TGIF

Thank God! It's Friday. Grant Smith, my first American boss bring me to a resturant called TGIF. He told me the full name is Thank God!... I look at him blinking. Still trying to understand what this mean...he interpreted my look to one of disbelief. "I am serious! This is what it mean." he added. In US and I guess many part of the world, there will be millions of workers who will thank God that it is Friday. Weekend is here! We get to do fun stuff. Stuff we enjoys doing.

A little brief about Grant Smith. Grant is an engineer. He designs electronics. He did not have a formal degree in electronics but he understands electronics well and enjoys the creative side of designing electronics circuits. After he left Singapore, I visited him in Ventura, California. He designs a power supply that won a contract in Washington, D.C. That brought a lot of calls from headhunters. This is the last news I had from Shirley, his wife. I worked for Grant from 1984 to 1986. Yoh-Chie Lu, owner of Biosensors today was our boss then.

Medicine

I wonder if medicine helps? Why am I asking? Well I feel very sick all day today. I felt much better in the evening. Is it because the effect of medicine wears out? This was my initial thought. However reflecting further, it may be the effects of medicine had kick in and make my body feels better. Sometimes I wonder. It is tough to be sick. Tired, lethargic, head's heavy, nose stuffy, worn out, it is tiresome.

Home work

Working from home is trend of the future. The saving can be enormous. No commute time(more time for work instead of traffic), no office wear(save $$ for staff), no office space(save $$ in space and airconditioning) and no social contact with other colleagues(higher productivity). The benefits for home work adds up to dollars and sense. Studies conducted shows that people who worked from home spend more time at work. Companies not only save money, they get more hours from their employees!

Is reading difficult?

This is THE question. I notices all the Senior Managers in US reads a lot. Our CEO publish his reading list every summer. I am dishearten by people who do not read. Reading open up a world of learnings. I guess it take all kinds of people to make up this world. As Bill Gates put it "Never bully a nerd, you will end up work for one."

Flu

Sze Li was right. I must be coming down with flu. I woke up at 5:30am with sore throat and stuffy nose. I feel weak and cold. I am irritable. Early to bed for my body to recover.

You are what you eat.

In today's yoga lesson, we have a short discourse on food. Vegetarian is the best for our body. Meat is poison. Tea and coffee is neutral. "Dada" our master is from Norway. He has been practising yoga for 12 years. He has become full vegetarian for 10 years. He learn yoga in India and is now teaching yoga in Singapore. We are learning meditation as well. It is a good form of exercise for mind and body.

Whole Brain

Curious? Intrigue? Wondering what is Whole Brain?

I had my first exposure to Whole Brain many years ago in Canada where I attended a week long residential training in Queens University in Kingston, Ontario. All participants had their brains "mapped" out. My thinking preferences are Analysing and Strategizing.

Whole Brain is developed by Ned Herrmann who was the Education Manager of GE's Crotonville. Crotonville is better known as GE University where all management staff and trainees have to go through. I am in the midst of preparing a Whole Brain workshop for my team. It is free! I have been given a truncated tool whom Ned Herrmann has given to Louis Allen Trainer.

The Whole Brain tool cost US$280 and can be found in www.hbdi.com

Work, work and more work

Have you ever wondered why work is never-ending? More and more keep piling up. Well, I am begining to feel the fatigue of overwork. Work gives meaning to life - I said in my earlier entry. Now it is too much of a good thing! Extreme mean positive can turn negative. I am tired. Lots work done, lots more to go...yawn...time for bed. Pleasant dreams zzzZZZ

In the Old, Out the New!

I flew into Bangkok through the "old" airport and out via the "new"! I am part of history to fly out of the airport on the first day official opening. Wish the cameras "got" me. The new airport is huge. There were many people and many cars. SIA called to advise going to airport early. It take only half an hour from my hotel which is near the old airport and not an hour and half. The reason? The entrance to the highway to the new airport is right at the hotel.

The airport is very spacious and quite well organised considering it is the first day. There were some confusion as the instructions given at the counter were incorrect. The new airport is a lot bigger than the old yet the newspaper reports that it has less gates for the airplanes. Interesting!

In the Old, Out the New!

I flew into Bangkok through the "old" airport and out via the "new"! I am part of history to fly out of the airport on the first day official opening. Wish the cameras "got" me. The new airport is huge. There were many people and many cars. SIA called to advise going to airport early. It take only half an hour from my hotel which is near the old airport and not an hour and half. The reason? The entrance to the highway to the new airport is right at the hotel.

The airport is very spacious and quite well organised considering it is the first day. There were some confusion as the instructions given at the counter were incorrect. The new airport is a lot bigger than the old yet the newspaper reports that it has less gates for the airplanes. Interesting!

The Secret of My Success

Last night a colleague from US called. She says money is not a measure of success. "It is for me!" I states my position. She is looking to focus on something where her job function is clear. She has strong work ethics and has great relationship everywhere. She is the grease that smooth out the engagement of the teeth in the giant gears of our company. Lyn is now looking to move to another dept. It will be sad to lose her. She has help us a lot in the past. I hope she gets her wish. I asks angels to help her in her quest.

Coming back to THE Secret of my Success is money. Money is the easy to measure. We can always measure sales or pay. The more pay, the more we can buy. It is very materialistic. The REAL secret is continuous development of people and a strong team. With the right people in the right place, we can achieve strong performance and great results. Well, change has arrived in our company yet as one of my colleague in put it "The more it change, the more it stays the same!" We are still a big company and lots of things are still the same!

The Infamous Traffic of Bangkok

I arrived Bangkok on Tuesday night as The Customer called for an emergency meeting. As usual, I go to the taxi queue to go to my hotel. The ride should not be more than 15 mins. My taxi driver thought I was going to the hotel with the same name downtown. So when we passed the hotel, I pointed to him that this is the hotel I want to go. He apologise and get of the next turn. It was raining and the traffic on the opposite direction is heavy. Heavy would be an understatement. It is almost standstill. To travel back the length of one exit of the highway took us more than an hour. It is incredible. I was trying to calm myself down with yoga breathing exercise. I was exhausted by the time we reached my hotel.

Good Help

In other words, good staff. It is very important to have good staff. I am so busy nowadays trying to get work done. When staff is on the learning curve or not as capable, my ability to delivers strong results begins to suffer. As the saying goes, the chain is as strong as it weakest link.

Giant - the hypermart

The Giant in Parkway Parade is a much better store than the Giant in Marina Square. It is busy and well stocked. The produces are fresh. Lot of activities as the staffs are busy replenishing stock. My favorite honey pineapple is priced at $2.80 instead of $3.80 or $4.00 at Fairprice or Cold Storage. Now we have another grocery store to patronise.

Ex-colleague relocates to Singapore

Piak was my colleague from Thailand when we were working in Ohmeda, a medical equipment company. This company was bought by GE Medical. She got married and relocates now living in St. Martin Residences where the party was held last night. It was an interesting coincident that she happens to send me an email yesterday and I told here we were going there for a party. We took time from the party to meet Piak and her husband. Her husband is the head of Giant, the hypermarket and lives in Malaysia and Thailand before.

I am so glad she is now happily married and trying to achieve her dream of becoming a mum.

Surprise Party

A colleague of mine invite my wife and I to her husband's surprise birthday party. This is the first time we go out together to have "fun" leaving our boys behind. We are starting to live a more independent adult lives again after 13 years bringing all our boys out with us. It feels funny. More like something is missing rather than liberating. The other Chinese couple was his colleague at work. She work as an application/training person in Drager. Her husband is a mechanical engineer with an Indonesia power company. The rest were Australians, New Zealanders and other Caucasians. Sorry! I almost forgot. There is an Indian who was born in Penang, grew up in the Caribbean and is an Australian now living in Singapore.

Kate is an excellent organiser. She hired a belly dancer for the party and set up her iPod Nano with Bose for the music. The belly dancing gets everyone's attention. The moves were seductive and will take lots of practice as its uses muscles we rarely use. The audience were engaged one at a time. We had a good time.

Singapore has a big foreign community. There are so many foreigners living and working here.

Peking Duck

Oh yes! I forgot to mention my Peking Duck experience. You have NOT come to Beijing if you did not eat Peking Duck. The land where Peking Duck migrate from.

We go to a resturant that is "famous". The dining experience is quite unique. The hostess will explain every dish - the content, a little history if there is and have it translated for foreigners. There were 5 cold dishes and 5 hot. The grand finale was THE DUCK, 4 golden roasted crispy ducks. The hostess describes the skin must be smooth and meat must be soft. There is a certificate for the serial numbers of the ducks we ate. I cannot remember the exact number, we were at the 115 millionth.

Emperor's Banquet

We were treated to Emperor's Banquet in Beijing. Or at least the theme is Palace Dining. Right at the entrance were girls dancing like what we see in the period movies. The food was good but not exceptional. There were a couple of dishes that was quite exquisite. One was braised sea cucumber. I do not like sea cucumber and my host insist I should try as the Empress love this and eat this dish regularly to keep her skin smooth. I tried a small piece and was impressed by the taste. So I took a second helping. There were beef tendons, fried sliced fish and many others that was a little exotic for my taste.

Beijing - the busy city

Beijing is so busy. Construction is everywhere. High rise buildings, roads, mass transit, it is construction galore. Paradise for those in the construction trade. The city is packed. Traffic jams everywhere. I am impressed by the hive of activities the city is packing in. The air is dry and dusty. The visibility is low. The price of progress is pollution. It will become a great city.

18th Anniversary

My wife just reminded me today that I will be travelling on the 18th which is our 18th anniversary. So we go for dinner at Hai Tien Lo together with our boys. The view was fabulous. The food is good. Some dishes were excellent. Our fellow diners were high-powered bankers. After dinner, we walk around the mall to digest a little of our meal. Marina Square is full of foreign visitors. It is relatively busy considering that most of the roads to it has been closed.

Home Sweet Home

It is always nice to come back home. Although I am busy with work, physical proximity to family give psychological and emotional satisfaction. We have incentive plans for our boys. They now have to do "chores" such as doing experiments or giving tuition to B3, swim 30 laps in a tiny pool or babysit B3 for his phonetic class. Let's see how long this incentive program will last.

PJ Hilton

Had dinner in Japanese resturant in PJ Hilton. The food is good maybe a tad expensive. I did not sign the bill so do not know how much it cost. PJ Hilton has been refurbished. So the walkway look new. It is refreshing. I remember this as old hotel I use to stay when I come here twenty years ago.

Kate is a nice girl. She will be inviting my wife and me to her husband's surprise birthday party next Saturday. I really enjoyed the conversations with Kate. She is an American working Singapore.

Communication Styles Training

Today, I conducted training for the 10 staffs from other department on Communication Styles. This is a tool that my company adopt to help internal communication. There are four styles - Accomodating, Perfecting, Analysing and Achieving. These four styles have different characteristics. Our styles also change under stress. It is a window for us to see ourselves and others. With the help of this tool, we can understand conflicts and accept the differences of individuals.

Chiropractor

Was busy yesterday. I have to visit a customer to explain to her our price increase. The meeting took 30 mins and went well. She accept the new price. The sales rep was happy I could solve his problem.

Meanwhile B1 fell down from monkey bar. He was swinging his legs up when he lost his grip and his body slams right on the floor. He was in pain and movements were restricted. We send him for x-rays and then to the Chiropractor. The chiropractor realign his spine. There was a loud click and several smaller clicks. B1 was look tired today. He is still suffering from shock of the fall. He is big and heavy now, so the trauma must be quite severe. His neck is painful. I hope he will recover well.

Colour Your World

I am now an advocate of strong colour featured walls. It brightens the house. Be bold! Life can be colourful! We now have mango in the living room, lilac in my bedroom, blue in the boys' room and green in the office.

Chinatown Hawker Centre is now temporarily house at Outram right beside Singapore General Hospital. The place is very busy on a Sunday evening. Cars were streaming in and out. People were waiting for tables and seats. The hawkers were doing a roaring business. A lot of the hawkers recommended by the different food critics such as Channel U and Culinary Excellence.

Nippon Paint

I must say Nippon Paint Medifresh looks nice when the walls are freshly painted. Except for the fiasco(at least for Mistress of the household) in the master bedroom featured wall, our home looks warm and welcoming. The colours are bold yet not blinding, the "sheen" feature of Nippon does give the walls great textured look. Overall I am impressed. I am a satisfied customer for now. I am keeping my fingers crossed for deterioration or future issues.

2nd Thoughts

Madam of the home is having second thoughts. The neon green is causing our white wood blinds look yellowish. I thought the colour was ok. It is a little strong and makes the room dark. We will see how the paint job brush up.

Paint - Brave New World

My wife has decided to paint the house. Previously, we paid too much for our paint job. This time she spends time to do research. We are using Nippon Paint through the company. We wise-up! It is better to deal with big companies rather than individual contractors.

Why Brave New World? Well, we are experimenting with Bold colours. So far we have always, always use tinted white. This time, we will be painting one wall with Mango on one level, green in the bedroom and another shade of green in my home office. I have no idea if I can live with the colours... I was told all the "designers" does it. We see them all the time in all the showflats.

OptoElectronics Exhibition

China has advance dramatically in the field of optics and optoelectronics. I am impressed by the number of manufacturers of advanced technological products by Chinese manufacturers. Large outdoor brilliant LEDs displays like a movie screen, LED traffic lights, fibre optics and couplers, light tube that can display multicolour, precision optics like telescopes and binoculars, glass filters, etc, etc. The progress of Chinese manufacturing is enormous in the last few years. Every trip I made, tangible progress especially the "hardware" like highways, new building, products with improved quality.

Factory of the World, China will be there.

Flights delays by Singapore Airlines

There are a few flights to Hong Kong has been delayed by Singapore Airlines. One lady going to same flight as me says this is her first time. She is going to visit her daughter in Hong Kong to look after her grandson for a few months. Our flight was delayed by two hours. It is not fun. By the time, I reached SZ, it is shift change time for taxi. I have to wait about 40 mins to get a cab. The thing about Murphy's Law is "If there is anything that can go wrong, it will!" The Ken's corollary is "If something goes wrong, more will go wrong."

I think everything seems to go wrong. Lots of waiting. Wait a minute. I did managed to catch the earlier ferry out of Hong Kong Airport at 5:30pm instead of 6:30pm with 3 mins to spare! Not everything go wrong. It is a long day. The hotel seems to be in the middle of nowhere. Anyway, it is late. I had dinner and then back to the room to do emails.

Family and Helicopter

The warmth of a close family is sustenance for living. Life becomes meaningful. Family is one unit of social bond. The bond by blood or by marriage. We have extended family bond through work and through friendship. Teams at work or in sports are families. Spending time with my family give me a warm glow and satisfaction. This is also because our boys are cooperative and not bickering.

I bought a toy helicopter for $47 at Metro today. Although it is not sophiscated, it does fly and I have a great time. The unit is quite robust and withstand fair amount of crash. This is a great toy. I recommend it to any boy or boy at heart e.g. yours truly.

Thinkers

Saturday's edition of Straits Times has a number of analysis and commentaries by columnists. The standard of journalism in ST is very high. As I read the opinions and analysis, I sometimes feel issues are not so easy to deal with. A lot of the views seem academic. Yet without the well-thought out reasonings, back by well-researched facts, our world cannot progress. We are making huge progress due to our ability to think and conceptualise the outcomes if certain set of actions are taken. The best example is technology. Internet, computers and cellular phones has change our life immensely. We are connected with our friends, colleagues and strangers around the world instanteously. Without theories quantum physics and mathematical models, it will be impossible to build a computer. Hence, let's give a toast to thinkers of the world. Where would we be without you?!!

Science Fair at Marina Square?

It is an excellent idea to bring the mountain to Mohammed. Science Fair for the masses. Publicity was good too as it is in the newspaper. We brought our boys there. They have a good time to play with the exhibits. It is good the get a dose of science in action. Sea monkeys, Zebra fish for genetic engineering, Computer graphic for creative facial expressions, demonstration of solar cells and hydrogen fuel cells, even lobsters make it to the exhibits. Making bouncing balls out of household materials attracted alot of attention. Test for level of vitamin C in fruit juices is interesting too.

My wife asks "what can you do with this?" after a demo. The response was "Nothing, we are still trying to understand this phenomena." My wife is a pragmatist. You must be able to make money from science. Otherwise it is not useful.

Boat

My boys loved the big inflatable boat(200cm) I bought in Bangkok. They have a good time trying to learning how to row. It is not easy to row a boat. Maybe we have no experience, maybe because there is no rudder. I will to get instructions on how to row a boat. I remember there is a proper technique of paddling a boat with no rudder. Anyone out there who can give me some tips?

Janice Wong's Blog

Decided to check out Janice's blog. It looks like she has put it back except she has kept her promised of not updating it. Having a steady boyfriend change one's habits and perspective. Janice decided to stop blogging at the point in time when she decided to accept P's offer to go to his home. She is a romantic idealist!

Busy day in Bangkok

It is good to visit old friends and customers. I had a good day. We discussed a wide range of topics and share experiences. Of course I am envious of S. She is successful and owns her own business. The key is she is reporting to no one but herself. She set the pace and growth of her company. Trains and develops her staff and team. It is great achievement. To top it off, she is younger than me by more than 10 years. An entreprenuer - my aspiration, my dream.

TGIM

Thank God It is Monday! "Work will only be for the Privileged!" declare one futurist. I am glad to be busy at work. It gives meaning and a sense of self-worth. Business is what one should aspires. Today we worship money or rather the people to makes lots of money. Forbes 40 wealthiest people in Singapore was news the last few days. What about making the work a better place to live? It is impossible to live off the land nowadays. We need money to survive and live. Yet, there are still people who renounce the material world. It will be great if we do not need to worry about money for day-to-day survival.

Thank God It is Monday

TGIM sounds better than TGIF. Work gives meaning to life. One futurist even venture to forecast in far future work will on be for the privileged as machines has taken over all the work need to be done. It is non-stop since early morning. Managed to catch a quick lunch as well as a short exercise before dinner. Will unwind by going to the supermarket for fruits.

Soon will be travelling again. It is about time to clock some air miles:)

Parkway Parade

Parkway Parade is a very busy mall. The tenant mix is good. Lots of F&B. It has MPH. I find that mall with an anchor bookstore is a good mall. The crowd seems to be different than Orchard Road. I start to notice although we are all Singaporean, the crowd seems different than in Serangoon Gardens area. I can't describe the difference. It may be dressing, it may be mannerism. Maybe more caucasians eating like locals. I just can't put a finger into it.

Mars

Mars will be the brightest right now. B1 and B2 were up at the roof garden to look out for Mars. The weather was not cooperative. It is cloudy. We brought our binoculars and telescope. We just see a red dot. We will have to try again tonight.

Goodbye, Hiro

We sent Hiro to the airport at 10:30pm. We met the rest of the 11 exchange students and their counterparts from Xinmin there. Other parents were there as well. It is interesting. I made some small talks and then off to browse at the bookshop. Then to Starbuck for a designer coffee. Meanwhile the students were chattering away making their last minute conversations. The girls were crying when they have to go into the immigration. They are very sentimental. The schoolgirls from Singapore were not as emotional. This is a clear cultural divide. Meanwhile the teachers from Singapore side keep saying "do not cry". I wish I have a better understanding of the Japanese culture.

Bugis Street

We have to bring our student guest out for shopping and decided to go to Bugis Street. Bugis Street is very vibrant at night. There are lots of small stalls. The numbers of stalls have expanded as there are more streets with stalls. It is also a lot cooler. I think there are airconditioning in the walkway. There are also tidbits stalls and drinks stalls at the corners or the start of the streets.

The fruits stalls in Bugis sell fruits at a reasonable price. They are more competitive than the market stalls in the HDB estates.

Our Hainanese chicken is a favourite among the Japanese students. So we had chicken rice for dinner as requested by Hiro, the student living with us.

Feedback is the breakfast of Champions

This is another of Dr. Tan Jing Hee's statement. The story he tells is this. Tiger Woods after his game does not socialise or go for dinner. He will go to bed early and the next morning watch his previous day's game and his competitors' game. Hence, feedback is the breakfast of Champions.

University of New South Wales Assessment

B1 has scored distinction for his English assessment together with a female classmate. Another female classmate scored high distinction. There were a total of 3 in his class who did well for this test. Mum and dad are proud, very proud.

Japanese Exchange Student

B1 participated in Singapore-Japan Exchange program. Today is the arrival of the Japanese students. We were at the airport to welcome all the students. There was a banner and the students warms up to each other after a few shy minutes. We brought our charge to catch lobsters in Lower Pierce Reservoir. After that we have dinner at the Cafe Cartel in Bishan as western was his choice.

Hiro understand English well. This is putting pressure on B1 as he has no Japanese language training at all. We will know how he fare in Japan in November.

Dr. Tan Jing Hee

The lecturer for the Allen Management Leadership course is very interesting and engaging. He uses story telling techniques and have great intellect. He has lots of profound sayings. I am very privileged to attend his class. Dr. Tan is very helpful and supportive. He has lots of interesting stories. It is hard to recall the many profound statements in the last four days.

"The signifer is not the signified."

"You only get what you inspected."

...?? I cannot remember!!

Now I understand why an Australian Sales Rep told me once over a meal, I says things that makes a lot of sense. My response was "for example?". She thinks for a long time and gave me an embarassed smile. "It is so important that I cannot remember." she added.

Teach

I think and believe I am a teacher. Will I be, Can I be, There I will be.

Nasi Lemak

This morning I decided to go earlier so that I can have breakfast in Adam Road Hawker center before going to SIM. I had nasi lemak from the famous stall. Price is a little steep for hawker center but the taste is good. I actually "discover" when I was sleepless from jet lag after a trip to US a couple of years ago. I was up at 4am and was restless and decided to drive around to nowhere. At about 5:30 am I driving near Adam's Road hawker center, I noticed a few taxi parked in the car park. So I assumed some stalls must be open and decide to stop have a look. Actually only the mamak(Indian tea) stall was open. There was activity at the nasi lemak stall. The owner was cooking. So I decided to wait. When the food was ready, he serves it to me. It was good. After that, I decided to go next few mornings to kill time there. This was a couple of years ago and this morning, the owner recognised me. It is like visiting old friend.

By the way, this stall is popular and usually there is a long queue during meal time. It has been featured in the Strait Times. The owner says Sultan of Brunei patronise his stall. He(Sultan) would send someone to buy it when he is in Singapore.

Day 2

We have a good mix of representation from Govt depts, HR, Union Representative and Sales Manager. Participation from the group is good. A CEO of a Private University tend to dominates with his opinions and views. I was a little disruptive myself making wisecracks and jokes. It is hard to sit all day and listens. Two more days to go...sighs

How to Succeed at Leading

Is the course I attended at SIM. Today is day 1. It is Louis Allen Workshop. This course is quite basic and advocate the traditional management techniques. As the instructor Dr. Tan Jing Hee puts it, the test of a classic is its enduring qualities. He also give us some useful tools like the Herrmann Whole Brain Exercise. This course is 4 days, a little longer than the usual 2 or 3 days seminars.

Confucius

I was reading the Complete Plain Words. There is a quote from Confucius that is quite appropriate.

"If language is not correct, then what is said is not what is meant; if what is said is not what is meant, the what ought to be done remains undone."

Confucius is a wise man. I like Lao Tzu better. I get kicks out of the paradoxes in Tao Te Ching.

Yoga lesson

My wife has asked me to accompany her to yoga lessons. She has many ways of making me do her bidding! It was week 2 of a beginner class. We are supposed to be on trial lesson to see if we like it. There were 6 women and 2 men. The other man belong to woman in the class. It feels a little awkward to be under-represented in the class. We learn 3 postures - corpse, salutation and lotus. There are also explanation of the benefits of each posture and an introduction to the layers of mind (prelude to meditation next week). The class lasted two hours. As I go through the class, it seems that it may help my backache. So I asked wife to sign up for me as well.

Vivid Dream

I woke up remembering a dream. I dream that a friend S came to visit from Thailand. I was lost on the way to dinner. Finally, we stop for directions. Go down the slope and follow the road. It will bring you to Redhill. I realise S is pushing a bicycle. At the bottom of the slope, at the ground level of a flat, there were lots of baby cockadoos(white parrot with yellow crown). S brought a cage with an adult parrots and 3 young ones. I asks "You bought the parrots?". "$50" she replied. I went to the aviary. One man asks the other "how much?" "$3 for 10 baby cockadoo". Seems to me they are trying to get rid of the cockadoos by selling to me at a low cost. They even lay out all the baby birds for me to choose the strongest among them.

My dream has switch scene, S was putting the cage in her car. She has a young girl with a maid in her car. I woke up marvelling at the fact I can remember my dream. Dreams jumps from one scene to another and they do not seems to connects like a movie.

I remember when I was growing up, there is a male hawker who will interpret his dreams into "chap jee kee" 12 numbers. There are many times where he "strikes!". Maybe I should learn to translate my dream into Toto numbers and "enjoys the freedom" as advertised by Singapore pool.

High Activity Day

We want to beat the crowd to the Library books SALE! Off we go the Suntec City Convention hall. There were plenty of car parks. We took the lift to level 4. No sign of life. Maybe it was the wrong floor. We decided try level 6. It was Computer Games Championship. There were lot of young girls in shiny armour. Their tops was low and skirts were high. The midriff was bare. With their high boots, they were very attractive and sexy. Looks like sex and computer games goes together.

Sorry for the distraction. I forgot. We were there to look at books, not cute young girls. Well, we go to the information booth and asks. Yes, we were at the wrong place. The sales is on at Changi South Convention Center. It is too much bother. So we kill time the Suntec Mall instead. Wife bought a pair of pants at sales price in one of the shop. We adjourned to Centrepoint to pick up B2 at Somerset MRT for his English tuition. Then send B1 for piano lesson.

A Parent's Life in Singapore is sending and picking up kids for tuition on the weekend! After tuition, we go fishing and lobster-catching at lower Pierce Reservoir. B2 caught a "soon hock". B1 caught the largest lobster to-date. He also caught an angel fish and a baby snakehead. B1 is a prolific fisherman! Me? I was busy setting up the bait for B2 and B3.

We finish the day with dinner at the Sembawang Hawker center. There is a cheap and good bakery called Singapura Bakery right beside the hawker center. The breads are freshly baked. There are buns with different fillings - red bean, coconut, prawn paste, kaya, etc. Price is at 50 cents each. It is so traditional and brought waves of nostalgia to my bosom.

A routine day

No school on the day after NDP. We had a routine day. Eat out for lunch at Hougang Mall. The Vietnamese resturant is quite good. It was a busy day at work. I signed up for a leadership course with SIM. Will see how this course can benefit business. Dinner was leftover spagetti and barbeque chicken wings. All 3 boys ate heartily. I am now sold on alfresco dining...

Fireworks!

It is our first time to watch fireworks live. It is spectacular. I must say watching right where it is happening is very different from watching it in TV. The atmosphere, the crowd, the wooos and the ahhhs. It is a tad tiring to stand and wait for a long time. We were at the Kallang River. The place was crowded. Actually crowded may be an understatement. It was standing room only. I am glad to experience this glorious work of NDP Singapore.

Straits Times Columnists

Sumiko Tan was my first favorite for Straits Times columnist. I can identify with the issues she wrote and I thought she express well. As I read more and more issues of Sunday Times, I find that Cheong Suk Wai, Janadas Devan, the Deputy Political Editor - a Teochew girl are quite interesting writers as well. I have weak recall for names. My apologies to the "Teochew girl" with long hair. Of course I love Pau Lin as food is my favorite pastime. I enjoy reading and exploring the food stalls that were featured.

Strait Times has gone a long way. I missed Janice Wong as she is seeking a new career in Marketing. I almost forgot. Sumiko is not the first columnist I followed. Sorry Sumiko! It was Richard Lim. Richard returned to ST recently after a break of a few years. Richard wrote a few times and then request for a different job. He no longer has any article regularly.

Before New York Times launched TimeSelect, I always enjoys reading Maureen Dowd columns. Reading is easy, writing is challenging. I wished I can write well.

Alfresco dinner

We have alfresco dinner this evening. The weather was nice and the moon almost full. This is the best dinner we had on our roof garden. We have live in this house for two years now. We have a nice outdoor table and bbq stove. The challenge is it is troublesome to get the cutleries, plates, food, and cleaning paraphernalia up the four storeys. Although I was busying cooking(outdoor cooking is responsibility of men), I have a chance to sit down and eat with my family. After dinner, we continue to linger and talk. It was quality family time!

Aesop's Fables - The Eagle and the Beetle

I have been thinking about the comment I put in my fellow blogger's entry on July 31st at http://gszeli1.blogspot.com/ and the responses I see. The story I bring to my mind is this story in the Aesop's Fables and I will transcribe from this classic:

Pursued by an eagle, a hare took refuge in the nest of a beetle, whom he begged to save him. The beetle felt compassion for the hare and pleaded with the eagle not to kill the poor creature. In the name of mighty Jupiter, the beetle requested that the eagle respect his intercession and the laws of hospitality even though he was nothing but a tiny insect. However, the eagle became furious and gave the beetle a flap with his wing. In cold blood he seized the hare with his enormous talons and devoured him right on the spot.

When the eagle flew away, the beetle followed him to find out where his nest was. Then he crawled in and rolled hte eagle's eggs out, one by one, breaking them in the process. Grieved and enraged to think that anyone would do such an audacious thing, the eagle built his next nest in a higher place. But there too, the beetle managed to get it and destroyed the eggs as he had done before.

The eagle was now at a loss as to what to do. So he flew up to Jupiter, his lord and king, and placed the third brood of eggs as a sacred deposit in his lap, begging him to guard them for him. However, the beetle made a little ball of dirt and flew up with it to Jupiter and dropped it on his lap. When Jupiter saw the dirt, he stood up right away to shake it off, forgetting the eggs, which were again broken as they rolled off his lap. The beetle now informed Jupiter that he has done this to gain revenge on the eagle, who had not only wronged him but has acted with impiety toward Jove himself. Therefore, when the eagle returned, Jupiter told him that the beetle was the wronged party and that his complaint was not without justification. Nevertheless, Jupiter did not want the race of eagles to be humiliated, so he advised the beetle to arrange a peaceful settlement with him. But the beetle would not agree to this, and Jupiter was compelled to change the eagle's breeding time to another season when there are no beetles to be seen.

No matter how powerful one's position may be, there is nothing that can protect the oppressor in the end from the vengeance of the oppressed.

A Question of Character

This is the title of the book I acquired today together with another titled "Ted Levitt on Marketing". A Question of Character written by Joseph Badaracco. He is a Professor in Leadership in Harvard. This is a discourse on using literature as a guide to understanding leadership. I find this interesting as I am not a reader of literature. My main interest is non-fiction like Business, Management, Leadership, Science, Occult, Self Improvement, New Age or Psychology. Literature is about life and human emotions and relationship. Prof Badaracco talks about using literature to reflect on our current situation or ethical issues. I will develop this myself and see if I can start reading literature to gain further insights. I remembers an article that says liberal arts will be the degree that most CEOs will have. When I read this article that was in Straits Times many years ago, I did not understand what is liberal arts. Even today, I am not sure. So I check my handy Webster dictionary which states the main curriculum of liberal arts are languages, history and philosophy. The article argues that liberal arts teaches human history and trains a person to understand the broad range of human interaction. CEOs deals mainly with human. Except for high tech where tech skills are important, all other businesses will require the CEOs to manage people and people issues.

Ted Levitt is another Harvard Professor. He wrote the marketing classic "Marketing Myopia". In this article, Prof Levitt gives example of business that defines themselves narrowly and were subsequently made obsolete(out of business) by newer different business. In another article, he made a case to differentiate your products. Even commodity product such as sugar or oil can be differentiated. This will increase the profit of your business.

Write Stuff

It is interesting to face the blank page thinking of what to write. Since I am not an interesting writer yet, I will need practice. More practice. Hence I promise to write everyday on this blog. I tried. I do missed a few days here and there. So far so good. My discipline has improved. Starting is difficult, so I was told. Keep going is just as challenging. Yet as the day passes, it becomes a habit. As it become a habit, it actually becomes uncomfortable not to write. The power of habit is tremendous. Hence developing good habit can bring huge power according to Harry Lorraine. The title is "Secrets of Mind Power". I read this book more than 30 years ago. Oops! Now you can guess how young I am!

Hazards of travelling

I woke up early this morning with a headache. I has cold sweats and chills. My body feel weak and it is very uncomfortable. The first thing came to mind is home. Home sweet home. The place of comfort and security. The place where we can go the doctors we know and trust. One of the hazard of travelling is getting sick or in my case, suffering from food poisoning.

The good thing was I managed to recover after two Tyernol. Yes, Tyernol is my favourite anagesic. I always have some in my travelling bag and at home. I will replenish my supply when I go to US.

While the benefits of travelling are many, there are risks. Falling sick, getting food poisoning, getting cheated are some of pitfalls of travelling.

Creeping Weight Increase

My waist line is 36 and scale hit 88kg at night. The difference between weighing in the morning and weighing at night is between 1 to 2 kg. Hence to check for weight change you must always weigh yourself at the same time.

Once upon a time, my waist was 28 and weigh scale could not push past 63kg no matter how much I eat. Today, the reverse is true. It is hard to keep my weight down. I love eat. I am the typical "live to eat" or foodie kind of a guy.

It does not help with me having favorite food in different places I visit. I have to reduce. Will see if I can follow Mr. Brown lead who has reduce his weight significantly.

Sorry, Jack! Why Welch's Rules Don't Work

Current issue of Fortune, August 7, 2006 on the new rules of business. It is available on the www.fortune.com as well.

We did a presentation session on The Welch Way, 24 lessons on Jack Welch's management philosophy 3 years ago in our team meeting. Fortune is discovering new rules in today dogs-eat-dogs world of business. Are the 24 lessons of The Welch Way obsolete? The new rules makes a lot of sense. Here we go...

Old Rule: Big dogs own the street
New Rule: Agile is best; Being big can bite you

Old Rule: Be No. 1 or No. 2 in your market
New Rule: Find a Niche, Create something new

Old Rule: Shareholders Rule
New Rule: The Customer is King

Old Rule: Be Lean and Mean
New Rule: Look Out, Not In

Old Rule: Rank your players; Go with the A's
New Rule: Hire Passionate People

Old Rule: Hire a Charismatic CEO
New Rule: Hire a Courageous CEO

Old Rule: Admire my Might
New Rule: Admire my Soul

Why Blog?

Sunday Times today cites that 50 millions bloggers today. All shouting for attention. Most nobody cares just like this blog. Reasons for blogging were varied from sharing and updating close friends to trying to get famous with cute or daring pictures of themselves.

So why do I blog? I reflects...

I first learn about blogging when I read Janice Wong's blog. She shutdown her blogs which is a pity. I enjoys reading her columns and her blog. She is now studying her masters in Communication. For the longest time, she has been lamenting about her love life and I believe she just started with a new guy before she suspends her blog. Enough about Janice.

I became interested in blogging and sign up with blogspot since it is free. My first entry invited comments from Goh Sze Li, author of My First Blog. She recently change her blog's name to SzeLi's Thoughts. Following her lead, I realise while my orginal intent was to write book reviews and management thoughts and thus calling my blog K Thinking, I have to change it to K's diary. My blog has become more of an online diary with occasional book reviews and management advice.

Do I really seek fame? Not really. My key reason for keeping this blog is to improve my writing skills and shares my personal thoughts. Will I be able to pursue a dream to become an author? Even if I am published, will my book sells?

Jurong Bird Park

I have guests from Korea. After discussions, we had lunch at Samy's Curry. They enjoyed the hot, spicy food. After that, I became a tour guide. We went up Jurong Hill right beside Bird Park and then to Bird Park. The main entrance is undergoing renovation. It is a pity. I always remember the grand entrance that greet me...pink flamingoes before paying and then the moment you enters, a riot of colours and cacuophony of squawking from the Macaws.

The indoor aviary has improved. It now has an observation deck with supension bridge and lots of Lori, very colourful bird similar to parrots and parakeets. The entrance is a cafe. So it is nice to smell coffee rather than the smell of bird droppings.

I asked my guests what do they like for dinner - Chinese, Indian, Western, Japanese, Korean, Seafood... Korean was a definite NO. Mr. Park who has been here before like seafood at the seaside. So off we go, to UMDC Seafood Centre. We had Chilli Crab, toufu, kangkong belacan, crispy squids and deep fried buns. It was a delicious meal. Mr. Kim has to release his pant!

Classics

I tried reading Pride and Prejudice today. My wife always tell me she enjoys this book a lot. I have a hard time remembering all the characters. The words used were a little dense for me. I will need to check the dictionary numerous times. I do not have strong affinity to British English. I find it easy to read To Kill a Mockingbird, another classic by Lee Harper, American author. When I was you, I had hard time finishing books by Charles Dickens, another English author.

It may the style that I am unable to cope with rather than English authors. I always enjoyed read Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who is an English author as well. I remember reading the Professor Challenger's (The Lost World?) stories as well by Doyle. Around the World in Eighty days and Journey into the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne, a French author is interesting read as well.

Birthday Present from the Office

This morning someone rang at my door. It is the DHL man. He has a parcel for me. It is a nice present from my office. My colleagues have a bought a nice birthday gift for me. It is a Bonia Polo shirt. The package was amazing. It comes in a gold box with a fabulous gold and silver ribbon tied in a gorgeous bow. The birthday card was very meaningful to me.

Birthday

I had lots of wishes from my colleagues. My wife gave me a nice present. This is one of the rare time I was home for my birthday. I am not the sentimental kind. Birthdays for me is another day. My eldest sister and my two nieces sms to me birthday greetings as well. Sigh! It is nice that people remember yet I do not like the attention. The day is almost over and tomorrow will be another day.

Ex-boss and friend

We met my wife's ex-boss during lunch today. We have a very interesting conversation. YS is a senior finance person in an MNC. He is into investments of different asset class. He invested in real-estates, REIT, shares, etc. He like us is looking for opportunity. He says opportunities are everywhere. We need the eyes for them. I am very impressed by his perpectives.

On reflection, we are like him caught in a paradigm that do not enable us to look out for opportunities. We are good at working hard, improving ourselves, increasing our skills and capbabilities the "corporate" way. That is working for an employer. We seems to lack the creative or innovative mindset or ability to undertake risks. We do extremely well under the umbrella or protection of a big company. The systems and processes are in place. All we have to do is to improve. Starting from scratch is my single largest fear. When can I overcome this fear and be an entreprenuer?

Blue Ocean

Jeffrey sends a summary of Blue Ocean Strategy. I have been eyeing on this book for some time. It is the bestseller and with 20% discount, it is an attractive target. The summary makes a lot of sense. However, it is still analysis. That is left-brain orientation. You know the success factors when you see it. The challenge is how do we create using right brain so that we can execute the Blue Ocean Strategy. Hindsight is always 20/20. Foresight is littered with failure. Most literature quote statistics of 1 huge success in a 1,000 and may be 10 so-so success in new business venture.

Business Acumen

What is Business Acumen? Business Acumen is vague unless it is demonstrate in results. So how can you say one has business acumen. The person who has successful business or run a business successful. I had coffee with a colleague today. Kate is an American girl. She has lots of commonsense. It is easy to see in a big company it is just a job for most. Therefore it gets frustrating to see the company is beating down the path. When the basic is not there, it will be not successful. What is basic? Instead of talking, do the right thing for the Customer.

Take time to reflect

Reflection is an important activity. Thinking through our actions and working out what we could have done better is an important activity and process to improve our ability. Benjamin Franklin is a big proponent of Reflection. Benjamin Franklin is a very successful philosopher, scientist and businessman.

In the executive coaching session, this is one of the more important process that I have learned as the best teacher is experience.

Virus

Ever been infected? Your computer I mean. It is not easy to get rid of virus and it cost money. Viruses are insidious. They are were embedded and pull in more viruses from the internet. I have a hard time as my system keep flashing warning and the browser just go crazy. It keep sending me to anti-virus websites and it is impossible to do anything else in the system. Luckily my brother-in-law is in IT. I spent the whole afternoon following his instructions and even then it was not clean. He helps me out with his software as well as help me buy another anti-virus software to clean up my system.

Do you know there are two types of anti-virus software? One is for virus that damage your files, the other is anti-spyware. Spyware download information from your computer. My brother-in-law feel that the reason we need two different software is because the companies have an implicit understanding not to compete with each other.

Centipedes

This morning, B1 reported a centripede in bathroom at ground level. He accuses B2 of bringing in. However, in the afternoon there was another centripede in the kitchen and B2 was vindicated. I reminded B1 again not to accuse anyone without proof. Mum panicked and we have to go and get insecticide as well as door seal to seal our kitchen door.

Busy times

I have not been this busy for a long time. Lots of mails to attend to. It has been work, work, work! It seems like a cycle now. Q3 is my busiest time. This time I have no travel for two weeks. I am quite sure the season for travelling will begin. I recall the last two years I will be out almost every week.

Inflation

Price of everything is going up. With petrol prices up, inflation is getting from bad to worse. I recall having breakfast in KL 4 years ago when a plate of wanton noodles cost RM2.50. Today the same plate costs RM3.50. I just fill up my car. It used to cost S$75. Today it costs S$130. Our cost of living has increased, our pay has not.

Globalisation is causing disruptions to our economy. The rich gets richer and poor poorer. Whatever the future will be, will be!

Proud Daddy

I am very proud of B1. We decide to catch lobsters out of the blue as it is not too far. B1 managed to catch 4 lobsters in less than an hour. The only problem is the lobsters died in our pond. Maybe the water is too toxic for the lobster as I did put in bleach before to keep the water clean.

Hopefully, we will figure out how to keep the lobsters alive in future.

Lunch with Jeffrey again

Jeffrey has lunch with me just before he leaves for US at 4 pm. He is incredibly busy and travelling everywhere to transition his responsibilities as he will be leaving the company soon. The good thing is he has another position waiting for him. He has good network and done a lot of favours for his business associates. I am lucky to know him during an Executive Program in NUS.

Unhappy Singaporean

It seems like material success does not equate to happiness. The developed countries has a lower happiness index than developing or underdeveloped countries. Hence the underlying implication of money does not buy happiness.

Studies in US did show that when you have little money, more money does buy happiness up to a point. After that, there is diminishing return of money for happiness. Yes, I am not rich. I am happy. Comfortable is how I would put it. I am not poor either.

I like to count my blessings. I have a nice home and family. Our boys are great(just great and NOT perfect as they do give us troubles). We have a good family times. I have a good job that give me reasonable income. My teammates are solid performers and delivers great results for the team. Overall, I am happy in Singapore. Maybe the survey did not pick the right samples.

Lobster fest at Lower Pierce Reservoir

We go to Lower Pierce Reservoir to catch lobsters. We learn about catching lobsters from our neighbour's kid. We decided to go at about 6pm when the sun is low and temperature is more tolerable to be outdoor. As we approached the car park, cars were parked along the road leading to the carpark. I thought it is unusual as Lower Pierce Reservoir is not a popular place. By we were lucky to find a spot to park. As we approached the reservoir, there were hordes of people squatting at the reservoir's edge. We realised they are all doing what we intended to do. Many families were there before us. We have no idea catching lobsters is so well known.

We observes how others catch their lobsters. They have a long stick with they tied bread with one end as a lure. On the other hand is a net. When the lobster is lured out to the open, you must be quick to catch it with your net. It is not easy. However B1 managed to catch one of the biggest. I walked around to compare sizes! It was exciting! We were very pleased to catch a lobster, largest to boot! We also caught 6 small shrimps. They are transparent. The shrimps were attracted by the bread and is easier to catch.

This is a good way to end our weekend, quality family time. And it is free...something rare in Singapore.

Home Sweet Home

It is nice to sleep in my own bed. Wake up without a wake up call. Go to my mamak stall for a teh halia, breakfast, read the papers... Good to be back on familar and regular routines. Then off to the pool and to relax. This is a good way to unwind.

Time to send B2 to school for NDP rehearsal. Have to go now.

Meetings

We finally ended our two days meeting. It has been a long meeting. We had accomplished many agenda item. It has been very productive but a little tiring. I am satisfied with the outcome of our meetings.

Diet?

I am always concern about my weight and yet do not have the discipline to eat less. It is always nice to eat food that I cannot get back home. Now I am in Kuala Lumpur and it is a food heaven. I had Ampang Yong Tau Foo and Ipoh Chicken with beansprouts. Simple but delicious. I enjoyed eating so much. We sat in a meeting all day and I keep feeding myself with tea and snacks. Snacks are rich. I had blueberry tartlets, orange chiffon cakes, cream puffs all day long. Sigh! when will I be able to stop myself from overeating?

The Elements of Style

The Element of Style by William Strunk and E B White is a classic guide to good English. I was introduced to this book when I took extramural course conducted by University of Singapore probably 25 or 30 years ago. My instructor has a Master Degree in English. He was educated in Chinese during his primary and secondary school. So his spoken English was not impressive. I still remember he actually learned all the words in Oxford Advanced English Dictionary by underlining every word and remembering them by heart.

Anyway, back to Element of Style. It is a tiny book. So it is not intimidating. It has good advice. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to improve his or her English.

Grocery shopping

Today is grocery shopping day. Early start to Toa Payoh market. Car park is full by the time we reach at 7:45am. So my early start is not early enough. We bought fresh vegetables and meat. We also decide to buy grocery from Mustapha as Mustapha supermarket carry a wide range of Indian spices. Mustapha is really a one-stop shop. It has the most selections of products. It carry a lot of stuff that most other supermarket do not carry e.g. coconut oil, indian incense, castor oil, etc. There is a medicine shop, electrical goods store, electronics, cellphones, CDs and DVDs, jewellery, travel...I lost track. I suspect if you need anything more difficult to find, just go to Mustapha.

Compensation

I am thinking about compensation. It is a double edge sword. Paying very little to get very big results is what most companies do. The market rate is for the job is use as a basis for paying employees. The company provide financial resources and the complete business system. Every year, small amount of pay increase is given out. Meanwhile, for sales target the increase is substantial. Let's work out a simple theoretical example. We pay a sales employee $100K per year. He/she is responsible for $1 million in sales. For the employee to get 10% pay increase, the sales must increase by 10 to 20%. This mean the company just need to pay $10K to get a $100K to $200K return on sales. Of course this is quite simplistic as we did not look at base pay, market rate for the comparable job, years of experience, academic qualifications, etc, etc.

Why double edge sword? If the employee feel that $200K growth is too much and is willing to settle for less growth in his/her income, says 5% with a comparable drop in sales growth. The company will now have a sales growth of $50K to $100K.

With this kind of system, both employee and employer will lose. So this is a lose-lose situation.

Temperature Rising

Our weather is getting hotter and hotter. Now it is very hot and humid during the day. It is quite challenging to be in a non-aircond environment. It is nice to have a pool to cool down. I really enjoys my current home. It is very easy to pass time at home as there are lots of space and it has the right atmosphere. I am very satisfied with my home!

Learning Mandarin

China is well known now for the economic growth and opportunities. It is the largest growing market. Sales are growing tremendously. We are expanding into China. More and more documents are coming into my mail box in Chinese. Reading Chinese requires tremendous effort for me. So I decided to cheat. I look for a software that can "read" Chinese and translate Chinese to English and vice versa. I will see how much this software can help. I usually understand if the words were spoken. To read Chinese is as good as asking me to drink poison. This software can convert characters into hanyi pinyin as well as verbalise the words like reading. I hope with this, I can be more proficient in handling Chinese language.

Writer's Block

It is interesting to enforce a discipline to write. I can understand the term "writer's block". Every time, I have to update this blog, it take a while to figure what I want to pen down. Sometimes inspiration hit or a sudden thought happen just like the earlier entry on "Standing Ovation". Other times I just wonder why my day is so routine and there is nothing write. Finding something interesting can be challenging. Yet it also gets easier as time goes on. My mind starts to accept this is a to do and can come up with something to write. Most recent activity is the easiest to pen down. For example now I am watching a documentary on weather phenomenon. I was thinking of writing on some of the interesting facts. Then I change my mind and decide to write about writer's block.

Developed Country

I lived in a developed country - Canada for a total of 7 years. I can see a lot of similarity now that Singapore is a developed country. One key feature is unemployment. Developed countries have high unemployment rates i.e. between 5% to 13%. The professor of Macroeconomic in U of Toronto states 5% unemployment is acceptable and the best a developed country like Canada could achieve. Retrenchment/layoff is common in developed countries. Men staying at home to look after the family is not an unfamilar sight. Cost of living increases or Progress(rather than inflation) as Singapore govt puts it is another common feature. It also seems like the gaps between the haves and have-nots has widen. This phenomenon may be due to globalisation rather than moving into developed status. In underdeveloped countries, it is common to see huge gaps between the poor and rich.

As Charles Dickens put it "it is the best of times, it is the worst of times". Many times I worry about my kids. What are they going to do to survive in this world. Will our education equip them with the right skills and behaviours to thrive in the brave new world? Time will tell....

Interesting Synchroncity

I wrote the standing ovation this morning. After I finished and checked my email, an ex-colleague wrote to me. It is such a coincident that this ex-colleague is from the same company that I received my standing ovation. The thoughts come to me while I was showering. So I penned them down in my blog. Immediately someone from the same company wrote to me. Why? Is this a coincidence? Can there be a linkage in thoughts(telepathy)?

A Standing Ovation

I was working in Canada as a Product Manager in 1991. The factory that produce the products I was responsible for was shutdown. I was new in the job for only 3 to 4 months. It was a huge undertaking. I have to move C$18million worth of business to new supplier in less than 3 months. Two other product managers, Gail Vincent and Ron Davis was in the same boat as I. Gail has tubes i.e. plastic tubes use for suctioning and Ron has cotton guazes and underpads. It was a harrowing year for us. I was in meetings all day and have 50 messages at the end of the day. Listening to all my messages take more than an hour! I have to talk to suppliers, respond to sales reps, make there is right inventory, update all my bosses on the progress of the change, etc...

Glenn Sosney was my inventory analyst. He was instrumental in my success. He was very good with Excel and numbers. He works hard and is very responsive. There are many time where I go to him and request for information with very short deadlines. He came through for me.

At the end of the first year, I managed to save 85% of my disposable tray business. The highest percentage among the three product managers. My product line was also the most complicated.

During Annual Sales Meeting, we were all presented with an award to recognise our efforts in The Brantford Project. As I go up the stage to receive my award, the audience stood up and clapped for a long time. It was embarrassing yet exhilarating. The memory of this evening was etch in my mind forever.

Successful Team

The strength and success of a team depends on the complementary strengths of the individuals members. We had a successful run in the past four years and build a strong track record of performance. Success can be fragile. The ecosystem can be disrupted and the change needs to be adapted.

I will attribute the success of our team to strong partnership and the strengths of a key manager who can understand and execute my thinking fast and well. It seems that I am lucky to get one all the time. Right now I have a right hand man(female). 7 years ago, Wilson was my right hand man. As I reflect back my track record, I supply the coaching, training and thinking. The rest of the team executes and executes well. The measurement is important too. We usually measure three or four important parameters and always grow sales and profits year on year. Usually, one in the team will stand out for me to rely on. I am a lucky guy....

Wilson came to visit...

Wilson is my ex-colleague and came over to visit. It is more than two years since we last met. I remember we visited him in his home along Changi Road just before our current house is ready. He now has a boy three and a half years and a girl nine months old. It was good to catch up with him. He is quite successful in a partnership. He has done well.

Wilson was a cocky young man when I first met him. He was street smart, full of energy and drive. After working with him for two years, he has changed. Our business partners and Customers noticed the change and give me the feedback. One supplier told me I should be proud as he was very impressed by the positive change and professional way he carry himself when he last met him in a wedding party for his staff, Jason. Colin Fergusson told me it was my guidance and effort and I must be proud. I replied it is a nice feedback and yes, I am proud.

The Hidden Messages from Water

Jeffrey invited me to attend a seminar by Dr. Masuru Emoto, author of The Hidden Messages from Water. I read this book in Sep 2004. It was good to meet to author live. He was here last year as well but I was not aware of it. Dr. Emoto is a Japanese Professor who photograph water as they form crystalize under certain conditions. He did lot of experiments and found that water forms beautiful crystal when it received messages like Love, Gratitude, Family, etc. It cannot form crystal and look ugly when it received messages like you fool or devil. Water from natural spring forms beautiful crystal while tap water or polluted water does not.

You can find out more at: http://www.thank-water.net/english/index.htm

Thinking and thinking

I have been thinking a lot the last few days on the upcoming meeting for our team. We usually spend one day reviewing our operations and plans. The second day is reserve for training and development as well as team building activities (politically correct term for fun). It is hard work to think. So much easier to do.

I have toyed around several ideas. I reviewed what we have done in the past 4 years of meetings. I have to figure the temperament and capability of each member, figure out the topic, work on the format, think of the workload, etc, etc.

It is so much easier to be a professor or teacher. It is a fixed topic to teach and once the material is prepared, you can use it over and over again. I have to think of the makeup of team members, feel their personalities, assess their abilities to learn and absorb the lessons, watch the group dynamics and make sure the subject matter relevant to our business. Lots of preparation just for a few hours presentation.

Destiny

What is my destiny? What am I supposed to be? What am I supposed to do?

Will I be rich? Is rich a good measure of success? Is material wealth a healthy pursuit? Why did I not volunteer? Why do I donate?

Life is a cycle. Baby, toddler, kid, then of to school, work, get married, have kids, watch kids grow, get old, sick and infirm, by then 3rd generation is out and cycle goes on and on and on....

Hot Weather

Weather is getting hotter. Is it unseasonally hot? Last month, according to the meterological dept, Singapore received two and half time the usual amount of rain in the same period. I just read in Economist (British magazine) that in the highland of South America, wild animals are dying as the ice is receding.

Boarding pass

Do you know you can now print your own boarding pass when you do internet check-in?

The problem with the Singapore Airlines system is you still have to go to the counter to get the boarding pass you print at home endorsed. The counter staff is supposed to check your passport. So what is the point? Nothing really change except you now pay for the paper and printer ink. It also befuddles me that counter staff has to check the validity of the passport and then we pass immigration. Is Singapore Immigration counter and computer system that screw up to allow people with expired passport to pass?