On a roll with Charles Handy

Yes, I finished the book The Hungry Spirit by Charles Handy. There is one quote that I felt is very pertinent in today's context.

"Look for Customers, not jobs" he told his children. If you make or do something that other people will pay you money for will you be ultimately be employable. That requires self-confidence, a saleable skill or competence and social skills of quite a high order.

The statistics are quite clear. In Britain the shift is quite significant. The combined total in percentage of part-timers, self-employed, temporary workers and unemployed is 51. That is more than half the available workforce do not have a proper full-time job inside an organization.

The employed with an organization will be fewer but earns a lot more with a lot more perks and privileges. The gulf between the employed and the rest will widen dramatically. The rich become richer and poor become poorer. This is not good for social stability.

Feeling Full all the Time

I am feeling full all the time. I am still eating my regular meals but my stomach feels bloated. I just checked my weight and it is still at close to 88kgs. This is only day 3 of my program. I am getting a little concern that the weight loss has not started. I will be going to Taipei next week and wonder what should I do when I travel. Continue to drink the fibers or stop? If I drink the fibers, will I be able to eat the delicious local food? This is hard decision, really really difficult decision for a lover of good food as well as good books.

Psyllium - The Colon Cleanser

I am trying out something my wife recommends to reduce weight. It can be obtained from Organic stores called the Psyllium Husks. It is also called colon cleanser. I will be taking this religiously and see if my weight do reduce. It will be better than the going to cosmetic surgery.

Kuan Yin Temple

Kuan Temple is not too busy at lunch time today. It felt good to offers my prayers and give donations. I had two good lots or "cheam si" today. Praying is a great way to positive mood and I feel much better. I am blessed!

Rain, Rain

Raining today. It is a wet and deary morning. Weather is cool and it is a sleepy morning. I will go to temple at Queens Street for my regular prayers... my soul will be nourished and spirit improved after every visit.

The Power of Intention

I watched The Power of Intention by Wayne Dyer. Wayne is the author of Your Erroneous Zone. I have a couple of his CDs as well. He is inspiring and a good to listen to when you are feeling stressed or down. Listening to Wayne Dyer, life become something that we are in control of and should be grateful. It is what is inside us that we need to get to. He is a good story teller. I wish I can tell stories like him.

Tummyache!

My stomach did not agree with the food I enjoyed so much in Hong Kong. I have stomachache and is still feeling it now. I did not eat the meal in the aircraft. I had fruits and ice-cream only...just desserts:)

This is one of the travails of travelling. My colleague recently came back from India with what he call a Delhi stomach. He will go to toilet after meals. It took him a week to recover. He says eating should not be dangerous thing to do.

Singapore Girl

A very sweet Singapore with genuine smile caught my attention on the flight back. She is petite and slim. Her smile is warm and she gave good eye contact. Yes, it is a good way to fly...

Gu Chap or Mixed Beef Parts

Yes, I have eaten gu chap that costs only HK$30 per bowl. It is more expensive than foodcourt in Singapore at about $6. It is good, very good. Delicious! Yummy! I am glad to taste my favorite Cantonese food in Hong Kong.

Beef Noodles

I am a lucky guy. Tonight I will get a chance to eat Cantonese style beef noodle soup in Hong Kong. I have simple taste. I enjoys hawker fare wherever I go as long as the hygiene level is acceptable.

What did I do on my rest day?

Wake up late in the morning and off to Raffles City for a cuppa in Spinelli and reading my favorite paper Sunday Times. I like Sumiko Tan's social experiment of revealing her cleavage last Tueday. She is so good at describing what happen when there is too much heaving cleavage in a meeting.

"You notice all the men's eyes swivel to the heaving embonpoint, then quickly swivel away, then sneak back again. It alters the whole tone of a meeting and shifts the focus from the business at hand. It becomes all about the bust and the lust - the real powerpoint."

A colleague of mine during my National Service days had this observation "The person who look at the cleavage most is the owner. Everytime a man looks, she will looks down."

I also spend a little time browsing at MPH in Basement 1. Raffles City is undergoing major renovations. More carpark space may be converted to retail. What a pity. It will make parking more challenging and expensive. The malls are getting less friendly to cars.

MPH at Raffles City

I have a chance to browse in MPH Raffles City. There are books that are not in Kino. So it is interesting. I bought a book The Customer comes second. What attracted me to buy this book by the Chairman and CEO of Rosenbluth Travel is the philosophy. I like philosophy happy workers produce treat Customers well. Treat your employees well and you will have no worries about them treating Customers well.

BBQ dinner with ex-colleagues

Tonight, I celebrated National Day with ex-colleagues with a BBQ dinner. It is potluck and everyone brought food in. We had otah, fishballs, packet drinks, potato chips, and I have bbq boneless chicken thighs, squids, hot dogs and garlic bread.

We had a long chat and it was good fun just to talk and catch up with everyone and old times. I enjoyed the company. It is a really good evening....

Career Advice from CEO of Ford China

I was on the way KL on Monday and read all the papers available on the aircraft as usual. The most memorable and impactful was the article on the new CEO of Ford China. He works in GE before and he says the best career advice was from Jim McNerney. He says the easiest way to get fired in GE is not to do what Jack Welch asked you to do. The 2nd easiest to get fired in GE is to do what Jack Welch asked you to do and do it when you know it is wrong.

2nd Generation Prius Delayed

Toyota announces that new model Prius will be delayed by two years because of potential safety issues of litium ion battery. It is the same type of battery that explodes in the laptops causing massive recall. The new battery was going to increase the capacity and reduce the cost of the car. Now I know the cost of Prius will not go down inthe immediate future.

Coffee Bean Sunway Lagoon

Sunway Lagoon Hotel charges RM58 for 24 hours of internet. Totally ridiculous and unacceptable. So I come for free internet in Coffee Bean and have a cup of Malibu Dream. This way I have a drink and save the company plenty of money. At the same time can oogle at the girls. Alas, in reality my eyes are on the screen and not the girls.

Today is the first day of meeting. The pressure on the team is high. They are a little stressed. However we need to improve performance and increase our effectiveness. The team is get gel up and will be more cohesive as we go along. Our results are quite reasonable and we need to sustain our momentum.

Tomorrow is a sharing day and everyone is teaching or sharing with everyone else on something. I am looking forward to learning new things for the team.

Car Showrooms are Hot!

I was doing research on MPVs or MultiPurpose Vehicles and Hybrid Cars. My dream car is one with high mileage. One that use fuel miserly. Today, there are two options in Singapore - Prius by Toyota and Civic Hybrid by Honda. The Prius is very silent. We can hear only the aircond blowing. The Honda Hybrid is like the normal car, the engine is always running and is noisy compared to Prius. Honda handles more like a regular car. The Prius is quite different in handling and does not seem to have the pickup capability (or accelerate fast). It is very green as the engine does not idle. It stops completely at red lights and does not kick in until the car is moving at 25 km/hr or more.

There are so many MPVs nowaday that finding one that fits makes me dizzy. The cheapest is Suzuki. It is called APV and is a little truck converting into a minivan. The floor is high and literally requires the passenger to climb up. Mazda has a reasonable price of $77K MPV with neat seat arrange where the middle row can be converted to captain seats with table in the middle or made into a bench seat to fit 3 passengers. Honda Oddessy has an electrically operated last row seat that folds it neatly into a flat bed to allow large items to be carried. Toyota price is the highest for MPV with basic features and fittings. Parallel Imports has many other types of MPVs. Our concern for parallel import is servicing. With so many vehicles on the road, I am sure there must be plenty of workshops capable of servicing the cars that authorised distributors refused to service. Nissan has two models of MPV as well. The Lafesta has a unique glass top that allow the passengers a good view of the night sky. It will be too hot to open on sunny day with the greenhouse effect.

Every showroom we go are well frequented with loads of people going for test drive. Another indicator that the economy is doing well...

Busy Busy Everywhere

People are out in droves. The best indicator of the economic well being of the country is the crowd at the malls. Long queues at the resturant. Retail and F&B are boomtown. Plenty people spending and spending. This is a great cycle. The mood is positive. Welcome to the strong economy in Singapore.

GoldFishes

My goldfishes are attacked by some parasites or virus. Their tails are ragged and lesions are on their bodies. I have bought some medicine for them. I hope they can recover. Pets do fall sick and it is an education process just like raising kids.

Old Colleagues in Canada

Many times I wonder how my old colleagues in Canada are doing. I know many are still around while many had left. My old boss is now the President. She is a great manager and must be doing good. One colleague has moved to HK whom I still stay in touch. Another I just heard is going to relocate to Australia.

The world is getting smaller....