The.End.Of.A.Chapter.#3

Part #3 : The Sad Good-Byes (Read Part #1 and Part #2)

When we reached the office, everyone wanted to take picture with me hugging my Blossom Powerpuff Girl. Hence, I sat there like a statue and be the model for them to take pictures. *Somehow I think they prefer to have the Blossom there more than me* :p


Mike holding the relic of our ex-subsidiary (Infinity Labs). This 'Wizard' Shield has been passed down from generations-to-generations to the developers who maintained the system.


Wen-ching - I think the picture quality of his 6680 is poorer than my firmware-upgraded 7710. Therefore, I put up the pictures from my phone instead.



Kathy - I will sure miss her. She will be on her way to her new career too. Best of luck Kathy!


Fairus - Take care *sista*! Make sure you stay away from those Karipaps, Pisang Goreng and Cengkodoks. They aren't very healthy for you! :p


Kelly - You take care girl! Make all your dreams come true.


Jamie - Hopefully, you won't bored to death without me. No one giving you free computer lessons now. :p


Winston - See ya pal. The next time we meet, we could be competitors *Muahaha*


Group photo of the Girls. *I wonder what Jamie is thinking*


The Gang - Once again guy & gals, Thank You!

At about 5:00 pm, I went to the HR department to surrender the company's notebook and access card. I also had some photo sessions with them and my colleague from Internal Audit. On the way back to my level, I wanted to bid farewell to my colleagues in Sapura Marketing but they were no where insight. I guessed they are probably having a meeting.

Going from departments to departments make me feel like an ambassador *Giggles*. Back on my level, I visited the Project Management Office (PMO) and the MIS department to say good-bye to my friends there. They had all wished me the best! *Thanks Guys/Gals*

My last spot was Axis and while passing through their office, I saw my CIO in a meeting room. I waved at him and he came out to wish me luck and I took the opportunity take some pictures with him. My CIO is a gentleman who really cares about his staff and whom a staff can work closely with to resolve issues. I truly respect his style of management.

When I returned to my cubicle, I discovered that Jamie had abducted Blossom. Here's a picture for evidence.


You don't wanna know what she is doing on her computer.

And we took a strange photo


Noticed anything spooky?


And finally it's a wrap!

I left the office feeling a little sad but I believed that everyone has to 'get-of-the-train' someday. I will be starting my new job on September 1 and I believe that it will be another exciting beginning of a new chapter in my life.

The.End.Of.A.Chapter.#2

Part #2: The Lunch (Read Part #1 here)

Bet you thought I cuddled my Blossom Powerpuff Girl the whole day huh? ;) No, I didn't, but ocassionally I will hold her head and say, "Eeee.... So Cute!" to send goosebumps to Jamie :p I spent my morning clearing up my drawers, filing the documents I found in my drawer *Shhhhh*, organizing some MSDN DVDs and doing some last verifications on my development server.

I lelong off (gave away) all my stationeries and gave my lady-bug to Jamie and packed the remaining stuff into a small 6x6x3 inches box. Yeah! I don't usually put too much personal things on my desk as I don't want to look so sad carrying a box out of the building when I leave the company. *But I don't mind carrying a huge powerpuff though* :p

Still having some time before I make any plans for lunch, I sat at my place and wrote a "Good-Bye email" to my colleagues. Now, somehow I can't connect to the global address book, so if I left out your name, please forgive me okies? *HuGs*.

Just when I want to start calling my lunch-kakis (lunch mates), my CIO called-up to wish me all the best. Unfortunately, sometime came up and he could not join me for lunch. *SHuCks* and I wanna take some pictures with him! Oh Well! Work comes first.

Now, since Fairus and Kelly have another lunch appointment with their project manager and can't join me for lunch, and since Winston drove all the way back from Cyberjaya to lunch with me, a cafeteria lunch won't do him justice. So, we were thinking of lunching outside, maybe at the Mines Shopping Mall (again?). Hmm... I will need more kakis, cos the fellowship is now down to Winston and Jamie only.

*Bink* I recalled Mike was asking the day before about another farewell lunch and I think he will be interested. Gave him a call and he is already on his way back to the office after visiting a customer. I told him to drag Wen-Ching along since he fong-fei-kei (didn't turn up) on the previous farewell at KFC.

Then, I messaged Kathy, "Come lunch together with me. Today is my last day. I wanna take pictures with you". Then she replied, "Lunch ah... See first lah". Then I said, "Come lah, I don't have any pictures taken with you. Last day liow". Then she said she will arrange her appointments and come. *Yippee*

Winston then started to complain, "So how? Lunch how? Faster lah. Hungry liow!". Then I messaged Wen-Ching and he came down but no signs of Kathy and Mike. So I called Kathy again, "Kathy come faster! Got Big-Big Powerpuff Girl here in my place". Kathy replied in excitement, "Is it?! Ok ok, I come now".

After a while, both of Mike and Kathy came and then everyone started to say, "I dowan to drive lah", "My car no petrol lah" and "I tired to drive lah". (I can understand since petrol price went up). Then Kathy came out with a smart suggestion, "Let's ask Serena to drive lah... Work here so long never ride in her car." and everyone goes, "Yalah, Yalah, Serena drive lah". Ok lor, Since everyone so Pung-Cheong (Supportive), I drive lor. So, since I'm driving, I will decide where to go for lunch lor.

I drove them to Serdang's famous and delicious Ngar-Pou-Lou-Shue-Fun (Claypot "Silver Needle Noodle") at Yuk Heng kopi-tiam (Coffee Shop). [The direct translation of the dish is rather misleading and gross - Claypot Rat Noodle, because the noodles look like rat's tail hence the name. In Hong-Kong if you order that, people will think you are going to commit suicide because Lou-Shue-Fun is rat-poison in Hong-Kong.]

Since there are three big guys and two tiny girls packed inside my car, I have to drive extremely careful especially going over bumps and cornering. *Can't simply 'daytona' liow* So, I drove like a scared-stiff lady driver... Eeee... Big Truck coming... *I Scared* *I Scared*

When we reached the place, Mike, Wen-Ching, Winston and Kathy all went to Par-Toi (Book table) while I go buy the parking ticket. Jamie was watching my back like a Kwong-Wu-Ah-Sou ('Gangsterina'). Sure feels good to have a Taekwando black-belt second-band bodyguard around *HeHe* *Snort* *Snort*

After that we enter the shop and saw all the guys getting comfy already and they ask me to order the food. "Si-Tao-Por", I called to the shop-owner and she came, "Leng-Lui, Oi-Sek-Mut-Yeh? (Pretty girl, what do you want to eat?) . [Now, you should take note that it has become a custom to prefix all greetings with Leng-Lui (Pretty girl) or Leng-Chai (Handsome boy) to give the warm-fuzzy-feeling to the customers. Whether they mean it, that is a different story.]

So, I said, "Ngar-Pou-Lou-shue-Fun!" and Wen-Ching immediately said, "Eeee.... I don't like." Then everyone said, "Sai-Geh, Sai-Geh (Small one, small one)".

Then Kathy said, "I want the Crispy-Fried-Tau-Foo!" and Wen-Ching said, "Eee... Tau-Fu, I don't like, dowan". Then everyone said, "Pat-Tiu, Pat-Tiu (Eight pieces, eight pieces)". Then Kathy said, "I like the dish. Order more lah! Ten pieces!". Then there were some debate, "Eight!", "Ten!", "Eight!", "Ten!" and finally, everyone settled for "Eight". The shopowner was getting confused already.

Then Mike ordered, "Wat-Tan-Hor (Cantonese Fried Wide Kuey Teow)" and I quickly override him, "Yin-Yeung! (Cantonese Fried Bee-Hoon and Wide Kuey Teow combo)". Everyone agreed but to Wen-Ching, "Dowan!". *Aiyo, this boy!*

So, I asked the Tai-Siu (Big Prince [A term that can used to describe a spoiled brat.]) what he wants or at least what he can eat? He replied, "LaLa! [Don't know what the heck is that in English. It's some kinda clam-like seafood]". So, I ordered it for him and I add-on a last dish, "Fu-Yue-Yao-Mak (Lettuce cooked in beancurd paste)". That's It! And we waited for the food to be served.

When the food arrives everyone ate happily and our Tai-Siu Wen-Ching sapu (clean-up) two bowls of rice, the Lala, a small bowl of Lou-Shue-Fun, the lettuce and some of the Yin-Yeung. *Amboi, bila tanya, Tak Nak, Tak Nak. Bila sampai, makan banyak." (When asked him, this don't want that don't want but when the food arrives, eat so much.). Everyone raising their eye-brows and giving me that Look-At-Him-Look. Anyway, he is still young and he is my pal. So don't bother lah.

Ahhh.... right after lunch is photo session time. Everyone drew out their Samsung lah, Nokia 6680 lah, Nokia 9500 lah and of course, I took out my 7710 and we all fire away!!!


Me and Mike. I treat him like my younger brother.


Me and Kathy.



Me and Tai-Siu *Just Kidding* Wen-Ching


Me and Winston.


Me and Jamie.



Mike with his famous "Peace After Meal" stance.


Wen-Ching feeling great after the meal. Notice those rice bowls hidden behind the blue one and those Lala shells.


This shot is a jewel! You never get to see Winston laugh like this!


We decide to have a brawl.


And finally, guessed who paid the bill?

After lunch, we all went back for more photos!

The.End.Of.A.Chapter.#1

Part #1: The Mysterious Gift

Today is my last day at work. Well technically, my last day should be tomorrow but since
tomorrow is my country's Independence Day, so that makes today my last working day. Like any other day, I started my morning with my daily routine and drove to the office. The traffic was smooth and the journey was a breeze.

When I stepped into the office, I noticed this *HuGe* present sitting beneath my table. It was nicely wrapped with a ribbon and has a card on it.



The card says...

"Just to say farewell my friend,

I wouldn't wanna be ya,

but I'd like to wish you lots of luck,

and lots of love - now see ya!"

Oooo! It was a farewell gift from my colleagues! *How sweet of them* *HuGGiEs* Jamie was shouting, "Guessed what we got for you?! Open It Open It!"



Then I started inspecting the box. It is huge but it is very light and it doesn't make a sound if I shake it. "It's a plush toy!", I said excitedly and Jamie gave me the *Grin*. Then I started unwrapping the gift and more colleagues came over to stare at me, *The BiG-LiTTLe-GuRL*.



Fairus, Winston and Kelly all waiting anxiously to see the look on my face. And after unwrapping part of the box, my earlier instincts were correct! The label printed on the box says it all! It was a dead-give-away!



Let's see what's inside. Oooo! I'm *sO eXCiTed!*



aaaaaarrrrrrhhhH! *Screaming insanely* It's a *SuPeR-SiZe* Blossom! (Leader of the Powerpuff Girls). It's so cute and huggable with a big head that is larger than my monitor.



I placed her on my notebook and you can see how huge she was. *Absolutely adorable!*



For the whole day, she sits on my desk bringing cheers to everyone who passed by my cubicle. It didn't take long for everyone in the office to know that I got a big powerpuff girl sitting on my desk. Some colleagues thought it was my birthday and came 'Congratulating' me but when I told them that it was my last day working in the company, they were so surprised. *Hehe*



Mmmm.... So nice to hug. I like it very VeRy vErY much! *Absolutely Love It!* Thank you *Fairus*, *Winston*, *Kelly*and not to forget, *Jamie*. *Muaks* to you all. You guys had really made the day worth remembering. Take care ya!

[PS. I edited this post to put in more pictures and content]

Confession.of.a.Shopper

I went into a shopping frenzy today! Can't keep my sanity with all the *sale saLE SALE* going on and I guessed I finally went berserk. Bought a Carlo-Rino hand-bag for 20% off to replace my current one which is already 3 years old. Pity me, I only have one hand-bag. Whether it is work or leisure, you will see me with the same monotonous hand-bag. So, I'm upgrading my current monotonous hand-bag to a bigger monotonous hand-bag (hopefully, more room for a new iPaq *Snort* *Snort*)

And since today is mom's birthday, I got her one too. [Earlier, I had brought her for a relaxing spa treatment at the slimming centre.]

Then I bought myself a pair of working shoes from Metrojaya for another 20% off to replace my current decaying pair of heels. It's by Snowfly and feels very comfortable. And Yes! It will be my only pair of working shoes. Another monotonous upgrade!

Later in the night, I brought my family and grandma to Overseas Restaurant to celebrate my mom's birthday. Initially, I was just picking on the Choy-Sum but no thanks to the Thai-style chicken, I had broke my diet. *DaRN*

After the dinner, we decided to walk around. While passing through Primavera, another pair of shoes had caught my attention. However, I was too engrossed with it until I didn't really check the price. Err... Just say it was *slightly* above what I expected and I came home feeling like a *LoLLy*. With that money, I could have bought a Lewre... or maybe a Bonia! But since I usually have difficulties finding shoes my size, that will be a consolation for me.

Minutes later, while passing-by the information counter, I noticed that I was entitled for a lucky-draw. Hoping to try my luck, I handed in my receipt and a lady lead me to this huge Toto-like contraption with lots of ping-pong balls inside (and some kids frantically spinning it). I thought I was suppose to go for the ping-pong balls but the lady told me "Pick a paper" and I went "huh?". Then I noticed there were some pieces of folded paper in there. I stuck my hand in and pulled one out.

And today's fung-sui says I will win .... a Subang Parade T-shirt!

My dad was laughing his head-off and said, "It better not had a 'Mega-sale' printed at the back. Hahaha!". Now, who would wear a Subang Parade t-shirt? If I wear to other malls, then I look so stupid. It says, "Subang Parade is our place", so what am I doing in another mall? And if I wear it in Subang Parade, shoppers may mistake me for a sales-assistant or sumfink. And darn, it had 'Megathon' printed at the back! It shall go straight into my pyjamas drawer.

Wow! This is the first time I go nuts like this. I think I will need to survive on roti for the next few weeks...

Farewell.@.Dave's.Deli

Had my second farewell lunch yesterday! *Blush* *Gettin' fat liow* It was organized by 'the usual gang' in my division and we went to our favourite Friday lunch-spot - Dave's Deli at the Mines Shopping Mall! We had the usual set meals but instead of my usual lips-smacking Cabonarra Spaghetti plus Lasagna combo-meal *Yummie*, I had opted for Fish & Chips. *What to do wor? On diet ma*

[A day before, I also had a farewell lunch with the other guys/gals from Numedia (now consolidated into my division), Axis and Sapura Marketing but stories on that later when I get the pictures]

So I get to be a princess for a day - which means I get to be served by my colleagues *Hehe* But a princess has got to do her duty as well which is to swiftly grab the chairs and sit at the dinning table to book the place. While waiting, I took some nice pictures of the Mines Shopping Mall.

The design of the mall was pretty unique with a river dividing the complex and most food outlets were located around the river, giving it a romantic ambience for dinning. The river flows to the Mines Lake, which I heard was the deepest lake in the world and during the old-old days, it was the largest open tin mine in the world.

You can hire a water-taxi to tour around the Mines Resort City or you can pay RM5 to get the water-taxi to fetch you to my office via the river and enlight at the jetty below my office. *Cool eh?* Good idea for avoiding the traffic in Sri Kembangan. ;)

After awhile, my colleagues came over with their food but mine had to be specially made. So everyone had to wait for me to get my food before getting started. *Paiseh* So while waiting, I took more pictures and here are the photos of the Fantastic Five:


Winston - my college-buddy. We call him 'Justice Bao' since he seldom laughs and looks kinda emotionless most of the time. His love for Java has also earned him a shorter nickname - JBao. But don't see him quiet-quiet like this hor, he is quite a gentleman wan.


Kelly - The PHP gal. She is a real lucky girl! No matter how much she eats, she will still stay slim slim slim. Eeee.... jealous-nye.


Fairus - Don't you just feel like you wanna *CuBit* *CuBit* those chubby cheeks? She is the Tai-Kar-Jie (Big-Sister) in one of the projects.


Jamie - She is the new-kid-on-the-block. Don't see her like small-small tweety bird, this cili-padi is a Taekwando black-belt second band. See even in the photo, while waiting for her mushroom soup she is already disspiating so much Sat-Hei (fearsome aura). She is our web-journalist but as to how she got stuck with a bunch of geeks like us.... eh... must be her karma kua *HeHe*


Finally... Me lor, The .NET Geekette.


Me again - [Edited] Jamie showing off her photography skills. :p

Finally, my fish & chips had arrived! But what the... Why so small wan? Aiyah, for the price we are paying, I think the fish & chips in Manhattan Fish Market is better. Atleast we get the delicious Dory. But then, they are a specialized seafood restaurant so cannot compare lah. Hurray! Now everyone can makan (eat)! Eh... why my fish & chips got doodle wan? *HaHaHa* *So Wat-Tat*


My fish & chips - can see the pile of doodle?


Ok! Allow me to enlarge the picture.

Everyone is looking at the doodle. So, I quickly spread that on my fish and pretended that I never saw it. Then, we all had a great meal and chatted on almost everything. After that, we decided to head back to our office to continue our 'rat-race' but on the way, Fairus picked up some good bargains.




Later in the evening, I attended my exit-interview and I shared some of my views with the interviewer. They were briefly noted down and I was given a letter of acceptance for my departure from the company. I will only be around for another 2 working days and after that, I'll be on my way to my new job.

But before that, let me enjoy more farewell lunches first! *HuHuHu*

Locked.And.Loaded

"Counting the days" ... as some of them call it. That's what I've been doing for the past few days. Apart from that, I've also been cooking up "A Hitchhiker's Guide To Maintaining the [X] System" for the successors to my system. It is an unofficial guide baked from the painful experiences I had with the system and it will be delivered to them, oven-fresh, in the briefing tomorrow.

Come to think of it, I sort-off 'grew-up' with the system in this company. It went on-line the day I joined and it has been under my care since the start of version 1.2. Back then, I was a big-fat project manager poking at eleven team members to do the CIO's bidding. I was also proud to represent it for CMM L3 assessment. After 1.2, a wave of company re-orgs came and there were mass exodus.

The system was in a bad shape after the re-orgs. Business requirements had changed and the functions were misaligned. Since I'm the last one standing, I've got to roll-up my sleeves and fix it myself. After a few rounds of lobotomy, the system is now running (healthily... I think) at version 1.4. However, there are still some mess created by the n00bs which I have not the chance to clean-up. Nothing much I could do apart from accepting less-than-perfection.

I used to joke when people asked me, "Who is working on the system?". I will candidly tell them that the system is managed by three persons - Me, Myself and Serena. Me is incharge of supporting the users, troubleshooting problems and producing ad-hoc reports, Myself is the code-monkey that handles all the development work from database to ASP.NET, and Serena is incharge of gathering requirements, liasing with contacts in other divisions and coming up with documents. Of course there is a fourth character, "I", who was not mentioned. "I" manages the health of the development servers and patches them as required.

Me's responsibilities have been successfully transferred and divided among two technical support engineers in DataOne. Tomorrow (or the day after), a handover session will be conducted to transfer the responsibilities of Myself to four carefully-chosen developers (and the winner of the lottery gets to go to the island). Since, the system is already stable, there won't be much for Serena to do - the CIO will take over from here. *CIO is a nice guy* The development servers will then be managed by the MIS department.

With all that settled, I should be looking at my exit-interview soon (and my farewell lunches too).

Indigo.GO!

If you are building distributed applications today, this is one article that you should not miss - Introducing Indigo: An Early Look. *Tip: Indigo has been renamed to Windows Communication Foundation and is part of WinFX* In the near future, we no longer need to puzzle over the selection (and limitations) of Web Services, .NET Remoting, COM+/DCOM, WS-* and MSMQ. All services are now unified in Indigo and development is made much easier.

S.For.Singlish

Fancy the lahs and lors? Enter Singlish.

Bao-Bing, the MVP from China whom I met during the Asia MVP Summit in Singapore, has been trying hard to decode what I'm saying ever since we corresponded via MSN Messenger and Skype. That link was the closest he could get. Unfortunately, there isn't a comprehensive explanation on Manglish *MuaHaHa*

Sugar.Spice.&.All.That's.Nice

While lurking around wikipedia, I stumbled upon an entry on the Powerpuff Girls. And from there, I got to know there were a fourth member, Bunny and also a boys version, the Rowdyruff Boys. I was also amazed to know that they were originally called The Whoop-@$$ Girls.

Now going a bit further I discovered an Anime version - Powerpuff Girls Z (Sounds like a girl version of Dragon Ball Z). But if you look at the screenshots, they look more Sailormoonish due to the same producer. Now they wield magical-weapons. Since it is released in Japan, I wonder when it will hit Malaysia...

Smog.Off (For.Now)

The smog had finally cleared and I hope it stays that way! I can still smell the foul-burnt stench in my room. *GiaAaAaA* My matress, my curtains, my comforter, my baby-smell pillow... all stinked up by the *Sitoopid* smog!

Anyway, I finally get to go out, smell some fresh air and do some shopping in Mid Valley Megamall today. No worries, no make-overs *GiGGLes*. I'm glad the Mega-sale is still ON! *WoOWeE* Bought lotsa new clothes for my new job! Bought a skirt from Padini *What you laughing at? Never seen a powerpuff wear skirt?* and some roughed-bermudas (err... those are for my vacation). Just two more weeks and I'll be outta here to start my new job, advance my career, get a new life. *Can't wait* *Can't wait*

Smoke.Gets.In.My.Lungs

The haze has finally got to me. I was down with migraine for two days. Yesterday, avoiding hints of migraine, I went to work thinking that I'll be ok. In the office, the smog had invaded the three-levels of carparks and penetrated into the building. The building's ventilation systems were practically defenseless against the onslaught.

By 10:00am, the whole floor (plus the others) was covered with smog. I can hear chokes and coughs in almost every corner in the office. My eyes and throat were dry and I felt like vomiting. The hills on the other side of the lake and the Palace of the Golden Horses have somehow vanished! I was told that the Air Pollution Index (API) was at 410.

The burnt-smell had irritated my respiratory system. Started with a mild pain along my nose-drills and shot up to my forehead. Right after lunch, I brokedown with acute semi-hemispherical head pain. *Powerpuff Down! I repeat, we have a Powerpuff Down! Bee-Boo-Bee-Boo*

I managed to sustain till 6:00pm when I can finally go home. I was only 50% 'functional' when I reached home and after dinner, I *Splat* on the bed. Mom was telling me about the hailstorm and all that.

Woke up this morning and thought I could return to my outpost. After five minutes into brushing my teeth, the semi-hemispherical attack returned. I peeped out my window and *Holy Cow* it was worst than yesterday. Finally, had to visit the clinic to get some pain-killers.

I read that the API exceeded the 500 mark today. *You don't actually need to be a meteorologist to see that as visibility was so poor in my area - you can hardly see the cats at the end of the street.* I can feel my lungs contaminated with the smog. Dad had made me wear a surgical mask today.

I'm feeling better now. I hope the haze will clear-up soon so that I don't have to smell like a Malboro everyday.

aHEuuuH.aHeuUuH

The Haze is killing me!!! For days, the area around my house, my office and every where I go to is covered with *sMokE*. Initially started from peat fires in Cyberjaya and now worsen by the open-burning / forest-fires in Sumatra.

The entire Klang Valley looks foggy except that it ain't cool at all. It is dry and warm and you can literally smell the burnt particles in the air and it is giving me a *miGRaiNe*.

ARGH!!! I need some fresh air!!! Gimme some breathable air!!! *cHoKe* *cHoKe* *CouGH* *CouGH*

Firedancer's.Day.Out.II

A month ago, I went for another Loreal makeover in Mid Valley Megamall. *Yup* *Yup* It was another irresistible promotion and I fell for it *again*

However, this time round, the photographer was from another studio and I had to wait for a month before I'm given the digital (and hard) copies of my photographs. Today, I have collected the photos and here are a few of them which I kinda like. *Blush*



Not bad huh? ;)

Trippie's.Farewell

Went to meet Justin (Triplez) and Justin (Jieke) in Mid Valley Megamall today. The journey there was brutal - massive congestion from federal highway to the mall's perimeter. *total mAdNeSs* Apparently, there was a family fair going on in the exhibition centre.

Poor Amy had to chauffeur the guys from their sight-seeing in Petaling Street to the massively congested mall while Eric slept at home and fong-fei-kei (didn't turn up). They turned up at 2:30 pm, tired and hungry, and they settled down at Chopstick Noodle house. I was away collecting my photographs and thermal gels and later rendezvous with them. Then we chatted for hours.

Trippie is going to further his studies in Canada. It will be a 4 years course and we won't be able to see him until then. *Sob* *Sob* Here are some pictures taken for memories.

Here are the Singaporean Twins - Absolutely loving aren't they?

Let's see who can eat faster?! This is how we wallop food in SG man.

Justin Lee (Triplez), Me, Justin Ng (Jieke) - Before saying goodbye!

Gosh! When he returns, I'll be more 'auntie'. Anyway, best of luck in your studies Trippie and don't forget us 'kay? *Hugs*

7710.Firmware.Update

Upgraded my Nokia 7710 Smartphone firmware this week. It is now running at V 03.26.0 15-02-05. The phone appears to be more responsive now - especially when using the camera. Previously, I will need to hold still for quite a while to wait for the *snip-snap* sound and then hold still for a little longer to let it capture the picture. It was quite annoying because I could not capture the cute moments of my cats fast enough.

But now, I can just hit capture and then move away after one or two seconds. There is still a little lag but not as bad as back then. Pictures taken at night has also improved with the orange blisters (pixels) no longer appearing when there is insufficient light.

There is also a digital clock on the Toolbar in the Desk now. But the design of the toolbar isn't intuitive and takes up unecessary space. Disabling the toolbar will revert the phone back to its previous problem - no clock! The caller-group ringtone feature appears to be still missing. *Sigh*

I heard there were rumours about a 3.50, 4.01 and a 4.50 firmware update. Not sure if those are for our country. Will have to wait and see then...

Plan.And.Worry

Planning is an important activity in our life, whether it is for our future or for the tasks at work. It provides us with a step-by-step guide to achieve our objectives. However, planning is often being mistaken for worrying and sometimes it is seen as a sign of pessimism or weakness.

"Why do you worry so much?"

Worrying is the recognition of something that may/will happen where the outcome is unknown and no actions can be thought off to influence the outcome. Planning is the recognition of something that may/will happen and proactive preparations were made ahead to influence a positive outcome.

When we worry, most of the time we are aware of a problem but we do not know what to do about it. There could be thoughts of possible outcomes but no actions were made to influence the outcomes. And we all know the saying, "If a problem can be solved, why worry about it? And if a problem cannot be solved, worrying will not solve it."

However, planning should not be mistaken as worrying. When we plan, we identify all possible outcomes and the risks involved in a particular undertaking. Identifying risks isn't a sign of worrying. It is an activity to identify weakpoints that could derail the undertaking and therefore, planned actions can be put in place to mitigate the risks.

"Why plan when things could go wrong?"

In fact, that is the main reason why planning is important - to prevent things from going wrong.
Planning is not just about looking at the favourable outcomes and the positive path. Failure points and alternate paths should also be studied and the actions to handle any undesirable events when they occur should also be considered. This is called a contigency plan.

Remember this by heart, in life or at work, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail."

Our.Potential.Their.Passion?

Found this via WenChing's blog: Microsoft - Your Potential, Our Passion

Quite nice!

Cleared.for.Take.Off

Here I am in my *little* workstation, fulfilling my last month's notice in the company. *HuRRay!* After being stagnant for more than a year, getting runned-down on-and-off and constantly feeling like a zebra among horses, I'm finally ready to hit the road again!

My situation is like a jet circling the airport grounds looking for an available runway to take-off. I have the capacity and fuel to fly the extra miles but I just need to get on a runway. I'm now cleared for take-off. The runway is just infront of me and once I'm aligned, I will be able to fly - in fact I hope to soar through the skies! *Ok-ok. Watched Stealth too much.*

I didn't noticed that "Sad" was painted all over my face and all over my blogs. Recent regards from my friends made me realised that! "Are you happier now?" - that's the common question I get nowadays and it made me think, "Was I so unhappy before?". Reading back some of my previous blogs I did notice that I've lost some of my colours. Maybe, I have just grown out of that powerpuff girl thingie. Ok! I will try to bring back the old me again.

Where I'll be heading will be full of excitement and challenges (and not to mention stress). I'm not setting any expectations this time to reduce the chances of disappointments. The feeling I have now is exactly how I felt when I got my first job. Excited and Anxious. Nine years of struggling in the industry to get me there. I feel like I've just graduated from corporate school.

I was told by one of my ex-boss once,

"Joining a new company is like a leaf dropped into the river. Initially,
the leaf may hit the rocks and the banks of the river but as time goes on, the
leaf will go with the flow."

Gosh! It has been so long since I received any wise words from my superiors. I sure miss those ex-bosses.

My last day here will coincide with the country's independence day *MeRDeKA!* - what a way to celebrate and what a way to remember it! And after that, my afterburners will be burnin' hot Hot HOT! ;)

Roti.Boy.Variants

This morning, I was introduced to another Roti-boy variant by my mom. It's from Pappa-Roti and it is supposed to be 'an improvement' over the original (cost 10 cents more too!). To me, it is less oily and contains more 'white' than 'yellow'. Taste wise, it is still lacking from the original but the aroma is there.

Every since Roti-boy had made a big hit with their unique delicious bun, everyone on the street has been copying it. I'm not really sure what the real name of the bun is (since everyone just call it Roti-Boy). All that I know is it tastes good. But there are too many variants/imitations around nowadays. You can also spot it as Mexico Bun in The Baker's Cottage. Who actually came out with the idea first?

I was thinking about it today, if only the dude had patent the bun... *LOL*