by | Oct 26, 2009 | Uncategorized
1. Liverpool VS Man Utd. Awesome, fabulous, gritty, deserving victory for my Reds. More to come from this later. Me: Elated.
2. Pandorum, the movie. Looking at director, Christian Alvart’s portfolio, I thought this would be another disappointingly rehashed version of Ridley Scott’s Alien, but this has got to be one of the better, if not totally awesome, sci-fi thriller since… Alien itself! Good show, not bad. Guess what’s better than watching this movie? Catching it with Dils of course, who was kind enuff to catch up with her bro for the weekend over sushi and unagi meals at Shin Tokyo (Yew Tee Point), yummy! Me: Gleeful.
3. 9, the movie. I saw the trailer for this 3D adventure and it played Coheed & Cambria’s song in the background (one of my favourite, and which I think is their best song, from their 1st commercial album release), and I thought this is one hell of a good show, but after the first 10 minutes of it’s introduction, everything felt bad. The animation and 3D character models are all good, even the lightings and texture, but something about the storyline didn’t quite excite me. Bad build-up, poor plot, and weird pacing made it feel as if it’s a student’s final year project instead. And it even contained characters made of .. rice sack? Very final year project indeed. Me: Disappointed.
4. Balloon Boy. Okay, so I wasn’t really wrong when I had a hunch that this was probably an elaborate hoax. Nothing much to say now that the verdict is out right? Poor boy. Bad daddy. Me: Neutral.
5. Skopets lose. First loss of the season in division 2 for us last Saturday. Had to rush back to Jurong from work and it definitely took longer than expected. Captain and goalkeeper wasn’t too impressed with my promptness, or the lack of it. Wandering around in midfield was good, but the eventual shift at the wings tire me. Wasn’t feeling 100% fit, to run up and down, especially after midweek’s flu bout, and couldn’t do much to reverse the scoreline. Oh well, sometime you lose (oh, yes, that concerns you too Man Utd!). Me: Disappointed.
6. Quitting in 3 months, back then. Like why so soon right? Quitters don’t achieve anything (like duh~) and I think I’d prefer to bow out in better times instead, like when I see that there’s an able replacement and the system in the office is all roaring flawlessly. So is the foot still out the door? You betcha, but I don’t think it’ll be moving anytime soon now. Me: Decidedly Undecided.
Things Change. People Change. Luck Changes. And the world goes round and round and…
Oh well, can’t get it right all the time eh?
by | Oct 25, 2009 | Uncategorized
I think I had a deja-vu moment earlier today, and somehow I could relate that my Liverpool was gonna get beaten by Manchester tonight, of which the game kicks off in a few more minutes.
2 goals to Man Utd, that’s just my prediction, based on the deja-vu thingy, and I do not like it at all.
Liverpool without Gerrard and Torres is like, Apple Inc without Steve Jobs or Berkshire Hathaway without Warren Buffet, and to summarise it all, it’s basically pointless to go on without these key players. Or is it?
I’ve been a liverpool fan ever since… my brother is one. He influenced me when I was a kiddo, but it was Steve Mcmannaman who converted me totally. His twist and turns mesmerised me as I seeked to recreate his moves while playing soccer under the void deck, or while faking tuition classes and going for a soccer game instead.
Don’t tell me you’ve never done it before — faking an event to go to another thingy!
Never? Really? Just me then.
Anyway, back to the topic, Liverpool’s poor squad depth is hurting them real bad.
And tonight, somebody gonna get a hurt real bad.
And it’s not going to be Manchester United.
I just know it. Shucks.
by | Oct 25, 2009 | Uncategorized
It takes a lot of soul searching and mind humbling before I realised that there is definitely a surefire way to make a BIG difference in my life at this moment, and as the title post suggest, the people around me as well.
In fact, I may even get blasted for telling you something that is so absurdly cliche and in-your-face that you’re probably not going to buy it at all. Oh really?
A few months back, while going through through NS, I had a sense of authority over my men, but it wasn’t because of my rank, as I never pulled rank. I realised that it was something that I did instead that made them listen to me and react to me. It’s so simple that looking retrospectively at my current limbo-like situation at the office, and how I’m being made to feel all neglected and unimportant, I think I realise what I have to do to change all that.
It’s not a drastic change really, but in fact it’s been something that I’ve been doing all this while, and it’s something that I’ve lived by ever since we founded the company (which I’ve been contemplating of leaving for the past month or so), and these few months I’ve been channeling that energy instead solely towards other ventures instead, and no it’s not a bad thing per se, but things would’ve turned out better if I had distributed it evenly.
So what am I talking about? Well.. it’s about a gift. It’s a gift that everyone’s born with and given away ever since they were a child, but sadly it’s something that’s been forgotten as they grow older, and start scrimping selfishly. The gift is in giving away.
What the hell am I talking about la??? What gift is giving away? So what did I do during NS, or during the founding days of the company that could possibly be the catalyst to initiate a BIG difference in anyone’s life?
I’m talking about giving your help and attention. Not just giving as in passing something nonchalantly but rather giving as in giving in a non-indebtedness manner, and not just to the people you love, but to anyone. Yes, anyone, that’s deserving of course.
Will it work? Hell yes.
During NS, I gave away advice unconditionally, gave considerable care, concern and respect, helped the guys adapt with training life, where in return they reciprocated just as much, and never once did I have to face any difficulties or awkward moments. There were lots of mutual understandings and trust was aplenty. The end result? We excelled in our exercises and we had fun doing it too! By helping them without asking for anthing, they helped me in return, without asking too.
During my stint with my previous company, I worked my socks off days, nights and whatever it is that you call the period after midnight and before dawn. I never asked for anything explicitly like a payrise or bonus for my help, but I often got renumerated well, much better than I’d anticipated. Did it pay off? Yeap, of course, where all the hard work manifested itself in the founding of the new company.
When we first started out, we’d work for days without holidays, not even on Sundays or PHs, but we thoroughly enjoyed working together. We’d do things we never though possible and we’d reach lots of goals within a short period of time. We gave plenty of sacrifice and it’s seen today as an established, trusted infant company in the industry. In a way, by helping each other, we were really helping ourselves.
Back then, I remember giving help without asking for anything, and it felt good. Back then, it was never a chore to wake myself for work and never did I have to drag myself to the office, unlike lately where I’ve been trying to procrastinate my waking hour instead. Do I actually need help?
Of course I needed help, and I don’t deny that, but at the very least I realise that before I help myself, I needed to help the guys at work. Instead of being such a pain in the ass by coming late and going home early, I ought to be less of a problem and more of an asset instead.
Back then had I been concious of my salary or workrate, then I’d probably would have jumped ship and perhaps missed the opportunity of being the founders of a new company.
Back then had I been authoritarian and demanding during NS, I’m pretty sure I’d earn more wrath than respect from my fellow comrades.
Retrack to the past month or so, especially during Hari Raya, I realise that I might have been a little more than harbouring selfish thoughts, like why should I stayback in the office and help with print and production when I’m actually part of the sales and design team? I vividly recall being a little bit selfish by drawing lines, which I didn’t really enjoy, like ‘This work is mine, that work is yours’. It really wasn’t me, and I ended up feeling all lousy and overworked. I suppose I was a little frustrated by the lack of cashflow (did a month of NS, so no commision, followed by Hari Raya preps expenses, expenses and expenses!) and that bothered me a lot.
I kept asking myself questions like ‘why should I be slavering myself away at the office when there’s so much things that could be done elsewhere’? Annoying worries like ‘when will I get what I deserve?’ got stuck in my head. For the first time, I was questioning myself, limiting my generosity and feeling all lousy and desolated, but I think I’m starting to rethink everything all over again now.
Back to the current limbo-like situation at work, I realise that had I helped others first before asking why I’m not getting any, I would probably be feeling much better than I am at the moment. Sure doubts and questions linger and it gets to a point where you start asking yourself, until when then?
Till when will you keep sacrificing your own time and when will your rewards arrive?
Good question, then I realised quietly today that if I stop giving away today, will anything ever arrive in my way?
Gotta keep telling to self: Be the difference in other’s life, give unconditionally, help without asking, and you’ll reap rewards much bigger than monetary credit and far more valuable than any gold or silver. Continue working hard. Stop and you’ll throw it all away. I guess I’ll definitely have to rethink about resigning and leave my team in the lurch. They need me, as much as I need them. Here’s to hoping for brighter days (AND BETTER COMMUNICATION, heh..). Sure I need more moolahs, but who doesn’t? Moolahs aren’t everything in this world, though it pays for a lot of things and is good to have, but that’s it. They’re all materials, and over time, we lose ’em materials. But there are things in this world which we’ll never lose, so before I help myself, I have to help others first.
by | Oct 23, 2009 | Uncategorized
Had a real long talk over lunch with J today, and if you’ve seen the part where I gave myself 3 months to decide on my resignation, you’d knew that it’s going to be an awkward talk, mano-a-mano, but one that’s more than welcomed as I seek to find anything that’s remotely close to a closure.
But it wasn’t awkward at all as we chatted over Nasi Ayam Penyek (probably the best in town!!), cos J n me are like brothers already, even though he’s a Malaysian Chinese PR here and I’m a geeky, techy, sporty and positively indecisive Malay lad. In fact, he refers to me as his ‘adek’ (Malay for younger brother) everytime, and let me tell you that this is a very reassuring thingy indeed.
Boss, who is J’s older brother and sole shareholder of the company, don’t speak much English and doesn’t really know how to explain things to me, and I understand that part. Everytime Boss sits beside me, I can sense his anxiety as if he’s trying to come up with the words but they’re simply stuck inside, and we’ll end up exchanging banters on football results instead.
It’s been like that for a long while now. This lack of communication is what I mentioned to J as the catalyst to my paranoia, which led to my thoughts of resignation as a possibility (or is this an escape???). I mean, if I see no security in my future, if I sense no advancements in my developments, if I’m not getting the expected renumerations than that which I can get elsewhere, then am I mistaken if I leave one foot out the door?
Communications is integral in any business (or relationships), and miscommunications are the bane of small companies, who rely so much on the people’s strength instead of product, system or service. Bad communications is still okay, but morale will deteriorate over time.
And then no communications is insanely deriding.
Eg, and if you’ve been to www.SFforums.com as much as I have, I sense this lack of respect from the forum users there against those that make up the government, and I tend to defend the governement’s actions/reactions simply because if it weren’t for them, we (Singaporeans) probably won’t be where we are today. I have as much respect for them as I have for their disregard towards minorities (no, I’m not talking of race age or gender related issue here) of any topics/subjects.
For certain, their communication before action modus operandi is a relief. I’ve yet to pinpoint a situation where they acted without any prior information. Like do you see them raising GST without warning? Or do you see them closing roads for an event without any mention weeks, or maybe months before?
No, I’m not trying to act patriotic towards my government, but I’m simply trying to single out the point that good communications, saves lives — and it’s a dramatic remark, but it does saves lives.
Whoose live and how it saves, its up to anyone’s interpretations, and in coming back to the lunch thingy with J, we commnicated aplenty and as we seeked to resolve each other’s miusunderstandings, we gained nothing less than respect, trust and most important of all, a sense of confidence on the future. At least it’s better than nothing.
So will my time be up in less than 1 month now? Though one of my foot is already out the door, I suppose the momentum of the other has slowed down a little after this simple lunch, and in fact it’s probably going to stay that way for a while now.
My other ventures, while accumulating positively, aren’t exactly flying so I have no concrete reasons to say that I’ve another solid pillar (other than my day job ) to hold onto. So there’s still this little doubt that if I leave I may not be able to sustain my bills/expenses/responsibilities just yet, but I’m not conceding defeat either.
I’ll still work at them steadily, build them incrementally, and all the while persevering through time’s lack of friendliness with me. I can’t create time, but I can certainly make full use of whatever there is and ‘tahan’ (Malay for hold on) longer.
No pain no gain. Right?
![Windows 7: Save Your Money & Time!]()
by | Oct 22, 2009 | Uncategorized
Unless you’re a Vista user and facing with loads of regular annoyances currently, then perhaps Windows 7 is your shining white knight, galloping in the horizon and on its way to whisk you off your feet into greener pastures.
But if you’re an avid XP devotee, like me, who sees no point in upgrading an already workable system and determined to avoid a situation where the justification of the upgrade is to simply get a taste of Windows 7, then you’re better off sticking with XP.
Save your money. And time.
Wait, did someone say Performance increase? But even a RAM upgrade or a CPU upgrade WILL result in an immediate performance increase. Flashy graphics and yummy eye candies? Nah, I’m just interested in a lean, mean system with as little lag as possible and with as much control too.
Anything that’s new usually has flaws waiting to be discovered, and I’m not anxious to be the one discovering them.
No doubt I am excited and anxious about the arrival of the new system from Microsoft, which some notoriously dub as Windows Vista: Service Pack 2. Still I’m just not that excited and not that anxious enough to go and get it anytime soon, because if I do, it’s probably a costly upgrade, and upgrades takes too much time generally.
Comparing the costs, in the currency of time, I’ll probably spend hidden expenses, such as searching and installing new drivers, face with situation with incompatible useful tiny applications (like STG Thumbs, Sprint32, Everything, WordWeb32, Stickies and the list goes on…), and of course if you’re the designated IT guy in the office, all these amounts to a whole lot of time.
A WHOLE LOT OF TIME, and time = money. Nah, I’ll rather save the money and the time.
Unless Windows 7 allows me to radically and substantially improve my work processes and output, then maybe I’d give it a consideration, but only after a 1year period, because only then would there be many other users who would have tried and tested it and probably expose more than enough flaws for me to decide if it’s all worth it.
I suppose a 1 year period is a safe bet, and while I await those precious, uninhibited and genuine user reviews (and not those commercially hyped up articles from online news sites) then I’m going to be perfectly fine with XP.
I’m just not convinced that Microsoft’s latest offering is a ‘Must-Have, and though I’ve not even started with Microsoft’s insistance in coming out with layman-confusing price-cum-software structure, you don’t have to install it to give it a try to tell your friends what’s it like, because these kind of people do it for you already.
by | Oct 21, 2009 | Uncategorized
Since I get posed this question quite often from my circle of contacts, I thought maybe I could use a little sharing of this, in case anyone out there has been frantically looking for an answer, and Yahoo Answers or Google somehow failed to satisfy them, and no, they’re not animals or some weird creatures, if my post titles are anything to be believed at.
So what are they? Lemme explain a briefly.
Web Hosting
- Wikipedia’s take: A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their own website accessible via the World Wide Web.
- Mar’s take: A place to store your stuffs (website pages, images and such) online. Eg: Harddisks, Servers and so on..
Domains
- Wikipedia’s take: A domain name is an identification label that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control in the Internet, based on the Domain Name System (DNS).
- Mar’s take: A name for the place that stores your stuffs so that you, or others, can locate them online. Eg: Google.com, Blog.mar.sg and so on..
So why are companies that provide these services charge expensively?
Wait, do they? My web hosting company for this blog, www.vooju.com (yes, another example of a domain name) charges me relatively afforadable rates, thus my insistance on sticking with them after all these years. Another good reason why I don’t change my web hosting provider is because there’s a lot of data to be moved, if I were to relocate my website (pages, images, files and such) to another provider. Too much hassle so I stay loyal. Tsk tsk.
Another good reason why I don’t move to cheaper alternatives like www.3ix.com (yes, another domain name example here, you’re getting more knowledgeable now huh.) is because of the .sg suffix at the end of my domain name. Yes, www.3ix.com serves really cheap and reliable web hosting services and provides domain name registration too, but because it’s a hassle for me to get a .sg domain name with them, so I don’t.
As for domain names, there are so many options available out there that I find it much better for you to search for one yourself. In any case, most web hosting providers do provide domain name registrations at the same time, but if they don’t then you’re probably better off with another provider with a better set of service features.
BUT if you need a pointer towards a reliable domain name registrar then www.godaddy.com, which has been around for a very very very long time, and has plenty of features you may like, is the recommended choice for me.
Sheesh, I feel weird promoting all these here in this blog, but at least now if anyone asks me about this topic, I can simply point them here, and by the way do you have a preferred provider of your own?
by | Oct 21, 2009 | Uncategorized
He didn’t look too badly injured but I guess it was a hip/ankle/knee injury which prevented him from moving, as he lay sideways under the minibus, or was it a minivan? His bike too laid in a similar position about a few metres away, in the middle of the road junction, where I was fortunate (or unfortunate?) enough to witness the ‘aftermath’. The minibus was at an angle to the junction, probably an effect of skidding or not being able to stop in time.
Traffic was light, and wayy earlier from Choa Chu Kang I stopped at the traffic light beside the male Chinese’s bike. He was probably in his early 30s, a bespectacled big guy, riding his monstrous desert twin bike, he sped off at every green light and before long, he was out of my sight, and before long HIS BIKE was the first one in my sight as I saw from a distance sprawled in the middle of a junction. I knew something was wrong.
The minibus blocked my view as I approached from the back, and the first I saw of the fella was his legs, and I thought.. OMG, OMG, he’s under the minibus, but fortunately (again, or unfortunately?) he laid just in front of the minibus. I suppose there wasn’t any massive collision, as there weren’t any major crash marks or broken glasses or dented areas, and since the Desert Twin wasn’t too far off, my deduction of the incident was that it was approaching amber lights, the rider e-braked or tried to stop abruptly, and was hit from behind by the minibus, that probably tried to beat the amber lights, but got shocked when the rider stopped in front of him, and the minibus driver couldn’t stop in time and hit the rider instead.
Thus that should explain the lack of broken glasses and sprawled metal pieces, because it being a slight accident, but enough to cause the bike to be thrusted a few metres forward, and the driver thrown off with a hip/leg injury. Anyway, another biker stopped to provide aid but after a while left, seeing that it wasn’t a super serious injury but another, older, indian biker stopped and proactively tried to help the fallen man. A lady passers-by called the police/ambulance and another chinese man took control of the situation. Meanwhile, the minibus driver, a young Malay uncle, diverted traffic, while his wife say distraught at the passengers’ side, seemingly distraught of all the situation. And then an SBS bus stopped, due to the red light, beside the incident and it’s driver wound down his window, flipped out his ultra trendy handphone, and took snapshots of the fallen man and the ruined bike — like wth??? So typical of Singaporeans, so Kay-Poh right? If you’re rendering help at the scene, and these photos are for evidencial uses then it’s sort of okay lah, but with this SBS driver it was definitely a case of ultimate kaypoh-ism.
Anyway this whole morning incident’s caused another delay to my arrival at work, then again my uncle woke me at 10am, when I had to be at work by 9.30am! Perhaps I was destined to see the accident? I pity the rider, and the whole thing, and I suppose that it’s a timely reminder that riding has it’s dangers, always lurking around whenever you let your guard down.
Don’t ever let your guard down, while riding. Ever. To the fallen rider, an unfortunate situation indeed. Recover well. Hais, here’s my condolences to another one that bit the dust…
Btw, in my previous post Another One Bites The Dust, I mention one of the reason that people shun MLM-ers is because of their lack of business knowledge, which I think isn’t true at all. It’s definitely not due to the lack of business awareness, but rather more due to the nature or stigma that MLM-ers has garnered in this nation, which can be attributed to the cold callings process. Everyone hates being cold called, but this is the method that is taught to almost all MLM-ers who are new to the industry. Personally, I think it’s a stupid method, but the sponsors and teachers told them that it’s ok, never try never know. I pity anyone who’s ever had to make cold calls. They should be getting targeted traffic or leads instead, and be the one’s who’s hunted, instead of going around hunting. Heh.
by | Oct 20, 2009 | Uncategorized
Han_Solo will be leaving us for KL again, tomorrow morning and will only be back in about 3 weeks time, so this probably means that there’s another 1 less gaming buddy for the moment. Yunos has already entered camplife for a good 1 month now, and probably would stay inside for another 5 months or so until he passes out. Max1983 could probably be considered a gaming buddy, and if he was one, he’d be an erratic one. Much like his favourite gaming character, where he weaves in and out view, his presence in the cafe is just as brief and casual.
But Han_Solo isn’t going just for a holiday. Much like what he made years back, it’s a brave decision to thrust himself into the business opportunity of multi-level-marketing, or mlm for short. Now I know that soooo many people shun MLM professionals, simply because these people who shun don’t have a business background to begin with. Anyway, since I’m not trying to promote any MLM I’ll leave it at there, and applaud han_solo at the same time for taking those brave steps in the journey.
By the way, it irks me that Han manages to catch reruns of anime episodes, within 1 week what I could only amass within… 2months probably? Yes he has quite a lot of personal time that it bemuses me when I still run myself ragged at work, for peanuts. Indeed, commissions haven’t been the way they used to and I’m feeling the pinch already, thus my forays into the world of internet marketing.
I may have indulged myself and familiarised the jargons in the internet marketing world early during my polytechnic days, but I believe not until this past year have I really indulged myself in ebooks, programs, surveys, forums and newsletters, all in the name of trying to master the art of internet marketing.
Daily, real life marketing is a no problem-0 for me these days, where in fact I now turn away more customers than I used to, and it’s making them come to me for more in fact, which is weird and one where I’d probably give some thoughts to for a blogpost in future, but in internet marketing today, I think I’m still a newbie.
There’s so much to learn, especially with Google and Yahoo, the key to any internet marketer’s success, continually tweaking their search engines. And with Bing’s recent arrival, the competition has just begun. I’ve just spent my whole wee hours of the morning last night completing an ebook, gone through a couple videos and finally managed to complete a website which I’ve been putting on hold for much too long. I did in 4 sleepy hours what I should have completed 4 months ago.
Anyway, now that it’s done and dusted with, I’ll prefer to let it bite the dust and lay it there for now, and since it’s on autopilot anyway, it should be doing it’s job silently behind the curtains — the way that all things should run, right?
by | Oct 19, 2009 | Uncategorized
Remember Compaq? No it’s not a sanitary pad or a football team, but if that’s what you thought it was, then definitely it requires an introduction here.
You see, Compaq is a long forgotten computer brand, which began around my secondary school days, which was a really long time ago.
It was THE brand that you had to have, at the time as compared to the IBMs or the DATAMINIs, but one thing for sure, after HP acquired the immensely popular brand somewhere early in this century, it never received the popularity it once attained.
But HP is jump-starting the Compaq brand with ultra cheap machines now!
Wait a minute, don’t it cost as little as a netbook, even though it’s more powerful?
Then again, cheap laptops like these have actually been around if one knows where to look for them, but HP has just made them more accessible.
Bigger screens, comes with a DVD drive, with a lot more storage and much larger keypads, at the same price!
These pros make it sound like a winner already.
Still it is heavier, bulkier, and probably won’t look as pretty or as cool as an Acer Aspire One or the original Asus EeePC!
Anyway, you weigh the options and the pros and cons, but in any case, Compaq is nevertheless slated for a comeback — not that it’s ever gone though~
My thoughts: I’m still loving my netbooks. Tiny, pretty, lightweight, lasts way longer than a normal laptop, don’t get nowhere near as hot as a laptop does and probably looks cooler when ported around too, especially while working on a macdonald’s table, munching on small fries and small coke on hours’ ends too. Looks really good when ported around while on a photography gig as well!
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