On-Call

In my course of work, I am also expected to provide 24 hours On-call support to my company's clients. In fact all the engineers are needed to take up this "heavy" responsibility for a week in every month.

There will be 2 people on duty every week - 1 primary and 1 secondary. The primary will serve as the main contact while the secondary is as a backup in case the primary could not take the calls or if there are just too many calls that come in.

When it's our turn, we are provided with a pager and an on-call cellphone each.

So this week it's my turn as the secondary. Prior to this job, I have never touched a pager in my life... so it is really funny cos I have no idea how to operate it. Anyhow doing on-call support can be rather stressful. Thank goodness we usually do not get much calls ... that must be a good reflection of the quality of our applications, eh? Even so, we all have this phobia that the pager will beep. I once was playing around with my pager and accidently made it beeped. I could hear the whole office practically "panicked" in unison, hehe.

Well the good thing is, for the stress we need to go through for this task, we are given an allowance. So most of the time the allowance is easily earned as there isn't any calls. I am praying that my allowance for this week is another easily earned one.... keeping my fingers crossed!

Connie Talbot

This video may take some time to load, but you really have to see and hear this. This little girl's voice is really amazing... I dunno how to describe it. Unfortunately she didn't win the competition.

Transformers...Finally!

After 3-4 weeks since the movie was first shown here, I finally managed to get the tickets! I have heard so much rave reviews about it that I thought I would be disappointed as I have formed this very high expectation of the movie.

Well, the first 3 minutes of the show was very disappointing, not because of the movie but rather because the cineplex forgot that screen display should come together with sound! After the sound came back on, the journey was phenomenal.....

I never watched any Transformers cartoons in the past. I think they became famous only after I grew out of my cartoon watching habit. So I am embarrassed to say that I had no idea what transformers were all about...except that they could transform from being an automobile to a robot and vice versa. Well with the newer toy versions, they can change into dinosaurs as well!

So after the movie, I am a bit more "Transformers literate". It's again all about Good guys vs Bad guys. The good guys were the Autobots and their leader was called Optimus Prime. As for the bad guys, they were called the Decepticons with Megatron as their leader. As usual, the bad guys will always beat the crap out of the good guys, but eventually good shall prevails over evil.

The special effects were great... I thought the acting by the supporting acts (i.e. the human actors) were great too! After the movie, I started to think that I should treat my car better. You'll never know, my Inokom Matrix may turn out to be one of the Autobots that are still around looking after us.....

Difficult People

Currently been working really hard in a project. Been leaving the office only after 9pm almost everyday. It is a project with a very aggressive timeline and what made it worse is that the client's representative is such a difficult person. Simple things were made so difficult because of the lack of cooperation from his side.

I guess in our working life, we will definitely meet some difficult people, whether they are our own bosses, subordinates, colleagues or clients. Sometimes I wonder, why do people choose to be such A-holes? Is it easier to be the bad person? Is there something that they need to prove?

Well whatever it is, they will always be there. Maybe they are meant to be there so that we can learn patience... or maybe they are there to simply remind us of what not to become!

Angel

My niece. Isn't she an angel?

Golden Compass

Saw this huge banner on a new fantasy movie called "Golden Compass" starring Nicole Kidman ("pretty aunty" if according to my colleague) and Daniel Craig (Bond...James Bond). At first glance, the banner gave me an impression that it's going to be something like the Narnia movie....maybe because there is also a polar bear in the picture. Anyhow, I am a sucker for fantasy type of movies with its special effects and stories. So I will definitely be waiting for it to screen in December.

Anyway I went into its website and discovered my own daemon. To know more about what daemon is, you can click on my daemon below. For you guys who know me personally, do give your feedback on whether the daemon below reflects the real me. You can do so by doing the questionaire below. Your feedback will determine which daemon best suits me. 12 days after this post, the daemon will be permanently mine. Cool right??

Err..did I mention I like all these fantasy type of things?

Right place, Right time?

To go to my office, I usually take this route where I have to turn in from the main road to a small lane at this small housing area. The main road is basically a 2 laned road; 1 lane is on my direction and 1 lane on the opposite direction. So for me to turn to the housing area, I will need to stop in the middle of the road in my direction, then cross the lane from the opposite direction.

So yesterday as I was using the same route, like always I stopped in the middle of my lane waiting for the cars from the opposite direction to clear before I make the turn. Along came this huge SUV travelling from the opposite direction who decided to be kind. He basically stopped his car in front of me and gestured for me to make the turn. What he didn't know was that there were motorcycles passing through by his side. His car being a huge SUV was blocking my view and I wasn't able to see whether there were more motorcycles passing through. So if I were to make the turn and a motorcycle happened to pass through, there would definitely be a collision.

So I decided to just stay put and gestured for him to move on instead. I think he took my "rejection" badly that he made a rude gesture at me and moved on. After he had moved, the traffic cleared and I made my usual turn.

The point of this posting is that sometimes we think we are being kind to someone... but we failed to think whether the help is at the right place and at the right time. I appreciated the kindness that the man showed me... but I was a bit disappointed for the rude gesture that he made after that. I guess he just need to understand that even though he extended his help, it is still up to the other person to consider whether to accept the help or not.... after all, only the other person would know the effect of it.

Unnecessary Stress

Some causes of stress in workplace are so unnecessary.

I was rushing to finish off my work last night and had to make copies of a document. To save paper, I tried copying 2 pages into front and back of 1 piece of paper. Sounded pretty simple right? It should be... but the photocopy machine decided to be funny. For every 2 pages that I copied, there would be a paper jam. So I was just standing there clearing off the jammed paper when I should be at my desk clearing off my work!

At one juncture, I really felt like driving a sledgehammer into that thing. It's funny how when stress came, I felt as if the photocopy machine was alive and was intentionally trying to make life difficult for me.

Emotion of the day

This picture sums up my emotion of the day... except that I don't have any more hair to tear out.

Die Hard 4.0

Managed to catch "Die Hard 4.0" at GSC 1U yesterday. Initially wanted to watch either "Transformers" or "Harry Potter: The Order of the Phoenix" but all sessions for all cineplexes were practically sold out! So I guess I would have to wait for another week or two before the watching frenzy for these 2 movies cool down.

Anyhow I was not disappointed at all with "Die Hard 4.0". It really lived up to the title. Basically Bruce Willis's character really find it hard to die in the movie. He's like this super human who was still full of energy even though he didn't sleep and had been involved in so many fights and car crashes which left his whole body bloodied. He could still go on and on and on....you know, like the "Duracell" advertisement.

Aside from that, the action packed sequences and special effects really put me at the edge of my seat... and kept the adrenaline pumping. There isn't a dull moment in the movie...it's action after action with no interval..very much alike the previous Die Hard's offerings. This time it dealt with cyber terrorism which tend to make you imagine how the world would be like if this really happens as our lives are already so governed by technology. Although the movie still runs on the same Die Hard's formula, it still worked for me! Highly recommended!

The Stork has arrived

Congratulations to my younger sister and her husband. Their baby girl is safely delivered about an hour ago. Mommy and baby are doing fine...

Good Boss, Bad Boss

On my way back last night, I talked to an ex-colleague who has recently resigned from my previous company. There seemed to be quite a number of resignations in that company for the last few months.

While talking to him, my thoughts went from my previous boss to all other bosses that I have worked with before. In my whole 12 years of working, I have indeed came across many different types of bosses. Some of them I rather forget; and some who will stay in my "Respected" list for a long long time.

So what contributes to good bosses and bad bosses? To me, these are the list of characteristics:

Good Boss

• Has a clear objective and goals in mind
• Calm and collective
• Provides clear and concise instructions and guidance
• Asks and takes into consideration of your opinions
• Motivates and inspires you
• Provides good working environment
• Understands your strengths and weaknesses... and develops you into a better person, a better employee
• Sees and respects you as part of the team...and as a human being
• Looks after your welfare in the company
• Show genuine interest in developing your career path
• Treats you as an asset of the company
  

Bad Boss

• Paranoid and oversensitive
• Thinks intimidation is the best way to lead a team
• Does not know what he/she actually wants
• Thinks that if the company is paying you, then the company owns you
• Creates unnecessary office politics to hide own insecurities
• Take things personally... and make things hard for you just to get back at you
• Gives empty promises
• Does not give shit to what you have to say...just do as what he/she "ordered"
• Thinks that they know everything; and that the people reporting to them are idiots
• Treats you as a highly dispensable item in the company... and constantly reminding you of that if you ever challenge him/her in anyway

I am sure the list goes on and on...especially on the bad boss side. You have anything to add?

Gym Hazard

This video reminds me of my first time at the gym.

Downloading YouTube

This question may be a little bit outdated but do you know that you can download videos from YouTube?? Well my colleague taught me this some time ago, and I thought I will share it here.

Step 1: Go to the YouTube page that you want to download. Then copy the URL from the Address Bar.

Step 2: Go to VideoDownloader site (here) and select "YouTube" from the drop down list. Then paste the YouTube video's URL that you copied earlier to the "Download from YouTube" field in VideoDownloader page.

Step 3: Click the [Download] button. There will be some loading going on and another button [Download Link] will appear. Right click on this [Download Link] button and select "Save Target As..".

After a short while, the "Save As" window will appear. At the "Save As" window, select the location to save your file, name your file with the extension ".flv" (i.e. flash video format). Then click the "Save" button to save.

Step 4: Now you have already saved the Flash video. You can use VLC Player to play the .flv files. This player also plays the other video format such as .avi or .wmv. If you still insist on playing the file using Windows Media Player, you will need to convert the .flv file to .avi. You can use Freez FLV to AVI converter for that purpose.

Enjoy....

My Cubicle

I got the inspiration to do a blog about my cubicle after reading my friend, Jessy's blog. You see, we often IM'ed each other and have chatted about our working space. As what people usually say, a picture paints a thousand words. As I got to see her cubicle from her blog, I thought I will do a tribute to mine too!

I really love the ample space. Looks pretty neat now, right? Well definitely have to do some housekeeping la before taking the picture!

When my colleagues travelled to overseas, they would get us souvenir keychains. So I hang them at my cubicle. After all, how many keychains would 1 person possibly need, right? I also put up a card from Fitness First (my gym) to remind me to go gym often. Nope...it doesn't work.

This is supposed to be a wrist rest when using the mouse. I do not use it for that purpose though. It's more like a stress reliever to me as I would squeeze it whenever I feel tensed. It is also the most "sexually harrassed" item in my whole office (I think). Not by me, mind you! By my colleagues! They like to squeeze, poke, place it in compromising positions, etc etc....whatever your mind could imagine. My poor poor hippo.

I do like my cubicle....mmm.....maybe except for the chair. Been having stiff neck for a long time now and I am determined to blame it on the chair.

Why so jam one???

When I drove to work this morning, the traffic was so smooth. No jam at LDP at all.... and as I was just driving and listening to the radio, a thought struck my mind.

Whenever I got stuck in a jam, I would always question agitatedly in my mind "why so jam one???". It's as if that traffic jams shouldn't be happening....therefore I should be agitated with LDP, the government or the P licensed driver in front of me. "Hello!!! you are in Klang Valley, what do you expect??!!"

So when this morning's commute was flawless, there wasn't a tinge of appreciation until the thought struck me. I then wondered, do I usually take for granted the things that are going on smoothly for me? Do I only concentrate my mental energy on the negativities in life?

Well, I hope tomorrow when I get stuck in the famous LDP jam to work, I won't be asking "why so jam one???" and waste my valuable mental energy stressing myself out. What about you? Are you going to curse the traffic tomorrow??

Better The Devil You Know?

I first learned about this "Better The Devil You Know" phrase from Kylie Minogue's song. I have no idea what it meant. To me, it was just another great song from her.



Only later, I understood the meaning of it. "Better The Devil You Know" is a shortened form of an idiom "better the devil you know than the devil you don't". This idiom basically means that it is often better to deal with someone or something that you are already familiar with, although unpleasant; than to take a risk with an unknown person or thing.

So should this idiom apply all the time? I don't think so. If we are always holding this in our mind and in everything that we do, wouldn't that mean that we are constantly stuck in the same place... not daring to venture into something else that may be more rewarding??

I guess any form of change presents risks... and with risks, there may be rewards... or there may be downfall. But the thing is... if you never try, you will never know. But by saying that, I don't think we should just change for the sake of changing. Important thing is to ask ourselves what we really want, and what will help us to be happier.

If certain risk didn't turn out the way we wanted it to.... then I guess it's a lesson learned. At least we know what doesn't work for us. We will eventually find way to get out of the situation. We may regret a little bit about making the change, but hey.... I think at least we deserve a pat on our backs for taking the courage to try it out.... rather than sulking at the present place and doing nothing about it.

So, better the devil you know??? I think it's better to know yourself... and to know what you really want.

Self Motivation

MUST GO GYM TOMORROW!

MUST GO GYM TOMORROW!

MUST GO GYM TOMORROW!

MUST GO GYM TOMORROW!

MUST GO GYM TOMORROW!

MUST GO GYM TOMORROW!

MUST GO GYM TOMORROW!

In God's Hands

I came across the song "In God's Hands" by Nelly Furtado from a friend's blog. She broke up with her boyfriend a while back and dedicated that song to him.

When I listened to the song, I was so deeply touched by the lyrics. I guess in one way or another in our lives, we have had that. We have "been there, done that".

Relationships often started out sweet and heavenly but as time goes by, things may change. Expectations and directions may become different....and the relationship became a task, a chore. When either party gives up, that is when "our love floating out the window, our love floating out the back door, our love floating up in the sky... in heaven where it began...back in God's hands."



To my friend B, no... it doesn't mean that the song brought bigger impact than your blog posting. It actually complemented the message you were putting through.... and brought out the emotions in your readers....well at least in me! That was how we were able to relate. Give yourself more time....cos like the rest of us, you will move on too.