Called Toyota Motors to get a status on the Camry that I had ordered 5 months ago
TM: Sir, the car has arrived at the port, but we do not have a status at this time
Me: I had asked the Toyota Merit team to ensure that I get a car manufactured in 2008. Can you confirm that?
TM: er..our record shows it is a 2007 car
Me: In that case, I'll wait for the 2008 car. I have waited for 5 months, what is another couple of months.
TM: I'll check on this and let you know. Can I have your phone contact please.
And that was yesterday. Till today no one from Toyota has called up.
So looks like no new car for CNY.
Darn!!!
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Body Snatchers in Malaysia
Normally, I will refrain from blogging on politics or religions. But today, on Jeff Ooi's blog, he had an extensive writeup on another case of Muslims snatching the corpse of another allegedly converted deceased man.
See http://www.jeffooi.com/2008/01/gan_eng_gor.php#more for the details.
My personal opinion is that they are trying to grab as many non Muslim dead bodies as possible to get at their assets. They already had success with the case of a converted fireman in one of the southern states. When an allegedly converted Muslim passes away and his family is not Muslims, ALL his assets goes to the Muslim bodies and the non Muslim family gets NOTHING.
If I should pass away and anyone makes a claim that I had converted, use this blog as proof that I
- never converted to be a Muslim
- have no intention of converting to Islam
- and they have no rights over my dead body or assets. The assets that I leave behind are for my immediate family (Mother, Wife and Son) and my God Daughter.
Hands OFF!!
See http://www.jeffooi.com/2008/01/gan_eng_gor.php#more for the details.
My personal opinion is that they are trying to grab as many non Muslim dead bodies as possible to get at their assets. They already had success with the case of a converted fireman in one of the southern states. When an allegedly converted Muslim passes away and his family is not Muslims, ALL his assets goes to the Muslim bodies and the non Muslim family gets NOTHING.
If I should pass away and anyone makes a claim that I had converted, use this blog as proof that I
- never converted to be a Muslim
- have no intention of converting to Islam
- and they have no rights over my dead body or assets. The assets that I leave behind are for my immediate family (Mother, Wife and Son) and my God Daughter.
Hands OFF!!
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Happiness is when the ice is broken
By a simple "hi", the ice broke on the evening of 19th Jan. Dare I hope that the thawing will accelerate and be back to normal soon??
Friday, January 18, 2008
A story that struck home for me
I know Christmas has been over almost a month now. One of my office mates forwarded me this email which almost caused me to choke up. It is so much like the situation that my mum went through. She had 2 kids in tow at that time - my sister and I. I remember her telling how I was so sickly that getting enough money to get me to see the doctor was such a challenge and on one occasion, she was all prepared to beg for money or charity when we were almost at the clinic when she found $5 on the ground - enough to get me to see the doc.
Read and pray for those who are not as lucky as you
Subject:this is why I feel so alive...when my heart feels sad, then joy, then gratitude....(no particular order)...but I can feel....thank you for being you
In September 1960, I woke up one morning with six hungry babies and just 75 cents in my pocket.Their father was gone.The boys ranged from three months to seven years; their sister was two.Their Dad had never been much more than a presence they feared.Whenever they heard his tires crunch on the gravel driveway they would scramble to hide under their beds.
He did manage to leave $15 a week to buy groceries.Now that he had decided to leave, there would be no more beatings,but no food either.If there was a welfare system in effect in southern Indiana at that time, I certainly knew nothing about it.
I scrubbed the kids until they looked brand new and then put on my best homemade dress, loaded them into the rusty old 51 Chevy and drove off to find a job.The seven of us went to every factory, store and restaurant in our small town.No luck.The kids stayed crammed into the car and tried to be quiet while I tried to convince who ever would listen that I was willing to learn or do anything. I had to have a job.Still no luck.
The last place we went to, just a few miles out of town, was an old Root Beer Barrel drive-in that had been converted to a truck stop.It was called the Big Wheel.An old lady named Granny owned the place and she peeked out of the window from time to time at all those kids.She needed someone on the graveyard shift, 11 at night until seven in the morning.She paid 65 cents an hour, and I could start that night.
I raced home and called the teenager down the street that baby-sat for people.I bargained with her to come and sleep on my sofa for a dollar a night.She could arrive with her pajamas on and the kids would already be asleep. This seemed like a good arrangement to her, so we made a deal.That night when the little ones and I knelt to say our prayers, we all thanked God for finding Mommy a job. And so I started at the Big Wheel.
When I got home in the mornings I woke the baby-sitter up and sent her home with one dollar of my tip money-- fully half of what I averaged every night.As the weeks went by, heating bills added a strain to my meager wage.The tires on the old Chevy had the consistency of penny balloons and began to leak. I had to fill them with air on the way to work and again every morning before I could go home.
One bleak fall morning, I dragged myself to the car to go home and found four tires in the back seat. New tires!There was no note, no nothing, just those beautiful brand new tires.Had angels taken up residence in Indiana ? I wondered.I made a deal with the local service station.In exchange for his mounting the new tires, I would clean up his office.I remember it took me a lot longer to scrub his floor than it did for him to do the tires.
I was now working six nights instead of five and it still wasn't enough.Christmas was coming and I knew there would be no money for toys for the kids.I found a can of red paint and started repairing and painting some old toys. Then I hid them in the basement so there would be something for Santa to deliver on Christmas morning.Clothes were a worry too. I was sewing patches on top of patches on the boys pants and soon they would be too far gone to repair.
On Christmas Eve the usual customers were drinking coffee in the Big Wheel. There were the truckers, Les, Frank, and Jim, and a state trooper named Joe.A few musicians were hanging around after a gig at the Legion and were dropping nickels in the pinball machine.The regulars all just sat around and talked through the wee hours of the morning and then left to get home before the sun came up.
When it was time for me to go home at seven o'clock on Christmas morning, to my amazement, my old battered Chevy was filled full to the top with boxes of all shapes and sizes.I quickly opened the driver's side door, crawled inside and kneeled in the front facing the back seat.Reaching back, I pulled off the lid of the top box.Inside was whole case of little blue jeans, sizes 2-10!I looked inside another box: It was full of shirts to go with the jeans.Then I peeked inside some of the other boxes. There was candy and nuts and bananas and bags of groceries. There was an enormous ham for baking, and canned vegetables and potatoes.There was pudding and Jell-O and cookies, pie filling and flour. There was a whole bag of laundry supplies and cleaning items.And there were five toy trucks and one beautiful little doll.
As I drove back through empty streets as the sun slowly rose on the most amazing Christmas Day of my life, I was sobbing with gratitude.And I will never forget the joy on the faces of my little ones that precious morning.Yes, there were angels in Indiana that long-ago December. And they all hung out at the Big Wheel truck stop...THE POWER OF PRAYER.
I believe that God only gives three answers to prayer:
1. 'Yes!'
2. 'Not yet.'
3. 'I have something better in mind.'
God still sits on the throne, the devil is a liar.You may be going through a tough time right now but God is getting ready to bless you in a way that you cannot imagine.My instructions were to pick four people that I wanted God to bless,and I picked you.
Please pass this to at least four people you want to be blessed and a copy back to me.This prayer is powerful, and prayer is one of the best gifts we receive. There is no cost but a lot of rewards
Let's continue to pray for one another. Here is the prayer:....Father, I ask You to bless my friends, relatives and email buddies reading this right now. Show them a new revelation of Your love and power.Amen.
I know I picked more than four, so can you.
Read and pray for those who are not as lucky as you
Subject:this is why I feel so alive...when my heart feels sad, then joy, then gratitude....(no particular order)...but I can feel....thank you for being you
In September 1960, I woke up one morning with six hungry babies and just 75 cents in my pocket.Their father was gone.The boys ranged from three months to seven years; their sister was two.Their Dad had never been much more than a presence they feared.Whenever they heard his tires crunch on the gravel driveway they would scramble to hide under their beds.
He did manage to leave $15 a week to buy groceries.Now that he had decided to leave, there would be no more beatings,but no food either.If there was a welfare system in effect in southern Indiana at that time, I certainly knew nothing about it.
I scrubbed the kids until they looked brand new and then put on my best homemade dress, loaded them into the rusty old 51 Chevy and drove off to find a job.The seven of us went to every factory, store and restaurant in our small town.No luck.The kids stayed crammed into the car and tried to be quiet while I tried to convince who ever would listen that I was willing to learn or do anything. I had to have a job.Still no luck.
The last place we went to, just a few miles out of town, was an old Root Beer Barrel drive-in that had been converted to a truck stop.It was called the Big Wheel.An old lady named Granny owned the place and she peeked out of the window from time to time at all those kids.She needed someone on the graveyard shift, 11 at night until seven in the morning.She paid 65 cents an hour, and I could start that night.
I raced home and called the teenager down the street that baby-sat for people.I bargained with her to come and sleep on my sofa for a dollar a night.She could arrive with her pajamas on and the kids would already be asleep. This seemed like a good arrangement to her, so we made a deal.That night when the little ones and I knelt to say our prayers, we all thanked God for finding Mommy a job. And so I started at the Big Wheel.
When I got home in the mornings I woke the baby-sitter up and sent her home with one dollar of my tip money-- fully half of what I averaged every night.As the weeks went by, heating bills added a strain to my meager wage.The tires on the old Chevy had the consistency of penny balloons and began to leak. I had to fill them with air on the way to work and again every morning before I could go home.
One bleak fall morning, I dragged myself to the car to go home and found four tires in the back seat. New tires!There was no note, no nothing, just those beautiful brand new tires.Had angels taken up residence in Indiana ? I wondered.I made a deal with the local service station.In exchange for his mounting the new tires, I would clean up his office.I remember it took me a lot longer to scrub his floor than it did for him to do the tires.
I was now working six nights instead of five and it still wasn't enough.Christmas was coming and I knew there would be no money for toys for the kids.I found a can of red paint and started repairing and painting some old toys. Then I hid them in the basement so there would be something for Santa to deliver on Christmas morning.Clothes were a worry too. I was sewing patches on top of patches on the boys pants and soon they would be too far gone to repair.
On Christmas Eve the usual customers were drinking coffee in the Big Wheel. There were the truckers, Les, Frank, and Jim, and a state trooper named Joe.A few musicians were hanging around after a gig at the Legion and were dropping nickels in the pinball machine.The regulars all just sat around and talked through the wee hours of the morning and then left to get home before the sun came up.
When it was time for me to go home at seven o'clock on Christmas morning, to my amazement, my old battered Chevy was filled full to the top with boxes of all shapes and sizes.I quickly opened the driver's side door, crawled inside and kneeled in the front facing the back seat.Reaching back, I pulled off the lid of the top box.Inside was whole case of little blue jeans, sizes 2-10!I looked inside another box: It was full of shirts to go with the jeans.Then I peeked inside some of the other boxes. There was candy and nuts and bananas and bags of groceries. There was an enormous ham for baking, and canned vegetables and potatoes.There was pudding and Jell-O and cookies, pie filling and flour. There was a whole bag of laundry supplies and cleaning items.And there were five toy trucks and one beautiful little doll.
As I drove back through empty streets as the sun slowly rose on the most amazing Christmas Day of my life, I was sobbing with gratitude.And I will never forget the joy on the faces of my little ones that precious morning.Yes, there were angels in Indiana that long-ago December. And they all hung out at the Big Wheel truck stop...THE POWER OF PRAYER.
I believe that God only gives three answers to prayer:
1. 'Yes!'
2. 'Not yet.'
3. 'I have something better in mind.'
God still sits on the throne, the devil is a liar.You may be going through a tough time right now but God is getting ready to bless you in a way that you cannot imagine.My instructions were to pick four people that I wanted God to bless,and I picked you.
Please pass this to at least four people you want to be blessed and a copy back to me.This prayer is powerful, and prayer is one of the best gifts we receive. There is no cost but a lot of rewards
Let's continue to pray for one another. Here is the prayer:....Father, I ask You to bless my friends, relatives and email buddies reading this right now. Show them a new revelation of Your love and power.Amen.
I know I picked more than four, so can you.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Jobless??? No longer!!
I must have made known (too loudly) that I was jobless! Well.... control tower has made the announcement - by an executive decision (meaning - no point arguing otherwise), the helpdesk shall be located in Gurgaon, New Delhi, India. Sigh!! The consolation that I have is that I am allowed to hire a local supervisor to help me manage the operations. That also means that I would have bandwidth to take on more functions.
For whatever reasons, I seemed to have impressed a few of the Pongo project team members - especially my soon to be new boss. One of the other team members even called me Farmer Sam - because I stand out in the field!! My face went beetroot red at that. Luckily this was over a teleconference, so nobody saw that.
My soon to be new boss has now added on the AP Technical training coordination and liaison and training related functions onto me. Just when I thought that i would be out of that since my current boss is handling training matters. Details still needs to be worked out.
Even though I do not have anyone hired yet (up to 7 vacancies will be available by early next week), I have already been "volunteered" to take on email responses for the Americas. That had been a consequence of having my E Authoring team in India handling software questions (by email) from Europe. Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
Currently, I have initiated communications with India HR for the hiring process. In addition, IT has also been contacted to get the telephony systems ordered and installed within the next 2 months. Work Place Services has been contacted to get the seating space allocated.
Next steps - plans for training these new hires up to speed before the Helpdesk becomes operational (optimistically by mid 2008). This would also include visit(s) to the Gurgaon site.
Crossing my fingers!!
Before I finish - I would like all of you to view - Achmed the dead terrorist video that I have on the side - It is absolutely hilarious. There is even a Christmas version on YouTube.
For whatever reasons, I seemed to have impressed a few of the Pongo project team members - especially my soon to be new boss. One of the other team members even called me Farmer Sam - because I stand out in the field!! My face went beetroot red at that. Luckily this was over a teleconference, so nobody saw that.
My soon to be new boss has now added on the AP Technical training coordination and liaison and training related functions onto me. Just when I thought that i would be out of that since my current boss is handling training matters. Details still needs to be worked out.
Even though I do not have anyone hired yet (up to 7 vacancies will be available by early next week), I have already been "volunteered" to take on email responses for the Americas. That had been a consequence of having my E Authoring team in India handling software questions (by email) from Europe. Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
Currently, I have initiated communications with India HR for the hiring process. In addition, IT has also been contacted to get the telephony systems ordered and installed within the next 2 months. Work Place Services has been contacted to get the seating space allocated.
Next steps - plans for training these new hires up to speed before the Helpdesk becomes operational (optimistically by mid 2008). This would also include visit(s) to the Gurgaon site.
Crossing my fingers!!
Before I finish - I would like all of you to view - Achmed the dead terrorist video that I have on the side - It is absolutely hilarious. There is even a Christmas version on YouTube.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Overnight in Singapore
Finally, control tower says that by an executive decision, the plane needs to land in India. And I will be allowed to have a local supervisor to help manage the daily operations. Details needs to be worked out next week. That includes extra duties in internal training management for Asia Pacific.
But still, with no details, I took my boredom to Singapore on a 2 days 1 night trip. Stayed with a friend (who does not want her name mentioned on my blog). Took Aeroline down for a RM160 return trip fare (which is a heck of a lot cheaper than flying). Why such a short trip to Singapore?? Simply to fulfill my annual practice of purchasing the Singapore coins for that year - especially the Chinese new year themed collections. Most years, I have an excuse to go to Singapore to make my purchases. This year, with no one reporting to me in Singapore and no business to justify a business trip, I had to go there just to get my collections.
I ended up getting $10 Proof coin,
$2 Proof coin 
and also $2 proof like coin (otherwise called Brilliant Uncirculated). I also managed to get a couple of the smallest looking gold coins, 
a couple of thematic issues from 2007 (Rustic Coast and Orchid series) 
which looks really nice with colors added to the coins.
And in line with the coming Chinese New year - 10 sets of the 2008 Singapore coin issues sold as Hong Bao sets.
Only certain special people will get that from me and it is less than a handful.
Why Singapore coin collections? Simple - they have a very small numbers issued thereby making their numismatic value higher than say- USA which issues in much larger numbers.
But still, with no details, I took my boredom to Singapore on a 2 days 1 night trip. Stayed with a friend (who does not want her name mentioned on my blog). Took Aeroline down for a RM160 return trip fare (which is a heck of a lot cheaper than flying). Why such a short trip to Singapore?? Simply to fulfill my annual practice of purchasing the Singapore coins for that year - especially the Chinese new year themed collections. Most years, I have an excuse to go to Singapore to make my purchases. This year, with no one reporting to me in Singapore and no business to justify a business trip, I had to go there just to get my collections.
I ended up getting $10 Proof coin,
$2 Proof coin 
and also $2 proof like coin (otherwise called Brilliant Uncirculated). I also managed to get a couple of the smallest looking gold coins, 
a couple of thematic issues from 2007 (Rustic Coast and Orchid series) 
which looks really nice with colors added to the coins.And in line with the coming Chinese New year - 10 sets of the 2008 Singapore coin issues sold as Hong Bao sets.
Only certain special people will get that from me and it is less than a handful.Why Singapore coin collections? Simple - they have a very small numbers issued thereby making their numismatic value higher than say- USA which issues in much larger numbers.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Virtually jobless and bored to death
I never thought that the day will come when I am in a state which the Cantonese says " Sit also cannot, Stand also cannot". In other words, I am having a period of almost relative calm and almost no work to do. I mean real work!!
Sure, I get the occasional message to review, assess some DEFOA claims and approve (or disapprove) them. My team of E Authors are essentially on auto pilot. I am just waiting for a new development to be made public before I can re-direct this team in India. Miyuki comes to me occasionally for advice on training matters. These I can do with more than one eye closed.
I am still waiting for approval to come to hire the new team. I am still waiting for the directive on where this new team is to be located. That has not come and looks like it will be some time yet.
So I am amusing myself looking for a new job. Vincent lent me this book called 100 Bullshit Jobs by Stanley Bing.
If you read through the preamble carefully, you will realize that there is an ounce of truth in what he terms as the Bullshit factor in all our jobs. The book takes some liberal assumptions. Amongst them
- A fair amount of bullshit in anybody's job is, a priori, a good thing
- the ability to bullshit is what separates happy beasts from miserable mankind
- there are costs for obtaining and maintaining a job that is fundamentally bullshit
- yadda, yadda, yadda
As a blogger, that is one of the jobs classified in the book as one of the 100 Bullshit jobs. Couldn't agree more. But other than the last job, which is YOU (the reader), all my current jobs do not qualify to be among the 100 bullshit jobs. That can't be right.
Some of the more obvious bullshit jobs are
- Advertising Executive
- Aromatherapist
- Backup dancer
- Certified Massage Therapist
- Chairman (now that I can live with)
- Feng Shui consultant
- Food Critic
- Game show host
- Headhunter
- Lawyer
- Marriage counselor
- Motivational speaker
- Personal trainer
- Vice President of the USA
You get the drift (I hope)
Control tower - where and when can I land??
Sure, I get the occasional message to review, assess some DEFOA claims and approve (or disapprove) them. My team of E Authors are essentially on auto pilot. I am just waiting for a new development to be made public before I can re-direct this team in India. Miyuki comes to me occasionally for advice on training matters. These I can do with more than one eye closed.
I am still waiting for approval to come to hire the new team. I am still waiting for the directive on where this new team is to be located. That has not come and looks like it will be some time yet.
So I am amusing myself looking for a new job. Vincent lent me this book called 100 Bullshit Jobs by Stanley Bing.
If you read through the preamble carefully, you will realize that there is an ounce of truth in what he terms as the Bullshit factor in all our jobs. The book takes some liberal assumptions. Amongst them- A fair amount of bullshit in anybody's job is, a priori, a good thing
- the ability to bullshit is what separates happy beasts from miserable mankind
- there are costs for obtaining and maintaining a job that is fundamentally bullshit
- yadda, yadda, yadda
As a blogger, that is one of the jobs classified in the book as one of the 100 Bullshit jobs. Couldn't agree more. But other than the last job, which is YOU (the reader), all my current jobs do not qualify to be among the 100 bullshit jobs. That can't be right.
Some of the more obvious bullshit jobs are
- Advertising Executive
- Aromatherapist
- Backup dancer
- Certified Massage Therapist
- Chairman (now that I can live with)
- Feng Shui consultant
- Food Critic
- Game show host
- Headhunter
- Lawyer
- Marriage counselor
- Motivational speaker
- Personal trainer
- Vice President of the USA
You get the drift (I hope)
Control tower - where and when can I land??
Thursday, January 3, 2008
2008 beginning
I started blogging almost a year ago. The trigger was the untimely death of a colleague during a company event in Singapore. Almost half of the business organization was in Singapore for a New Product Introduction and training and Stephen Dutton passed away from a major brain hemorrhage. His untimely death got me thinking that I should leave at least the chronicles of my life behind and hence this blog.
The start of this new year also saw a couple of my colleagues losing their loved ones. They died of old age with some medical complications. Mao Hongming became an orphan on Christmas eve. his mum passed away early 2007 and his dad on Xmas eve. Nate is in the midst of her mum's wake in Bangkok. Her mum passed away on New year day.
I am still on holding pattern as my control tower has gone on leave and still have not informed me of the airport to land in. So I bug the hell out of people who are working in the office.
The new year brought some cheer. Added a few more people to my Facebook. It looks like I have more girl friends than guy friends. But who's complaining? Not me!!
The start of this new year also saw a couple of my colleagues losing their loved ones. They died of old age with some medical complications. Mao Hongming became an orphan on Christmas eve. his mum passed away early 2007 and his dad on Xmas eve. Nate is in the midst of her mum's wake in Bangkok. Her mum passed away on New year day.
I am still on holding pattern as my control tower has gone on leave and still have not informed me of the airport to land in. So I bug the hell out of people who are working in the office.
The new year brought some cheer. Added a few more people to my Facebook. It looks like I have more girl friends than guy friends. But who's complaining? Not me!!
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