Internet Communication

With the Taiwan Earthquake, 6 undersea fibre optic cables were damage causing Asia Internet Access to other region crippled.

For us, IT workers, this really slow us down, loading a page may take minutes.

Worse of all, some analyst expects the repair work may take 2-3 weeks. That is very bad.

Sometime, I think of the world with no Internet, will it be better or worse? haha. It will be take more effort to research for info and lesser sharing to be refered. But, on the other hand, the working life may not be that stressful, like 15 years ago. When computer (during the XT era) are standalone machines. At most connect to Bulletin Board using 56Kbps modem. Well, that is a dream. Everything will evolve and must evolve, changed must be embrace or risk falling behind. That is our life.

Clearing Leave

Great, things seems better now.

Project is consider stable compare to before.
Support was trained to help.
Workplan and role has been clarified (not totally and never will be clear, but at least clearer)

And I am going to clear leaves starting tomorrow and only return to office next Monday.
Needed the break to rest greatly.

I am not going for any tours, but will be relaxing at home, read a few books, watch a few videos, play some PC games, I guess, just doing things I enjoyed.
:-)

Tired....

Another long period of zero posting.

If you care, I am still alive.

The last 2 weeks has been nightmare. (really having nightmares most night)
Only slept 2 hours yesterday night, solving server error throughout the night.
And now I am still preparing Powerpoint for tomorrow's presentation.

I am not suppose to do administrator and support works, and yet I am doing it.
Why? because I front the management and users and became the large stakeholder.
And so our dear vendor takes advantage to make full use of me.

To be fair, the new helpdesk support team onsite have good attitude, especially the VIP support.
But avoiding responsibility to officially take ownership of the administrator work, the engineer team is just not reasonable. Busy? I am even more busy! I know why, of course! Because we do not issue a VO to your company for this project. I do not blame you, business means money but by fair to me too. Give and take, I have hold up your responsibility for a month already. I am even being question by my boss that why I am not doing my strategy but running around doing hands-on works. Sigh....

I hope everything will be fine soon. It will, I am sure.
:-)

Bless me for a night of peaceful sleep, ok? Thank you!

LDD, Happy birthday!

Tomorrow is the birthday of my HK blogger friend, LDD.

LDD, I wishes you a happy birthday and a most fruitful year to come.
:-)

Today's feeling.

Today is a busy day. (watched 'Happy Fee' yesterday and have a refreshing sleep)

Installed for 4 happy users. They are really appreciating for what we have done.
I am happy.

I also get scolded by a nasty user. She claims that the mobile mail did not work and I replied that I will take note and check. Since it is a trial, they are bound to be issues.She do not agreed and insisted that the product should work when we trial. (I wonder whether she got the defination of trial right? if so, that is a production system, not trial.)

I did a formal reply to her cc to my bosses. My direct boss later tell me that my email is too soft, and not to make it a habit. He explained that you will get 'eaten' if you are too soft.

I felt his backing and he has been earning my respect during the last few months. I appreciate that.

Also, a sister agency's manager called me and wish we can share info on this project with them. I am very glad that our work has caught attention even outside our organisation. I hope all will went well.

But the servers seems to be unstable when more and more trial users are added to the system. I will have to source for a replacement soon. Our 'partner' in the project has been supplying us servers older than the 1st server I setup in the organisation which is more than 6 years ago. that is just plain dumb.

I better have a good rest today. As there are more challenge tomorrow. Rest well, me!

Just drop a note....

Eden tells me to drop a note to let everyone knows I am ok.
Thanks.

I am ok. This week will be a busy but fruitful week, as more users will be joining my mobile mail project.

As for something to look forward? I have the Emil Chow concert on Saturday! I also wish to watch 'Happy Feet' to relax my tired mind.

As for books, I am reading the book on coming motion picture 'Eragon'. I am always facinated by stories on Dragon, Magic and adventure.

Thanks, Carrie, LDD and Ruth for not bored by the lack of entries.
:-)

Time flies...

Will my update rate.... I am expecting to have less readers....

If you read this entry, thank you.
:-)

November is pasting fast, the feeling come mostly from work.

The Mobile Mail project already on with 3 top management testing it, and expecting to have around 10 more to participate by latest next week.

With the IBM engineer resignation, and the not very-keen committment from the vendor, I am looking after the configuration myself now. I wanted to do a good job.

A very sad incident happen yesterday at work.
Admin department wanted to sent a email to seek approval of absorb the cost for data plans in the trial. I have drafted most of the mail especially the objective, the solution, architecture, choice of software, evulation criteria. Admin only adds in the cost. But because the approval is for money for their department, they wanted to sent which I am fine only requesting that they cc me in the mail. I do not know whether it is accident or intentional, Admin head actually sent the mail, with cc to some of the management without my name, and tell me that he 'forget'. Stealing limelight? may be, but I will never find out.
Just have to tell myself, 'it is ok, don't fight for personal glory, go for win-win success'.

Still have 2 more tasks outstanding.
1) Sharepoint trial's scope and requirement gathering
2) My role, strategy and plan for the next 2 years.

It is going to be interesting (will look at the positive side)

The mobile mail has been updating me with mail within a minute of arrival. I have to turn it off from 8pm to 8am, so that I have some quality time for myself away from work and has a peaceful sleep.

I really want to watch the anime 'EarthSea Legend' which I knew Hong Kong showed, but Singapore has totally no news about it. Sigh......

Russell's 4 year old birthday

Tomorrow is Russell's 4 year old birthday!

(Song)
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to Russell!
Happy Birthday to you!
(Song)

Continue: Hong Kong Trip

After taking some time to resolve the problem with the memory card, I manage to get the remaining photos at last.

Here is some photos from Macau. Their almond biscuit is so nice.
:-)

What Gender Is Your Brain?

Your Brain is 47% Female, 53% Male

Your brain is a healthy mix of male and female You are both sensitive and savvy Rational and reasonable, you tend to keep level headed But you also tend to wear your heart on your sleeve

What Gender Is Your Brain?

Back from Hong Kong

It is 6 days since I return from Hong Kong and were busy catching up with works, even now.
It has been a peaceful and relax stay in Hong Kong, which only focus on a day in Macau and a day in Lantau Island, and all other days are just casual walks from a place to another.

I am very happy to meet up my blogger friend, LDD and Carrie, during the stay, although a bit disappointed that Ruth is in Japan and Hyacinthus is in Las Vegas.

Also bought some Almond Cookies and Lau Po Pastry for my colleagues.

The following is some of the pictures took during the trip.



In Memory of Anita Mui & Leslie Cheung (Avenue of Stars)


Beauty Contest in a Shopping Center.


The giant Buddha at Lantau Island


Cable Car at Lantau Island

Its seems that I have some problem with the photos after Lantau Island, since using the camera to take video clips, will try to savage them in the next few days.

Hong Kong Trip is near.

I will be visiting Hong Kong on Saturday, leaving Singapore at 3pm and will return on the subsequent Friday very early morning.

I look forward for the break very much, but on the other hand, with the newly started project, I do like to keep it monitor closely at this critical stage. Now I am thinking whether to bring my laptop along or not.

Also, I will be miss the Saturday's Disaster Recovery Exercise and Monday's 'meet the new Chairman' session. Will have to get more details when I am back.

Busy but exciting

It seems like some energy is coming back now, mainly due to projects are starting at the same time.

Mobile mail solution will require me to produce a business case to MD, and check with various sister agencies for tapping on their experience with solutions they are using.

Enterprise Search project may have some changes, it seems hardware are secure for proof-of-concept, but vendor may be more than one for trial. Hope fully, this does not mess up the plan too much.

Enterprise Backup Project is moving, thanks to my powerful operation manager. Schedule are tight but it is moving a last. One more person has been drafted in to backup the main person-in-charge who is also the bottleneck due to his heavy workload. DR server upgrade will postpone by 1 day to faciliate the Disaster Recovery Drill on next Saturday.

And I am suppose to evaluate Microsoft Sharepoint, checking the feature for Document management, portal and search area. Another new product to work on.

It is going to be more exciting now, but hopefully, I can shoulder them. At least, I felt I am working again.

Feeling needed

Today is a satisfying day.
It has been a long while since I feel I am needed in work

The Mobile Mail Project is getting a lot of response now.
Admin and ICM is also helping out.
There are a lot of activities to get the trial handsets, susidarised data plans, and the solution moving with solution and internal vendors.

I have also made significant clarification in my role and targets today with boss.

Hopefully, things will get better.

Miserable work

I felt very depress now, for work again, of course.

Submited a Ops paper (the 3rd time on the same topic) successfully. Shoule be happy right? No, although it is vetted and support by my big Boss, a manager says that I am inviting questions.

Questions is fine, right? Everyday, we ask question to get thing going.
But I guess it is not fair for her to answer all these questions when she attend the meeting representing the department.

As for a existing project, I am totally losing it. I lost control on making the team work according to plan, and control how things flow. Basically, I think I have no leadership at all.

Feel tiny now, low self esteem, loosing faith.

I am not sure how long I can continue in this new role anymore.
But I am sure everywhere and everyday such things is happening.

It is not my 1st day out working, why am I feeling so bad?
I am taking it so hard and personal now, I must calm down and re-organise again.

Lovely Musical :"Forbidden City : Portrait of the Empress"

I have not posted any blog for sometime, life is simply dull, with unhappy news pouring in. But there is still a bit of joy during this period, they are
1) My 'used-to-be' golf partner just have a daughter, I am happy for him
2) Watched 2 acceptable movies: 'Monster House'(animation), 'The Host'(Korean)
3) Most of all, last Friday's Musical : "Forbidden City : Portrait of the Empress" fill the grey world with colours.

Dick Lee (composer) is just brilliant! The songs suits the background and the emotion of all the scenes, and the best of all, it makes the lyric so easy to listen. I could not catch all of the Lyrics for most Broadway performance, but for this musical, I could hear them loud and clear, may be because Dick is a Singaporean and know the taste of Singaporean?

The weakness of the performance is on the other hand, is also language. The mandrain subtitles has so many wrong words (although the pronounciation is the same), it is laughable to most chinese educated people.

Kit Chan, the leading Singer, is wonderful! I have always like her performance since her performance with Jacky Cheung in 'Snow, Wolf, Lake'.

The performance has successfully encompasses most of the emotion in life, happy, sadness, betrayal, fear, anger...

I am so glad I did not miss this performance and sure it cheer me up a bit. (I drafted this entry while listening to its soundtrack)

Summary of the week

Monday on medical leave, and recovered fully on Thursday. Thanks all of you for leaving comfort comments on my blogs. :-)

Work has begin to pick up speed this week, 4 projects on hand.
1 is on going project, 1 just kick-off, with 2 on going active feasibility studies.
Nothing really interesting happen at workspace, although the same disappointment to work efficiency at the workspace.

Today, I went to help a friend's company to clean Computer Virus, it feel good to be needed and useful. After that, I also have a short gathering at my house with 2 ex-colleagues that I know for 10 years, good to stay in touch. At least, today is a meaningful day.

Lately, there isn't any incident to feel happy, nor any special incident that feel sad, other than disappointments. Life is basically the same day in, day out. I look forward for some changes, I think it may be time to attend some course of my interest to spice up my life.

No SunShine Today

I am not feeling well since last Thursday and I am totally fallen sick with fever today. Hope I can recover soon. :-(

BLOG接力遊戲 ~ 書TAG

Thank you, Hyacinthus.
Here you are.

1.一本你不只讀了一次的書
Because I always revert back to my pessimistic character after a while, I tends to do read Andrew Mattews' 'Being Happy!' often.

2.一本你如果身在沙漠時想讀的書
Should be a map or desert's survival Guide. :-)
See, the title with desert make me relate to lost in desert, which nothing mentioned about being lost, I am sure pessismistic.

3.一本令你發笑的書
That isn't much books I read recently that make me laugh. I tends to laugh while watching Japan Anime recently. So about books, it will be Doraemon Comics, which I have a lot during my childhood. Now I only collect the VCDs of its Movies. (only movies, not the 20 mins per episode story)


4.一本讓你哭的書
There are quite a number of books that make me cried.
'Tuseday with Morrie' by Mitch Albom is one of them.

5.一本你希望是自己寫的書
If I can write 'Mars & Venus : Together Forever', may be I will be able to be happily married still.

6.一本你希望從未寫就的書
Nil.

7.一本正在讀的書
I have been reading a lot of technical articles, white papers and Gartner reports. But for book, it is the pocket size book 'The little book of Advanced Sudoku - Volume three'. It is the hardest so far, after a few books that I tired.

8.一本讀來有意味的書
As it is usually able to relate to our working environment, I will choose books from the 'Dilbert' Series.

9.一本改變你一生的書
If a few more zeroes is added in it, perhaps my bank account book is the one, else there isn't any yet.

Sad : St. Petersburg Trinity Church on Fire

Having visited Russia just a few months ago, when I heard the news on 25th August that the Trinity Church in St. Petersburg caught fire, my heart sank. I hope this ancient beautiful building can be restore to its former glory.

P.S.: noted that Wikipedia has updated on the fire, it is so efficient.

Work : Enterprise Search

For the last few weeks,

I have evaluated quite a few product, and most of them are quite effective.
- Lotus Nomad (Lotus Notes client on USB)
- Windows Live Search Toolbar
- Google Desktop Seach Toolbar
- Google Spreadsheet
- Writely : Web Word Processor Application
- McAfee SiteAdvisor

Also, I went deeper with the research on Enterprise Search Product.
Enterprise Search product are a search engine that is able to search through all sources defined, such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Enterprise Resource Management (ERP), Enterprise Content Management (ECM), email, files, Intranet Web Applications, Relational Databases (RDBMS), etc.

I refer to the Garnter reports on Oct 2005, it identified that Autonomy, Verity, Fast search and transfer, Endeca as the 4 leaders in the markets. While Autonomy acquired Verity in Dec 2005, it left 3 companies. OF course, they are a lot of challenger in this market too, as this technology has been rising in demand when information is growing so fast and the need for a fast and accurate search will give the business edge.

So far, Autonomy has demonstrated the product. it is very impressive. I have never know that a search engine can be that powerful and used in so many way. Fast Search and Transfer will demo in the coming week while I have contacted Endeca too.

Product should not be a issue. The harness of support and performing proof of concept will be much more challenging as it will be working with all IT systems on the organisation so as to index all information. I look forward for the challenge.

Longan Tofu

My mum make 4 bowl of Longan Tofu for me yesterday, they are so delicious. Yummy.

System Recovered

After enduring a few months of my PC doing system reset by itself, I have enough of it and decided to investigate the cause.

My actions :
1) Download Memtest86+ at http://www.memtest.org/
2) Install the floppy version to a bootable floppy disk
3) Reboot and run the test

The result is kind of funny, errors happened in 2 out of 8 passes (with each pass having 8 different memory tests). It is irregular as should the memory failed, every test should have the same result.

Follow up :
1) Open the PC casing, remove 1 of the 2 memory card (I am using 2 x TwinMOS DDR400, dual channels)
2) Reboot and run test agains

This time the result (after 4 passes) shows that everything is fine, although due to a memory card removal, dual channel access has reduced to a single channel, thus memory access speed is dropped.

Finally :
1) I replace back the memory card and test again

The time the result (after 4 passes) are fine again too.

I have no conclusion for that, and so I let it run for another 48 hrs while using bitcomet to download stuff (fully utilise the idle time).

So far so good, it has not been resetting itself again since then. Well, I consider myself lucky and I want it to at least work till next year when Microsoft Vista is released and Core 2 Duo processor stabilised.

where is the blogs?

It seems like a lot of us bloggers are slowly down in posting (except SWJ who is so diligent on her blog).

Is it because
a) Nothing interesting /no feeling to write?
b) No time to write?
c) Don't want to share?
d) Get sick of writing after a while?
e) Plain lazy? Not feel like writing...
f) All of the above?
g) Some of the above?
h) None of the above? It is because ________

For me, it is g) which is a)+e).

conversations that I dislikes

Here are some of the conversations that I really very dislike to continue.
1) Uncaring, not sentitive to feeling (indirectly hurting you)
2) Self Center talks (everything also I, me, my work, my company, my boyfriend, ...)
3) Expect you to know everything or trying to make use of you (manipulating, such as 'you tell so and so, I want to meet him, etc....')
4) Hostile, threatening
5) Arrogant, boostful (such as 'I always do this because I am good, so and so also know and praise me, bahbah....')

Talks that I prefers :
1) Caring, sentitive (you will feel the warmth even through voice and words)
2) Open minded, intelligent, constructive (make you think, not agree)
3) Shared favourite topics

If none of the above, then they are mostly the unavoidable social chats.

Meaningful Lines

It has been 4 stressed and busy days.

Today, I saw these 2 lines at a colleagues desk.
"Be not afraid if you are moving, even if it is very slowly"
"But have fear if you are no moving at all"

Yes, I am slowly moving now with the efforts put in, so have no fear!
It is better to be slow than not at all.
Must have faith.

Story : Rich? Poor?

One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the
express purpose of showing him how poor people live.
They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.
On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?"
"It was great, Dad."
"Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked.
"Oh yeah," said the son.
"So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.
The son answered:
"I saw that we have one dog and they had four.
We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end.
We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night.
Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon.
We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight.
We have servants who serve us, but they serve others.
We buy our food, but they grow theirs.
We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them."
The boy's father was speechless.
Then his son added, "Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are."
Isn't perspective a wonderful thing? Makes you wonder what would happen if we all gave thanks for everything we have, instead of worrying about what we don't have.
Appreciate every single thing you have!

Firework

Today is Singapore's National Day.
During this period, there is also a Firework Festival going on.
Yesterday is the 2nd presentation of Firework. by Singapore. The 1st is from Italy which presented a few days before.
I missed the Italian's master work but I am present for my country's.

Movies : Click & Lady in the Water

This week, watched 2 movies. I have not much expectation on both of them, especially 'Click'. But to my surprise both are very good movies, especially 'Lady in the water'.

I watch 'Click' because I wanted to relax and thought that since it is movie by Adam Sandler, it should be a comedy. It is, for the 1st half, but it get really serious since the mid point and it actually drove me to my tears at the end. The theme of the show is good, if you can bypass all your unhappiness amd undesirable portion of your life, what will you get? Or should I say what will you missed? When the character did so much fast forward, he actually reached the end of his life so far, he also missed seeing his dad for the last time, he lost his wife's love, and too much others. A touching show that means a lot.

I watched the 'Lady in the water' taking it as a simple horrow firm. It is also partially true. But the plot is so well written that it is full of twists and with a happy ending, may be because it is from the famous writer, M. Night Shyamalan. The part when the characters trying to figure out their roles in the rescue of the 'lady in the water' is the best part. I do not want to say much on the plaot but I recommend this movie greatly.

Rollerblade

Since my golf partner is studying on Sat now, I am trying something new for myself. Rollerblade, yes. Has been trying for 1 week. Today, I went out to practise brake and turn, ouch, fallen 3 times and I am still practising on flat ground, glad that I am wearing my wrist, elbow and knee guards. Too old for that? May be, but don't want to wait till older. Time is short, let's bring some color to it.

Poem : Slow Dance

This is a chain mail received. The poem does have some meaning in it.
So instead of chainmailing it further, I put it up here.
Since the objective is to spread it, guess this does not hurt.

This poem was written by a terminally ill young girl in a New York Hospital.
She wants to see how many people get her poem.
It was sent by a medical doctor.

SLOW DANCE

Have you ever watched kids
On a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain
Slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Do you run through each day
On the fly?
When you ask How are you?
Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done!
Do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores
Running through your head?
You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Ever told your child,
We'll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste,
Not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time
To call and say,"Hi"
You'd better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift....
Thrown away.
Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over.

Thoughts

Saw LDD's blog just now. Just realise that I have not been drinking at home (with myself only) for sometime. (Ok, occasion having a beer at home is excluded). Guess, I am not too sad or happy recently. The most common emotion is stress, and stress do not really make me urge for a drink.

I have wanted to 'concoct' a 'potion' or two the past few nights, but has not done it yet, guess I do not really have the mood to do it and I have also not been experimenting new recipe too. May be it is time to catch up a bit. I am feeling a bit better now (from the stress), hope this trend will continue.

2nd Visit to Hong Kong soon.

Hello,
I have confirmed my leave from 23 Oct to 27 Oct.
It will be likely a visit of 6 days 5 nights, from 21-26 Oct or 22-27 Oct.

Tell me if you have advice for my visit.

I look forward to meet some of you. See you soon.

Musical : Cabaret

Last night, I attended the Musical : Cabaret, starring Fei Xiang & Emma Yong. The acting and singing is good, but the songs are not as breath-taking as the more famous Broadway classics. The ending is a bit rush too. Overall, I will rate it above average. The setting is in Berlin, Germany during the rise of the Nazis, and it is about the people living during this age of darkness. It contain adult themes and thus is restricted to above 15 years old.

P.S. : At last, the 'Lake House' and 'The lady in the water' begins to show. I wish I have time to watch them. Also, due to a lot of unhappiness recently, I picked up my book 'Being Happy' (by Andrew Mattews) and read it again. It has begin to work its magic on me already, feeling much better.

Karaoke

Last Saturday afternoon, I went to karaoke for 3.5 hrs. I have not sang for more than 5 years easily, I never knew I still have the courage to sing, thanks for not critising my singing. I sang a few chinese and cantonese songs, but English songs is always my weakest link. Haha. I especially like Ronald's '无赖'.

That day, you seems to be sad although you did not show it. Is anything bothering you? You will be flying off to China on early Thursday, have a nice trip and make sure you enjoy it, ok?

Zpop Concert 2006

Today, I am very frustrated with the progress of the vendors, and they never even keep me updated and they do not know what changes has been done and what is the impact. I have to manage this project and yet I am not suppose to enter the server room because my new role does not require me to have the access. My direct boss is asking me to return the project after a milestone, I will be 100% glad to do so. But my former boss will be on a 1 month overseas trip soon. I guess I will try not to burden her while she is on it. So, that will means I will have to take care of it for another 1.5 months. Sigh...

This incident did spoil my mood in attending the Zpop Charity Concert 2006. Staring Jeff Chang, Harlem Yu, Fish Leong and Jolin Tsai. I find Harlem singing especially well, although my favourite is Jeff and Fish. My friend feels Jeff is the best. Well, guess I have listened too much Jeff's music on CD and the sound system at the concert is not good enough to come near to his standard I expect. Overall, I enjoyed it although my mood is still gloomy. (I know , it is not healthy. That is why I blog! To release my emotion. I will feel better after this)

The songs I like most is Fish's '可惜不是你', I feel so touched and fragile that tears basically filled in my eyes. (Yeah, I am a cry baby, I know. I may look tough outside, but I am extremly fragile at time. I have put up the song to share with you, click play at the top if it doesn't.)

这一刻突然觉得好熟悉
像昨天今天同时在放映
我这句语气原来好像你
不就是我们爱过的证据
差一点骗了自己骗了你
爱与被爱不一定成正比
我知道被疼是一种运气
但我无法完全交出自己
努力为你改变
却变不了预留的伏笔
以为在你身边那也算永远
仿佛还是昨天
可是昨天已非常遥远
但闭上双眼我还看得见
可惜不是你陪我到最後
曾一起走却走失那路口
感谢那是你牵过我的手
还能感受那温柔
那一段我们曾心贴着心
我想我更有权力关心你
可能你已走进别人风景
多希望也有星光的投影
努力为你改变
却变不了预留的伏笔
以为在你身边那也算永远
仿佛还是昨天
可是昨天已非常遥远
但闭上双眼我还看得见
可惜不是你陪我到最後
曾一起走却走失那路口
感谢那是你牵过我的手
还能感受那温柔
可惜不是你陪我到最後
曾一起走却走失那路口
感谢那是你牵过我的手
还能感受那温柔
感谢那是你牵过我的手
还能温暖我胸口

Destress

One of my way to detress is to watch VCD/DVD/Movie.

Last night, watched the box office buster : Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.
I like the first show a lot. This is good too, but I still prefer the first one better. I do not like some parts of it, especially when Elizabeth chained Captain Jack Sparrow on the black pearl and leave him for that. That is just super discouraging when a coward such as him is willing to be the right things for once, all he get is a betrayal? Sigh... There is just not enough good people out there, there isn't any reason to discourage them anymore that it does not payoff to be nice. Sigh...

Just now, watched a VCD that was bought 2 or 3 weeks ago. It is the 'il mare', a Korean movie about love. The title, Il Mare, means 'The Sea' in Italian, and is the name of the seaside house which is the setting of the story. It is the original version of 'The Lake House'. It is a slow and beautiful story with nice music, but that is provided you are calm enough to enjoy slow movie. It took me so long to look for a day to feel calm enough. haha. It is perhap the calmness before the storm. Good luck to me tomorrow then.

Depressed

Have not updated or read blog for sometime.
Feeling very depressed for this few days due to work pressure.
Hopefully, things will get better.

My handphone holder

I have never use a handphone holder before, but I saw this cute one last Friday and decide to give it a try. It is now on my office desk, still I think I did not use it really frequently, only mostly during charging via USB. Well, it is still a good decoration to my desk.

Thought : Coffee

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee in most cases, just more expense and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups... and then began eyeing each other's cups.

Now consider this: Life is the coffee, and the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of Life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee."

We drink the coffee, not the cups..........enjoy your coffee.... enjoy life...

A evening at Esplanade

I have a relaxing night at the Esplanade last night. I have dinner with my best friend at gutton bay food center and have a couple of drinks at the Aria Bistro and Wine bar, follow by a short walk and rest along the seaside, enjoying the sea breeze while admiring the skyline of the financial and business area of Singapore.

The dinner is so-so, as it is a self service food center. When I have the Sambal Stingray, the chicken wings is getting cold, and when I have the satay, even the Sambal Stingray also began to get cold. But the drinks at Aria is great, we have the whole place to ourself and it is so cosy, and two of the drinks are also free due to 1-to-1 promotion. The walk is great too, it is windy and cooling (but not as windy as I like compared to last Thursday's jog there).

The only issue is that it took a long time to get our taxi even when the queue is so short. Other than that, I enjoy the night.

Congratulation to Hong Kong's 5 day working week.

I wish all my Hong Kong Blogger friends enjoys the new poilcy and have more time for family and friends (Blogger too, rite?)

Best Wishes

Replacement

Today, I took down our photo at last, which also symbolise the end of a certain feeling. It is replace with a photo with a boat beside a lake. To me, it seems like a new journey is about to begin.








The stitch in the room is also replaced with another photo with a small jetty. Fitting huh? Boat and jetty. May be this time, the boat will reach the jetty safely.

Movie : Superman Returns

Saw the 'Superman Returns' last night.

Enjoyed the 2.5 hrs movie and definitely enjoys the new movie of Superman after so many years, I can only barely remember the 1st Superman Movie and totally forget the 2nd and 3rd one. I think Gene Hackman is the bad guy during then.

It is rather sad to know that even Superman also have unsolvable and relationship problem, and he still have a number of things that he cannot accompolish. We must be content with what we have and understand that the world is not perfect and they are worse encounter out there, in some ways, we are already blessed.

How Lucky Are You?

Your Luck Quotient: 36%

You have a low luck quotient. You've had a few lucky experiences, but overall, you feel like a pretty unlucky person. Good luck can come your way, but you have to be more trusting in the world. Have some new experiences. Meet some new people. You never know where luck can be lurking!

How Lucky Are You?

Run out of Patience

For a colleague,
Thanks for working with us for the last few years. It is indeed unfortunate that during recent outsourcing exercise, you are transferred out to the vendor and under their payroll.

But in recent project activity, you are too far focusing on your project and to neglect our current on-going project. I know you are busy and answering to your boss (our vendor) now instead of me (the customer). But, you can't just tell me you are busy that cannot even spare a few minutes of your time (not even later or any specific time the next day!) , that is just far too much! Our project is not of lowest priority! I have enough, your boss and team leader has felt my fustration now and I am grateful to them stepping in and so I will be going through them to get you to work, since you do not seems to able to time manage and set project priority yourself. It seems that you like to be told what to do and not able to plan, and obviously having difficulty to multi-task, then I have no choice by to treat you like you are. I have given a lot of freedom to you on this project but it seems that it does not help, so I have to tighten and give specific instruction now, and to your superior.

I have no choice, my patience and the emotional bank is now empty.

I hope you can see the points, and
1) Improve your ability to multi-task
2) Do your task on time
3) Enhance your time management skill
4) Keep your team member updated, do not wait until you are asked.
5) Pick up more speed

You are really good as a friend, as you are polite, helpful and lent a listening ear. But work is still work, and target has to be made.

I am sorry to have to reach such stage, may be, I am impatience, aggressive. I will think about that in the next few days, while I cool down my fustration in this project.

Lastly, take care, you have work hard during the past weeks on your project, and now that it is implemented, I wish you have a better time working here with me and the others in the department, and of course hopefully, your attention is back into this project.

A bad Friday

Yesterday, it is a bad Friday.

Since morning, I have developed a headache. Attended a offsite meeting with vendor and go through a product that is not suitable for us to use.
And in the evening, when I collect the ticket for the movie 'The King and the Crown' (Korean Movie), then I discovered that I booked the wrong date last night (too tired) and money is wasted. To watch the show, all good seat are taken. Also, mum has fallen sick too, I will visit her tomorrow, hope she is getting better.

Only consolation is the 'second choice' movie is surprisingly enjoyable. It is comedy about family love, parent struggling to find time for their kids and yet to earn enough to feed the family. It have a happy earning, which I always want to believe. But don't be too serious about the logic in the show, because it is meant to make audience feel relax and happy.

A Nice Song

In Love with You (by Jacky Cheong & Regine)

just a gentle whisper
told me that you'd gone
leaving only memories where did we go wrong
i couldn't find the words then
so let me say them now
l'm still in love with you
tell me that you love me
tell me that you care
tell me that you need me
i'll be there
i 'll be there waiting
i will always love you
i will always stay true
there's no one who loves you like i do
come to me now
i will never leave you
i will stay here with you
through the good and bad i will stand true
i'm in love with you

now we've here together yesterday has past
life is just beginning close to you at last
and i promise to you i will always be there
i give my all to you
living life without you is more than i can bear
hold me close forever i'll be there
i'll be there for you
i will always love you i will always stay true
there s no one who loves you like i do
this i promise i will never leave
i will stay here with you

世事.

世事
岂能尽如人意
但求无愧于心

Movies for Laughter

Recently, I am craving for funny and happy movies to destress. The 3 movies watched are : Garfield 2, Over the Hedge and Just my luck. They are nice and light movies. Feel wonderful after these shows. Just can't wait for the romantic 'Lake House' and trilling 'Superman returns'.

Full loads of projects, work

Although my tasked framework and roadmap is still not ready, I have started to embark on a whole lots of projects.

Some of those are
- Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solution
- Enterprise Log Storage and Management Solution
- Harddisk Encryption Software with dual factor authenication
- Web Application Acceleration Appliance
- Contact Center Solution / Enterprise Feedback System (Still pending users to narrow down the requirement)

Next week will be a very busy week. Monday and Tuesday will be fully involve in the Customer Relationship Management System upgrade while visiting the Enterprise IT 2006 at Singapore EXPO on Wednesday and Thursday. Friday is also full of meetings.

Although busy, I am still glad that I am no longer doing maintenance and support works that I used to do. Especially, no more standby and midnight calls. Also, I am glad to be able expose myself to so much new opportunities.

Musicals and Concerts for the 2nd half of 2006.

I have purchased tickets for this musicals and concerts for the 2nd half of the years. There isn't any concerts I wanted in the 1st half, but quite a few nice musicals.

July
Cabaret by the creators of Chicago, the musical, starring 费翔 and Emma Yong.
Zpop Charity Concert 2006, by 张信哲,蔡依林,梁静茹,庾澄庆.

September
Forbidden City: Portrait of an Empress by 陈洁仪(Kit Chan), Music by Dick Lee

December
WaKin "20th Anniversery" Concert by 周华健

Look forward to enjoy these wonderful events.

Lego World

Lego is my favourite toy more than 2 decades ago. My father is very strict and I am seldom allow to play with friends during my childhood. So, instead I enhance my creativity by building items with Lego. I am still remember a lot of things I built with Lego duriung then, such as spaceship, weapons, etc.
There is once that my father promised that he will give me a set of Lego by my choice if I managed to be the top 3 in class that year, which is primary 2. I got it, but he did not buy the box I choose which is a Lego Castle, instead I bought a box of basic set. I am extremely disappointed, ( that is why I never forget that incident) I will remind myself not to make promise easily, and also keep any promise I made.


During last weekend, we visited the Lego World just at the in Raffles City. The theme is soccer and Pirate. They are all very nice. The irony is that when I want, I could not affort it myself. When I can affort it, I do not want it anymore. But at least, I can get it for those who needed. Russell, Lego is meant to built creatively, not to stack up like you did, sigh..., it look like the monument for remembering the brave soldiers protecting us during second world war, is that what you are thinking?

A Friday Night

Last Night after work, I went to IMM to meet a friend for dinner. As for us have not have crab for a long time, we order Chilli Crab at Long Beach. We tought of ordering 2 crabs but we settle for 1 when the captain says the crab is rather big. Lucky for us, it is really big.

After dinner and shopped a while in Daiso, the japanese discount store in IMM, their stocks are very nicely designed and unique, just like other japanese product. When the shop closed, I went home to watch the 1st World Cup match, Germany vs Costa Rica. The result is 4-2. One of favourite striker, Germany's M.Klose scored twice. Wonderful. I think this is the highest scoring openning match as far as I know.

I wish myself a happy weekend.
:-)