Escalation

I thought it would have been a great year in career for me in the year of Ox last year but it turned out to be quite disappointing.
It was disastrous as I was literally having a very bad relationship with my counterpart at the other side of the camp (the system integrator of the project that I am running). We were in the fight mode, with lots of accussations and finger pointings that both have to resolve to due to things that are beyond our control.
This is the urgly fact about the big word "escalation".
I did not want to end the year like that but sadly I have to live with it and began a new year with the not-too-perfect spirit.
Lesson learned: Escalate when you think that you will get 99% if not 100% support from the people at the top. Otherwise, it marks the start of a tiring, long process of convicing even your own people not to mention people at the other camp.
Everyone are protecting their own interest, unless these people felt threaten, they may not support you full heartedly even they are in the same camp as you.
This isn't politic, this is the art of survival.
I regret been truthful.
Well, it is a lesson learned. After all work isn't everything in my life.

又是鸡奸这回事

近几天报章头条都是国会反对党领袖鸡奸案的审讯新闻。 说实在的，那还蛮沉闷的。
谁不知道安华有过十年前的一场鸡奸案，而现在又依样画葫芦地来多一场。相信也好，不信也好，我纳闷的是这事真那么有新闻价值吗？
看赛夫那年轻人在法庭上露骨的讲述被唱后庭花的经过，反而觉得那伤似乎没那么深。见图中对着大床指指点点的赛夫，像是要借案子的曝光度来羞辱安华的成分多一点。
不知道公正最终会站哪边，但很希望这戏会快快演完，因为看得人有点厌倦了。

小妮子爱说话

嘉已快步入两岁半了。近来在语言技巧方面很明显地提升了很多。
小妮子什么都会拿来问。见到剪草工人就问”what doing?" 意即 “what is he doing?"。看到报纸上足球员跌地的痛苦表情，劈口就问 ”what happened uncle?"。 女儿开始掌握简单句子了。
到这年龄，她对性别年龄也有了基本认识了。电视或书刊上男女老幼的图片画面她都能一一辨别 auntie, uncle, "kor kor", "jie jie", 妹妹， 弟弟 之分。
想在的嘉嘉，活像个”问题女生“。”十万个为什么“ 那种。任何时候任何事都会问一通。她的口头禅似乎变成了 ”what? why? 等等。
我知道这是她学习的另一里程碑。开始在提问中获得新的知识及技巧。现在要做的是认真聆听，有问必答。

BFM 89.9

Yes, I am going to talk about Radio Station.
I recently came across this station when performing my random "seek" at the FM frequencies on my boring drive to work in one morning.
It was the voice of Caroline Oh the ex Lite FM DJ that induced me to listen on. Then that was these funny slogans such as "Best Footfall Moment", "Bribe Free Malaysian", "Busy Finding Money" that attracted me to stay on. Out of curiousity, I was trying to find out what on earth is this station is all about.
Well, BFM is actually the first and only one Business radio station in Malaysia. Its main focus is obviously business news, market summary, exclusive interviews with corporate figures, etc. Sounds dry isn't it, but not really. The good thing about this station is that it strike a balance between business and entertainment. Segments such as sports, lifestyles, and entertainment info serve in between the music and business segments.
It is not my favourite station yet mainly due to the fact that the songs do not go too well with me. But the market snapshot at 9:15 am is a must listen for me as it starts my day up with some brief market info around the world.
BFM 89.9 is only available in Klang Valley, Seremban, and certain parts of Pahang though.

Don't ever take the emergency lane

I were "invited" for an "interview" (temusiasat) at JPJ Putrajaya due to the fact that my previous car was blacklisted due to "some offense" which can only be disclosed with my presense in the JPJ office.
The interview was conducted in front of an officer who carried a physical file. Within 5 minutes of "temusiasat", I was informed of the offense that i had made back in Jan 2009. The offense has got to do with me cutting into emergency lane on Seremban highway north bound heading towards Senawang. JPJ caught me with photo taken as proof of me making the offense.
I was so shocked to see how effecient they were in making it a case for me. I came to realise that the date stated (27/1/09) was so happen during CNY and now i recalled why I cut into emergency lane. The traffic condition was bad with massive jam at the highway due to the festive season. My instinct told me that i have to cut to the left in order to move "faster" in the stand still traffic condition. I am not trying to legalize my offense but that was such a basic reaction confronting with a stand still traffic situation.
I was just mere unlucky for been caught red-handed as the JPJ vehical was driving behind me at that time (without me realising of course).
The outcome, I was given a summon of RM300 on the spot of the "temusiasat" session. Paid it on the same day and i have been given a 30% discount.
That was a lesson learned and I am sure that i won't be doing that again.

Wen Jia's quitting pacifier

How to get a child to quit using a pacifier?
These are the suggestions posted on wikihow (http://www.wikihow.com/Get-a-Child-to-Quit-Using-a-Pacifier)

# Set up a rewards program. Give your child a star each day they go without, and after they have (x) number of stars consistently, they can get a treat, like a Popsicle, or even going to the movies.
# Simply take it away. This will upset the child for a few days, and they may dislike you for about a week. But after that, they won't remember. And you can have a huge sigh of relief because you don't have to deal with it anymore. This is most effective for younger children, who can't understand a reward system like a 3-5 year-old could.
# Use an older child as an example. Even a cartoon character, like Dora the Explorer would work. You just have to say, "You don't see your cousin Sam with a Binky, do you? That's because he's a big boy. And you want to be a big boy don't you?" often works. Using a model can help them begin understanding comparisons earlier then say, preschool.
# Inform the child that there are other children that need Binky's that are just being born. Send him out to hang them on a tree,or to hide them throughout the house, so that the Binky fairy can pick them up. Keep a close watch to see where he hid them, and then get them that night. Leave a small gift, something cheap and plastic but that the child will like, in each child's place.

It is too young for Wen Jia to understand rewards program so the first suggestion won't work. We used a combination of suggestion 2 and a bit of tricks to help her to quit pacifier. First, we took it away while on our vacation to Singapore. We stayed in a friend's house so we created a trick (as suggested by our friend in Singapore) that "uncle" had threw the pacifier away. In exchanged, my friend bought her a toy cake which she likes so much to make her believe that "uncle" had exhanged the pacifier with a toy that she likes.

Though she cried a few nights asking for the pacifier, but we managed to calm her down by telling her the "uncle" story again and again.
But, the story didn't end here, when she was back in KL, she requested for pacifier again. Probably she thought that the "restriction" was only for as long as she was in Singapore. Siew Wei has had some tough time at night calming her down and rocking her to sleep. We started to believe that pacifier did miraculously caused addiction to my girl that she felt unsecure and uneasy without it. Until today, she still asks for pacifier although less frequent now.
Well, for Wen Jia, it takes a lot of persistency and patience for us to stop her from using pacifier. We nearly gave up but we knew that the golden rule is "never give up or else it will take double the effort now to make her quit". I think we are 70% there as she is getting more and more comfortable without pacifier.

老同事聚餐

上个星期六和一班旧东家的同事们搞了个聚餐。有七八个那么多，都是偕老伴小孩一起来。
最久远的该有八年没见了，有的发福了，有的沧桑了许多。现今都各自在不同公司，有的当了主管级人物，有的还有暇兼营保险事业。可谓各有成就。
话题虽然不多，但胜在彼此默契犹在。大伙儿志在闲话家常，问问近况。
闲谈中也不难发现到，大伙在心智上真的成熟了很多。对生活的要求及领略也踏实了许多。 那也许是时光及人生历练所造就出来的吧。
这是个蛮难得的一次聚会，虽只是短短三局钟，但却也真难能可贵。
还是希望有空再来聚聚。