blog.dk.sg now!!!" />

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Teambuilding

Went for teambuilding today at Jurong Bird Park.



Don't know about others, but I feel that its a waste of time.

Its interesting to see how some people react in these teambuilding activities.

There was this activity where each group were given plastic balls to throw into the baskets. There are 3 baskets of different distance. The furthest one is 5000 points, the middle one is 3000 points and the closest one is 1000 points. Balls that missed the target can be retrieved and re-thrown within the 3 minutes of gameplay.

Everyone was saying the 5000 point basket is hard to reach. In actual fact, the distance between the 3000 point basket and the 5000 point basket is less than 50cm. If they can reach the 3000 point basket, why can't they reach the 5000 point basket? Half the battle is already lost when you keep saying you can't reach the 5000 point basket. Its all in the mind.

Job hunting


2 resume send so far.
Too little. Need to send more.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Unappreciated

Went to HR to view my new contract terms. Didn't had the intention to sign already. Was thinking its time to move on to other challenges.

But I was pissed off when I was shown the new contract. The bonus was the same as previous year. OK, still acceptable, although I was expecting higher bonus this year. But the increment was the 1 that made my blood boil. It the lowest increment I've ever received during my 4 years at the company.

It is not that my performance is getting worst. In fact, I've been handling more and more complex task. I strongly believe I should be getting a higher increment and bonus than last year.

Walked out of HR feeling insulted. After all that I've done, this is the kind of increment I get. Pissed off. Abit regretted for not tearing the contract infront of the HR manager today.

If the company is unappreciative of my contributions, then fine.... I'll go elsewhere.....

RK House - No Pok

Don't expect any help

I've learnt that I shouldn't expect any help coming from my colleagues.

Was suppose to do some coding using jbuilder for the first time. My PC is a old model, with 1.6GHz processor and just 256mb RAM. Not really enough to run jbuilder. The program takes a long time to process every action I do.

Wanted to borrow my colleague's PC when he was packing up and going home. His PC is alot faster than mine. But he refuse. I don't know what secret emails or files he has in his PC. But seriously, I'm willing to swear using my blood that I'll only use jbuilder on his PC and nothing else. I'll do anything for a faster PC. But no.

Waiting for the admin to assign me a faster PC. In the meantime just bare with the lag.

----------------

There are 6 new PC that requries to be setup. I'm not on LAN Admin duty this month. But 1 of the LAN admin suggest that all 3 of us should do together so that each of us only need to setup 2 PC. I email them saying I'm busy and will join them later.

But I forgotten about it as I was busy. So instead of helping me to setup the 2 PC, they leave it one corner and drop me an email to remind me. How sweet.

It isn't even my duty this month to begin with!

------------------

DK ah DK...... Don't expect any help from anyone. You are on your own. Argh

Monday, January 29, 2007

2000 bloggers

2000 bloggers. Find me if you can.

Saguaro beta tester

I've been selected for Saguaro beta tester. YIPPIE!!!

But not free to test it lately. Hopefully can find some time next weekend.

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Sunday, January 28, 2007

Not worth the hassle

Just discovered something lately.

If a car collide into your car and causes your car to collide into the car infront, the insurance company of the car behind you will only pay you 80% of the repair charges for the front damage. They will pay 100% for the back. But just 80% for the back.

What the hell.

If that SBS bus didn't collide into me, I wouldn't hit the car infront. Why is it the stupid insurance only pay 80% for the front damage? What kind of stupid law is that? Why should I be paying 20% of the front repair when the fault lies with that SBS bus? You mean I'm suppose to step on the brake hard so that my car won't move when someone hit me behind? Try stopping your car from moving when a double deck bus hit you from behind.

Idiot. If I knew this, I would had scolded that stupid bus driver by the road side.

And I have to go thru all the hassle for this. Going to make police report. Fill in the long and complicated insurance claim form. And no car to use for this few weeks.

And the stupid number didn't win 4D!

Going to be busy

Going to be rather busy from now till end of Feb.

Work
School
RT
Housework
Jobhunting

Hmmm....

Saturday, January 27, 2007

Me Maria

Today is Maria's Wedding.



During the wedding, she handed the washing machine, ironing board and mop to me. Just like in office when someone resign, the task is always handed over to another person. And most of the time, I will have a share of it.

Me Maria.
"Mum, very good"

Another dog tag

Just got another dog tag from HSBC.



Why do all these banks want us to carry their dog tag all over the place? Why can't they follow UOB and OCBC where they give customer the option to use their handphone as the 2FA?

You are about to experience greater peace-of-mind hassle.

Friday, January 26, 2007

Area cleaning

You will only see this once a year.



My super neat computer table.

No, I'm not doing spring cleaning for Chinese New Year. I'm doing the cleaning because Maria is getting married tomorrow and my house will be full of relatives and friends. Oh well... If I maintain the neatness for 1 month, I can skip this year's spring cleaning. :D

I've discovered that the wet tissue from resturant and KTV are very useful for cleaning keyboard.



Look at the amount of dirt that I've picked up.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

My 10 second of fame

Here is my 10 second of fame.



I'm just joking about the iPhone shuffle.

All the hassle

I've learnt that it is quite troublesome when you are involved in a car accident.

Firstly, the car will be in the workshop for weeks.
Then need to make a police report as someone is injured in the accident.
Then need to fill in that long and complicated insurance claim form.

Argh. Stupid SBS driver. I stop there nicely, why you want to collide into my car?



You better be worth all the hassle that you put me into.

Just need a simple approval

On of my colleague is on 1 year no pay leave. Her husband went to the states to do his master and she tagged along with her baby. As they were still busy settling down, she didn't have time to log in the company email and her account was being lock due to long period of inactivity.

Usually, when our email was being locked, we need to call the helpdesk to reset the password. But as she is in USA, she send me an email and ask me to help her reset the password. I called the helpdesk and was told that I cannot reset her password on her behalf. She need to call in personally. If she can't call in personally, we will need to get director's approval to have the password reset.

So I drop my director an email and explain to her the whole situtation, asking for her approval.

But she didn't want to approve. She told me to ask my colleague to call the helpdesk.

Call the helpdesk from USA? Using IDD? Can claim from company or not?

She is on no pay leave. Yet she wanted to login to company email to check work related issue. Instead of rewarding such an employee, you decide to punish her and force her make a IDD call back to Singapore just to have her password reset. As a director, you can save her the hassle by simply replying the email with 1 word - 'Approved'. Just 1 word can save many people the trouble.

Stupid. Pure stupid.

But come to think of it...... why bother? Heck care lah. Anyway there is no requirement for her to check her email when on no pay leave. Just reset the password when she return from USA lor.

Which is going to be end of the year.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Driving phobia

Yesterday was the first time I drove after that accident. Drove my colleague's car to Coronation Plaza for lunch.

Seriously, I was abit scare while driving. I was worried that another double deck would collide with me again. There is this fear inside. The fear of my car's backside being kissed again. The problem is, this is totally beyond my control. There is nothing I can do to prevent myself from being collided by another car. Perhaps its the lack of control that create this fear in me.

I think it will take some time before I can drive with the normal confidence that I used to have.

One lesson I've learnt from this accident is that a seatbelt is very important. Very very important. My car was stationary. I'm not sure what is the speed of the double deck bus when it bang into me. But it couldn't be more than 40km/hr. But the impact is huge. My head was flung forward and pulled back by the seatbelt. If not for the seatbelt, I would have flew thru the windscreen.

My neck is much better now. Think would fully recover by Thursday.

How to meet that deadline?

One of my colleague send a email to a requester today. He kept me in the loop because I'm incharge of it now.


Hi

There is one request raised from you since Sep 2006.

Pls let us know if you have plan to migrate it to production by end of the month.

If not, we will drop it (Keep request open status will affect our KPI). You can raise request again when you need it.


This colleague of mine has been assigned to do another task. He has handed over his task (including this request) to me and my new subteamlead. This request has been put on hold by requester.

My question is..... HOW THE BLOODY HELL DO WE MIGRATE THE CHANGES BY END OF THE MONTH???

I have not started working on it. Its already 23 Jan. I have many stuff on hand currently.

Before you go be a smart alex and go suggest a deadline, can you at least come check with me if I can meed the timeline first or not?

I is pissed.
This is the same fellow who didn't set up the laptop and didn't restart his job.

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Monday, January 22, 2007

Soul-less

Everything has to come to an end. Thanks for the pleasant memories.

Degree in 2 boxes and an envelope

Went to collect my course material today. Just like last semester, the course material comes in box.



This time, its 2 boxes instead of 1. This means that I will be taking 2 modules this semester. On top of this 2 boxes, I was given a white envelope.



That is the special assignment. Or rather the project elective that I've choosen. Its going to be a one year project. The deadline is on my birthday! Argh.

This is going to be a tough semester.

Teambuilding

Just received the polo tee that we are supposed to wear for the teambuilding at the end of the month.



1 word. Super ugly. Oops.... that was 2 words.

We can safely conclude that the person who choose this colour is a uncle. Wah piang. The colour very uncle lor. The initial colour was white with some red on the shoulder. Look something like England football team jersey. But heard that got people complaint that it look ugly.

So here we have.... a even more ugly shirt to wear for teambuilding.

Don't understand why they choose this colour. Its not our corporate colour lor.

Boss.... Can I don't wear this? PLEASEEEEeeeee....

Maybe I'll wear my own T-shirt and change to this ugly shirt when I reach the place. Then when I'm leaving, change back to my own T-shirt again. I would rather die than be seen by friends wearing that polo tee.

Stiff neck

Wondering why am I having a stiff neck now.

Is it because of the car accident yesterday?
Is it because of the RT training yesterday morning?
Or is it because I didn't sleep well last night?

Still wondering.....

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Car Accident

A SBS double deck bus kiss my backside.



Then I ganna forced to kiss someone backside.



And he also ganna push to kiss someone else backside.

In short, 3 car and 1 bus in 1 accident. The bus behind me didn't stop in time, collide with my car. Then the impact push my car and hit the car infront, which hit the other car infront.

The impact is huge. I remember myself being push forward then pulled backward by the seatbelt. My back of my head hit the chair. Ouch. The bluetooth earpiece that I wore flew away from my ear and landed below my seat. It took me a few seconds for me to realise that I was being hit by a double deck bus.

I remember seeing the passenger of the bus taking picture of my car. I wonder if I would appear on stomp or not.

Its a big mess. None of the drivers has any experience on what to do. One of the car is a Malaysian car. The passenger is injured and need to go hospital.

Luckily, a traffic police happen to pass by and sort of restore some order. I called my dad to ask him get a tow truck for me. He informed my Sis and brother in law who is nearby. So they came down to see if there is anything to help.

So the police did the measurements and told us to lodge a police report. Its rather troublesome actually. In the end, I'm 1 hr late and my car is send to the workshop.



This is actually not the usual route that I take. I was trying out this new route to see if I can reach my destination faster.

Conclusion is.... No. This new route is alot slower. In fact, 1 hour slower.

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Tired

Feeling very tired today. In fact, I've been feeling very tired for the past few weekends. Think its because of the OT and the late nights.

Been OT-ing for the past few days. Not much time for doing personal stuff when I reach home. As you can see, I've been blogging less lately.

School term is starting soon. If this carries on, I don't know how am I going to have time to even attend my lesson.

I think I need to sleep earlier.

Waiting for someone to fix the problem

This is the 64738265274950674 times that I'm complaining about such issue. I'm going to do it again.

Recently, our team has been given a 'new' laptop. I think they reformatted the harddisk before giving it to us. All the setting are gone and I couldn't log into the company LAN. So I went into the setting and do the necessary changes.

I was in a rush. The auditors will be arriving in less than an hour and I need to setup the laptop for the audit session. Halfway thru the setting, I notice something that made me curse and swear at my desk.....

One of my colleague used this laptop before! I saw his login id at the user setting. I saw his ID file at lotus notes. But appearantly, he couldn't login to the company LAN server because the setting are incorrect.

So, what did he do when he couldn't log into company LAN server with that laptop? Put it back into the cupboard and wait for someone else to fix it. How clever.

Bloody hell. If you don't know how to setup the laptop, at least find someone to help out. And not put the laptop back into the cupboard as if everything is working fine.

Who are you waiting for to fix that problem? First, you don't want to restart your job when it fails. Now you don't fix the laptop when there is a problem. WTF. Pay you so much every month for FUCK? Go back to your own country and work in the fields better.

Totally pissed off.

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Facing auditor alone

Satan Auditor came as planned yesterday. Instead of meeting him together with my teamlead, I was thrown to face him alone. My teamlead has another last minute urgent meeting to attend.

WTF. This is an internal audit and my teamlead actually ask me to go alone? All the other teams would send their teamlead to meet the auditors. My team is the only team in our department where the teamlead don't attend the auditor meeting. And to make it harder for other team to break this record, we send a Contract Junior Officer to the meeting. Try beating that record.

And so, I went into the meeting room with tons of documents and a laptop.

I did what I could to answer every question that the auditor asked. For those management stuff, I asked him to email my teamlead. Actually, there isn't much questions that I can't answer. After all, this is the 3rd audit I've been to. I knew more or less what they look out for. Just that I'm not familar with where the reports are being stored. So it took a little while longer to retrieve it.

The thing is.... I just don't like the idea of being thrown to do this. I'm not the teamlead or even a sub teamlead to begin with. If my pay is higher, I won't mind doing it. I strongly feel that the amount of responsibilities I have has far exceed what I'm being paid.

49 days left to end of contract. 7 weeks.
Perhaps I should find a job where the pay fits the roles I'm doing.

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Back to pre-email era

The email server was down for almost the whole of today.

I'm not sure about other companies, but our company relies heavily on emails. Boss shoot arrows assign job thru emails. System send emails when requester raise request. System send email when server encounter errors. User send emails when they have queries. etc etc etc.....

The good thing about emails is, everything is in black and white. Have you ever tried digging a 2 year old email to defend yourself when an error occurs? I did once. Hahaha....

Anyway, everyone relies so much on email that the company almost went to a halt when the email server was down. Alot of things cannot be done. Its like living in the pre-email era. I still can't quite visualise how people work in the past before email was invented. Its quite scary.

Need to send a word document to a colleague urgently. Her office is at level 2 while mine is at level 6. So I copied the file to my thumb drive and when over her office. Imagine doing this more than once.

I was about to resort to using snail mail when the tech support finally fix the email server.

Next time, we should keep a few pigeon in our office.

--------------

The tech support guys also quite clever.

They emailed everyone to inform us that the mail server is down due to a hardware fault.

Thanks for the info dude. If I only I can read that email when the email server is down.

Auditors are coming



Satan are coming. As the ISO coordinator for our team, I have to prepare the annual 'welcome' party for these uninvited and unwelcomed guest.

Basically, its to ensure that everything is properly documented and everything is written correctly. If not, then I'll have to find the person whom is in charge of that item and ask him to get it done.

What if that person has already left the company?
hmmm..... I update myself lor.

2 of the most important tools for a ISO coordinator..... Pen and Correction pen.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Nokia N93 Hokkien ad

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Counting


If you walk pass my office table, you would notice that I've written some numbers on my whiteboard.

First number is the number of days to end of contract.

Second number is the number of weekends.

Third number is the number of leaves.

Forth number is the number of public holidays

Fifth number is the number of working days left.


Just don't tell my boss or colleagues about it. They think its some work related numbers.

Ang pow to buy shoes



Sis is getting married in 2 weeks time. According to my future bro-in-law's dialect group tradition, they are supposed to buy a pair of new shoes for me. Hmmmmm.....

But its actually abit troublesome. So to simplify things, they gave me an Ang Pow instead. So I'm suppose to use that money to buy myself a new pair of shoes.

But hor.... they never check market rate leh. Only enough money to buy 1 shoe.... Haiz. I guess I got to top up the rest.

Monday, January 15, 2007

Rain over

Today's newspaper frontpage says "Expect another wet, wet week, says weatherman".
But strangely, it didn't rain at all today. There is even some sunlight.

Anyway, I got a SMS today explaining why it keep raining in Singapore lately.

That is because Rain's coming on 21 Jan 2007, 8PM.


Hahahahaha.........

Not my job

I know this week is going to be a busy week.

2 request due to be completed by Friday and I haven't started yet.
1 request need to be in development server by next Monday and I'm still clueless on how to do it
Satan Auditor coming on Friday and I haven't start checking the documentations to ensure everything is in order.

I actually planned a few items for today. I remember telling Stella that whenever you plan to do something at work, something ad hoc will surely pop up and ruin your planning. I keep forgetting this Murphy's Law.

There was a power trip again. I've lost count of the number of power trip we encountered lately. The good for nothing building management (except collecting parking fee and conducting fire drill) still couldn't find the cause. They keep saying its one of the electric appliances that we bought in. Why didn't anyone suspect that it could be our computers that is causing the power trip? Or even the wiring?

One of the PC encountered harddisk problems after the power trip. Outlook and some other programs were corrupted. I'm not the LAN admin on duty. But the person on duty is on leave today and the backup is out for meeting. So I went to fix the PC. Tried uninstalling and reinstalling the programs. Can't resolve. Left with no choice but to format the PC. I'm actually quite fine with it. The 3 of us cover each other whenever possible. I quite like this arrangement.

Then I got another handover meeting. I've already lost count of the number of hand over meeting that we had been thru for this project. This is 1 of the most detailed handover meeting I've ever been to. And seriously, I think its over detailed.

China side was having problem with 1 of the job. They emailed to a colleague whom has no idea how to debug. She forward to me and ask if I know how to resolve it. I did some checks and identified that the problem is cause by another job. That job is under the care of another colleague. So I told him that his job has problem and need to be restarted. He told me that he already taught everyone how to restart the job and ask me to restart it. If I have any problem, I can refer to the manual.

Hello.... that is not my job. I'm not encountering any problems because that job doesn't affect me. Its china side that is having problem. I have my own task to do too. That job is under your care. You know how to restart better than I do. Shouldn't you be the person to restart it?

I don't mind helping you restart the job if you ask me in a nice way. But what the hell... You put it in such a way as if it is MY DUTY to restart YOUR job. Heck.... I return to my seat and do my own stuff. Let china side continue to be stuck. None of my business.

54 days to go..... I is pissed.

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Sunday, January 14, 2007

Just some numbers

3 RT session.

I was one of the few 'lucky' person to be selected to use the new heart rate monitor.

Actually, I also don't know why we are using this heart rate monitor. They just show numbers. Numbers that you don't really need unless you are at professional level. So why bother? I know my heart rate will increase a lot when I start running and slow down when I rest. All I need is to put on max effort, the rest is unimportant.

Anyway, the heart beat monitor consist a watch to see your current heart rate and a sensor which you wear at your chest. Its like wearing a bra, minus the cups.

Gals: don't complaint that we guys don't understand the discomfort of wearing a bra. We know how it feels when we wear the heart rate monitor.

Financial IQ

Went to Richdad.com and tried one of the Financial IQ test. Was rather surprised by the results.

--------------------------


YOUR PROFILE: Established First Quarter
Your financial thinking is 87% aligned with the thinking of the rich.

To secure your financial freedom, we recommend: You know much of what it takes to become financially free. Now is the time to learn even more by giving back and sharing your knowledge with others.
Create your own CASHFLOW club and teach others how to get out of the rat race.
Share your success story with others; submit your testimonial now.
Subscribe to Rich Dad's INSIDERS and become part of an exclusive members-only online community.
You're just beginning your financial journey towards freedom. If you start immediately, your journey will be easier than that of those starting later in life. Read Retire Young, Retire Rich to see how you can get out of the rat race while you can enjoy your financial freedom. Take charge of your financial future now!

More about your profile:

Established:
You see that there are opportunities to successfully secure financial freedom in many areas, including real estate, paper and business investments. Your aptitude shows that you can choose from several paths depending on where you want to prioritize your resources and your energy. Because of your understanding of financial concepts, you are positioned to move forward quickly and put the knowledge you have to work for you. You already have the mindset, so achieving financial freedom now is a matter of choosing the "investments of choice" that you are interested in and the ones that make sense given the resources you have to work with. You also recognize the importance of giving back and embody the philosophy of "Teach and Grow Rich".

The path to financial freedom involves many things; including changing your thinking and being mindful of your age. In the great game of life you are in an enviable place, the first quarter. Being in the first quarter means you have an extraordinary opportunity to seize the moment and define your game plan for attaining financial freedom. To begin your journey you should ask yourself when you want to be free from worrying about money.

Surround yourself with people who will support you in your financial goals. Who are you spending your time with? Do they encourage you or hold you back? Do you have money on your mind? It's all about choices. You can choose to be rich.

Congratulations! You now have the opportunity to move forward with your journey to financial freedom, and the Rich Dad team would like to be a resource for your success.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

PC cranky again

My harddisk is dying again.

So what should I do? Wait for it to 回光反照?
or buy a new harddisk?

Or maybe I should just buy a new iMac. :P

Declaration form

My company is sending us for a teambuilding course at the end of this month. They employed another company to conduct this teambuilding event.

Everyone was asked to sign this form today.



Basically, it says that the company that we employed is not responsible for any injury or lost during the event.

Why would I wanna sign such a declaration form? But we have no choice but to sign it.

Just wondering.... if I'm forced to sign this form against my free will, is it still valid in court of law?

Artwork at Uni

Saw this at UniSIM Atrium today.



It would had been classified as a piece of art if it was being arranged by an artist.

Too bad, the 'artist' behind this is the cleaner uncle and aunty.

Friday, January 12, 2007

For the bookworms

Here is something for those bookworms out there. (Audrey give me 1. Thx)

Valid until 25 Jan 2007 hor.

If only this thing comes 1 week earlier. Then I could use it on my new book. Or maybe I can start buying the next next book now. hee hee....

No extra miles

I was arrowed to plan a farewell lunch for a colleague who is leaving. Total 18 people attending. We decided to go Novena Sq Fish & Co. So I called to make a reservation for 18 people.

But when we reach there, we discovered that they didn't reserve a table for us. Hmmmm..... Something is seriously wrong. Why is it every time when I make a reservation, something will go wrong? Next time you all better don't ask me reserve table. Sure cock up one.

So we stood at the door waiting for them to figure how join 9 tables in a straight row to form a table for 18. One of the staff, whom I guess is the manager, came and told me that they didn't receive any reservations and they don't take reservation for friday and weekends.

I was abit pissed off already. Firstly, you lost my reservation. Then you claim that you don't accept reservation on Friday and weekends. Then why is it when I call your branch, someone took down my details? Why didn't your staff inform me that you don't take reservation on Friday?

There are quite a number of customers at the restaurant. They only managed to find space to join 7 tables and squeeze 16 chairs. To the right is another table with customer still dinning. To the left is a walkway. When I told the manager that we wanted a table for 18, he said that there is no space, and offer another table for 4 a slight distance from the main table.

If sit away from us, then why we come together? Might as well we go out lunch ourselves. I told the manager that it is not acceptable. I thought he would add another table at the walkway or maybe form 2 rows of 5 tables or something. But instead, he moved 2 dining customer to another table. What the heck? If I'm the dining customer, I'll surely scold you upside down for disturbing my meal.

Sorry to the couple who were being moved halfway thru your meal. If I knew the manager would do such a stupid move, I wouldn't had insist that he fix the problem.

Anyway, we settled down, decided on what to order and ask the waitress to take our order. I was surprised that only 1 waitress came to take our orders while the rest were doing nothing and waiting for other customer to request for their service. We have 18 people. And 1 waitress to take all our orders? Where is the manager? Shouldn't you be getting more staff to come take our orders so that it can be processed faster?

Our set lunch comes with free drinks. I ordered coffee. As we were waiting for the food to be served, the waiter serve me my coffee. Eeeeerrrr..... I thought the coffee usually come after the meal? I know some places where they would ask the customer if they want the coffee to be served now or later. But I've never seen a restaurant that serve the coffee first without asking the customer. I told the waiter to send the coffee back.

It was quite messy when they serve the food. Whenever a dish come, the waiter will announce the name of the dish and we will be like "Its mine." or " Your order is it?"

Well, at least the food was alot better than the service. The fish nugget was great. I ordered New York Fish n Chips. Its actually fish n chips, but with cheese inside the fish. Love it. Anything with cheese sure goes into my 'good food' list. :)



And after all these service blunder, the manager didn't apologise to us or waive the service charge. I guess we will think twice before visiting them in big groups again.

------------

I'm sure they have good service. Maybe they are just not good at handling big group of customer.

There are a couple of lessons which we can learn from it.

1) If you forgot about the reservation, just apologise. Even if your company has a 'no reservation on friday' policy, also don't bother telling your customer. Surely, one of your staff forgot or is unaware of this policy.

2) If there is no place to form a table for a big group, then try to break the group evenly. Having a table for 14 and another table for 4 is totally not acceptable. The table for 4 would feel completely left out.

3) Never ever move customer who are still dining. Never.

4) Get more staff to take orders for big group of customer. 1 staff will take forever to write orders for large group.

5) Try to note down which customer ordered what food so that you can serve the food to his table directly without asking.

6) Always ask if coffee is to be served now or later.

7) If your service is unsatisfactory, then waive the service charge. Or the least you can do is apologise for the blunder.

Rain Rain Rain

We've been through every kind of rain there is.
Little bitty stinging rain
and big old fat rain,
rain that flew in sideways,
and sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath.

Shoot, it even rained at night.

~Forest Gump~

The next book

Just finished reading 'Why we want you to be rich' today morning. Seriously, I cannot remember when was the last time I finish reading a book.

I'm still trying to keep my 2007 resolution.

Actually, I already got another book on queue. Bought it last Saturday because I knew I'll finish my book this week. I could had finished it on Tuesday actually. But I didn't read much because I was rather tired on the train.

The next book I'm going to read is written by Robert Kiyosaki. Yeap. This is the first time I'm reading the Rich Dad series book. Maybe because of the influence by 'Why we want you to be rich'. Robert mentioned that book a couple of times, and make me interested in finding out more. I think it will guide me towards the goal that I've been aiming for the past few years.

But one small problem. I cannot bring this book to work and read on the train. The title of the book is abit unsuitable for office. It will surely raise an alarm bell if my boss saw me with that book.

Because the title of the book is........
Rich Dad's Before You Quit Your Job

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Soul - Sha Gua n Rising Sun

Bump into this clip on youtube. Brings back some memories that I've almost forgotten.



Looking back, I sure feel like a Sha Gua.
Oh well... its over.

One year later we won't be here anymore

The server encountered an error few days ago. It was caused by a coding I've done more than 1 year ago. Spend time digging out old emails to see the things that we done. It was a small error and I managed to solve it quickly.

Then I suddenly remember..... My colleague and I already suspected that this thing might create an error 1 year later.

I still remember saying this to my colleague:
"Nevermind lah. One year later we won't be here anymore."

But we are still here one year later to fix that error that we suspect will occur.

BBC Twitter

Twitter is getting cooler and cooler each day.

We all know that Twitter is a micro-blogging too. You can update via IM, web or handphone. A SMS of will be send to your handphone if your friends update their Twitter.

We got Singapore Weather that give you the weather forecast.
We got Macworld Twitter which everyone can update info about Macworld.

Now we got BBC news!! Yeap. And a whole lot of them. Imagine.... BBC news on your handphone.

I'm wondering if I could copy the codes and use them on Channel News Asia and Todayonline. hmmm.....

So what's next for Twitter? I'm getting excited already. :D

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Wednesday, January 10, 2007

iPhone shuffle - Life is random

Everyone is excited about the new iPhone. Its just like the days when Steve announced the first version of iPod.

Based on the experience from iPod, I'm quite sure that Apple will release more version of iPhone in the future. Maybe with the same branding as iPod too.

iPhone mini
iPhone nano
iPhone video

I guess most of them will be around the same. Maybe just different harddisk space and screen size.

But as I ponder more about the future of iPhone, I was wondering..... Could Apple also release a iPhone shuffle too? Is it possible? Before iPod shuffle, we all thought its not possible that any MP3 makers would be able to market a MP3 player without screen. But Apple did what everyone thought is impossible.....

Imagine......
A iPhone without screen.
A iPhone that is smaller than a pack of gum and much more fun
A iPhone so cheap, nobody has any more excuses not to own a iPhone.
A iPhone that calls your friend on random!!!

iPhone shuffle - Life is Random.



If the respond is good, maybe Apple will release a clip version too. :)



Who will you shuffle call today?

iPhone



Everyone is talking about the iPhone that Steve revealed to the world yesterday. I was excited too. I stayed awake until 2:30am last night just to watch read steve's keynote. I couldn't load the live cast. I guess the server is overloaded with gadget freak all over the world. In the end, I have to settle with the live text commentary from macrumors and engadget. I could almost smell the iPhone by reading those text and seeing the pictures. No kidding.

What is the iPhone exactly?

What Apple has given us is not really new. Its actually a large screen PDA phone like the ones from HP, Dopod and O2. But all the current existing large screen PDA phone lack good interface. Perhaps it is because they are using window mobile and not their own firmware. That is why they are unable integrate the software and hardware to produce a good device. And also, their touch screen is not multi-touch.

But there are 2 features that are worth mentioning. The accelerometer sensor that detects if the device is at a portrait or landscape position, then automatically rotates display. And the proximity sensor which turns off the display when you put the iPhone to your ear. They are not really high technology stuff. Its infact just some simple sensors. When Steve talks about these 2 features, I was thinking to myself.... "Why didn't I think of that?" I bet many people around the world, especially handphone makers, have the same feeling too.

It is still too early to tell if this iPhone is going to be successful or failure. From the demo, we can see that they pretty much solved the problems encountered by existing PDA phone users.

But if the iPhone is really successful, then I guess it would had more or less nailed the coffin for Treo and Palm. I love Palm. I love my TX. I feel that its the best OS for PDA. But sadly, they lack the R&D to create something big.

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

MacDonald out of Curry Sauce?

I saw this twitter posting by mrbrown yesterday. Not sure if this a rumor or the truth.

MacDonald's are out of Curry Sauce for McNuggets, according to HWZ forums. This is a national crisis. Now you will have to eat them plain and taste ...

mrbrown


Hmmm... is this true? If yes, perhaps I can sell these at ebay.



At black market rate. $1 per pack. *evil laugh*

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It's a PDA

Went for RT today. My 2nd session. Supposed to be the 4th, but 31 Dec and 2 Jan are public holidays.

Well, as usual, we are suppose to surrender any laptop, PDA, thumbdrive or camera (inclusive of handphone with camera) at the guard room before entering the army camp. The most commonly surrendered item is the camera phone. Nowadays almost everyone got a phone with a camera.

I had my hand phone and PDA with me. So I went over the guard room, fill in a small piece of paper and pass the restricted items to the guard commander.

The guard commander looked at my PDA and pause for awhile. Then he looked at me and ask "What is this huh?"

*Slap forehead* It's a bomb detonator lah.

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60 days left



60 days to end of contract
17 Sat & Sun
2 public holidays
5.5 days of leave

Still need to drag my ass to work 35.5 times. Hope I don't get abrasion.

Got people say I'll renew my contract again.....

Macworld Twitter

Still wondering why a non-mac user me is subscribing to Macworld Twitter. To get my handphone flooded with Macworld news and be envy of the Mac side?

I seriously believe I belong to the Mac side. Why am I still using a PC?

PS: Remember to clear my handphone. Expecting tons of updates tonight from Macworld. Did I hear someone say iPhone? Hmmm.....

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How hub?

StarHub customers can get free access to Wireless@SG services through a Memorandum of Understanding reached between StarHub and QMax Communications. This collaboration will see QMax Communications extending its Free Basic Wireless@SG accounts to all StarHub customers. At the same time, QMax Wireless@SG subscribers can also access all StarHub hotspots for free.

Source: Starhub



How to login with Qmax id huh?

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Monday, January 08, 2007

Saguaro

Something big in the PalmOS world



Coming in 2007.

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Sunday, January 07, 2007

Meet up?

I don't really know him from poly. He is my friend's friend. We seldom talk, although I've help him once during the assignments. Haven't seen him since we grad from poly.

Got a SMS greeting on new year day from him. Quite surprised that he has my handphone number. I don't remember giving him my number. Even if I did, it would be 7 years ago. He kept the number for 7 years and decided to SMS me? Wow.

Then yesterday, he SMS me and ask if want to meet up.

hmmmm..... Let me guess. Either he is a insurance agent or in some MLM now.

Nah... no thanks.

Credit Card - The 2nd best C

Just got my HSBC credit card yesterday.

Credit card got to be the 2nd best out of the 5Cs.
Cash is the best C of all. (Obvious right?)
Car, Condo and Country Club are just liabilities.

The reason why I applied for HSBC credit card recently is because more and more places are giving discount when you make payment using HSBC credit card. To me, a credit card is like a discount card and a reward card. If I have to pay for the dinner or the item I'm going to buy, why not earn something in return? I always check if there is any discount for credit card at restaurants. And I always try to make payment using credit card to gain points.

Recently, I used my credit card points to exchange for a bag pack. That bag cost around $80, and I got it free because I'm always using credit card for payment.

I always recommend my friends to apply credit cards from Citibank and UOB. There are a lot of places that give discount for using those 2 cards. Recently, I notice that HSBC been giving discounts at many places too. That is why I applied for it. Oh ya, you can get $1 off GV movie ticket when you pay using HSBC card. I just did it today and save $2. :)

Some people might think that Credit Card is also a liability because of the annual fee. But annual fee can always be waived. Remember, the bank want you to have the credit card and they want you to spend with the credit card. This is because the bank earns a small percentage from the merchants when you use the credit card.

But credit card can be dangerous if you are not careful with it. Remember, never buy something with your credit card if you can't afford to pay when the bill comes. Never ever land yourself into credit card debt just because you can't control your spending. I've seen many friends landing themselves into trouble because of credit card.

Still remember a internet friend whom was quite close to me. She is those type who cannot control her spending. As a result, she couldn't pay the credit card company when her bills comes. To make the matter worst, when credit card A was due, she use credit card B to pay the bills. When B is due, she use A to pay. I've lost contact with her for almost 4 years already. Last heard that she was declared bankrupt. After she gone bankrupt, she cancelled her internet and handphone. We lost contact ever since.

Credit cards, if use wisely, can be a good leverage.

I always advice my friends to get a credit card from Citibank and UOB when they reached the income level. (Maybe HSBC too) It is a useful discount and reward card. After getting the credit card, do not overspend. Just spend as per normal. For those who find it hard to track their spending, the easiest way is to put aside the amount they spend on their credit card until the bill comes. This way, you will know when you overspend.

Remember, you can be a master of the credit card, or become its slave.

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Xtra Dangerous

Have you been to the new FairPrice Xtra at AMK hub?



I simply don't understand why they need to move into that building when it is not ready yet. Look at the picture, construction still taking place. OK, this is not the enterance to the building. They have another enterance at the side for shoppers. But some part of the basement is still under construction too. When you go to the basement, you can still hear all the drilling noise. When we walk pass one of the door, we saw some workers on ladder trying to fix the glass door. The building is not ready yet.

Yet FairPrice and some other store decided that they could actually move in now. Crazy. What if something falls down and hit the shoppers? Isn't there any law that says that a building can't open for business unless the building is completed?

My advice to everyone is, avoid going there now. Wait till the place is more or less completed.

Friday, January 05, 2007

Still that piece of paper

A colleague of mine was offered a 3 month contract renewal as her contract is ending in early Feb. She decline straight away. Usually, the company will give 1 year contract. The reason why she is offered 3 month contract is because our team does not have the headcount to keep her. Yet we need her to be around to help cover some stuff and maybe do a handover.

I wouldn't take it too if I'm her.

The thing is, another colleague had resigned recently and our teamlead is intending to hire a new staff to replace that position. It is a Senior Officer (SO) position. SO position requires at least a degree. No experience is required. Fresh grads can also apply. But the colleague who was offered the 3 month contract is a diploma holder, holding a Junior Officer (JO) position.

The problem is, there isn't really much difference between a JO and a SO's task in our team. Basically, JO and SO do almost the same stuff, but JO get lesser pay. The only thin that is holding her back from that vacancy is that piece of paper.

Sound crappy. It has once again proof that skill and experience is of no value in this company, and perhaps in many other places too. Everyone is looking at that piece of paper. She is capable of holding a SO position. Her performances in the past is the best proof. Her experience in the product is valuable.

Who would you choose if you are the boss? A diploma worker with experience in the company, or a degree fresh grad?

Why should the position of a person be bound by the qualifications? Why can't high performing JO be promoted to SO even if they don't have a degree? Is experience and performance worth less than a piece of paper?

The missing 2 cent

Spend several hours investigating why the results from the system is 2 cent more than the expected results. We know its not an error, its just different approach of calculating and rounding that causes the difference in 2 cent. But we need to find out exactly where the difference in rounding is and explain to customer.

And I still couldn't find the results. It is rather hard to simulate the whole calculation process. Too many numbers and too complicated. It would be easier to just deduct 2 cent from my salary to pay back to customer. No, deduct $1 from my salary and save me the trouble.

It is no long cost effective judging by the effort spend by me investigating this 2 cent issue. My monthly salary, if divided to derive my hourly pay is many many times higher this that 2 cent. It is just not cost effective to do so.

But I still need to find out why the difference of 2 cent and let customer know. Its not the money, but the accountability of the system. We must proof to the customer that its not a bug but just different way of calculation that causes the difference of 2 cent.

Its the creditability of the system. And that is worth more than a million dollar.

The joke that went too far

Those who knows me personally will know that I like to joke around.

But there are times when my jokes went overboard. I don't mean it. I was just joking around, and at that moment, more ideas comes along. So I just keep adding new ideas to the joke until it was too much for anyone to take. And when I notice that my jokes went too far, it was already too late.

Sorry. I know my jokes went overboard. I don't mean it. Hope you'll understand.

Year end problem

The long weekend causes some problems with banking.

A cheque that I deposited last friday was only cleared today.
A internet fund transfer from POSB to UOB made on friday is still pending. (Remind myself to check again few days later)
A credit card payment made on AXS wasn't reflected on the credit card's internet banking site. Called citibank and was informed that there was a delay from AXS.

I should avoid banking activities on the eve of long weekends and holidays.

Luckily, I wasn't charged twice when using AXS.


Some UOB customers charged twice for NETS transactions due to technical glitch

SINGAPORE : It was a bad start to the new year for some UOB customers, who discovered they had been charged twice, when they used their bank cards for a NETS transaction, on New Year's Eve.

The problem was later traced to a technical glitch in the bank's system.

For Jason Chua, the New Year was hardly a happy one.

He had used an AXS machine to pay a S$4,000 bill to UOB, using the bank's ATM card, only to discover on Thursday that he had been charged double the amount.

He said, "Of course it's affected me quite a lot. Yesterday I was out having dinner with my friends and I tried making payment through NETS but it was declined. At first I thought it was a machine problem, so this morning I tried to make a top-up through ATM for my EZ-Link card, but the transaction again didn't go through."

The payments, split into two over December 30 and 31, were reflected on his bank statement as transactions made on January 3.

And his was not the only case.

NETS and AXS received at least nine calls from affected customers on Thursday, who reported similar problems when they used their UOB cards on New Year's Eve.

In response, UOB admited that there had been a technical error which occurred during batch processing operations on Thursday morning.

As a result, some customers' transactions made on December 31 were affected.

UOB has apologised to these customers, and has taken the necessary steps to correct their transactions. - CNA/ms

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Wireless silence

In search of wireless@sg....



Where got again?

Appearantly, there seems to be a delay in the wireless@sg rollout. Places like Ang Mo Kio are suppose to be wireless@sg ready by 1 Jan 2007. But they aren't. IDA website has also removed the PDF map detailing the wireless@sg coverage. All we can find now is the list of location that were wireless@sg launch on 1 Dec 2006. These are actually existing wireless hotspot by Singnet, Qmax and iCell, but renamed to wireless@sg on 1 Dec to claim that we launched it 1 month ahead of schedule.

What is happening? Where are the big ones?

There is no announcement. Or did I miss the announcement? Or was it not suppose to be ready by 1 Jan 2007?

Why was there a fanfare when they managed to launch part of the wireless@sg on 1 Dec and yet it is so quiet when they miss the 1 Jan date?

I mean, I don't mind if its not ready, but the least they can do is announce that there is a delay.

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Where's the login button dude?



Ok, I should try with my notebook next time.

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Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Why We Want You To Be Rich

Few month ago, you would more likely strike the $10 million lottery than see me reading a book. But things has changed lately. I've been reading a book lately.



I got this book as a Christmas present this year last year. It's call Why We Want You To Be Rich by Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki.

I was attracted to this book because of Donald Trump. As some of you might know, I am a fan of The Apprentice. Find that it is an interesting show with meaningful lesson to be learn on each episode.

I like the way Donald Trump writes his book. That is why I picked this book as my Christmas present.

I'm not familiar with Robert Kiyosaki's work. I know he is the author of Rich Dad Poor Dad. But I've never read his books before. So I guess this book will be a good intro to Robert Kiyosaki for me.

Personally, I don't like Robert's style of writing. Robert is more of a story teller. His portion is usually longer and sometimes draggy. Sometimes, he would repeat a point that he has made a few chapter earlier. Some of his point were taken from his Rich Dad, Poor Dad book. Perhaps they are important points which he feels that is worth repeating.

Donald's style is quite different. He is always straight to the point, short and filled with lessons he learnt from experience. He made many references to Robert's point and add on to it.

Its interesting how 2 person with different writing style can come together to write a book. In fact, the sub-title of the book is very well written. Two men, one message. And they have a message in the book.

They want us to be rich so that we can solve the problem of the strinking middle class ourselves. The book doesn't tell us how exactly to get rich. It is up to us to find the way that suits us. It also tell us what is considered risky and what is not. And surprisingly, shares and mutual funds are considered risky. Because we have totally no control over it.

They also mentioned the danger that the US economy is in now. If I had read this book earlier, I wouldn't have started a USD Fixed Deposit. The exchange rates are falling and I'm making a paper lost now. Argh.

Sorry, I digress. Anyway, the book is about training our financial intelligence. Which is something that is not taught in school yet important in our life. Grab the book if you have a chance. I'm hooked on the book now. Already halfway thru the book and I think it has changed the way I look at things already.

Oh ya. Do visit their website and download the 2 audio files by Donald and Robert. They are great motivation and will change the way you look at things. You will need to register before downloading, but trust me, its worth the effort.

王力宏 - Kiss Goodbye

First heard of this song some time in mid 2006. Yes, I know I'm always slow when it comes to music.

And this song became one of my favorite song in 2006.



王力宏 - Kiss Goodbye

baby不要再哭泣
这一幕多么熟悉
紧握着你的手彼此都舍不得分离
每一次想开口但不如保持安静
给我一分钟专心
好好欣赏你的美

幸福搭配悲伤
痛是在我心交叉
挫折的眼泪不能测试爱的重量
付出的爱收不回
还欠你的我不能给
别把我心也带走
去跟随

每一次和你分开
深深的被你打败
每一次放弃你的温柔
痛苦难以释怀
每一次kiss you goodbye
爱情的滋味此刻我终于最明白

幸福搭配悲伤
痛是在我心交叉
挫折的眼泪不能测试爱的重量
付出的爱收不回
但欠你的我不能给
我才明白爱最真实的滋味

每一次和你分开
深深的被你打败
每一次放弃你的温柔
痛苦难以释怀
每一次kiss you goodbye
爱情的滋味此刻我终于最明白

我终于明白

每一次和你分开
深深的被你打败
每一次放弃你的温柔
痛苦难以释怀
每一次kiss you goodbye
爱情的滋味此刻我终于最明白

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Escape from Atlantis

Dig out this ultra old boardgame and started playing yesterday.



Its call Escape from Atlantis.

I thought this was a popular game in the late 80s. How come it seems like nobody heard of it before?

Monday, January 01, 2007

Rainbow 2007

Did anyone see the rainbow today?



There are actually 2 rainbow. The other rainbow is actually quite faded. Can hardly see on photo.

2 rainbows on the first day of 2007.
Is that a good sign or what?

I just don't like it

I just don't like it when people start going around telling others what happen recently.

It is about me. I should be the one spreading the news to my friends. How would you feel if your friends come to you and prode more about the news when you are wondering how in the first place he heard the new from? How would you feel if you are not ready to tell everyone the news yet and all of a sudden, everyone knows about it already?

If you need to spread the news on my behalf, the least you can do is ask me if it is alright or not first. Sometimes, there are things that are too early to announce.

Happy 2007

5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Happy New Year!!!!

And so, 2006 is over. Here comes 2007.

Funny. It feel like just couple of months ago when I countdown to 2006. Now its 2007 already. 2006 seems to pass very fast. Perhaps too fast for me to even sit down and enjoy it.

Happy New Year! Happy 2007.

PS: Its 5:30am now and I'm still wide awake. That is what happen when I drink too little beer. Perhaps I need a few more pint to make me feel sleepy. But I couldn't drink much today as I'm driving. Oh well....

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