Beh "Tahan liao"

This morning I snapped at college, really "beh tahan" liao, besides delivering my usual class lecture, I decided it's time I deliver a "personal how to behave like a student" lecture. I spelled out my expectation to the students clearly as below:

1) Be punctual to class
2) Keep their h/phones all super silent and no "SMS" during lecture, very disrespectful
3) Do all activities required, stop giving lame excuses
4) Show me a little initiative... so far they are very dissapointng
5) I told them if they are just killing time attending college, then.. it's so sad
6) Finally their dress code and posture in class, one even sits with her both feet on the chair (just imagine!!!)

Well, welcome to the world of lecturing eh... let's hope I still keep my job after the lecture session.... teachers/lecturers nowadays need to clean up a lot of attitude problem and really have to involve in character building, I mean real basic character and manners education. I'm hoping to start a blog on education, I'm sure a lot of teachers out there got a lot to share and burst about...

I Will Survived?

I survived my first month at the new company, below is the progress:

1st week – culture shock, marathon meetings
2nd week – brain washing and expansion (unlearn and learn)
3rd week – exploration and observation
4th week – participation, slowly making sense of things around me, it’s like a jigsaw puzzle… I’m putting it piece by piece…

Engineers there are expected to become and behave like one, not just bearing the title but nowadays everyone is an engineer, now we have:

Sales engineer
Customer service engineer
Quality assurance engineer
Process engineer
Domestic engineer --- home maker LOL

One need not have an engineering major to hold an engineer title….

A new beginning

Have not been blogging for some time…. I survived my first 2 weeks at the new job. First week was basically spent attending meetings, meetings and meetings and trying to figure out who is who, adjusting to the new environment and I must admit I experienced culture shock. Second week came by, still very blur… ha ha ha. It’s totally a new environment, different working culture, people, product etc… everything is NEW…I have new sets of working clothes too, yeah I’m an uniform lady now, hubby commented that I can save a lot on clothing, I even have a new set of shoes, believe it or not I save on shoes also. So I expect to keep every single cents that I earned...

Generally colleagues are quite okay, a lot of documents to go through and oh my.. I really need to sign a lot of stuff here. Being in the same company for 12 years doesn’t require you to exercise much of your brain cells but I realized for the past two weeks, my brain is put into testing, I hope my brain won’t “crashed”. I experienced body pain, stiffed necks and shoulders (sign of stress, hubby commented) after the first week.

Wow I really missed blogging… it has been 2 long weeks since I last blogged and also to catch up with you all blogs out there.

On another note, next week is Michelle’s kindy graduation, the whole family is really looking forward to it. The grandfather and aunt is coming up for the ceremony too, wah they really give face hor. How I wish my mom is here to witness her grandchild’s graduation. Michelle will be presenting the students’ speech in Bahasa and will be grabbing a few awards too, we are so proud of her. Not forgetting the girls will be dancing too, it’s going to be a major event for the family.

1 more day to go

1 more day to go, my Singapore boss came to Penang for our monthly operation meeting and at the same time organized a farewell lunch for me today. Yesterday hubby and I invited him for dinner and together with my CEO in Singapore they gave me a little present, a Tissot watch. Wow, I don’t expect such a pricy gift. I returned the gesture by writing personalized thank you card for both of them.

As the day approached, I realized I’ve accumulated 12 long years of emotional baggage with me, don’t get me wrong, this baggage is a wonderful baggage fill with so much fond memories. At lunch today I shed tears as the bosses proposed toss and wish me well, my lady boss shed tears too when it was my turn to say something in return, I can see some female colleagues holding back their tears… I don’t expect this farewell lunch to be so touchy… Not just that, colleagues about 15 of them took turns to say a word or two about their thoughts on me, I’m deeply touched. I’m going to miss them.

Well, they still have to bear with me for another day, tomorrow will be my last official day but I will be coming back 3 weeks later to assist them on a customer’s audit. Next Monday will be the start of a new beginning in my working life, I wonder what’s in store for me. I keep on reminding myself to drive to the new place to work next Monday, after all, for the past 12 years and 5 months I’ve been driving to the same place to work, I need some time to reprogram my brain…

To all my colleagues, a big thank you.. to my bosses, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, your care and guidance have made me into the woman I’m today.

My bosses...


My colleagues...

7 working days to go

Yay, 7 more working days to go... I skipped 2 posts cause really busy this week. Busy training up my replacement, we are making appointments to cover whatever we can after office hour and also tomorrow (Sat) to ensure smooth transition... Next week will be going off for a long break due to Raya holidays and company shut down. We will be travelling back to hometowns and catching up with love ones. I miss the food in my hometown and also high time to spend some time with my dad, the last trip back was 2 months ago. We will be going to Bidor to visit my sis's family and get to taste the delicious rendang, ketupat and raya cookies.... so blogging will have to take a break...... happy holidays!

10 days to go

10 days to go, feeling remain the same, work as normal. My big boss called up yesterday, we are suppose to meet up but due to urgent matter that he need to settle back home, he called to say a few words and make sure my last day issue has been settled. Later we exchanged some smses and ended with well wishes.

He is a nice boss, I worked for him for the past 12+ years, a very outgoing, open and supportive boss. He is like a father figure to me. I have had the opportunity to work for him directly for a few projects and I would say he is the one who gave me the opportunity to travel to all the different sites for exposure and audit purposes, all this traveling has enriched my experience and opened up my mind. Larry, I want to thank you and I want you to know (if you are happening to read this post) that you are a wonderful boss, thank you for your support and guidance and we will keep in touch.

11 working days to go!

Hubby suggested that I write countdown posts for my stay in my present company. Yeap, 11 more working days to go. Finally have sorted out with my boss that somehow she is releasing me on the 10th Oct with condition that I spent sufficiently amount of time with my new replacement. Since my replacement can only officially join 2 weeks after I leave, we need to make arrangement for the handover during weekdays (after office hour) and on Saturdays.

I’m sorting things out to ensure the transition is as smooth as can be, imagine the things that I accumulated over the past 12+ years. I’m glad I had the opportunity to train my Engineer to take over almost 80% of my current responsibility, I can confidently announced that he is capable of carrying my responsibilities, just that he need more time to work on his management/people skills and to exercise his EQ. That’s why the management thinks that he is just not ready yet to take up my current position. It is part of my succession plan for him to go up though….

Some colleagues have even booked me for farewell dinner already… they said it’s a celebration! Apaler, they sounded as if they wanted to get rid of me for a long time and now since the time had finally arrived, it’s a time for a grand celebration!! Bad colleagues!!! (Joking only) I’m going to miss them…

I’m planning to get something for my colleagues as farewell gifts, anyone has any suggestions like what to buy for:
a) The boss?
b) My engineer and supervisors?
c) Close colleagues?

Big Leap....

I made one of the major decision in life last week, that is to resign from my current company and move to a new totally environment. You see this is my first job since I graduated and it has been a great 12 years... this is certainly a big leap that I'm taking in my life. It's not an easy decision but I made it anyway. I'm going to miss my bosses and colleagues, we are more than comrades at work, some of us have grown into real good friends. I'm starting a new chapter of my working career soon....

Spent spent spent

After I checked in to my room in Philippines last Tuesday, I took a shower and off I went to the nearby mall to hunt for my dinner and do some shopping, in less than two hours, this is what I bought:

1) 3 pairs of earrings, one for me, one for my sis and one for my sis in-law
2) A Sudoku book to kill time in the hotel… I’m struggling even at the easy stage… Sudoku dummy!
3) 2 boxes of educational toys for the girls.
4) 2CDs, one for hubby, one for the girls.

I’m thinking into venturing into the malls tonight…. The hotel provides free shuttle to the nearby malls within Alabang area and the best part of it is they will fetch you back too… this I called good service. Hubby commented that I spent spent spent nia….

Overloaded!

Work has been overwhelming lately.... H E L P! My assistant was away on a business trip at Guangzhou (supposed to be my trip, but I transferred to him), thank God he's not affected by the earthquake, else don't know how to replace people's son. Michelle is having her 1st term exam this week, so not much time to blog... Yeah my boss and I finally had a good talk this morning, I'm glad we thrashed things out so that we could move on without grudges.

Blogging has been very theurapetic, I found many mommies blogger friends, even though it's just a small gestures or little comment left at my blog, I felt comforted and glad that I'm not alone, many mothers felt and thread the same path before, so mommies bloggers should continue to encourage one another ya!

Thanks to Celine who introduced me to blogging, I'm hooked already... ha ha ha.

SAHM

After one of my old childhood friend read my "at work" frustation post, she asked me if I'm considering turning into a SAHM (stay at home mom). Hmm.... I know it will be very rewarding as what could be more important than your lovely kids, spending quality time with them is every mother's hope. I believe every SAHM would agree with me. I thought for a while and said that I would love too but scared that conflict will arise between my MIL and I as I have a SAHMIL (full time stay at home mother in-law) :D

I actually expressed this desire to my hubby a few times and test his reaction in our light conversations, knowing my hubby, he is always on the safe side which is - no definite answerlor. I also do not want to put too much pressure on him, we have been so used to live with two incomes, cutting the earning into halve sure will impact the family in one way or another. I believe finance is always the main factor to consider for families when deciding to switch to single income. I really salute families who made that decision, many career minded women have decided to turn into a SAHM, it's not an individual decision more of a family decision.

I believe the kids will be thrilled to hear that if I ever turn into a SAHM. I'm actually trying to secure a half day job i.e lecturing or tutoring which allows me to work and contribute to the society and at the same time more time to be with my children, guiding their studies and planning for their meals. Cater food is so boring.......

I welcome those who have gone through this phase and would like to share with me to either write to me or post in your blog.........people like Ling and Michelle. :D

Philippines 2

Below are some snap shots that I took during my second trip to Philippines last week:

Jam at the highway, peddlers everywhere....

On my way to work, some of the residential project, they called them "villages"

Crossing a bridge..

Undevelop land...

Jeepneys, major public transportation in the Philippines.... like our mini bus

Lunch at Sonya's garden, a very beautiful restaurant in a garden...

Still in Phil

Yeah, I'm still in the land of Phil.... while waiting for my flight at 2.20pm, here I am in the hotel, downloading my e-mails, replying them and take this opportunity to blog.... 4 days without blogging... but still "boleh tahanlah", ke ke ke.

I just had breakfast with my big big boss, the President of the group and he broke another news that he may need me to travel to Guangzhou soon.... ????? got another problem to fix there..... I was dumbfolded and just showed him my innocent and poor thing look. I told him I'm a banana, I only speak conversational Mandarin (that is if the locals there could comprehand my Cantodarin), I only write a handful of Chinese characters (my daughter knows more than me), I'm not too sure what I could contribute there..... He just smile and said "Just be ready ok?".....

In my mind I could already see my two girls' protesting face, I can imagine the scenario when I annouced to them.... Anyway, let's see and I'm trying to see the positive side of all these travelling.

Yeah, some updates on how I fare on my two outstanding tasks... firstly, mama group homework is done (good girl!) secondly, the knitting job - I managed to increase another 2 inch length to Dorene's long awaited sling bag (good job!), below shows that I watched for the past 3 nights:

1) A classic starring Audrey Hepburn (didn't get to watch the whole show)
2) A grammy award winning documentary - The inconvenient truth (wakes me up of my role to take care of our earth)
3) A drama starring Jacyln Smith - it was touching and I cried
4) A crime solving episode - true story of finding the killer

Overall I enjoyed my trip, I managed to cover what I need to do for this trip and to spend quiet time with the Lord each morning. Looking forward to returning home to my loved ones.......

Little toe was hurt

I met with a little mishap in Philippines, the mishap happened in the bathroom while I was attending to the room service ordered. I slipped and sprained my second toe on my left foot, nah I took a picture of it after bearing the agonizing pain for a few minutes...... hmm... looking at the picture, not something to worry about eh?


That's what I thought also, so I slipped into bed, watched TV and went straight to bed, can't really sleep well, I prayed that it will get better the next morning because I still have plenty to accomplish for the next two days...

I woke up in the morning and the whole foot was like so numb, I analysed my poor toe, it's not getting better, it has worsen....


It hurts and I trained myself to walk using my last 3 toes, crippled my way to the bathroom, washed up, then went up to the 31st floor for breakfast and down to the lobby to wait for my colleague. I then crippled to her vehicle.... it was so nice of her to send me to the nearest local hospital and then to a physio later in the afternoon, thank God no bones fractured, just bruises. I was adviced to apply ice treatment every other hour.... So I retreated early, went back to the hotel and applied ice.

Getting better now, the swell has subsided but still very blue black... for the past few days, I've been putting my weight on the last 3 toes, was as slow as a snail and I'm becoming to forget how to walk right now. Latest picture that I took (on Monday night)...


This incident made me realized how precious my toe is, not even a single little part of our body is of less important..... I'm also more careful in bathrooms now...

I'm flying

I'm flying today to the land of Philippines for 4 days, first trip of my 6 months project there. I'm not sure of the accessibility of the internet, so thought of dropping an entry before I took the plane. Everything is arranged, the hotel, pick-up, meeting appointments......... I brought 2 books with me entitled "A woman finding serenity" and "How to enjoy your life and job", will try to catch up with some reading as it's impossible to find time to read at home, the girls are glued to me. So this is a time to sort of "getaway" from hustle bustle of kid's business, home making and just a time to be on my own, catching up with personal activities. I'm going to miss the kids and of course not forgetting my dear hubby. I'm hoping to snap some interesting scenes of the Philippines, it's friendly people, its volcanos, local delicacy etc................ catch up with you guys later ya!

Boss in the garden

Believe it or not, my boss is working in the garden right now and we are in the office and amazingly still I'm here blogging about her.

Can't believe it right? Well, that's my boss, she's unpredictable and so hands on until some of my colleagues really cannot take her character at times. I've worked more than 10 years with her, I know her style and she knows mine.

So this morning, when I wanted to look for her at the office, I saw her blouse hanging by her director's chair and began asking my colleague her whereabout, they said "boss working in the garden", I went out and searched for her, she was holding a big scissors trimming the branches, hmm... not a good time to approach her, I went back to the office.

She actually arranged with 2 other office colleagues to join her last evening, poor colleagues, she stopped by for an internal meeting at 11.00 am, (all smelly and sweating in her mickey mouse T-shirt), she washed up, changed back into her office attire, we went out for lunch and after lunch she changed back into her MM T-shirt and was out again.

Fyi, actually today is a public holiday but our company didn't recognize it, so we have to go back to the office to work, most customers are off today, so I guessed that's why she decided to work on our unkept, "junglish" garden.

Bravo to my boss eh, I don't think there is any boss like my boss.

Journey to work (with pics)

Every morning, I used the “kampung” village small road to get to work, mainly to avoid the traffic and traffic lights, secondly to enjoy the view along the way, the distance to work is about 8km. Firstly I passed through the Malay village, things were pretty quiet with the kampong folks preparing for their day, one can feel the difference, it’s just about 0.5km away from the busy bustling main road. Next I will reach a river, cows are seen munching the fresh green grass, in front of me I can see the sun rise (before 7.40am) before approaching a small wet market where local residents do their early “marketing”.

Sun rise scene


Cows in the meadow, "moo moo moo"


Next I turned out into the secondary road where housing schemes are located before finally turning into the main road and joined the city folks again. The whole journey typically takes about 20 minutes but it’s indeed a refreshing way to get to work. Occasionally it’s good to stop, be still and take a look at your surrounding, enjoy the little and casual things that we tend to overlook and take for granted, it will give you a new perspective on things, it works for me. I’ll share the photos tomorrow...... and have a great week ahead.

Wildly Important Goals (WIG) 2008

I have been extremenly busy this week with goals and strategies setting for my department. Meetings after meetings, fine tuning and cracking my head (and my engineers' head) over strategies to be taken to meet the goals set, established scoreboards, getting everyone in and out of the department to align to the goals.......

Still fine tuning..... Hubby shared material on one recent training he went to which entitled "4 Disciplines of Execution" by Steven Covey. The training stressed on effective execution and focussing on just wildly important goals (WIG), so I was asking myself what is my department wildly important goal(s), where meeting it, is so super important and critical that no other goals really matter if this WIG is not met.

So I've been injecting this question to my downline... What is your WIG this year? I guessed my engineers must have thought this boss may have lost her mind and turned wild this year......... ha ha ha... That's how consultant make money nowadays, they just add the word "Wild" and make it sound like a brand new concept, it's actually setting important goal(s), nothing new......

Headache, headache........ I've been under stress lately that I dreamt I was tested positive for number three!

I want a raise!

Year end, time for performance review, my boss is going down to corporate office for the annual budget meeting and to fight for a better increment for us this year, good boss! But she commented if we don’t see her back, then we should know the outcome! To support her, I dig all my previous economics material, provide her with the inflation rate and CPI index, a salary report from the Jobstreet demonstrating how lowly paid we are compared to the general market out there, the history of petrol price hike and also the increased price list for our necessities. Hopefully our CEO in Singapore has pity on us and approved a minimum of 20% increment!!

The recent price hike on flour resulted in everybody (the hawkers, supermarkets, restaurant operators, mini marts owners etc…) increasing their price, let me share with you their so call “suck blood” exercise:

Gardenia bread – RM1.90 – RM2.10 (up 11%)
Economy char bee hoon – RM1.00 - RM1.20 (up 20%)
Hokkien mee – RM2.00 – RM2.50 (up 25%)
Herbal tea – RM1.00 – RM1.10 (up 10%)
Milk powder – RM16.80 – RM18.90 (up 12.5%)
Cooking oil (Vecorn) – RM17.00 – RM21.00 (up 24%)

So with all these price hike nonsense, it’s logic and appropriate that we demand for a better increment this year, not to enjoy a better life but more on survival (so poor thing). One bad news is the petrol price is expected to be increased again next year and here goes the chain effect again, the price of everything basically up, up and up again. I think I need to work out with my hubby on car pooling strategy, how we can save energy, water, groceries list, how to achieve the same outcome with less, use less resources and all these without any conflict and minimum impact to the kids and mom in-law. A call for “lean home operation” mission. Just in case my boss failed in convincing our bosses ….. sign….