A walk @ LCK Cemetry

I cannot last remember when i went back to participate in UOC activities, but it must have been at least 4-5 years back. This year, i decided to go back and help out a bit since i do not have the burden of night conference calls which i used to have the last few years, i am keeping in touch regularly again with my juniors, and i got friends who are joining this year orientation camp.

S Group has a recce in LCK cemetry for the traditional "Sgroup pre-camp initiation". Woh, when i was a freshie, we did it in tutorial rooms. And it scared the hell out of me. haha. When i first turned a senior, we continue to do it in tutorial rooms, and we scared the hell out of others. I cannot remember which year onwards our SGroup descendants daringly go to the cemetry. Arranging their own transport and their own manpower, it sure isnt easy.

I aint going to pour cold water over their ideas, eventually is still THEIR camp now. But this is the first time i go into a cemetry.. and i alerady feel my hair all standing up le....

Too Many or Too Few ?

Raiding Thoughts

Problems appear everywhere. Deciding on who can raid and who cant raid is a decision most people doesnt want to make especially if you are just "playing a game" and there are no tangilble benefits involved. However that activity still needs to be done. Maintaining a healthy bench is necessary for both raiders and Guild masters because you count on the bench players when your starting 25 has to leave early due to personal issues. How then do we strike a balance among both of them ?

I never love to be on the bench. even during school days or during work, whenever there is a new project or a competitive game, i hope my boss or my coach pick me to start. However, as i grow older, i begin to understand what is teamwork. Though i still know the feeling of been asked to sit on the bench. But when i look at how soccer players play, and those 5 who always sit on the bench waiting for their chance to be called out by the manager to have a chance to show what they can do on the field, even if it is just 5 minutes of play for them, even if they know they are just slotted in so that someone else can rest or they already have a clear win of the game, they still go ahead, i begin to understand what is team work. Even if you do not have a chance to play , and your club wins, you still will be appreciated for the effort in the trainings. Back to WoW, i dont think we will end up in such situation though because there will always be rotations, but what is the best rotation?

We also need to know the facts that our guild doesnt have all grown ups who have experience life to its fullest. Some may not understand and drama will erupt, So it is our responsiblity to let them know

1. Sitting on the bench does not mean you are no good.
2. Sitting on the bench does not mean you are inferior
3. Sitting on the bench simply means the present raid, in terms of class balance, space , attendance sign up, you may have to be on standby.

Thoughts #1
-> Do we have enough raiders ?
I will think general yes. Might be missing on a few specific classes ( Elemental Shaman , Rogues? ) This one i will probably start another thread to discuss with the more experienced raiding officers.

What happens if we have too many raiders ? There are a couple of solutions
1. Enforce raid signups, flasking etc. The dedicated one will continue to persist , those out for fun will just go off after some time
2. Arrange 1 x25 and 1 x10 if we have more than 40 turns up per nite. I dont think we will see this now unless the guild call for an expansion in recruitment. -> This is the GM's Call.

Thoughts #2
Have attendance policy. -> This proposal already put up in one of the threads
The below can be considered after the first phase is in place
-> Think of action for 3 times no show in a month ( signed up but no show )
-> think of actionable items for all other sceneriors

Attendance figures will come in handy when we need to bench someone and cant decide.
Attendance figures can also be use when there is a tied in loot. The one who attend more should get it first.

Thoughts #3
Be transparent. Everything we do in life, we have to be transparent. There is a saying by Antoine de Saint-Exupery - ""If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea." It means " Clarify your vision, and motivation will come "

Personal opinion, i will go for More instead of less. Keep the raiders happy by clearly stating the policies and enforced them and .. Be Transparent.

Raiders will understand that this willhappen to them, every good guild have to do it.

在摩托罗拉剩余的日子 : 127 Days

Do i have the following skill sets?

• Able to deliver results by motivating and inspiring your colleagues
• Skills to manage innovation in an international, multi-disciplinary business environment
• Entrepreneurial spirit to grasp business opportunities and the drive and determination to lead them to fruition
• Strong influencing skills, coupled with a natural ability to lead and take on challenges
• Experience/excellent track record in some of the following areas:
- R&D of electronics products and systems;
- Management of people/processes;
- Interaction with customers/suppliers;
- Product development within strict timelines involving cross-functional collaboration
- Broad based HR generalist experience
• Excellent communication skills; fluent in English and preferably in one or more ASEAN languages

I think the answer is Yes. What do you think ?

My Holidays for 2009

This comes priority over the rest for this year.

2 more additions to my Kitchen

Woh, Mrs Chan allows me to buy the 2 items below. I have a fully equipped Kitchen now!

Drive Thrus

I love Drive Thrus, not only Mac Drive Thrus but every drive thrus that you can find. In Singapore , i think only Macdonald has it. But when i was in the US for business or holidays, i always make use of them. Every Fast Food restaurant you can find there has one ( unless they are within the malls ) , Starbucks has it too , and even pharmacies.

I love it because i do not have to park the car to get what i want. I love it because you do not have to stand up to queue and think what you should do while waiting. I love it simply it is convienient.

Lets have more drive thrus in Singapore. * the nearest one to me now is the Mac at the Sengkang Sports Complex, if there is one starbucks there , i will surely go and buy a grande Mocha with no whip every morning! *

在摩托罗拉剩余的日子 : 134 days

Never Close your doors and shut your windows before the SUn Sets.

A follow up to the opportunities that was presented to me 2 days ago.

The talent sourcing guy call KS called me again for referral and i decided to ask him for the job description so that i can forward to my friends or colleagues who might be interested. Upon receiving the email, i find that the JD fits what i wanted and decided to give it a shot myself. If i managed to get into the position , i got to ask my boss for an early release . Anyway that will matter only if i am offered a position. This morning i got another call from KS asking me about more details if i am technically competent , and if i am a high performer in the organisation and many other questions. Well my doors are still open to them at the moment

The IOS ( Internal Opportunity System ) is still available, the new boss , also happen to be called KS . I was curious who he is and decided to pop by and see if i know him "by face". For me, there are a couple of things i need to consider before i took up a new job . $$$is definitely one of them. Who you are going to work for and the people you are going to work with matters a lot too.
Although technically you cannot control if you are going to a new environment. But if i am doing a IOS , i will like to find out first. After considering all these i decided i will not be taking this position for now.

The main reason is as follows

Andy " I like to know more about the position available and its job description.
Do I do that before or after the IOS ? "

KS "you can get the brief JD from the IOS or we can meet to have a quick chat. The only problem is my boss is in this week and I am quite full in my agenda. Let see…"

He doesnt even want to talk to me! Makes me feel like i am desperate for the job. I will not forgo my severance for this. Nor will i close my doors and shut my windows before the sun sets.

I have my first meeting with my 2 new partners on our business plan. A lot of brainstorm ideas and overall , it looks exciting. Internet advertising is really a boundary-less investment and you can do tons of stuff with it. I setup google docs to stored our meeting invites and i am impressed with what google docs can do. I dont really have high expectations of this business partnership, but what i really want to achieve through this is to take something away in this 4 months from this experience. I am sure i will be able to do that.

在摩托罗拉剩余的日子 : 136 days

Opportunities start knocking

1. Got an internal opportunity to take up the position of a Project Manager in the other sector. However i am still having reservations if i should seize that opprotunity due to a couple of reasons.

a. accepting the offer will means my severance package is gone. Though some told me is better to get a secure job than to get the $$$. No one can guarantee anything especially within Motoorla based on the current situation.

b. I am not sure if i want to seal up my own opportunites so early. Taking this offer now will laterally means i am not going to look for smoething else outside ( i can still do it , but no point since i wont have the package anymore if i quit )

c. I am reading up on Business Plans. You never know if your business ideas will end up giving you houses, bmws and 6 figure revenue.

2. Head hunting company called me for a position as a software manager in a MNC company. I told them i am only available in October. Didnt really tell them it was a retrenchment. THey thought i am under contract. Didnt have any more details on it, so i just sent them my CV

3. I am still in thoughts about doing my own internet business. reading up a lot and doing a lot of research. Wasnt really putting my chips that it will make it. But , all great ideas always come from crazy ideas first. I have talks with a couple of colleagues and hopefully we can form a partnership to dive deeper into this area.

Whether it is (1), (2) or (3) , it looks interesting. I still havent feel the "pain" of retrenchment though i am only left with 136 days. In fact i quite like my life now since i haev a lot of time to explore the various paths that i can take after Sep30.

Cheers

Funny WoW Video

Got this in my ex guildie's blog. Damn funni

在摩托罗拉剩余的日子 : 141 days

http://www.strategyanalytics.com/default.aspx?mod=PressReleaseViewer&a0=4717

We were at 23% at our peak.
.
Over the weekend , Lalla announced his resignation. For those who do not know who is Lalla, he is the corporate VP for Mass Market segment. In summary, he is my boss 's boss. the one who call the shots for this market segment.
There is a little commotion when he left, i expected that. He moved to Dell, i also expected that. We have a discussion in office about his resignation impact to our fate. Basically there wont be much changes. In fact , I think i am glad we already know what will happen to us , there is just too many changes happening in the organisation. With 6% market share only, lets see what miracles will happen to turn around this household brand.

Homemade Chicken and Egg Salad

Home made Chicken and Egg salad with Japanese Dressing. Mrs chan say is nice!

在摩托罗拉剩余的日子 : 147 days

Time passes real fast, our time left with Moto is about 5 months. The amount of workload / projects in the office is getting lesser and lesser. At the same time , we have a few more cases of colleagues finding jobs and requesting for early release.

Through K.T, i get to know that C.B. is also looking around for business opportunities. I spend an hour talking with him today. As he mentioned , the higher you are in the rank , the higher you are paid and the harder you will find to get a job outside especially in the current global situation. C.B. is looking at partnership and see if there is an opportunity to do something we can really call our own. I am quite interested in his vision and decided that well maybe i should not get myself tied to a job now first. Moreover Mrs Chan indicated a very strong interest to take a break in europe and states. In Fact she already done the planning and completed it for 12 days europe trip. Yippee!

Starting a Business isnt tough, running a business is the challenging one. If i dont try, i will never know if i will like it or not. Even though it fails, it probably will be a valuable lesson in life and i believe i will definately learn something out from that experience. I wouldnt consider myself a late starter. In chinese they call it 迟来的春天 . having been working for the past 9 years, i have gained enough experience to venture on my own and not too late to afford any major failures i hope. Giving myself 12 to 18 months of time span, even if it doesnt work out, i can still go out to look for a job , dont forget i will very soon be PMP and ITIL certified. Haha.

Maybe i should really start thinking about this seroiusly. A couple of actions i should start doing
1. Get the proposal template from C.B. and start working and identifying on "opportunities"
2. Get some good books on business proposals and startup.

I hope this isnt another "三分钟的热度".

你会如何决择呢??

你开着一辆车。
在一个暴风雨的晚上。
你经过一个车站。
有三个人正在焦急的等公共汽车。
一个是快要临死的老人，他需要马上去医院。
一个是医生，他曾救过你的命，你做梦都想报答他。
还有一个女人/男人，她/他是你做梦都想嫁/娶的人，也许错过就没有了。
但你的车只能在坐下一个人，你会如何选择？
我不知道这是不是一个对你性格的测试, 因为每一个回答都有他自己的原因。
老人快要死了，你首先应该先救他。
你也想让那个医生上车，因为他救过你，这是个好机会报答他。
还有就是你的梦中情人。错过了这个机会。你可能永远不能遇到一个让
你这么心动的人了。

在200个应征者中，只有一个人被雇佣了，他并没有解释他的理由，他只是说了以下的话：

'给医生车钥匙，让他带着老人去医院，而我则留下来陪我的梦中情人一起等公车!'
每个人都认为以上的回答是最好的，但没有一个人一开始就想到。

小哲理：
是否是因为我们从未想过要放弃我们手中已经拥有的优势（车钥匙）? 有时，如果我们能放弃一些我们的固执，狭隘，和一些优势的话，我们可能会得到更多。

A Picture A month - April 2009

Wedding Anniversary - April 10th
This year anniversary ( 5th ) is spent at Fairmount hotel. You can find more info here ->
http://sengkangboy.blogspot.com/2009/04/wedding-anniversary.html




Wedding Anniversary

Social Responsibilty @ the library

All the people going to the libarary need to hv their details scanned in case they need to be contavcted if swine flu is detected. Seems like this is getting nearer and nearer to us. There is a site that gives up to dates on the areas that are infected. You can find it here . http://www.swineflu.sg/

They even have a map that shows which area is already affected. This is the current outlook

What will you do if you have to be self quarantined for a week at home as part of being socially responsible ? Well if it is me, quaranting at home isnt really a bad thing since

1. I can work from home to get my work done.

2. I can finished up all my tvb series which i have been lacking behind the past few weeks due to Mrs Chan late working schedule ( i usually wait for her to watch the shows unless i cannot resist the temptation )

3. Play my Healmemoto . There are a lot of achievement titles i wanted to get but i didnt have time to do it

4. Finished my books. I am reading the Last Lecture. I still have 2 books in my shelves i havent find time to read ( Both by Sophie Kinsella )

5. Study for my PMP exam. The exam probably going to be in July. Time to get back into the study mood.

6. Work on my business plan. I havent start penning down those thoughts,but self quarantine means i can work on it

Staying at home probably means i need to cook myself or keep callling Macdonald for my meals. Also that will mean i got to think of other ways to continue my AHM training. Maybe round around the house. Haha.

What does Android 1.5 have to offer?

I am still waiting for Singtel to push this to us. I hope this will come in Either this month or early June. Some of the features that we can be expecting in 1.5 and how i feel it will impact me , which directly measures how desperate i am waiting for 1.5

- Availabitly of onscreen keyboard - This doesnt really ring a bell for me since i still prefer the slide out keypad. Makes my typing easier. I tried the on screen keyboard on ipod Touch. No doubt it is better than the onscreen on my android ( the chompSMS has a onscreen keyboard that looks exactly like the ipod version ) , i cant really "feel" the typing.

- Support of Stereo Bluetooth - This probably also wont affect me much cos i do not listen to music on my mobile phone. I use either my ipod nano or ipod touch for music and i only listen to music when i run or when i travel.

- Video Recording! -> this will be moderate useful for me. I dont do a lot of video recording , but if there is one available and i need it , it will come in handy. And it allows direct upload to youtube which is a cool feature especially when you want to share it immedately after you have recorded it.

- Faster and smoother Browser -> High impact for my personal use. The browser probably is the most frequent application i use on my HTC Dream. I used it mainly for my google reader.

- Marginally better battery life -> Super High Impact. The battery life now sucks. Not sure if marginally better battery life = how many more hours. I already ordered a additional 2600mA battery from HK Ebay and it should be on the way and reaching me anytime this week. Cant wait for it.

Faster camera startup and image capturing -> Should be useful. Anything fast is good.

Home screen widgets And Live folders -> probably gimmicks and depends on what apps are written for it.

Copy & Paster within the browser -> Never really notice that 1.1 doesnt have this. I guessed i havent found the use for it yet. Haha.

Specific Date & Time stamp in call log - ANOTHER Thank God improvement

在摩托罗拉剩余的日子 : 151 days

Motorola posts loss, investors concerned about cash

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090430/bs_nm/us_motorola