Golf Golf Golf

I understand now why golf is such a passion... I'm going to play for the 3rd week in a row! Tomorrow will be my 4th 18 Hole attempt
1) Palm Garden, IOI Mall
2) Clearwater Sanctuary
3) Kundang Lakes
4) Bukit Beruntung

How can I describe the feeling - it is addictive!!!

More about blogging

I've added a comments button!!! Welcome to interaction in the connected world! Next - Pictures...!

Learning about blogging

After some interesting notes, its time to get creative. Two things to learn tonight : links and image loading.

This is a link to my other blog which I've just opened access to the great Fuzz.

This is an attempt to include a cute little picture. Ok, I've just discovered that this is not possible unless I subscribe to BlogSpot Plus.

It will be text for the time being...

Prostitutes and Formula 1 racing

*Note : the Firm here is where I work, for sake of anonymity, I'd avoid mentioning names, but I'm sure if you have been asked to read my personal blog, you would know which firm I work for....

When I was younger in the Firm we had an analogy between prostitution and working in the Firm. It was told to me by a Pun Tian Pouw, an ageless supervisor who was doing QA related stuff then and we improved upon it and retold it, till now it stuck in my mind how funnily close the analogy is...

Working in the Firm is like prostitution...
... you are being paid by the hour
... the older you are, the more experienced you are and the more your client pays for your services
... you deliver service to your client
... how good you are depends on your client's satisfaction
... our greatest asset in the firm is its people
... if you don't know how to do it, you will be trained, and guided hands-on by your supervisors or your client members
... client confidentiality is a must
... the methods and approaches used must stay within the client's environment, but we can improvise based on requirements of other clients
... we need to understand the requirements of our clients in order to please them
... we love repeat clients
... clients love our younger analysts because they work so hard, and long hours
... our performance is measured by our contribution
... we work the same hours as our clients, and usually at their place

It is never-ending...!!!

Now, recently we have had another good one, the analogy was career to car racing
First we have daytona, contributed by Dr John...

Working in the Firm is like
Driving a car on a daytona race...
... you get a time extension at every checkpoint, if you don't make the checkpoint, your race is over (promotions to next level)
... you can extend your time extensions, by putting in more coins (maybe buy a few drinks, find a few friends...)
... there is ALWAYS time extensions (even when you're partner)

I improvised it to Formula 1 level
Working in the Firm is like driving formula 1 ...
... its a marathon, not a sprint - you got to pace yourself to the 72 laps, you need to get to the end to finish
... you need a good car, be a good driver (talent and skill), have the right team (engineers, pit stops, manager, etc), have the right strategy to win
... you need to pace yourself, skill and car itself is not sufficient to win - ie. Rubens Barrichello - it is all in oneself
... if you get to the end and everyone has passed by (aka Alex Yoong), you are nobody, many have passed you by, sooner or later you get eliminated because you are just not good enough
... there's always a better new rookie around who has got tons of talent - ie. look around you
... sometimes you need to change cars to win (change jobs?)
... always look around for drivers vacancy in better teams
... as much as it is a marathon, you need to overtake people, you cannot be in the cruising speed and win
... even the defending champion can be sidelined in a bad season
... whilst not racing, you need to spend time on research to develop a better car. every year.
... the good guys are highly paid :-D

A little more serious, but valid as well. Enjoy!

Life Goals

"I am in cruising mode, but sometimes I am not sure where I am cruising to"
"Where's the destination? Or you need to have many stops along the way"
"Where are you going?"
"May Ching, you're a smart girl, be active, stay focussed on your goals and go get it"

I need goals.
Life goals are what you want to achieve and when you look back its good to know you have reached.

Education and money are not important

I surprised myself how well I articulated this last night to a friend. This was at the tip of my mind after a long day yesterday. I started the day off at Bukit Kiara (again!), and ended it very tired from a long philosophical discussion with a friend.

Education and money are not important- it is how you use it. Having the education, but not knowing how to use it to have a better life, to create more opportunities for oneself, is equivalent to not having any at all. Having the money but not knowing how to make it a continuous source sufficient for one's sustenance is equivalent to not having any at all. It is not as if the two elements are not important for us, it is how relatively important the elements are to each person is almost a factor dependent on how one uses it, and when used appropriately, you realise it is just one possible element out of a whole equation of possibilities.

I met my most oldest cousin after a long long time today. He was pleasantly happy to see me, because we have not seen each other for the longest time. After a few short conversations, it dawns on me that it is quite apparent he is in a different league - him being more street smart and underground businesses, whilst my entire family being straight and proper. He clearly stated that he wanted just a simple and content life, and that we should keep in touch with each other simply because we were family. This struck me quite deeply and enabled me to have a better understanding that how we were brought up were so different, yet I could understand how he saw things and actually felt he was no lesser than we all were in the family equation. In other words, I respected him and how he came to be. Perhaps sometime a few years ago I would not have felt so.

I met up with Prenny and Adrian later for dinner - they were ex-tour mates of mine in Europe. Adrian was adamant about trying to guess my age, and why was I reluctant to give him the number? I guess I did not like people to pre-judge each other because of age, and reason for such concerns was that I had pre-judged him and Raymond on day one. I told him truthfully how I saw him and Raymond as 'the two young men' to my parents and even stories to my friends. As for Prenny, I was uncomfortable about how disinterested she was with the entire meeting, from reading a magazine even when we were there, to not respecting that we have not have dinner and even minor things such as twiddling with the salt shakers and showing visibly how bored she was with us. However, I did not feel any negativity towards her, in fact I actually appreciated she was different, but was only uncomfy from how different she was compared to my normal friends. In fact, I had to adjust myself to her, which I felt was betraying my ownself. Again, a case of, I don't really dislike her, just felt she was different. She did no malice to me, and similarly I treated her with as much respect as anyone else. Again, both cases were a result of my increased perception of diversity around me.

Which is why education and money are not important. It is how we have evolved with these elements that interest me most and I think I've gone to a newer level of physchological development with these new insights.

Why the processor never stops....

Perhaps I should shed some light on the title of this blog. I've only confessed to one or two people about how I liken my mind to a processor which never stops. I found this analogy very relevant especially on the occasional trip over the last year or so when I noticed that even during weekends I needed to go out to shopping centres or movies to enable my mind to have things to absorb. I'd remember strolling through shopping complexes and window shopping, except that I would not be thinking about the stressful matters, I'd find it perfectly relaxing thinking of void, but I knew my mind was processing information, color of the dresses on the winder, era of the design, how cute purple looks, how fast the camera models change, why having pretty girls as salespersons sells cameras, etc. It was the only occasion when I really felt my mind is working to process, but I was not thinking, it was as if it never stopped running from the workdays and it overflowed to the weekend and I had to feed it to appease my appetite for information.

It is a rather morbid and boring description of the title, but you would have to truly understand me well to know what it really means. Of late the information processing streaks has stopped, I suspect because of the workload and stress at work having been lightened recently. However, I have also been more focussed on fewer goals and less distractions, which may account for the lack of 'appetite' of the mind.... meanwhile blogging has served to alleviate the desire as much as coffee has provided the adrenalin to all of us...

Blogging is a drug for the mind...!

A walk in the park

Bukit Kiara park is definitely not Central Park in New York or even Hyde Park. Perhaps I should not even make the comparison, one is an urban manmade park the other is carving a man made track on a real natural hill fringe.

It was an achievement in itself that I got up at 6am today for the walk in the park. By the time I managed to get out of the house and got to the place, it was almost 7am, and the day was just brightening up. The timing was just right, as approximately one major circle and two rounds of the smaller ring later, after approximately one hour we emerged back to the carpark and it was just warming up and getting more crowded. Nevertheless, I laud the discovery of this green lung near so many residential areas. Definitely a winner with the city folks, especially PJ dwellers.

Seems that it was an even mix of young and old alike I observed who had managed to get their butts out early Sunday morning. Seems the 20's were missing in action, and the teens too, although a few accompanied parents or familys. It was heartening to see young families and also older couples with their friends having a nice stroll through the park. This observation led me to think that it was an irony that most of the older folks were likely less active younger, and now trying to reclaim a piece of the health equation, they are actually the more disciplined people compared to the reckless younger generation.

You literally can just manage to walk through the almost 5 km track. I did not see anyone jogging or running, though a few more adventurous people had weights and two ladies had backpacks (obviously training for mountain climbing!).

All in all, a good exercise and the company makes the effort worth the early rise on a Sunday morning. Although I was exhausted the rest of the day (despite having time for still golf driving range after the walk!), I'd like to see myself do this more often, and hopefully the next few times are not going to be such a burden on my body!

For those who are interested, the park is accessible from an access road through KLGCC (for members only) or via TTDI. Take the turning through Pizza Hut to IBM tower, head straight and turn left and then almost an immediate right. The second right turning leads to the lake track.

Get your butt out there! Its not too late to be healthy ...

I have been to the largest IKEA in Asia, have you?

I have a new theory. The latest trend in Malaysian shopping in the yuppie Klang Valley is to take leave and go shopping. I am a convert. My latest trip to IKEA has proven this point.

Took the day off and decided to go to IKEA in the afternoon, after the disastrous outing at 9pm last Saturday, thrid day after it opened. Not only was I down with a bit of flu, both me and my friend had no clue where to park and was astounded by the sight of cars lining the road at Mutiara Damansara. So we chickened out and I told myself the impossible- why don't I get up at 9:45 tomorrow to be the first in? Of course that never happened.

So I was in THE IKEA this afternoon at 2pm with my mum. After taking a wrong turning, we finally managed to get in through the Damansara Perdana link road to find that the entrance was just next to TESCO! When we finally parked, we managed to get a reasonably good spot near the entrance, but I was astounded again by the almost full (90%) car park at a weekday!!!

Here's a quick rundown on the things I saw:

Cool things that makes IKEA a winner:
1) The loading area : The lane closest to the entrance/exit had a restriction to the trolleys, ie. you cannot push the trolley outside as it had little short metal bars to stop the trolley. However, the genius'es (plural for genius, or was it just one person?) behind the design decided that there are stuff which is better loaded to the car boot, like shelves, etc. Heavy stuff. Hence they designed it like an airport arrival/departure area, cars could get into the inner most area and part shortly for loading only. I would not know how this responded to the heavy traffic on the opening day and weekends. But it is very useful and functionally a winner.

2) The SMALLAND aka Kids dumping area : Read about this, but when I saw it, it was kind of obscured, however I noticed that it was a) enclosed b) had boxes for kids bags and shoes c) was more than just an area with a lot of little bubble balls like the last one d) it allowed a different drop off and collect point convenient for shopping parents. Of course we also saw one set of parents who had left the poor toddler in the pram whilst they were obsessing over a couch nearby...

3) The calculation and planning areas (not forgetting the reminder sheets) : There are tiny areas with bar stools and table, with pencil, spec sheets of the stuff, and even one with the square drawing paper for planning the furniture. The best one? They had super glued solar calculaters to the table for customer's use.

4) Super friendly staff : Two people I asked about some items which was remotely unfamiliar seems to have a good feel on where it was, at least they knew it exists and directed us to there.

5) Huge restaurant and a few mini bar areas : We stopped at the restaurant which served nearly nothing, but the area was filled with shoppers (once again, on a Friday afternoon!). The space and midway point allowed people to just take a breather and lepak for a minute, and of course those who forgot to eat, has to make do with the expensive meatballs and bratwurst sausage. Hmmm, maybe the food can be cheaper.

6) Bags and bag carts, and kid carts : The famous yellow IKEA bags are quite sturdy, easy to carry and improved with a carry handle and a sling handle. Furthermore the bag can be hung over a bag cart. The kids have a tiny kid cart for them to buy toys and stuff. Very smart encouragement to buy.

What they needed more :
1) Toilets - Not enough toilets to allow people to wonder aimlessly in the store for hours, does not look like there's one near the restaurant area as well. Sometimes we are hurried by natures call to the exit. Maybe I missed it.

2) More focussed cheap areas - Kind of huge store, but no longer has those cheap stuff in the aisle that we're used to from 1-Utama days. Back when just walking past the store will bring me to buy some useless stuff, now I got to look for the stuff.

3) More shopping carts, besides the bags - After strength training my arm on lugging the rug over 1/3 of the floor area to the checkout counter before finding a trolley, this has got to be improved. Again, maybe in my gym madness, I missed it.

What's the feeling they are trying to get the customer to experience ? 1) I feel like buying a home 2) There's always something IKEA has which can be useful in my house, hence my being poorer by RM200+ of non-essential buying for the afternoon.

Now, let me get back to my round rug spot and my cool new toolbrush holder...

Blogging at midnight...

I just figured out that the blogger free version does not allow links and other photos and stuff, and had spent the next two hours browsing other people's blogs especially those I discovered at Malaysia Central, which stores a directory for bloggers in Malaysia. Did not sleep until 3am. Whole new world of publishing and internal news I never knew existed!

Ok, until I figure out how to sign up to the Blogger Pro version, the rest of links to the network are going to look like... http"//www.yahoo.com".

Time... I've been passing time watching trains go by....

How fast time flies... Before you know it two months has passed and a non-proactive blogger like me has procrastinated writing for almost 1/6 of a year!

Blogging is like a diary.... the question is that are you blogging with the intention of asking others to read the blog or are you blogging to release the thoughts by writing? Do you actually think about a third party reading your blogs in the future or is it just for yourself?

The real truth is that no one writes for themselves. We all have our demons and whispers within us, our devils and angels over our shoulders asking us to do the things we want to do for a reason.

I am bogged down by three things which is very heavy on my mind recently -
1) Career
2) Love
3) What interests me

I read the book again and again - "Anyone can do it" by the creators of the Coffee Republic coffee chain in UK. Although I've never been to Coffee Republic, the book definitely means a lot to me because again, it makes me think of the three things above.

Career. Am I doing the right thing? I'm doing what I am good at, but suddenly I realised I am good at beating challenges, not anything specific, but I enjoy the challenge, not the job. So what am I doing now at the office? Nothing! No wonder I've been bogged down mentally by this rut over the past years of the in between times.

Love. According to the book, if you treat everything you do with the same way as starting a business, ie. know what you like and do something about it, do market research, implement, harvest. It works the same way with love as well. I am stuck with a thought of all the people whom I liked but left me, and maybe I am not working on a plan to do something about it. Get up, get out and get in the market. Do the market research.

What interests me. I love coffee. I like mobile technology. I like to solve problems and think why things are such a way. People who think the same way interests me. I like to be on the move, and do things for others. I like people who allow me to be who I am. I like a job which enables me to be the best, working for the best team, the best leaders. I need to do something about my life.

BTW, I am really excited that I got my butt up and got this wireless thing working from the router Beng Choon passed to me. I feel that if I really want to do something, nothing can stop me. It only took me two days and two hours. Why did I not do this earlier? This is really cool.

Migration Day - Semi-Post-script

I am a believer in Murphy's Law. Everything that can go wrong will go wrong. It is how ready you are to deal with the wrong which determines the more able person.
Yesterday I was lazy and did not ended up jumping on my car to go to the office for the migration. Instead, I relied on my instinct to trust the three good people who were there. However, Murphy struck twice :
1) Power shutdown of the entire server farm for ISP - at the same downtime window for maintenance. We were told it was unplanned. It is still being debated. Bottom line - the guys stared dumbfounded on the shutdown screen and no amount of little emotional bank account and authority I had could get them to not do the maintenance. So much for the sleep and the contingency, and the original schedule. So we started later. At 8am in the morning.
2) Deployment error of an oracle named file - tnsnames - Bottom line, the deployment was on a corrupted file, and it triggered off a chain effect of people not being able to login to the other servers, even before we had migrated! What followed was a series of heated discussions on email to correct the problem, which required 3 more deployment emails.

And now I am back here. The whole troop is here - we are on time, perfectly executed for the first time. And still looking good. Hoping that after twice of Mr Murphy, Mrs Murphy may have enticed him away from us just this once.

Migration Day

Tonight is the start of migration d-day. It is 1.07 am in the morning as I start this quick blog. Migration is very much a different meaning for IT folks than normal layman. It is not a flock of bird flying south, but a system migration is a complex series of events involved in changing from a system to another.

We are deploying the CSG System's Kenan/BP v11 starting with a marathon event tonight, ending one day and a half later. I am still deciding whether to conserve energy or jump in my car now and head off to the office to oversee the start of this event. Part of me is proud that for once I do not have to worry about most of the event, but I still remain humble about my confidence of the smoothness of this event. The other part says, you are a team player, go and show that you care and it matters to you. It is hard to decide on this when your body is getting weary and whilst the soul is willing, the mind is blogging to keep myself awake!

I think migration is an event for people who cannot sleep. In my next migration job, I will make sure I have two criteria for staffing a migration team :
1) Coffee Lovers
2) Out of town guys
3) Singles

Well, my two capable persons who could oversee the entire thing falls into category 1) and 2), the one superstar vendor guy who is capable of a one man-show satisfies all categories.

Skill does not matter. Late night owls and those who can keep awake wins the day.
Off I go to speed off in my car in the middle of the night.
Good night.

My First Blog!

I started testing this on April 27th 2003, after buying a book on blogging. It took me almost a month and a half to figure out the interface (even with a book!) and finally, after reignited by the articles in the newspaper on blogging, I feel inspired to try again. One and a half month.... how fast technology flies, how slow my processor has become....

It will be interesting. Welcome.