Osaka to try the different food. There is even a tofu resturant that offer fried tofu, boiled tofu, grilled tofu and more tofu. Nothing else but tofu!

Tokyo - the most crowded city on earth

My good friend and fellow blogger request I give an update on my trip. Everything he links me up, my readership goes up. So here is my tribute to his kindness.

The temperature is Tokyo is cool at around 8 degrees celcius. It is bearable cold. In Japan, the cities are full of man-made structure. Unlike Singapore, there is hardly any green except for tiny patches of grass. The buildings connect from one another seamlessly. It can be very confusing as the floor tile does not change over from one building to another. It is a concrete jungle out here with skyscapers everywhere. To confuse visitors further, the buildings do not have signs on top. Looking for my hotel became a major challenge as there are no identifiable landmark to guide me. The buildings are shaped slightly. All are straight-edge and just like an American who have trouble distinguishing Chinese and Japanese, I have the same trouble trying to notice the minute detail differences between the building. Heading back to my hotel became a chore.

Lunch was a standard Japanese fare. Cost 1,000 yen for 3 slices of pork with finely shredded cabbage, miso soup with taupok, some pickles and a wedge of grapefruit garnish with two tiny strawberry.

I had meeting with a company interested to do business with us. So they asked my colleague and I out for dinner. This is the benefit of travelling - wine and dine. They took us to a yakitori resturant. The resturant name is called "ti chi" in Hanyi or Chinese. Literal translation "ground chicken". I think we order one of every barbeque item in the menu. Chicken meat, chicken wings with a lemon wedge, liver, gizzard, chicken butt(backside), breastbone and a couple other items that I cannot identify. The food was sumptious and delicious. (Shxx! I just remembered I am supposed to be on diet as I write this article). For dessert, I had gluttinous rice balls on a bed of sweet red beans paste. Mmmm! I wish I can tell you how much the meal cost. Unfortunately, my hosts paid for the meal (I really meant it because BT asked me to give you prices.)

Feeling guilty, I decided to walk around the train station to get rid of some calories I just ingested. People everywhere walking purposely from point to point. There were a couple of homeless men wandering about. It is easy to tell. Their hair were unkempt, beard long, clothing dirty and the signature body odour that hit you when you are about five feet away from them.

Tokyo is a very safe city with very little traffic jams. What is missing is nature. I wish it has more nature. This would make great megacity Tokyo greater.

What a coincident!

Met an ex-colleague on the way to Tokyo. Irene is a young woman doing well in her career. She is travelling business class and has acquired her PPS club membership. She fly to Europe frequently on Singapore Air, her favorite airline. Looking at her, you will not believe she is a mother of three. Her svelte figure, long silky hair and smooth skin, she is a gorgeous young woman. Since my colleague came in his car to pick me up, he offerred to send her to her hotel first. This colleague of mine is always doing a good turn for others.

A little history... Irene and I work in the same company 10 years ago. She was doing marketing support and other adminstrative duties. She is a very conscientious worker with a good command of Chinese and a solid "can-do" attitude. I still remember the incident when she came back on a Saturday just to help me get my presentation done in Powerpoint. Until today, my ppt skills has not improved. I know she is doing a great job for the company she is working for.

Irene, continue to do well in your career. I am proud you consider me your mentor.