Welcome back, Blossom!

With the majority of my posts containing the word "Farewell", it's a relief that, once in a blue moon, someone decides to make a U-turn and return to the company.

Back a couple of months ago (some time in April), Blossom from HR left. Just a few days ago, I was taken by surprise when she popped by my office to drop off some HR documents. Hmm, apparently, she's back! For whatever reason, I don't have the details.

Well, historically, she's not the first to make her return - in the same link above, I also documented the fateful return of Dr Gunalan to the company.

Looks like we have yet to see the last of a few, who may well return someday after a brief stint away (just like going off on a sabbatical)....

To Blossom, welcome back and many happy returns. To the others (particularly those who have left), may many happily return! :)

Farewell to Tan Pei Chen

Yes, another entry for my records of friends / colleagues who have made the choice to leave for greener pastures.

A couple of days ago, I found again another "goodbye" e-mail sitting in my Inbox. This time, from none other than my colleague from Planning, Tan Pei Chen. She had only been in the company for a couple of years, but during her "brief" tenure, we had worked together on several projects.

Typically being a planner, there was very little interaction (which was good, as when a planner looks for you, rest assured there is something that has to be fixed in production!).

I am sure that she will be sorely missed by production (or celebrated, depending on how one looks at things)! :)

Well, the distribution of staff seems to have taken on an inverted bell shape - on one end, we have a lot of young people coming in (fresh or with little experience), on the other end, we have the veterans who have positioned themselves in their niches. It's those people in between that prove themselves highly mobile. Time and time again.

Another name to strike off my phone book printout that I pin up against the wall of my workstation for quick reference. With all the going and coming (yes, we have new people coming in too), I'll have to print a new one soon, as the old one is starting to look pretty messy! :)

Kam Cheng July 2010 - Happy Birthday, Mr Moey!

For those who don't speak the local Chinese dialect of Hokkien, "Kum Cheng" roughly means "togetherness". So this is the term that we adopted for use whenever we found ourselves lacking an excuse to get together after work and have a good time!

This month, coincidentally, was the month of Mr Moey's birthday, which also happened to be the day he joined the company. The fateful event was organized on a week day, which mean having to leave the office fairly early (by my standards), and cutting short my regular teleconference with my German boss.

I hitched a ride with Zufri, my old friend from HR (parking space was rather limited at the condo). We arrived early, and help with the setting up of tables for the buffet-style dinner. We arranged for a small karaoke set-up to keep ourselves entertained after having our fill.

There were a total of 40+ colleagues from the office, as well as Mr Moey's wife and other family member (I did not manage to discern her identity).

The event went off without a hitch. The sky was perfect (here, as long as it doesn't rain, it's considered perfect). Food was delicious and plentiful (though we did run out of drinks early). Of course, saving the best for last, we sang the traditional Happy Birthday song for the guest of honor, before helping ourselves to the specially ordered mocha cake (sorry, Mr Moey - they were out of cappucino!).

Congratulations to Mr Moey once again on his birthday celebration - many more to come in future!

And also, a very big thank you to the trio of Lye Yin, Lay Suat and Vivien for pulling off yet another successful kum cheng session!

A small photo gallery resides on my Multiply site : http://mcwk.multiply.com/photos/album/85/Kum_Cheng_July_2010_-_Happy_Birthday_Mr_Moey

Farewell to Jerry and Tharuma

I make it a point to note down memorable dates, such as the last days of my friends and colleagues at work. Over the span of nearly a decade, I have since lost track of countless farewells that have been said.

Last Friday was the last working day of my colleague, Jerry, a veteran and true authority in the field of Environment, Safety and Health (and even Infrastructure / Facilities / Security as well). Once again, due to poor flow of information in my direction, I found out DURING Friday lunch, that Jerry was only in for the first half of the day. Meaning, he wasn't coming back after lunch, or ever.

Well, in a meeting late into the afternoon, I received an e-mail from yet another colleague, Tharuma, that it was his last day at work. Didn't hear any mention of him leaving, so this came as much of a surprise, not only for me, but to practically everyone else, even his co-workers over at the logistics department.

That's 2 less people in the company this week, practically disappearing overnight. All the more reason to remember, don't put off meeting anyone, and always treat everyone like they are the most important people that you've met so far that day. You will never know when the next meeting might take place!

Malaysia getting serious with cost saving

Today, a round of subsidy-reductions was announced in major dailies, The Star and The New Straits Times. This is rather gloomy news, offsetting the usual T.G.I.F. (Thank God It's Friday) mood as the weekend approaches.

As expected, subsidies on fuel have been reduced by RM0.05 per liter. RON 97 is now put into a state of "controlled float", whatever that is supposed to mean. But for now, it shares the same +5sen increase as RON 95 and Diesel. Furthermore, non-Malaysian cars (likely from Singapore and Thailand, where else) will not be allowed to purchase RON 95 petrol from 1st August 2010 onwards (read it here at The Star). Good luck with leaving it to the petrol stations to enforce this....

As of now, I have no confirmed reports on the pricing of Shell Vpower Racing (the only unsubsidized petrol sold at a premium).

Ah well, apart from that, we have reduction in subsidies also from LPG (the gas you use to cook) and sugar (for a healthier society?).

While this would appear indeed to have some impact on the cost of preparing and flavoring of food and drink, we should remember that the actual amount of sugar and gas used to prepare an average meal and drink would be quite a small amount, so the impact would be smaller than the smallest monetary denominator.

I welcome the reduction in sugar subsidies - hopefully, next time I order my coffee with no sugar, it really comes to me sans sugar!

Emergency - Laptop in trouble!

You get the feeling that they just don't make things with the same level of quality and durability like they do in the good old days. My recent experience with my (in)famous laptop further reinforced the notion - and managed to raise my heart-rate and blood-pressure a few notches in the process!

Last week, I witnessed my very first BSOD (Blue-Screen-Of-Death) since taking the leap of faith by migrating to Windows 7. The BSOD was a fairly common sight with Windows Vista - judging from the recurrence, it seems not to be a software problem.

Starting from Monday, things took a turn for the worst. Coming back from a meeting, I found myself staring at an artifact-laden Red Screen of Death. Hmm, never saw this one before. Barely had I whipped out my trusty side-arm (none other than the pocket-friendly Panasonic Lumix), the system rebooted itself. The red artifacts persisted throughout the reboot, and appeared even before windows booted up.

Trying to boot up, I was faced with again, a blue screen of some sort. This time, the font was really illegible.

Shortly and sadly, the display gave up and ceased to output either to the laptop screen or via VGA output to the external LCD monitor.

Unsurprisingly, in today's "paper-less" working environment, a failed PC almost means productivity grinds to a halt. Weighing my options, I considered purchasing a SATA-to-USB adaptor so that I would be able to access my critical files while waiting for technical support. Well, to their credit, help arrived much sooner than expected. By the end of the following day, my laptop was up and running once again, but not without a major overhaul. I learned that nearly everything EXCEPT the casing, CPU and hard disk / DVD drive was replaced. Excellent support, but at least now she seems to be running smoothly.

There is just one down side from this episode. Throughout this ordeal, my battery decided to become a "ghost" and disappear from the system. Booting up in BIOS yielded the same outcome (again, Microsoft escapes my wrath).

Of course, this has the effect in Windows that my laptop would have to remain plugged into the AC adaptor (making it an expensive desktop), lest Windows drop immediately into hibernation mode upon disconnecting the mains. (16/7/2010: Update - today out of sheer habit, I unplugged my laptop and hauled it to a meeting in the adjacent building. I found that it was still awake, even though there was no battery detected!) In the BIOS, the system was up and running on battery power alone, in spite of showing "Battery Not Installed". The bright orange indicator in the lower right hand corner of the photo seems to scream out for attention. Hmm....

Well, I will order a replacement battery (my second one since getting this unit a little over 2 years ago). Otherwise, it's just like driving a car with a faulty fuel gauge - you'll never know when you'll suddenly run out of juice!