To throw or not to throw

Its been almost a full month since i moved to my home nest. The reno took a while to complete. The cleaning and touch ups left me sweaty and tired.

Then comes the big move. Stuffs from my in laws place were quickly packed into boxes and brought over. Boxes were opened to be unpacked and this repeated.

 When all is done, what i need are finally in placed. The clothes are on the racks. The furnitures are delivered and placed. Even the appliances are delivered and properly installed. I could not be happier. However there is one thing left to do.

 I need to bring over my Memories from my parents place.

I bought boxes and more boxes and there never seem to be enough. I opened up stuffs that i tot i could never find again and relish the moment. I flip thru old mags that has my younger self there and he looks skinny. I see some faces that are familiar but have absolutely no idea who they are now.

 All the history was lying in my room all this time and i never bother to look at them. Its then i have to make a decision. What can i bring over. And what to do with the rest.

Some old school notes were the easiest. Just throw i said. Some old broken toys were also discarded though i had to say my farewell to them first. I then stopped to think. I have to decide what is sentmental to me and draw the line.

 Its not easy.

I took weeks to decide and pack them neatly. Into boxes i see myself playing tetris to fit them as tightly as possible. If they can fit, i shall bring them over. And so this ended 2 weeks back. With me moving my life over.

 The discarded items did not go down the chute. I firmly believed in recycling and made the effort to brng them to the right bins and placed them correctly.

My family and wife found me odd. But i know that this effort now is for my kids future. The memories are now neatly in boxes in my storeroom. I do know i may never look at them till the turn of the decade, but i just want to ensure that they are kept safely.

The leak

I been planning to leave my company for a couple of weeks now. Only my closest colleagues (whom have similar intentions) know about this.

Just last friday, my current boss RW asked if I could help out with another project. As I respected him well, I informed him that I intent to leave and it is not wise to bring me over. He accepted it and hope I can stay at least till the end of the current project.

And then this afternoon, my former boss, L, asked me to join him for a chat. I smell something is wrong.

Just before this, I met up with my new COO, RM. Its his first day and he wants to get to know everyone. The previous COO, G is on 3 mth notice and I am happy to see him go. Dun get me wrong here. The bad place I am in, as cheated of his time and money.

G was brought over as COO after my fat boss wanted to buy over his coy. It din go thru due to cash flow problems. So as such, they been trying to get rid of him for months. G has not been given any pay for 4 mths and been bombarded with questions at every issue.

G took it bravely but know that his days here are numbered.

Anyway, L asked if I was unhappy with my current role and seek to bring me back to his team. I asked him what this about and he said he learned that I have intentions to leave. I openly said its true and he was surprised. I told him that there is no point in gg over his side. After all, the reasons for my leaving is the same. (I told him abt the lack of operating fund. The only reason I held back is that I hate that fat bastard)

L wants me to think it thru and I said I will. But well, my mind is made up. Thinking back, RM was saying things like the coy is very happy with my work here and hope to give me more opportunities. I now smell a rat. They are playing this game to keep me.

What is interesting is that I realise now that this is just a scheme. G is leaving and is likely to bring with him a few staffs whom respected him. I am guessing, they are sounding me out if G is intending to poach me. Perhaps they want to use it to play him out and deny him his pay.

Its my guess and I got a feeling, I aint far from the truth. Now I wonder if RW has leaked this out. If so, I guess he is trying to keep me. If not, it is definitely true that they are sounding me out about the possible poach.

Noguchi Table

Take a good look at this Designer Coffee Table.

Looks damn chio hor.

Very Modern hor.

Now what if I tell you its designed by a Japanese Guy, Noguchi.

I bet you would think that this Jap dude has a eye for simplicity and interesting structure.

Now what if I tell you that this table was designed in 1947. Now, would you believed me?

It is pretty amazing to me that back then, this artist caught an idea and made something that becomes a timeless classic. He probably stand out so much back then that the people around din know what to make of this.

All I know is, I am damn keen to put this in my new place.

Run from the Hippo

I made the bold move last year to leave a comfort zone and ventured out into the open waters. Friends around me had warned me that things out there are different. I was to believe that the sharks are all around and you will likely be bitten from your own kind.

Mentally preparing myself for all this…. Office politics and competitions are impossible to avoid in the private sector. After all I rather have that competitiveness than to be in a organization that endlessly protect the lazy and weak. I always obey the animal kingdom rule. The strong will survive.

I have been out in the shark infested waters for 8 months now and I am glad I have moved.

There was a fair share of people who goes around stabbing backs and some who was bolder (or foolish) to stab while you are facing them. There were plenty of smiling faces who have their hidden agenda. And of course there are friends among them I could trust.

Sadly, I have to find another water body soon. This little pond is running dry of water. Lots of fishes have left and there is a strong chance there would be a drought. On top of that, that hippo in my opinion, is making more and more bad moves. One of which has made me come into conflict with my former colleagues.

I seek to find an ocean this time. Small little ponds have a tendency to run out of water. Hope there is some good news in the coming days.

Privatising

During lunch, a colleague mentioned that the govt made a terrible mistake. They should not have privatise the transports. Giving that the situation now, the govt has to step in to pump in more money in order to keep the fare lows and the bus coy profitable.

However, I think the govt made a bigger mistake. They should have kept transport coy under their wing and should have privatise HDB instead. My colleague was shocked when he heard that.

I laid it out to him. Private coy always look at their bottom line. If they were to build something, they have to ensure they sell it and make money.  If HDB goes private, all developers out there will panic. HDB will go into building not just HDB, but Condos, landed, industrial, commercial etc.

It be the biggest developer out there. As such, all the other developers will have to drop their price in order to compete.

Of course, with HDB being in the private sector, the mass market low cost HDB will be priced higher. BUT the other sectors will drop owning to their entry.

In time to come, some developers will enter into the mass market HDB in order to protect their bottom line. This will create competition that is healthy for the first time buyers.

I guess in the short term, we will see lots of panic and price fluctuation. In the long run, we should see a better controlled property market.

Till then, I guess the govt will have to see if they are willing to let go of this golden goose.

Soccer in work life

Very often you would find reference to soccer in work life. Sometimes the reference is so real, it hurts.

Sales is pretty much like strikers. When they clinch a deal (or score a goal), they are heavily praised upon and rewarded. Whereas the engineers are like the goalkeeper. They do a good job and no one realise. Its only when there is a mistake made (a goal scored) that the engineers get all the unnecessary attention.


1.  All that lessons learn in school (training) have never transferred to real life. The competition will tackle you and you may break a leg.



2.  You are only valuable to the team when the other teams (other job offers) wants you. Its only then that your boss will notice you.

3.  Working hard and long hours doesnt mean you will go home a winner. Often its played on luck and that means being in the right place at the right time.




4.  Everyone gives their 2 cents worth on what you should have done after the match (project) ended and not before.

5.  No one is happy to be substituted.

6.  Fighting among co-workers in front of others are fairly common




7. Staying in one team for good never gets you anywhere. Unless the team you are in, happen to be the top team.Then again, you may still want to leave and go to Madrid.

8. You can expect to work on most weekend. Holidays included.

Hublot watch - Antikythera mechanism

I should really not look at watches. Without fail, I would find something I like and spend the rest of the day thinking about it.

Its like having a massive crush on a girl. Except this could be bought with the right price.

Hublot went about and recreated an ancient mechanism now known as Antikythera mechanism. Its invented in the 100-200 BC to allow the Greek to accurately predict the position of the sun and the nearest known stars (planets).This can be done, simply by turning a single dial.

Now I am captivated by this and dreaming wish I could own this piece of history on my wrist. I think it would no doubt be costly. Hopefully I would struck TOTO one day

The wait for your property

I was rather fortunate. Just last June I made a deposit with a heavy heart. I know I need a home after my wedding. But its impossible to find a place that is affordable and readily available. The HDB launches then are impossible. Our combined income was outside the ceiling. The resale HDBs were scary. COV was averaging at 40K and it aint going to be a location I am happy with.

It took a heavy heart to come to terms that my home would likely to be my biggest investment. Something I would be working hard to pay off.  This would leave little for other luxuries. As I made the deposit, I can only hope for the best. So far, I have not regretted on my decision.

The thing that I was pleasantly surprise was that I would be getting my keys in Dec. Now how about that. A wait of just 1.5 years. Something bearable.

Now if you wondering why I am sharing all these above, its becos of my conversation with a senior colleague. To give you the whole picture, I shall throw some background info. He is single, in his late 40s and is wary about investments.

He said that the PAP Govt (Notice he din said its the SG Govt, but branded it PAP) has noticed that the voters are unhappy. Largely becos of the high cost of owning a property. Well he was partially right. The voters are unhappy for high property cost, but are also upset of the job losses, influx of foreigners, etc etc etc. AS SUCH our PAP govt will control the price of the properties. They even hinted (no reference provided) that in 2014 the prices will drop drastically.

This is something I do not quite agreed. Yes, I aint no soothsayer. I definitely cant predict my stocks portfolio in 2 weeks much less the next 2 years. But I do know that its very hard to bring down the property prices.

Just 2-3 years back when we have the Depression. The one they said would rival the Great Depression of 1930s. Well what happen to our property prices? Interestingly I did not notice a substantial decline.

Private condos that were in the launch phrase did became softer. A small discount was given to entice buyers to come in. And though the showrooms were quieter, the units were largely sold out.

Property developers who were anticipating the crash, immediately withheld all their plans. No new housing were build thus increasing the demand with a even smaller supply. (HDB too reduce their supply, thanks to a smart arse)

Those who owned homes has withhold from selling. The majority could afford to wait out. And with banks giving out a pretty low interest rate then, they are more than happy to. 

Those whom owned properties for rental too were enjoying the low rental rates. They may be the tricky bunch as some may have tenants whom pack up and leave. (forgoing a month of security deposit) However I am sure even with vacant units, those whom could afford to rent them out are able to hold on to them for months and not years.

So what is this trying to tell us? Property is a big investment and most investors are fundamentally able to cope with a short term loss. Despite an economic decline, the price of property may slip a few % but generally would stay strong.

Now let me use another way to explain this. A majority of our savings are tied up in our home. This is our prime investment where it takes years to pay off the banks. If a substantial drop (lets say 20%) is to occur, plenty of us would be cursing that we are paying more than what our home is worth.

Banks will be wary of this as well. Any bad debts would mean that the unit they be repossessing is worth less than the loan. A good amount of paper value would be wiped out if that is to happen.

Soooo do I think that the property price would drop? Well NO. I have seen the past data when I was looking for a home during the crisis. I saw a dip and not witness a drop.

Personally I think our Govt hands are tied. The only thing they could do is to stabilize the pricing and build affordable HDBs for young couples.

PS. I doubt the Govt would cut the price of new HDB by half, unless they are keen to piss off all the surrounding neighbors and developers. If a new 5 room unit cost 200K, all surrounding older unit, would have their prices drop. And these are the ppl whom has paid 500K for their unit years ago. Imagine the paper loss.

Home project

Just a couple of weeks ago, I received a surprise call from my lawyer. He has called to informed me that I be getting my keys to my new home in Dec, this year. Now this is a little shock to me. The developer has kept the TOP at Dec 2012 and even counting in the time buffer they put in and the speed of construction, I had only assumed that I could collect my keys in early half of 2012.

So with my mouth wide open, my heart skipping a bit, I shared this news with my wifey. She too was taken aback. Both of us are excited by this news and it became apparent that we need to get some planning done.

First off, I called 2 of my Bros. Mr B who is in the flooring biz and is setting up work on home interior design. He has assured me that he would help me to look into carpentry and necessary painting and flooring.

Next I called my Mr N, who is in the lighting biz. He invited both us to drop by his showroom and we have found a couple of lightings we fancy. We even found that he has products on ceiling fans and would be considering them as well.

Furnishing is the next step and we dropped by Furniture Mall yesterday to take a good look. I must say, 3 hours is not sufficient to cover the whole place. We spent most of the time in the first 2 floors and have only swing by the 3rd for a quick look.

Looking at the possible cost that we would arrive at, I must say I am glad that we are financially prepare for this. It feels like I have taken a whole year of my income and gave it to all these groups of ppl for a swell looking home.

Nothing in life is cheap nor easy. One has to be prepared for the worst and planned for the best. (This means I wont have to go ahead with my EU 11 plan)

Pet tracking idea

This all happen relatively quick. Got a fren who is into a biz that provides vehicle tracking services. I remarked to him that he has a brilliant product and there is plenty of opportunities he could explore.

And then he enticed me.

He asked if I wanted to go over to help him out. He is in need of people to help him grow his biz and is relented to trust just about any one.

Honestly I am flattered and strongly tempted. The idea of being in a small startup and the ability to help it grow, greatly entices me.

Sadly I told him that I could not afford to do so. I am pegged down with commitments and would need the dough. He understood where I was coming from and we kept our friendship professional.

When an idea pops up, I would share with him about the possibility of using his tracking services in this new area. He would give me an opinion if it is feasible or not. Recently I came up with the idea of Pet tracking and shared with him immediately.

What I din know was that he has already ventured into that field. The only problem was, this was carried out in another country and not SG. He asked if I was keen on it. If so, I could be his reseller. All I would need is to register a legal biz entity and signed with him a reseller deal. I would price the product with a mark up and proceed to sell it in my own capacity. I am fairly excited and have been considering it since.

I aint keen to just jump straight into it. I need to see if there is market potential for this. What I do know is that my risk would be small. The startup capital would be affordable and I just need to the energy and time to market this (online stores and such).

I guess I would make my decision shortly. If its worth a shot, I should be waiting for the cows to come home.

Awake? You might just be sleep walking

Every work day I followed a fixed routine. Alarm ring, put to snooze, got up, turn on the heater, grab the papers, boil some water, go back to bed, alarm ring again, curse, silent alarm, shower, make breakfast, read the papers and run off in a daze to work

It’s the same routine that repeats endlessly. Something I could practically do without any thinking. I bet I could even close my eyes while doing it. But it wise to keep my eyes half open at least. Wont want to walk into the balcony thinking its my shower.

Now I don’t dread on the routine in my daily ritual. After all, I been experimenting and found it to be my most effective routine to get all the above done in an hour and reach work on time. What I do dread is going to my workplace and do nothing more but routine work.

I have spent 5 years in an establishment that limits my creativity and growth. A well structure organization that prevents one from getting work done quickly. Everything has to follow a fixed and meaningless structure. Slow and steady to win the race some might say, leaving my mind to become dumb and numb.

And then I had enough.

My bags were packed and I left to enter a whole new environment. The dangerous realms of the private sector. The place where public servants are told endless stories of back stabbing, bodies dumping and promiscuous relationships. Ok the last one may not be that bad… I kid.

It has been a couple of months now and I never felt better. I have faced many challenges in this period of time that makes my daily work seem non routine. I gotten to do marketing, a chance to sniff out competitors’ products, provide some cut throat strategy and secured a deal on my own. And to think I only have an engineering background.

Such is the hunger that I now have, I am craving for more. I am on a lookout for a good deal and to build my networks. I foresee that this would be necessary for me to achieve greater success in the future. Like Steve Jobs once said, you cant connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect the dots looking backward. You just have to trust that those dots somehow connect in your future.

I know for sure my future lies in those dots I have created now.

Zzz Monster

It never gives up. It creeps up to me when I least expect. And it never fails to cast its spell on me.

I have been fighting the monster for years now. A dreadful war that has no end in sight. When I was at my old company, I had the reliant of a saviour known as Nespresso. Sadly she is no longer on my desk any more and I battle alone.

There was a nice I gave in to its enduring spell. I would nap away comfortably at my desk. Ignoring the stares of the peers, bosses and big bosses. I must have look like I put in lots of hard work and deserve a quick shuteye.

Alas I am no longer in that safe zone. Sleeping openly is a declaration that I have not enough to do. That I hated what I am doing. That my boss simply bored me in the meetings.

So now, I have to fight the fight. To keep this madness Zzzz monster away. It aint going to be easy. Matchstick on my eyelids, burning eyedrops are helping me out. But there got to be a better way.

Tipsy

Well it doesnt happened too often. Come to think of it, in my 6 years of work, this has been the very first.

In any case, this is and perhaps would be the very first time there is beer given during office hours. We are also encouraged to toast our cupful of beer to our departing COO.

Now I must admit drinking during office hours is a big no no. Often there are uncompleted work on the table left behind while one has to attend such event. True enough you wont be able to complete it till the next day. There is also the office Politic aspect of it. Something that I am still learning.

Drink too much and you become a nuisance. The rest of the staff would never forgive you.

Drive too little and you are considered anti social.

Needless to say, those that could drink would just indulge in a cup or 2. Just so that they appeared accommodating. Those who cant, would just sip and play along.

I for one am a big drinker. But for this occasion, I have kept myself in check. No more than 3 cups and no loud noises. After all I wont know what really going to happen behind my back.

Ok time to sober up and get back home now. Its a good thing I dont drive

Bohm stiring engine

This is way too cool not to share. It would be nice to have sitting on my office desk

A micro biz idea

While having lunch today, I stumble upon an interesting biz idea. Its probably my 5th idea of what biz I should be doing in the future, but strangely I think this one might be a success.

What is it, I wont reveal a thing here. And all the hint you got is in the pic above.

Anyway, its so far 3 ideas that relate to food now. Perhaps being an ever hungry singaporean would drive me to think of mostly foodie ideas.

Well lets see how this pans out. This would just serve as a reminder for me in the event someone actually develops this and I can only cry about it.

Now onto my next biz idea

Pre-sales or Solution Architect

Hey future BLM,

I guess you probably know the differences between those 2 roles now. I however am still finding out.

Remember I was employed as a Project Lead. The role calls for me to manage and lead a team to carry out project works. However this is a SME and roles tend to overlap. As such, my director informed me that he is looking for me to be involved in either Pre-sales or Solution Architect. I must say, I am both nervy and excited about this.

I am guessing that Pre-sales would mean that I be assisting the sales team to pitch for contracts. What this seems to mean is that the sales team would generate interests and bring in the contact. When a potential customer responded, they would pitch the products/services to them. I would thus assist in the pitch to ensure that what the sales team promise, the engineering side could deliver. The promising part is that I would get some much needed sales experience from this. The down side is that this would be conflicting to the engineering role.

Solution Architect is a relatively new term to me. From what I imagine, this is the guy whom would design how the system would work. What parts would be needed, what structure the product should be build on, etc etc. This feels more at home to me. I have been keen on designing stuffs for a while now. However all the years in project management duties, all I ever did was to manage schedule, budget and relationships. At times, I envy those engineers whom get to do the exciting stuff while I just await their results. However the only down side to this is that, the growth is limited. An engineer would still be just an engineer. The progress to higher roles does not start from here.

I guess there is no clear path to success. I could do something I like and be lamenting on the limited growth or try to go out of my comfort zone and see if that works for me. The future is built on every small step I make now. It would be interesting that when future me reads back on this, he would laugh. Well I hope future me has no regrets.

Past BLM.

new work

After years of working for my old company, I came to realise one thing. I have forgotten how to make new friends.

and I am dead serious about it.

I was in my comfort zone. I had knew all the faces there. I could talk to those I fancy and ignore those I distrust.

But in this new place. Everyone is a stranger to me. Lunch was an interesting experience. I have to be careful to bring up topic that wont simply piss someone off accidentally.

Nevertheless I need to be fearless to get to know people and to get my job done. This is going to be an interesting firsts for me.

1/2 marathon

After years of running 10km, I have decided that I would not run that distance any more. Its time to progress.

I have been running the last 3 races as my frens did not want to challenge a longer distance. This time round, I decided that even if I have to go alone, I would try the 21km.

My personal goal is to just run without stopping. I likely be pacing at no more than 10km/h. With this, I hope to complete in 2hrs 30min.

5 days to go

Honestly I cant wait for this. In a short 5 days, I would be closing a chapter at my ermm first job (honestly I can never be sure this is my first job... There is the pilot stint)

And in July I be starting work at a new place.

Its just brilliant.

Seats

I am months away from getting my new place. (Ok maybe more like a year away)

Nevertheless the kaisu part of me has decided that its time to look at house reno mags and get some ideas from friends.

I chanced upon this website that sells chairs. And it giving me a positive outlook. (YES!)


Though I am a bigger fan of couch, I think I would prefer these chairs instead.

Now comes the question on what letters I should use. WTF? CHAIR? SEAT?