Natural Attrition

Hmm interesting blog entry here.This sounds like one of the particular ministry in Singapore. Hee. No prizes for guessing it right!

Hmm. I have to delete the link away as the blog owner removed the blog. Should have copy and past the whole entry here although I prefer to link to it rather than copy it here.What a waste!

Oh! The blog is back!
The url is http://malorg.blogspot.com/
For those you don’t know, the title is Spanish and translated to English, it is  Organization Who works incorrectly.

The blog reproduced below. Credit to the original poster.
some strategies for asking people to leave your organisation (on their own accord):

1. if your company premises takes up a large compound and has a number of gates, close all gates and just leave the one that is most inconvenient for the people to reach the nearest bus stop (eg, make them take a big detour to reach the bus stop). you can try not to make it too obvious by opening up a side gate but order it to be closed after 9pm. in this way, you can punish those who work over time. some of the excuses you can use: for security, save operational costs etc.


2. install a turnstile (with a normal gate) at the side gate and ensure the width of the turnstile is good enough only for an average build person through. with this, those who are plump will be insulted (dont want them in the company anyway since productivity may not be high). those who carry notebooks home (to act busy) can also be deterred as they will get knocks as they pass through the turnstile. if you have a guard before the turnstile is erected and still have him around after it is erected, then you wont be able to say you want to save operational costs. just say you need maximum security. same theory as a solar powered torchlight. oh, remember to get a guard who is unfeeling, so that no matter how many bags and how heavy the things a person is carrying, he wont let the person through the normal gate. the guard should look sloppy, usually rest his weight on one foot and scans every good-looking female employee from head to toe (can't blame him for doing his job although on females only). best part is, when it is raining heavily and the person forgets to bring his employee pass for scanning to go through the turnstile, refuse him entry and ask him to walk (in the rain with whatever he is carrying) for 20 min through the main gate and detour back to the office building so that he can ask for a temporary pass at the lobby. many benefits there are. the reduced-size turnstile (with employee pass scanning control) will create beelines of employees at the gate every morning. will not fail to rekindle one's thought about making the move.


3. make the lifts buzz (to make believe that it is overloaded) even though there are less than 6 persons in the lift (when the lift can take 12). the lift will stop at every level during peak hours and buzz when a person enters. embarrassed those wanting to enter will be and frustrated those already inside the lift will be. adopting a lousy lift system also helps. for eg, during peak hours, make sure all lifts rise and fall at almost the same time (your building has to be tall to see the effect). also, implement strange lift service schemes (such as only serve 15 floors and above during peak hours) in a manner such that when during switch-over times, pressing the lift button at certain floors will never get you the lift that will get you to your floor. this may sound complex. you can buy consultancy to help implement this. outsourcing is key.


4. dont let people enter via the main entrance to their offices (esp just after lunch). make them walk the distance and go by the side doors. possible only with centrally controlled card access control mechanisms.


5. if your bonuses are given out in 2 portions (eg, mid year and year end), consolidate and give out during mid year. let those who have the intention to leave, to stop waiting and leave in peace. during the switch, people will also have to pay more tax...no concern anyway.


6. give meagre salary increments (or no increments at all). but tell people that you have benchmarked with other commercial practices. oh ya, retain those earning good salaries but doing a normal job (no value creation, value addition, strictly 9-5, dont bother about company/department outings/events, changes in policies, "just dont come bother me" attitude etc). those energetic and earning a lowly pay (esp fresh graduates) bursting with ideas, innovation and enthusiasm will see red and pack up.


7. worships scholars only and treats normal employees normal. only right that you do this because scholars are usually bonded. normal employees can just leave. and remember not to care about why your employee turnover rate is high. it is no one's fault.


8. disallow use of camera phones within company premises after camera phones have become the norm and you have been allowing it all this while. most effective if a corporate mobile phone roadshow has just ended and mostly camera phones were available.

some drawbacks though, you may retain some talents but they should be earning big bucks and holding managerial positions by then. you will just get mediocre working force, for sure. you will still have your bonded scholars definitely but how many are quality? an inverted pyramid organisation will not likely to work out. vicious cycle this is.

Sniper Alert!

Hee. Today managed to be a sniper. Been a long time since I have a chance to be a sniper. My first sniping is not considered sniping. As long I am in the correct position and target to be coaxed into the correct position, bobo shooter also can hit. Hee.

Dunno if this piece of 'luck' can carry on =P

-----------------------------
Updated on 7-Feb-06

Another sniper shot! Target presented itself and I just have to shift in position to snipe. Target only show itself for a few seconds each time and I have to shift my position to snipe it. Hee but I managed a few shots in total.
Great way to start the day!

Headcount reduction. Perfomance matters

Spoken to the big boss and they are not so keen on converting me to at least a direct contract. I really doubt it despite their claims of wanting to convert me etc.

The reason of not converting me is old and tired, Headcount reduction. Last year it was headcount freeze and not enough time to assess me. A test probe, can I convert anytime if there are vacancies available, was sent and returned negative results. The conversion will not be granted if there are poor performance.

How do you judge performance? Good showing? Good ideas? Good initiatives? My job scope does not provide opportunities to shine, only tons of pitfalls to fall in. So far, I managed to avoid the bigger pitfalls and only fall into the occasional small pitfall and scrambled myself out. How do I ever have good performance? My good performance will be reviewing my tasks and responsibilities and I dare say that I done a good job in all.

As I am a  one-man team, I cannot take long leave since there is no one to cover my work. Taking leave is subject to company schedule. I can plan but I cannot confirm. Yes, they can pull back my ex-teammate to cover, but his new team will suffer from it or he be tasked to do 2 jobs.

I am going to demand at least 25% increase in pay rise if I extend. Pissed off by it.    

The rude rich

This was reported in Singapore news and I did not managed to catch it since it is broadcasted on a weekend.

Was outraged by rude rich driver. Illegal parking on double yellow line is actually a common practise though it indicates no parking and waiting at all times. However, this dumb driver brings the art of illegal parking to a new high by parking at the bend.

1 hour has passed but the driver has yet to come out and claim his car. What was the most sad part was that instead of an immediate summon for traffic offence, the traffic police has no choice but to issue a summon after no signs of the driver coming out soon.

My personal opinion was that such an incident should warrant immediate towing of the offending car away, slapped with a heavy fine for parking on double yellow line and traffic obstruction. Throw in some demerit points also. However, alas, nothing was done to that effect.

The video clip is here. Only for those who understand Mandarin

Pre-emptive strike

No. Not me launching a pre-emptive strike on my boss with regards to my job and contract.

Yesterday I was only applying for leave on Wednesday for a day of relax and fun which is my birthday too. Then she wanted to talk to me about something. She launches into a small contract talk, asking whether do I want to stay on, how long more to my contract ends. Also said, CLY and her are in the middle of planning to convert me to staff, contract or perm, I don't know. And I will be informed once things are firmed up.

Gosh, my pre-emptive strike in the next few weeks is gone. Wanted to surprise her that my contract is ending and I like to convert to at least to contract staff or even perm if possible. Given a short amount of time and shock, I will have more bargaining powers. Now, she got the advantage as I cannot go demand how it is since she already told me that in the process already. I can now only ask pretty late and say, how long it is going to take. so sadz..

Work overload......

Getting more and more workload nowadays...
Hardly have time to rest and check on things...

To think my boss will suggest coming back on weekends to do OT, which I will be compensated. Maybe I will do it when I am out of money. Going home later at night to clear up work. For goodness sake, this will mean every night..

Short term, this will settle issues. Long term, this is not going to work.
Suffering from fatigue from work already. That is beside my night gaming and watching DVDs. This is because I am surviving well until the onslaught of work.

The passing and the incentive

I finally passed my IPPT, 2 weeks later after my first attempt!

Results
Sit-ups -- 36 reps -- 4 pts
Standing Broad Jump -- 230 cm -- 4 pts
Chin-ups -- 7 counts -- 3 pts
Shuttle Run -- 9.9 secs -- 5 pts
2.4 km run -- 12 mins 23 secs -- 2 pt
Total 18 pts.
Result - Pass with incentive!

A tough $100 to run after so many training, a sprained ankle which has yet to heal completely. I cannot believe that my timing for 2.4km improve by 46 secs. This is like a big jump, esp with my ankle not fully recovered.

My target for next year IPPT is to improve on the timing to less than 12 mins and then to get 21 points and earn $200. Assuming all things the same, my 2.4 km run will get 3 points and increase my sit-ups to 5 pts (39 reps) and my chin-ups to 4 pts (9 counts), I will get 21 pooints with a minimum of C grades per station. Hahha =P

Science and Faith

Yes, I was reading one of my regular blog and it link to this website about Science and Faith. I think this is a great post and it is not one of those lengthy debates but an outpouring of frustrations on things that have been proven and shot down that should have been laid to rest long ago. It is great to talk about it in religious class but not as a challenge to science.

On one of the comments, there is something called the Flying Spaghetti Monster, a parody, using the approach by certain religious zealots to justify the existence of a new “God”. Pretty funny, go read it here~!

While on the same subject, I read about a certain church. Due to a natural refrain from helping to advertise, increase count or whatever you like, name is withheld but it is easy to know which church I am referring to. A blog about it, a newspaper article and finally a wikipedia entry.

The lost blogs....

I used to surf blogspot, skimming through blogs after blogs, stopping to read at certain blogs that I feel are interesting or good. It may be informational, technical, personal blogs or whatever attracted me.

Now, I am speed surfing blogspots as I am hitting pages and pages of advertisments. It is like a free blatant advertising website with all sorts of keywords. This is to hope that google will pick up the page and then links to it and hopefully reach some potential customers. All these are making blogs reading difficult and inconvenient.

I hope that blogspot can clear out fake blogs like this and I can go back to surfing other people’s blogs

Blogger for Word

Found this new utility for blogspot. Seems to be pretty useful as you can use Microsoft Word to blog. This makes blogging slightly easier as you can certainly blog on Word, do your editing etc “offline” before publishing it.

Certainly saves the problem of errors in blogspot, losing your blog as what happened to A because you still have your original Word document. But you can always use back the normal blogspot to blog.

Good and Bad Experience found in the same restaurant

Renn Thai Restaurant in Suntec City

A and I went to Renn Thai last night for dinner. We decide to give the restaurant a try as the food seems nice and prices are reasonable.

The food is indeed good as it tastes quite good and value for money. Environment is not bad and a bit cozy. This is the good experience encountered in a new restaurant.

The bad side? Be prepared to wait up to at least 40 minutes for your food. Yes. 40 minutes. You must be thinking that I probably waited for 10-30 minutes outside the restaurant queueing inclusive. Sorry, this is totally wrong! The restaurant was half full and most of the customers are already served. A and I only ordered 2 main dishes and 2 drinks but it still took an amazing 40 minutes for them to serve a main dish and 10 minutes later to serve the other dish. Halfway through my meal, I decide to order the mango salad first which I forgot to order earlier on. 20 minutes after it, both A and I finished our meals already and the wait for a mango salad took so long, we decide to cancel the order and leave.

You maybe thinking why I rant on for so much while I only listed the good side of it. Hey, the food is the only redeeming factor here. This is a restaurant which has its main branch in Ngee Ann City and is located at Suntec City. Such poor service is not exactly tolerated. We spent 1.5 hr in the restaurant, just to have a 10 minute meal. This is absurd.

Please do not patronise this restaurant unless it is near empty or you are not hungry yet. then again, why are you in a restaurant if you are not hungry?

Breakdancing Transformers

I was a transformer fan since young but was gradually weaned off as stories get more and more boring? or whatever. Drawing is getting worse and the storyline is getting bad..

Anyway here is a short clip of a dancing soundwave! I do not like the preface of saying the Decepticons has won and took over the Autobots' base. But I like the music and the dance. Marvellous piece of animation! Keep up the good work!

Breakdancing Transformers!

Celebrity Blog... Has blogging reached its low??? or is it about the mentality of ppl reaching a new low?

The Singapore blogging scene seems to come alive with famous celebrity blogs. I am not putting the names here so it will add on their google search results. Not that I am jealous but I feel it will certainly help if the count does not increase.

I went to a few such blog sites, only 1 or 2 I feel are worthy to be mentioned. Some are really brainless and I do not see the appeal. And it seems to be the majority of these blogs are seeking attention rather than blogging. Also, some are shirking responsibilities from what they wrote. I believe you should be responsible for what you write, own up your mistakes etc.

A famous example is that someone apparently with the vicious intent to impersonate a China blogger (who is of a certain fame) and used it to attack a Singapore blogger. This Malaysian blogger who is a pal to this Singapore blogger slammed the impersonator. When it was alerted to him that it was a sham and he was tricked into response, he grudgingly put up a disclaimer to claim what he wrote at the time was true as what he believed. He only mentioned that it was blogged under the assumption that the English version of the blog belongs to the China blogger. I feel that he should not just said it was under the assumption that it was true but instead put out an apology. This can certainly be grounds for a defamation case.

Also, some blogs only show the shallowness of the so called celebrity bloggers. I am not expecting them to sprout political, artisitic or whatever high class musing of things everytime. I admit that the blogs are for personal thoughts and feelings but I feel they are surprising shallow. I can understand that if they want to blog abt daily happenings, how they feel abt things (which I do also) but when it hits important stuff, I shudders and cringes at the shallowness of it. I am not implicating I am a 'deep' person but those views are left better to oneself and proclaiming to the big audience out there. Either blogging reached a low or the voyeuristic nature of singaporeans and people reached a new low?

All this make me feels a bit reluctant to blog anymore..

PS : Taken off from a particular blog, a comment which i feel similar to my sentiments and definitely breach the subject much better than me! Some sections are censored off not to reveal too much. If you recognise this is your comment and want me to take it off, please let me know =P

There's all this debate that since it's XXXX's own blog, it's her own right and freedom to publish what she wants. But therein lies the conundrum: since she has somewhat gained a measure of celebrity through a combination of injudicious writing and shameless narcissim (imho), and receives a considerable amount of visitors to her site whether out of curiosity or to get off, isn't it up to her to maintain a sense of responsibility (however alien) about what she writes?
True enough, it IS her own blog. she does have the freedom to blog what she really feels. No one is denying this. She is free to describe in lurid and tasteless detail XXXXX, however insulting or tactless it might be. She is obviously trying to live up to her trite proclaimations to 'be real' and whoever she was 3 years ago, even if it offends a part of the singaporean online community.
After all, she IS XXXX right? she has 250 people (or more?) to seek comfort and head-patting from. who gives a flying fuck about the rest eh? Apparently her XXXXX (high intelligence) did little in helping to ruminate on the repercussions of such statements. perhaps she thought being a da mei nu and overdosing on pinkness was enough to alleviate the impassioned reactions to her controversial post.
"With great power comes great responsibility" cliched, but it rings true. When elevated to a certain position (XXXXX, in question, arguably an A-list blogger, heh), the people around you start watching. Some will observe, some will react, some will emulate. The responses of the people who notice you are myriad, and it's impossible to list them all. It's merely social dynamics, and the reason why the term "social graces" was coined.from the time her blog received some extensive media publicity (in comparison to mine, which to date has only 300 visitors sadly), it stopped being private and a personal diary. it became a platform for expressing her views publicly.
If she really wanted to express herself freely, without regard and with all privacy, couldn't she have resorted to writing a personal diary or created a blog that you'd have to suscribe to or something? The possibilities are endless, if she possessed this mysterious quality of 'social graces'. one suspects her true intentions and realises her immense vanity, when you read the method and articulation of her writing. Then again, it might all be done on purpose just to generate more publicity for herself. Hence the adage, 'any publicity is good publicity'

Oh my god! The manipulative bxxxh!

Music to the ears?

With mp3 players getting more common and cheaper, it is common to see lots of people plugged into their audio devices and listening to their favourite songs. In the era of walkmans and discmans, they are not so common as they are expensive, bulky and to listen to more songs entitle a lot of carrying discs and tapes around with you which is inconvenient and does not look fashionable.

Now with even handphones offering space and capability to play mp3s, almost every1 is able to plug in to their own mobile song playing device.

Now, here comes the trouble. with a vast majority plugged in, 2 common scenarios occur.

First, you will literally get blasted away by them, sadly to say, not by your own devices but by others. Some people can set such a loud volume that the whole bus or train can hear what they are listening to. Are they deaf or they have already turned deaf by their own devices? They are so irritating!!

Second, most people set the volume to an acceptable level but however, it effectively turned them into virtual deafs. Yesterday and today, I have encountered similar incidents. Those virtual deafs are unable to hear requests from other people to move aside so they can exit the trains. This lead to frustrated people to squeeze past them while they still pay no attentions. Encountered twice from yesterday and today, both time I realised the deafs are plugged in but both cases, the deafs are female. I wanted to tap their shoulders, to gesture to them to take off their earphones and ask them to move aside. Due to them being ladies, it was kinda inappropriate for me and I let it go.

Here, I promise to myself that I will let them know whether the deafs are male or female!

The whole issue

I believe many bloggers have talked about this and even lead to some fame and publicity for such bloggers. I do not wish to be 'famous' or perhaps just being talked about. However, if it helps in getting some good money, guess I will not mind it! hahaha

NKF has reserves of SGD$220 million which at a 3.5% interest rate generates enough money for one year operating expenses. So is there still any need to donate to NKF? My feelings is that it is self sufficient for a long time and it is time Singaporeans look at other charities and help them along.

The issue of salary and transparency keep coming up. It is perfectly normal to peg a CEO's salary to performance of the organisation. For NKF, this performance seems to be pegged to how much donations it gathered. This is definitely a wrong peg. A possible peg is how many patients they manage to save, continue their lives till a kidney transplant is possible, patients and their familes' lives improved under their schemes etc. It may be hard to qualify and quantify but I feel it is a realistic peg to use or something along the line. After all, NKF is a voluntery welfare organisation (VWO).

Sad to say, the higher-ups in Singapore are losing touch with the man in the street. How many are them can understand that we do believe in paying a person a salary what he deserves, a 12 months bonus, in lean years, is way too much. How many people do not have a 13th month bonus, how many people do not earn enough money have saved and scrimped and decided to donate to charity and for it to go to a salary. The appeal during lean years was that the patients may lose jobs, donations drying up but donations still keep pouring in, to fill up a few's pockets and the patients still lacking funds. It is of no wonder that people rather press the money straight to a patient as they know the money will be well-utilised to help a patient to survive thru the years.

With any VWO, transparency is important as what they spend is not of theirs but the public. If the money is invested to generate more funds, the generated funds still belongs to the public and fully accountable. Afterall, the capital is still from the public's donations.

Until everything is sorted out, there are still lots of explanations and changes to be done.

Accountability

The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) is a charity organisation which sought to help subsidy ppor kidney patients who otherwise will not have money to pay for dialysis and medicine.

Initially it was a small charity that has done good and become a big, powerful effective charity. However scandals and controversies started to rock the boat.

Accountability is nil for it. As a charity, the funds, salaries are paid by the public. As the CEO Durai said in court, he liken himself to the CEOs of big listed companies, ministers of the government. Even CEOs and minsiters have to publish their salaries for accountability. NKF is funded by public money and the Government too. If ministers need to publish their salaries, why is the NKF's CEO's salary is a private issue.

NKF sought to sue Singapore Publishing House (SPH) for slander over an article and was forced to show transparency during court proceedings. The CEO, as the first defendent, was forced to reveal his salary. He earns SGD$25,000 and a total of 34 months of bonus over the past 3 years (10,12,12), earning a grand total of SGD$1.75 million for 3 years. This excludes other perks and entitlements.

NKF produces an average of 2 charity shows each year which are heavily subsidied by sponsors etc. Charity proceeds for each show averages SGD$5 million. Based on 2 shows per year, proceeds from charity shows stands at SGD$10 million, of which SGD$0.6 million goes to the CEO. This is a whooping 6% of proceeds. 6% is a small figure relatively but translated to actual figure. This is way too much.

All along, I do not support NKF, esp after the scandals start to break out and the manner of getting donations from the public.

After this whole issue, will you still support NKF? I rather you support other causes until it has finished its SGD$189 million reserve. Money for thought indeed!

Interesting Movies I have watched..

This is not a list of movies i like most or whatever. Rather more of some of the more interesting movies i watched and the feelings I felt, the story being told or the implications.

Please refrain from reading this post as it will contain some spoilers and may spoil your taste for the show.

Basically I watched the DVDs of these movies which I rented online from here. Good way to catch up on a lot of shows! Available for Singapore only!

Saw
A man when desperate will do anything, esp if the stakes involved are his family. It also shows how much a perverted mind can be and how elaborate the game can be setup.

The Green Mile
A moving story where a gentle giant was thought to have raped and murdered 2 children and was sentenced to death. He was brought to the prison where he touched the wardens and prisoners alike. It is real sad to see him die for something he has not done.

The Village
A farce. The whole village and traditions are all a farce. Opting to choose a simple life, away from the perils of urban life, this peaceful village was broken when an intellectually-disabled man accidentally mortally wounded another man. The blind lover sought to find medicine and probably due to her disability, she was given permission to be out to the modern world and collects some medicine to save her lover.

Is computing getting harder?

An article E passed to me to read.

Agree with the opinon that was made in the article. How about you ?

Lone Wolf

I started playing the gamebooks, when I am in Primary 5 or so. that will be 15 years back.
Almost finished the whole series until I guess they stop bringing it in to Singapore.

Just a few years back, I sold my collection as I have found an online version and I was trying to recoup some of my money back. $8 a book back then was very expensive though I wun bat my eyelids paying $30++ for a book now.

The author, Joe Dever, currently is unwell, went through an operation and it was a success and now recuperating.

Article from the newsletter which I subscribed to, for the online version.

Joe Dever's Time of Need
by Jonathan Blake

A common aphorism says that a friend in need is a friend indeed. Now is Joe Dever's time of need.

We recently learned that Joe Dever is in need of surgery to remove malignant tumors on both of his kidneys. By the time we publish this issue of the Kai Grand Sentinel, Joe will have already been through a partial nephrectomy on June 8th. When we received his email, we immediately sent a message wishing him well in behalf of everyone involved with Project Aon (that means you).

On July 20th, after recuperation period for the first surgery, he will undergo a radical nephrectomy on his other kidney. We will keep you posted if we hear anything further about Joe's health.

The Lone Wolf MMORPG has posted a heartfelt message from Joe in response to their letter to him:

"I close my eyes. As I turn my head I see rank upon rank of noble Kai standing by my side, battle-armoured, caparisoned, resplendent. Their golden blades gleam in the dawn rays of an early summer's day, their proud faces resolute, steadfast against dark uncertainty. United and defiant we stand afore an implacable foe.

"I open my eyes. The Kai are with me still, strengthening my spirit, steeling my nerve for the fight that I alone must face. My battle, our victory.

"For Sommerlund and the Kai.

"Joe Dever"

This almost brought me to tears. I am a fan of the Lone Wolf series.
Reading all this, bonds me to all the other Lone Wolf fans together and hopes for the best for his health.

A small update from Jonathan Blake

We're very happy to report that Joe Dever's first surgery has been successful and that he has already been discharged from the hospital.

Star Wars 3 - Revenge of the Sith *Deleted Scenes*

Saw this off a blog I frequently checked.

Real funny hahah. Click here

New Handphone!

Spent $398 on a new handphone. Bought the Motorola RAZR V3 (Black) phone. It is slightly better than the silver version as it has video-recording function.

Its design is sleek, metallic and cool! Though it is a bit broader than current phones, it is certainly one of the slimest handphone ard. This phone can last me through 2 years, I guess. Hee.

Issue with Employee blogging?

During our lunchtime break, the guys and I were talking a bit abt blogs. A small conclusion is that blogs belong to students, not working or in short, not working.

Why this conclusion? Generally, this is due to employees having blogs which may contains some work sensitive stuff. I am not talking about confidential work information but rather comments or remarks which fellow colleagues or bosses may read and eventually find out the blog is talking abt them. The comments and remarks mentioned here are of course, not pleasant and so on and so forth.

With this, I joined the conversation that self-censorship is important and names etc are to be omitted to prevent discovery, esp if you are not talking abt good stuff abt them.

However, with this statement, I think of myself. Yap, I did say a fair amt of work related stuff but generally they are censored to a certain extent. which should be still quite okies.

With the conversation in mind, how much should be revealed in a blog? This is a fine line to tread, esp with a few lawsuits had been filed with in regards to such situations. I believe it is important to watch what you say and not rant on like a personal diary. This diary is exposed to the whole community to read and know!

6 months of leave plan

As usual, my boss wanted us to submit a leave plan for the next 6 months, ie, 2nd half of the year.

Dutifully, I submitted mine. 1 week of leave for end October/early November for oversea trip (Hong Kong Disneyland). Excluding this week of leave and other leave I may take, I say I will clear my leave after that week. Pending my situation, either clear at end of November when my contract ends or the whole of November/December if extended. I mean as kinda of hints, and if contract is not renewed or at least no more working in m1, I will clear my leave end of contract to clear out.

She simply dun take the hint. She replied, telling me that not to bunch up my leave together in case I cannot take it. *Pengz*

So does this mean these? If I no longer works at M1, she wun let me clear my leave? I will talk to her boss about it and see who wins. F will get an earful from me. Even if I do not leave, what is 10 over days over a 2 months period? Is it so difficult to take leave?

Nothing to say....

PTC approved yet another fare increase!

PTC has approved of fare increase for bus and train fares. So what is new?

This time round, the increase is small, subjected to a 2.4% cap. This roughly translates to about 1-3 cents increase for mrt/lrt and 1 to 2 cents for bus, travelling using ezlink card. The brunt of the increase is on cash paying passengers where they will be subjected to a 10 cents increase.

This will results in an estimated of 1.3 to 1.4 million of profits to SBS Transit and SMRT. Quite a big increase in profits, I must say.

A small increase, one may say but mutiple small increases are as bad as one big fare increase. Even worse, they can claim they are small increases only and not big increases and hence justifying yet another fare increase. Pardon the jump in logic, but well, not in the mood for long lengthy essaay, esp I have another 2 blogs to flesh out!

Read 2 letters to the forum page on the Straits Time (no URL as the online paper needs subscription). Interesting and thought for food. Esp when most of the time, we are always the passive.

Price adjustment, only downwards adjustment, should be done periodically to ensure that travel fares maintain low and not inflated towards operators' profit only. This will ensure that fares are in touch with the economic situation at times. Handling out subsidies to needy familes can reach so much, if the fares are high, you will be dragging people down to a level that they will need subsidies soon.

There is an article that is shown in all newspapers, saying the fare increase of an average household of 2 adults and 2 kids is only about $2-$3 per month. The average cost is $144 so it rose to $146. How do they derive $144 when I am hitting $100 a month.
Let's work out my cost.
Bus service 26/853 to Kallang MRT - $0.63
Kallang MRT to Jurong East MRT - $1.44
Rebate - ($0.25)
One way journey - $1.82
Two way journey - $3.64
Assume 20 working days - $72.80

2 adults like me will be a $145.80, above cost estimation. Yes, it did say average, I do not consider myself as the higher end, as more ppl take 2 buses and the mrt to travel to work.
Worse off, this is only for daily working commuting purposes only...

Run! Bernard! Run!

Ran 4.6km with DW and SL. The rest can't make it due to feeling tired, not informed etc

The first 2.3km was pretty okie which took me ard 12 minutes 30 seconds. Not enough for IPPT though. Using this as a gauge is not as good as I do not really know the time and motivation level is not high enough. However, my back muscle starts to strain, the muscle just under the left shoulder blade.

The 2.3km back was bad. My mental is very low with not much motivation. Feeling quite sick of running.

Back in army times, I used to run 4km, 6km, 8km and 10km quite regularly. It was a more conducise environment as the run is always started being fresh and energised and most importantly, I was still very fit. Okay, at least fitter than now. The mental strength was stronger then also.

Anyway, I dun like running at all.

To the extent that I will say, I hate running!!

It is getting more and more expensive just to travel

SBS are raising the price of travel again.

Surprisingly, profits are up SGD$4 million from last quarter although profit compare to the same quarter 2004, it is down by SGD$0.5 million. Another noticable profit line is that there is an incrase of 158% increase of profits for the year 2004 compared to 2003 which is a staggering SGD$30 million.

SBS is now a private company with government's interest in it. It does not really face a competitive market since it is a close and protected market. SBS provides the basic public transport in Singapore, so I gather it is towards the interests of the public rather than their shareholders. True, it is a private company and we should not let it be operating at a loss but with it operating at a bigger profit, shouldn't this excess profits be channelled back to those who need it? Prime examples are the hardworking bus captains and the poor and needy.

An increase in fares will suffocate the lower incomes and slowly strangle the middle class. Profits for shareholders are looked after but not the needy. Yes, SBS does provide transport vouchers for the needy but it is only for those who knows where to get them and able to get them.

Has SBS improved its services to the public? Better timing? more buses? Able to provide a general schedule for all to refer to? I have yet to see any improvement in these. Bus fleets are actually smaller now due to SBS down-sizing to increase profits. Timing is getting worse. Schedule is non-existent. What is worse? More bus services are trimmed away to force people to take its North-East Line which resultant in higher waiting time, travelling time and travelling costs.

SBS did selective comparison with other statistics and claims that cost of an average ride is about 65 cents which is more lower than some developed and neighbouring countries. However, most Singaporeans commuting on public transport takes an average of 2 rides to reach their destinations which bring the average costs of a trip to about $1.30. If the chosen countries by SBS, has an average of 1 ride per trip, the average cost per trip will be much lower than ours even if the average cost per ride is up to $1. This is also poor comparision as it is a selective and not representative comparision. We can certainly choose poorer countries with poorer exchange rate to show the opposite that our average cost per ride is much higher.

Even though the increase will be capped by 2.4%, multiple increases will make this cap invalid. Who knows when will be the next increase?

SBS financial reports

End of EPL season 04-05

Last Sunday was the last match for the English Premier League Season 2004-2005.

Chelsea is the EPL Champions with a record of 95 points in the table. They achieved 29 wins, 8 draws and 1 loss. My beloved team, Arsenal is the runner-up.

Though Chelsea won by a gulf, it still have many records unbroken. They did not win the League unbeaten, Arsenal still maintaining a 49 consecutive unbeaten run which is about 1 and a quarter season long. Many will argue Chelsea won by 'buying' its way through with huge purchases, money supplied by Roman Abramovich. Claudio Ranieri formed the backbone of the Chelsea squad but broke the spirit with many changes throughout the season. Jose Mourinho forms a basic squad and sticks with it. The credit goes to Claudio Ranieri for its many good signings and Jose Mourinho just only stablises the squad with huge money backing. Once can only imagine when the money stopped, the club crashes. Afterall, it is a loss making club with abt 50 million pounds in losses for the season 04-05. This figure is set to soar for 05-06.

Relegation dogfight saw West Bromwich Wanderers staying in EPL while Norwich City, Southampton and Crystal Palace relegated to Championship League. Personally I wanted Crystal Palace and a lesser extent, Norwich to survive the drop but I must admit West Brom has improved by leaps and bounds to survive the drop with a big dose of luck with 3 other results going their way.

Till the next season in August!

4iq Test

Your brain: 80% interpersonal, 120% visual, 100% verbal, and 100% mathematical!

Congratulations on being 400% smart! Actually, on my test, everyone is. The above score breaks down what kind of thinking you most enjoy doing. A score above 100% means you use that kind of thinking more than average, and a score below 100% means you use it less. It says nothing about how good you are at any one, just how interested you are in each, relatively. A substantial difference in scores between two people means, conclusively, that they are different kinds of thinkers. Matching Summary: Each of us has different tastes. Still, I offer the following advice, which I think is obvious: Don't date someone if your interpersonal percentages differ by more than 80%. Don't be friends with someone if your verbal percentages differ by more than 100%. Don't have sex with someone if their math percentage is over 200%.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 72% on interpersonal You scored higher than 80% on visual You scored higher than 83% on verbal You scored higher than 63% on mathematical

Link: The 4-Variable IQ Test written by chriscoyne on Ok Cupid

Road Rage and something to help concentration

This will be a good read to all potential road rage people. Please hold your temper before thinking with only your little brother (pun intended!)
Road Rage

This is kinda late as when I first posted, it is the examination period and now it is over already. Anyway, Just something to help you along if you need this!
Concentrate!

Champions League and a Rude Guy

For those who follow English Soccer and European Competitions, you should know what is the Champions League without me going into details. Also, I will not go into details as it is lengthy explanation and efforts to explain over here will kill me!

Chelsea just lost to Liverpool by an agregate score of 0-1. A victory not just for Liverpool but for those who do not like or simply hate Chelsea. I do not like Chelsea at all. A team which is totally bought by money. The club operates at a loss to the tune of abt 200 million pounds. Imagine if the owner Roman Abramovich is to pull out his funds, basically it will collapse, players sold off, and probably dropped to Championship league or even 1st Division. Waiting for that day to come true. When UEFA's new rulings on home grown players come into force, Chelsea will suffer as its current squad will have aged and its main players are bought from other teams.

The rude man is not Jose Mourinho. I was walking towards the mrt today while travelling to work. I saw this guy, in his forties, in a white shirt walking towards me. I can see that we are going to collide if we stay on the same paths. I move slightly to my left, half expecting him to do the same to avoid me. However, when we meet, he just moves straight on, without avoiding and hit me right on the right shoulder. Because I was still moving out of position, I did no use much force. However, that asshole carry on straight and bang into me. Without saying an apology, he just walked off as if nothing happened. I was so tempted to scold him and reprimand him that if you bang into someone, you should apologise to him. What an asshole!

Bible Code

Found an interesting link on a blog I regularly read.
This is about the Bible Code. I am not a Christian and most probably wun be in my lifetime. The Bible Code causes a controversy some time back due to huge revelations and also the failure of the Bible Code after it. It was quite well-known for sometimes but its failure brought about its demise and wiped off from people's memories.

To decode the Bible, a certain language was used and certain edition were used. Next a computer is used to process the text to come out with certain patterns which predicted past events. Using these past 'successes', it say that it can be used to predict the future. After all, it proved quite accurate in proving the past.

A few big assumptions were made. The language to be used, which edition and which book of the Bible were used. A computer was used to process the texts and spew out information. How do we know which language to be used, which edition to be used and also if we are expected to decode them in the past, do we have the power and abilities to do it? It is only until today when we have the computer to assist in our work then we are able to process such big chunks of data and spew out meaningful information. If computer is never invented, we will have never know of this.

Also, because we desire to look for something, we can find it if we want to but changing languages, , editions, manner of data processing. The desires and expectations of Man are very strong to enable such things.

Later it is proved that the Bible Code is biased and almost fraudulous. Besides rouge scientists and religious scholars, we have the neutral scientists and scholars to put things right again.

Below are some URLs for reference and better understanding. A good way to find out more is still Google.

http://crossring.com/articles/endworld1.asp.html
http://cs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/dilugim/torah.html
http://cs.anu.edu.au/%7Ebdm/dilugim/witzum/camps.html

5.6 km run and a lost card pouch

Nope. I did not lose my card pouch during the 5.6km run. Rather I lost it before the run.

Yesterday was the JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge., a 5.6km run. Due to the slow traffic and a considerable distance which I has to cover before reaching the start point, I was kinda on time to be at the start point at 6pm. Starting was bad, as the whole path is congested with people. Further down the road, it was easier and I started to jog/run. Due to many ppl walking instead of jogging/running, it was hard to navigate the human maze and at times, I have to stop because I cannot find a way through easily. After lots of stops and starts, my stamina waned and I could not really run and had to stop at times to rest a bit. It does not help when I developed a stitch and hardly can't run. In all, I took 48 minutes 30 seconds to finish the distance, an average of 8.4 minutes per km. A timing which can definitely be improved.
Sidenote : I reckon I took about 5 minutes to reach the actual start point since I am way behind the start point. This will make it to about 7.5 minutes per km. Not that impressive but not that way off of my average 6 minutes per km during NS time (10 km run).

Before the run, I lost my card pouch. I lost it during either from the bus to my home or my home to the bus stop. It contains my credit cards, my atm card and my ezlink card. The cards can be cancelled except for ezlink card for which i suffered a loss of around $20 while the pouch costs me around $30+. Sigh. If I have go for the run straight from office, I will not have suffer this loss. Hopefully this is a blessing in disguise and averted any other misfortunes I may have encountered.

Furious

Bad day yesterday. Lousy morning today.

Yesterday was a big mistake not by me but I will say it is basically a disaster. Nvm it is over and done with aready.

Today it is really infuriating. Morning, I was bombarded by PS team over the stupid Update statement being splitted into delete and insert by the triggers and scripts. However, it did not split one of the update statement which is puzzling to me. Also, I tried to explain as much as I could abt the behaviour of splitting the update to insert and delete. Although I cannot explain the update statement that went thru the script, they simply refuse the explanation and demanded a full investigation. Yeah, I will if I could. I had done it before without much success. If I can do it, I will do it liao. Brainless ppl, demanding too much from others without looking at yourself.

Also, when the config goes awry, it is simply so easy to accuse me, my PC problem. I shown them various ways, show emails the problems does not lie with me nor my PC. End of the day, it is her PC which has outlook 2002 while the majority is 2000 which causes the problem. My PC problem? My foot!

Road rage

Took a cab home tonight as per usual Sunday night.

Almost experienced a road rage experience.

Was waiting for a taxi at K T Road. I saw a taxi at the T-junction turning right away from and I attempted to flag the taxi down. The taxi originally signalled right and then subsequently signalled left after seeing my attempt to flag it. It travels for about 5-10 meters at a slow speed and then its harzards lights came on and stopped for me.

At this point of time, a van suddenly overtook the stationary taxi, blasting its horn all the way. The taxi driver in retaliation, blasts its horn back for a short while. The van driver, overcame with rage, stopped his van and alighted from his van. He started scolding the taxi driver and threatened to call the police. Also, he copied down the taxi's license number with pen and paper. With this scene, I was more than prepared to call the police if he dares to hit the taxi driver.

From my view of point and subsequent talks with brother, the taxi driver did not commit any traffic offences. Due to this I agreed to back up the taxi driver as witness to the whole incident and gave my number and name to the driver. During all this, I shouted to the van driver that the taxi driver did nothing wrong and I am willing to back him up as a witness.

Haiz. Why will an ordinary person become a road bully, succumbing to road rage? Because of personal reasons, stress due to driving or?

Unfortunately, I am unable to quote any references what is road rage and punishments from the Singapore Police Force. However, if you manage to find any resources. Kindly let me know and I will link to to there.

PS : I received no news from the taxi driver nor the taxi company nor the Singapore Police. Guess it is just an empty threat or the taxi driver has forgotten where I wrote my phone number down. Hoping for the best for him

Thomson DTH 220 DVD player. Region Code Change.

Just a post to let other ppl knows.

Hopefully they can hit my blog and find this little piece of information which can help them.

Stuck with a region code on the Thomson DTH 220 DVD player? Especially those who took up Starhub Maxonline offer about last year to redeem DVD players or TV sets by signing a 2 year contract with them.

Initally the region code is set to 3 for Asia, fear not, for DTH 220 is multi-region player. Switch on the player, turn to your AV channel or whatever channel tuned for DVD viewing. Do NOT put in any disc. Using the remote control, press the numbers 1,6,7. A menu will appear on the screen, asking you to press the region code number you want. Just press the number and hey presto! you DVD player can now plays the DVD already.

Hopes this help.

Now trying googling to bump this particular post up the ratings level of google.

MSN Plus!

Cool software I am using on top of my MSN 7.0 at work.
Like the transparency mode and the boss hide feature the most.

Click here to download and try it! You will love it! Also, there is a current contest going on. You will get to win a PSP Value Pack or an Alienware laptop. Do spread the news =D

Great Puzzle!

Okie! I dare not reveal its name, fear of ppl who happens to google for the puzzle name in search of a walkthrough or hints. The puzzle is here and the official forum for help on is here. Oh, as of now, I am on level 63. Played with A to this level. Co-operative play =p

Have fun playing!

E-mail overloaded? Try this!

Great stuff! Take a look at this if you are being overloaded!

Harvard Biz School - Tips for Mastering E-mail Overload

Tough to blog at home

Surprisely, all my blogs are blogged at office except for 2 (1 at home and the other at A's place)

Guess that there are too many other temptations around to prevent me from blogging and blogging is a form of distress for me at office liao!

Coming Back Post!

It has been 2 weeks and more since I last posted.

Work has been busy and there is hardly time for breather. Actually there is.. just that I took the time to surf websites, sleep a bit. Basically I do not spend time for blogging.

Guess not having enough sleep and too many other activities make me tired and hence I chose sleep hahahhaa!

This make me realise that to write a blog, it requires time and effort on one to blog. Almost like writing a diary. Well, basically both need the discipline to do it and once it has become a habit, it will stay that way. Discipline in doing things repetitively is not my forte until somehow or rather I manage to keep it that way and it has become a habit. Blogging.. well... at least I do come back to it. Well, it does help a bit when I check 2 ppl's blogs once a while or almost everyday if I have the time.

Quick update for the past 2 weeks.
1) Borrowed PS2 from A's smallest Uncle. Been driving like crazy, completing the stages.
2) Lots of resume requests, which is a good sign but I wonder how is the chance of being able to make it plus I rather stay put but it will require negotiating to stay...
3) Almost upseted A's parents but it turns out happily with a good ending.
4) Diagnosed Bro's friend's (a butch) PC. Bought a seagate 80GB harddisk to replace failing harddisk and going to install it for her.
5) Bro on 2 weeks reservist. Good to have more freedom, etc but kinda lonely w/o him also
6) Credit Card has just been approved! Woo-Hoo!! My first personal credit card!!!! Yippee!!!

Will do a better and fuller update as bro is on reservist training and I will be able to blog at home!

Happy Chinese New Year

Yes! It is the time of the year again!
It is Chinese New Year and here in singapore, we have a 2 day holiday break!

Yeah! Hoping to make a pile from red packets and make a killing on the mahjong table and playing cards!

Oh. This mean this blog will be updated probably next week. If lucky, maybe I can blog a bit during this week! =P

Happy Chinese New Year to all!

Free Shooting Range!

Yes! They pay you to shoot! However, because they pay you to shoot, you have to be tested to ensure you can shoot the rifle. Choice is limited to one rifle and 20 bullets. 12 during daytime condition and 8 during the night.

Hee, went back to reservist for SAR 21 familarization shoot. Overall, it is a good rifle to handle. Great accuracy as long the rifle is zero-ed properly. The scope and crosschairs make targeting easy as long the target is within the aiming circle, 100m away, anything is a dead duck. The Laser Aiming Device is a wonder as long it is properly zero-ed also. Line up the laser point with the target and it is a sure hit. It has a smaller noise signature which will be helpful in covering up location of the firer but well, if there is a comrade stuck in firefight, you may not be able to hear the shots and go to his rescue. The drawback is the heavy weight of the rifle which make carrying it a burden and well, I am not going to use it in combat also! If you are thinking that I can pick up fallen comrades' weapons, think again. My vocation needs me to be at the heart of enemy or at the outer edges of friendly forces' area of influence. I will not find any "friendly" weapons at all! There is a much heavier recoil which can be quite bad as more strength is needed and re-adjusting is needed.

Despite the good comments about the rifle, the 1.5 days were bad. Others and I had gone through the technical handling test and passed but was forced to re-take the test. Bunk is horrible and the permanent residents are the whole population of dust and rust bunnies. Hopeless camp and place to stay.

I also had some bruises on my elbows and knees which is due to the various shooting positions and the the amount of strength places on these places, which is needed to maintain the positions and holding the rifle tight and secure.

Long break

It is about 3 weeks since I last blog.

A lot of ideas which are interesting to blog, at least in my perspective, came and went.
A lot of things had happened too and for those who are interested in my mundane life, you miss them all.

Work life has since become more busy and more work responsibilities have been added to me. A good thing and a bad thing. Although I have the time now to blog a bit, unfortunately I am not feeling that good enough to blog as I am still recovering from the effects of last friday fever. Also, a careful peek at my workload dictates more work to complete in the afternoon.

Hopefully, I'll be fit enough to blog a bit tonight at home. This will lead to a question :- Should I backdate my blog? or lump them as current blogs? Decisions.........

Zero

Technically speaking, a direct translation will be Storey Zero. However, translation of names rarely make sense, especially for TV shows and movies.

This morning, pouring heavily, I was trying to rush my way into the mrt. On the steps to the station, I sidestepped a lady to get into the station faster. However, she did not notice that i was beside her and hit me with her wet umbrella. It was more of a brush rather than a hit. My shirt was a bit wet but I just brushed it off.

Next, as I was rushing up the escalator to catch the mrt, a lady (again) was deciding whether to rush to take the mrt. I was pissed off that she was hesitating a lot and stopped and moved. I was finally able to get into the mrt but after a near slip which I managed to slide a bit and escaped unhurt and without hitting anyone.

At this moment, I thought of angels and devils who were either asking me to slow down to prevent the near-slip or rushing me to make me fall and make a fool of myself. Guess the devils won in rushing me but the angels helped prevent my near-fall.

This bring back to the the drama serial I was mentioning in the 1st paragrah. It was a Mandarin drama serial produced by Channel U of the now-defunct SPHMediaWorks. It basically tells of a man who died but his karma is Zero (well balanced by the evil and good he had done in his life). He became an agent of Zero, a limbo world between Heaven and Hell. His mission, to influence humans to make the correct decision, as they struggle between their own angels and devils in making decisions. Hence this serial was brought to mind during the whole episode.

Now MediaWorks is shutdown, Singapore media scene is back to square 1 with a monopoly. It was always interesting to see the MediaCorp trying to replicate the newcomer's ideas and consistently using their bigger muscles (and money) to outmuscle (and outpay) them. Sadly, all the new initiatives will be gone and it will be a sad day in Singapore's media.

Theology or something else?

Quoted from E's blog

My brother asked me why did God allow this to happen? I can only offer that His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.

This is a good question and a pathetic answer in my view.

Even though I am a Buddhist, I may offer the same answer. A probable answer is that it is time for them to go and the cycle of life has claimed them. In a way I do not question Buddha's actions but believed in Karma. Christians can also view it in this way but they will probably add that either they will end in hell or heaven depending on whether they embraced God and truly repented.

This is not going to be a religious debate but the thoughts that entered my mind when I read it from E's blog.

I took Geography for my GCE 'O' Levels and in a geologist's mind, this is probably Earth's response to over-population and taking its own way to reduce population on Earth. Cleansing if you allow me to speak this word.

No matter what is thre real reason, may the deceased rest in peace and the survivors live with heart.

All my blessings and good wishes for the new year ahead

2004 has past and 2005 has began.

No. I am not going to write a year review. Frankly I had forgotten what happened except for personal milestones and some international events. I am not well placed to comment or even do a recap on what had happened. Maybe I just write a simple review of personal milestones. Not in this post but maybe another.

New Year was celebrated like Xmas as A was still home-bound because of the rain. She will be able to go out this coming weekend already.

It will not be such a happy way to usher in the new year for those affected by the tsunami. All the best wishes to them and hope their lives can be rebuild fast.