Recovering and moving on...

Thanks for all the concerns. I am recovering, almost fully now. Still a little bit of lump somewhere, but the fever is gone 1 day after the extraction and at least my face is back to normal.

I am beginning to start chewing on that side now.

So Hari Raya is over... Looking forward to Christmas holidays. Well, this has always been the time of the year where most people are feeling happy and enjoying the holidays.

Work has been ok I guess. Not that there is much to do, since my replacement is supposed to have taken over everything from me, something that my boss re-iterated a couple of days ago. More like I am just sitting there, nothing to do except advise my replacement should he ask for it.

So I am now going to focus my time and energy in making myself happy, finish my mapping exercise and plan for my eventual move over. Something that will require a lot of planning.

This has probably been the biggest decision in my life so far, as I am not married. It's even bigger than quitting jobs or deciding what course to study in Uni.

Writing Blocks

Ok. I have tried my very best not to make this into a "Today I brushed my teeth" kind of blog.

Of late, I really do not have much to write about. Nothing funny in my life. Nothing interesting. Nothing much even about work.

Gosh, is my life really that boring ?

Wanted to make this blog about intellectual things. But seems like I am not thinking about much these days.

Or maybe my life is now hinging on the turning point sometime early next year, and thus everything pales in comparison ?

I wish I can start writing again... Or I might as well close this blog.

Happy Deepavali, or so I thought.

Today is Deepavali and is a public holiday. At least in Singapore.

Festival of light. I do need lots of light in my life right now. It's no big secret that I am intending to move over to Australia soon. Some time early next year.

And this has caused me anxiety and apprehension at the most inappropriate times. Sleepless nights, waking in the middle of the night, days when I suddenly question myself if I am doing the right thing.

But I guess at the end of it all, it is not all about money. We sometimes have to fulfil our other desires as well.

And recently, this issue has caused me other problems at work too - my boss.

(Haha.. Yes, I know some of my colleagues are reading this, but I guess I don't care anymore...)

You see, it is not secret among my colleagues that I am planning to move over. And when my boss asked me about it almost a year ago, I thought the best thing is not to lie about it (lest he heard from someone and I was caught lying to him.)

But all along I have been consistent and telling him that the earliest I would leave is March next year. And most probably by June.

Recently, my big boss (my boss' boss) has pushed me to go over earlier, trying to help me with getting a job in our branch office in Australia. He even mentioned, that since my replacement is already hired, I can go earlier.

But I can't, on personal levels. So I told my big boss that I could push it a little earlier and leave after Chinese New Year next year (which is going to be early Feb.)

Lo and behold, since I didn't update my boss about the "After CNY" thingie, and he has to hear about the news from his boss, he got angry with me.

I mean, WTF. After CNY and March - What is the few days difference ? Afterall, my boss hired my replacement since almost 2 months ago... I guess it is not the "time" that he is angry with, but the fact that I didn't tell HIM myself, and that he has to hear it from someone else.

So he is upset that I do not "trust" him ? That I am leaving him in the dark ? Afterall, it was just a few days after he came back from an overseas trip and I didn't have opportunity to chat with him.. Not like I would knock his door and just update him on this piece of "news"... I had other more pressing work to do.

So being angry with me, he doesn't want to talk to me. Must like school kids who "I don't friend you anymore" kinda attitude...

Anyway, end of the day, I now regret telling anyone in my office about it... I should have just kept my bloody mouth shut and just leave suddenly... That would probably show how much "trust" I have in him (my boss). Maybe he'd like that better ?

Adapting back to Singapore

Ok.. Been back for a few days.

First thing that I miss, is the nice weather.. and nice sun.. gave me a good tan.. :)
Then it is the quiet nights that makes sleeping more peaceful.

Work-wise, I have lost more passion. I am going to work just to make it easier for my dept. But then, do I make a difference ?

Found another thing to do. Probably take photos to sell on the Internet... Make my hobby pay for some of my bills ?

I owe, I owe, so off to work I go...

Work recently hasn't been that great. I am basically quite over-dosed with the feeling of being made redundant (and all the implications that comes with that.)

Positively regretted letting ppl (especially my boss) know about my plans. Again, my dear friend KOP proved to be right again that keeping these sort of things quiet should be the way to go, no matter how good a relationship I might have with my boss.

My boss is on a training spree for my subordinates, and my replacement has been hired.

Somehow, the impression that I am "mood" because I am leaving soon, seems to have taken roots, even though it might not be case.

Once the impression is set, every little thing can be viewed as a "proof" that the impression is right. I am starting to feel that I might as well just go with the flow...

My Terrible Week

This past week was hectic and miserable.

My boss was in an enthusiatic high of imparting his knowledge to everyone. And I mean EVERYONE. Last minute meetings were called, where his "just 5 to 10 minutes" lasted for 1.5 hours - causing me to break my daily routine of clearing my bowels in time for lunch.

His usual antics of "in 30 minutes time, everyone is to do a presentation on this topic" happened, and he promised it will continue to be like this for the next year or 2. His gift to us : To train us and for us to learn.

Everyone is stressed enough with so many things to do ; These add-ons doesn't make things easier as the things we all had to do had fixed deadlines.

And near the end of the week, one of my staff had to make a boo-boo that potentially can result in lawsuit. I do hope nothing will happen, otherwise, it will just make things difficult for me. (Where part of a manager's job is to take shit like this and shield the staff from upper management without affecting my own assessment.)

This coming weeks doesn't even being to look good either...

Nice View in Singapore

Though I always say Singapore doesn't have any nice views or places that can make me relaxed, once a while, I will stumble upon some interesting places or views that will brighten me up. Even if it is for just a while.

A while back, I went to an office for an event. While resting at the pantry having coffee, the scene from the window looks good (not great, but still good) :



A few hours later, the view changed to :

Plural of Antenna

I have always thought the plural of Antenna is Antennae. Somehow, I remember this for a long time.

When other people use Antennas, I always thought it was wrong.

Only until recently, I found both are actually correct.
Antennas is used when describing equipment, and antennae is used when describing living things.

From http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/antenna

an·ten·na (ān-těn'ə) Pronunciation Key
n. pl. an·ten·nae (-těn'ē)

1. 1. Zoology One of the paired, flexible, segmented sensory appendages on the head of an insect, myriapod, or crustacean functioning primarily as an organ of touch.
   2. Something likened to this sensory appendage, as in function or form: sensitive public relations antennae.
2. pl. an·ten·nas A metallic apparatus for sending or receiving electromagnetic waves.

Sian again...

Quarreled with my boss yesterday.

Throughout the whole thing, I get this message from him : "If the sales person(s) is not capable of ensuring that customers order enough for a product launch, it is the marketing dept's duty to be the check-and-balance... To check on the sales person(s)'s action to ensure marketing campaign is a success."

An entirely right "assumption", except for the facts that :

(a) Some sales people can do this "part" of their job automatically (also a logical thing to do), while others can't get it into their heads. I wonder why...

(b) My boss has shifted the entire "blame" to (i) me, for not "reporting" these lapses in the sales people to him and (ii) another sales person (and pretending to scold her in front of me) for failing to do her part, thereby diverting attention from what his 'favourite subordinate' has done (or in this case, has not done).

(c) My boss is passing sarcastic comments at me when trying to shift the blame to the marketing for not having enough stocks for a particular model.

What I am pissed at :

(1) The primary person who was supposed to do it didn't do it well, so the fault is with the "backup" for not (i) ensuring that the primary person did it and (ii) for not reporting it up to higher authorities.

[I mean, why wasn't the primary person reprimanded for not doing her job in the first place ? And passing comments like "I tried my best to train her, but she just can't be trained anymore. So I have to rely on you guys to monitor" is just passing the buck to me. Yet when one of my subordinate made a mistake that caused him to lose face in front of management, he wanted me to fire that guy by asking the "Do you think he is 'trainable' ?" question.

Still dare to end that comment with a "Do you want to try to train her?".

In case you are confused, the "her" I am referring to is the other poor unfortunate scapegoat sales girl that had her mistake discovered by my boss. Not my boss's favourite "her", who was never mentioned during the entire arguement.]

(2) Management by Sarcasm is a new management technique that I am sure my boss can be the authority to write a book on.

[And yet question why I am so defensive. If he can be passing sarcastic remarks to his subordinate (me), I think my basic entitlement/right is to defend my entire dept, who also happens to be HIS subordinates.]

(3) The sales people are supposed to be "Country Managers" and good business people, makes business decisions, who are highly-paid. (There are no "sales executives" types in our company.) My marketing dept people are just a bunch of back-end support staff who are not even paid commission.

If we screwed up, we have to be blamed. But if the sales people screw up, we STILL have to pick up the blame for not monitoring them ?

(4) When none of the sales people dared to forecast/commit to the qty of stocks they needed, we took the risk and the initiative to order more, based on our gut feel. And this is the thanks we get at the end of the day...

(5) His ability to pass comments that we came up with a campaign, spent money advertising, and not have enough stocks to get the revenue. (And if we had based on the oh-so-capable sales people's forecast, there would have been ZERO revenue.)

While he , just few weeks ago, wanted us to book 2 x half-page ad per month, on a major local newspaper, for a whole year (amounting to at least 2 times what I spent on the entire campaign). When asked why, he just wanted to "increase exposure" and "raise our image", and told us to come up with sometimes to put on the ad.

*~*~*~*~*

And oh yes, is this the right way to promote team-work between sales and marketing ? (That we inform higher authorities that the sales are not doing their part ? We just try to trash things out and if we work it out between us, why is there a need to complain ?)

Marketing is just a team of cheap labour to push every job and blame to ? And only keep the "high-class job" of entertaining, getting PO from customers, etc, as a sales' job ?

(And before you even dare to comment about me not knowing how hard it is to do sales, let me just state that I have been doing the same sales job-scope for more than 2 years, out of which 1.5 years has been with this current company. So I can safely say "Been there, done that ! I know what are my responsibilities.")

Oh wait. This episode just told me that even if the sales didn't get enough PO from the customers for a particular campaign that we planned, its our fault too !

Throughout all these years, The sales decides WHAT gets launched, WHEN it gets launched, and HOW MUCH MONEY to spend for the launch, for their countries. Not the marketing ! So isn't it a logical progression that they have been making such decisions therefore they should KNOW what needs to be done ? (And shall I say again, if they didn't do what needs to be done, it still is our fault for not checking on them?)

*~*~*~*~*

Time to start looking for another job... My peaceful times never lasts more than a month.
I can't do my job. Let see HIM find a "check-and-balance" backup for my job. Who can it be... the Logistic people ?

Coming back home from Jakarta

Early in the morning, we (my colleagues and I) received news that many areas of Jakarta is flooded and that highway to airport is not passable, except for some buses. It had been raining for the past 2 days.

But in the morning, the rain had stopped and we hope that the water level subsided a little. When we finally managed to get a cab at about 10, the streets were quite empty. It is very unlike Jakarta. That was because many people got stuck at home and couldn't get to work.

We went onto the empty highway, and thought the progress was pretty good and smooth sailing. And wondered where the flood might be, and whether we would really get stuck in a flooding cab somewhere.

At the second toll booth, the jam started. Roads were still dry, but the 3 -lane highway was just packed full and I think the average speed would be about 10-15km/hr. We also heard from other taxi drivers who stopped by the roadside, that water level was half the height of the car door. Oh shit...

After about another 30 minutes, we finally came to the test :



The level at the side looked scary. There was this VIP that was trying to get to the airport as well, and he had a police escort trying to expedite the way. But once they reached this flooded area, they had to follow the crowd too.

This VIP's outrider was obviously trying to keep his balance and not get swiped by cars avoiding the water



This was the front view. At least, the right lane wasn't so bad. Some taller vehicles tried to pass on the left, causing waves that shook the taxi I was in.



See the water level. That is an SUV. I can hear water gurgling under the floorboard of our taxi. An inch higher and our taxi would have been flooded.



We passed by a policeman. He was waving for cars to pass. Wonder why. There is only 1 lane and everyone is going through carefully.



When we reached the end of the flooded area, even this vehicle stalled. Luckily our taxi didn't.



We arrived safely at the airport at about 1pm. It took us a total of about 3 hours for a normally 50-minute journey.

We originally had the 7pm flight. Wanted to change to 5pm, but no confirmed seats available. We had wanted to arrive at airport earlier to standby for earlier flight, hoping to come home earlier.

Unfortunately, when we arrived at the airport, I guess almost half the passengers missed their 12.30 flight. They are all waiting for empty seats in the next few flights.

2.25pm flight was full. Some people missed their flight too, and about 20 of the earlier passengers got on. Still, that left about 70+ people (who missed their flight) to queue and wait for next few flights.

So our hopes of getting on an earlier flight were dashed. Wasted the whole day at the airport but still reached back Singapore at 10pm. *sigh*

Treasures found in Jakarta

Am in Jakarta for work.

This morning, I saw an advertisement on the papers - Krispy Kreme ! Yeah, finally I have another source for it.

After meetings this morning, went for lunch with colleagues and we had Japanese food at this fusion restaurant. Here are what I saw on the menu :





and they look like this :



Then after dinner, we saw this :



It is a full F&B outlet, serving coffee and other drinks, and chairs and tables. So we walked in and we bought these :



Of course, I just put a cap there for fun. My colleague and I bought a dozen assorted donuts each.

Its much cheaper too.. About S$11 per dozen.

I hope my dozen can make it safely back to Singapore tomorrow...

Rising Property Prices

It's in the news recently...
My boss has been talking about it recently, encouraging my colleagues to invest in condos and private properties...

He has 2 private properties now and just bought a 3rd. Intending to earn rental profits.

And here I am, being skeptical that it would all work out so well without risks. Risks to cash flow and others... Like what if property prices takes a nose-dive ?

Impossible ?

I don't know. If it is difficult to make money with HDB (all the subsidies, etc), can we make money with private properties ?

Or is it that it is easier to make profits with private properties because HDB has been loaded with regulations to prevent profiteering ?

Would I dare to do it ?
Do I have the money to do it ?
Am I missing out ?
Do I care ?

I don't know. I am not sure about Singapore's property market, the future, etc.
I don't know how to select good locations...

Is it so easy to make money out of property ?

I am in Bangkok again...

This time it is for work...

Time flies. Had been very busy the last few weeks. But that is not the reason why I have dropped in my blogging.

Call it blog fatique. Or just lack of ramblings. I don't know what to say anymore. And writing about what I do want to say doesn't give me any more satisfaction.

Anyway, fun to see that my GPS toy works fine in Bangkok, and I have the whole detailed map of Thailand. Pretty accurate too.

Unfortunately, the map is non-routable. That means I can only see where I am, and find places, just like a normal paper map. It doesn't tell me HOW to get from one place to another.

Routable maps cost a couple of hundred bucks. Not worth it.

Too bad then...

Work Banes...

My boss trying to get me. And worst thing is, he doesn't like to talk directly. It is always beating around the bush... Pass hidden messages.... Pretend to scold person A but actually scolding person B...

And my big boss today, after away for about a month, saw me and said something like "Oh. You are still alive ?" in a half-joking manner in Mandarin.

I mean, what the !@#$ ... I work in a place full of sickening people...

Oh, so my boss is demanding "passion" from us... Rather, he actually means me, while saying "you all" in front of everyone.

Let me see if I can cultivate some...

Banyan Tree - Finished

Ok. So my President's plane seat having no TV was a mistake. It was just faulty.

After my previous entry, I headed down for the official opening dinner. In our pre-dinner entertainment, there was fortune telling.

I had my fortune told. I will put it here, so that next time I can check if he is accurate. Hahaha.
It was by Tarot cards.

I remembered my first card was The Devil. 2nd card was The Fool (About my wealth, he told me.)

Now I can't remember all the cards, but essentially, he said I have no problems with making money, but I need to watch my budget, as my money is "easy come easy go". He probably saw through this with the Bvlgari ring I had on my finger, and an expensive looking Seiko watch on my wrist ?

I will make good career in the entertainment industry (like being an actor or something). Me ? Gosh. When he asked what job I am doing, I told him IT. He said then I should be doing more outbound, travelling kind rather than desk-bound, to progress in my career.

Told me that my career is good, good promotion in 2 years time if I am not already at senior or management level.

That I will get a sum of money around December. (Its the year-end bonus that he's referring to , I guess.)

That my love life will have a slight down-turn in February 2007.
And that my "girlfriend or wife" has some "manly" characteristics, (I think he is referring to stubborness, or just want to make decisions) and that may cause me to quarrel.

That my health is ok, but I should watch out for my liver.

Hahaha.

The dinner was nice and funny, with of course, my guests having a fun time trying to decide which were real girls dancing, and which were girls with adam's apple.

*~*~*~*~*

Next day, again conference in the morning and all the entertainment in the afternoon. Again, I tried to rest and didn't join any activity. Dinner was fun with "Pajamas party" theme at the restaurnant on the 59th floor. I think everyone enjoyed it, with sexy dancers and magician going around the tables.

*~*~*~*~*

Friday's conference was my turn to present, a short 15 minutes. Things were going smoothly. After the conference, I joined in the golf game. It was terrible, but that's not news.

Got dead drunk last night out partying after the dinner. This morning, woke up to a call in my suite (yes, after my CEO left, I took over his upgrade Premier Suite).

A voice told me that I am supposed to check out and meet at the lobby at 8am.
I said ok.
She said "It is now already 8am."
I said "Ok. Coming down."

I jumped up, washed up and showered, THREW everything into my luggage back, put on some clothes, and went down to check out. 8.20am.
All with a throbbing headache. Argh ! Hang over !

Aww man ! I haven't gotten this drunk since a similar conference 5 years ago. That time, I slept through all the alarm clocks and phone calls. Someone came to my door and BANGED at it real hard and loud for 5 minutes before I woke up.

Had I been that state in this morning, I am sure I will not be able to hear the doors banging. (Yes, that is how big the suite is.) They will have to break the doors down. (Noticed I used the word "doors", because the entrance is w-i-d-e.)

I think overall, it was quite successful, and everyone is happy, I think. Have yet to hear any major complaints.

Ok. Time to recover, probably more admin work to settle, and the beginning of a new set of challenges.

Updates from Banyan Tree

*sigh*

Finally can have a short sigh of relief for a while.

Yesterday has been hectic, but luckily I had outsourced most of the hard work. I have people flying in from morning all the way till past mid-night :

1. Ensuring everyone gets on their proper transport,
2. Ensuring everyone checks into their rooms,
3. Ensuring everyone has their customized welcome package with T-shirts and name-tags in their rooms,
4. Hearing about how my President's economy seat is the only one on the place that has NO TV set (is that even possible ?)
5. How he has to be the lucky one to get that seat, if it is indeed true.
6. How my President changed his room because it faced the main road and he is afraid of noise, (And how my CTO stays just 1 level above, but he said the room is quiet).
7. How my President is anxious that his boss (my CEO) arrives nicely and well taken care of, try to book a masseur for him, etc,
8. Still chasing some presenters for their slides,
9. Touching up their slides to ensure readability in large conference room,
10. Ensuring that more food is prepared as many feedback (including from my CEO) that fingerfood, though free flow, is not filling,
11. Ensuring that the Thai delegates (who didn't have visa from their wifes to stay in hotel) gets their packages before they leave the welcome cocktail,
12. Putting up seating arrangements for 96 seats,
13. Ensuring a spare notebook with all the slides updated and ready to replace the primary notebook in case of failures,
    
14. Very glad that I was asleep when my organizers were welcoming 21 guests at 2am and changing T-shirt sizes of those who couldn't fit into their XXL.

And today, I think the opening of the conference ran ok, except my President was sitting beside me and asking me lots of questions that he would have the answers to, if he bothered to read our painstakenly-produced guidebooklet for all.

The conference overshot by 45 minutes, had to rush the golfers off to their course. Now, I am just hoping that they can make it back in time for dinner plans (at 8pm). But I guess, with the traffic, and the late start, I am asking for too much. I just hope they are not too late in joining us for the offical opening dinner.

Re-arranged the seating arrangements for tomorrow, ensuring everyone has opportunities to sit with their respective sales people (and it has to be fair, because some customers are easily jealous of competitors being the "favoured") and ensuring everyone alternates between sitting near the screen and far away from the screen.

Now I am in my room (finally !) a couple of hours of breather, hopefully I can catch a nap, while I hope tonight's events turns out well.

2 and a half more days to go...
A hundred and one things can go wrong...

I still have yet to memorize and rehearse my slides for my presentation on Friday...
2 more presenters on that day have yet to give me their slides...

My Official Banyan Tree Trip

Ok.. After my recce trip a month back, tomorrow I am setting out for the actual conference.

Already, stress level of big boss is quite high, with some being passed down.

Then a colleague had to be an ass and assume many things, and just because the conference happen to be in Thailand, he can just invite anyone he wants, from Thailand, without even checking with the organizers (that's my department, in case you still do not know).

Still had the cheek to say that we didn't make it clear who we are NOT inviting. I mean, come on. If I didn't invite them, it means I didn't invite them. If you want to invite them, please check with me first. Don't assume that the seating capacity will be enough, and only tell me today that I didn't make it clear that they are not invited.

I will wait till he gives a house warming, and then I will invite some people that I think he ought to have invited. Then tell him, he didn't tell me NOT to invite those people he didn't invite.

But then, don't think a parsimonious like him will hold any house warming party, anyway.

Still have many things to do : seating arrangements for 2nd day is not done up. I still haven't gotten the slides of all the presenters. Still have to buy wine when I reach BKK. And I hope nothing crops up, nor any of the guests have any complaints.

*sigh*

Wish me luck. Mission starts in 12 hours.

Snippets of Updates II

Changed my tyres to Dunlop Direzza DZ101. Looks good, though I thought it was a little quieter, I think it is just me.

Didn't want to waste money on the rims though, cos the current one is still good. Not sure that spending money on the new lighter rims will save much on petrol. Anyway, I ahve a long time to find out. Next change of tyres, I will probably change rims. Typical engineer mentality - change one factor at a time. See of tyres and Nitrogen makes a different.

(Ok. So some of you may say I a naive to believe that Nitrogen-filled tyres is going to make a lot of difference, but hey, comes "free" with the tyres, free top-ups of Nitrogen, free tyre rotation every 10kkm, free puncture repair, up to 5 times. Just take it and see if it really affects my FC.)

So problem solved.

*~*~*~*~*

Tomorrow, I will be going to Banyan Tree, Bangkok. Sort of business + leisure trip. So I will be enjoying myself the next few days. Ha !

Some Updates

Work :
Getting rather tired. Don't feel motivated at all. I don't know why. I need to strike TOTO !

Family :
Brother still got married. Without our family's participation though.

Personal :
Feeling lethargic most of the time.

Hobby :
I think I found a suitable casing for my Car-Cam project. Lets see how things go.

Snippets of Updates

At work

I guess nowadays, work saps most of my energy. It is not the physical work that is tiring. I mean, how tiring can it be, clicking on the mouse the whole day.

It is the thinking part. The part where I have to think about how to train the new guy ; How to do new things that will make my department treasured and valued ; How to bring new concepts to life ; How to deliver stunning results ; How to right what is wrong....

But I am thinking too far ahead. I have to first think of how to get everything organized and have proper tracking. Things in the company is just too messy at the moment. And everyone is just too busy clearing work, there is not time to think and brainstorm.

The only time I can do that, is in the shower.

At Home

Things are going on as usual. My brother's wedding is drawing near, and things are still not that settled. Well, not my problem.

My father is finally going to take up the citizenship, after decades of being a Singapore PR. Digging through old documents, I found out that my maternal grandmother's citizenship was considered "British Subject" when my mum was born.

My Hobby

I needed to buy some stuff off the Internet and out of Singapore. This is where I get to know how famous Singapore has become. I give Singapore another hub-status award. Fraud Hub of Asia. We are among the few countries that are blacklisted together with countries such as Indonesia and Nigeria.

What an accomplishment !