Farewell to ...?

As mentioned last month during our little farewell dinner for Ee, just when you though it couldn't get worst, alas, yet another valuable member of the team has decided to look for greener pastures elsewhere.... :(

Did you manage to guess who it was?

Well, to make it easier, I've taken out from our group photo those who have ALREADY left, as well as the obvious exclusion of the little girl that is the daughter of Norfarazian.

So, moving on, we start with Candidate 1 (Asri):

Usually jovial and full of cheer, however glum and solemn tonight. Looking at the expression in his eyes, could it be him?


Candidate 2 (Zul):

He replaced Hasnol, who replaced Zoolfadli. Would it be his turn to be replaced?

Candidate 3 (Me):

Nothing worse than being at the helm and watching team members leave one by one. Like being the captain of the Titanic. Will I be leaving next?


Candidate 4 (Yan):

Seldom outspoken, letting actions speak for words. What untold tales lie behind that Mona Lisa smile?


Candidate 5 (Ju):

She's already lost a lot of weight, as a result of diligence and hard work. Are we going to lose her now?


And the answer is:


. . .


. . .


. . .


. . .


. . .


. . .


. . .


. . .


Candidate 2 (Zul)!

Yes, alas, so soon after saying goodbye to Ee, I now have to bid a fond farewell to Zul. In his brief time with us, he has demonstrated his willingness to work hard and flexibility in handling unexpected situations (and now finally giving my an unexpected situation to handle).

Sadly, as of today, I still know naught of his current whereabouts, though I'm told he still is in employment somewhere within the state of Melaka.

Well, wherever you are, my friend, I know that you will go far in your career, and hope that you continue to add value to your new team, as you once did when you were here.

My Sony Ericsson W810i - still churning out tunes....

In this age where handphones are literally replaced faster than rolls of toilet paper, and end up as a major percentage of the world's electronic waste, I'm happy to say that my old and trusty friend, the Sony Ericsson W810i, is still in use, though not exactly for its main purpose.

Now, for those of you who have had, one time or another, used this model before, you'll know that this is from the "W" series of phones from Sony Ericsson, which focuses more on music. One useful feature here is the ability to function as an MP3 player without a SIM card inserted. Coupled with an above-average sound quality coming from its on-board speakers, you can use it as an ultra-portable music box.

It comes with an adapter cable that allows you to use a standard headphone to listen to your music in private. I have this connected to the AUX input of my FD2's ICE system, so I can just plug it in and listen to my music on long journeys.

The W810i uses the proprietary Memory Stick Duo as media, so in essence you are limited to the size of your memory card. However, as the size of your MP3's depends generally on several factors like bit rate and sampling frequency, you may not really be bothered by this. I have already a little over 100 songs taking up less than 500 Megs of space.

Via adaptor cable that plugs into a standard USB port, you can load songs directly onto the W810i from your PC without using a memory card reader, though the transfer speed seems a little slower than with a dedicated reader. I like the fact that while connected to the PC, the phone is charging at the same time. My Nokia N76 can't do this (though I believe most newer phones are already equipped with this feature as standard).

Lastly, though my current handphone comes with an MP3 player, I prefer to use it exclusively as it is originally intended - to make and receive phone calls, and send SMS's. And occasionally snap a quick photo. Listening to music takes a hit on battery life, and the last thing I need is not being able to use my phone (low batt) in case of an emergency.

Well, if I were to improve something, I wish that the camera would work without the SIM too, which is a pity, as the 2.0 Megapixel camera was autofocus capable and in my opinion was a notch above what the rest of the market has to offer!

More info on the Sony Ericsson W810i at their official site : http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/products/mobilephones/overview/w810i or at Wikipedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Ericsson_W810

A true tale of an outburst of anger and a lesson in stress management

Today I found out a little more about myself - about how stress affects me and the internal dialogue that transpires....

It was a busy day at work today, without my trusted aides Kek and Ee around. Throughout the day, I had a constant stream of colleagues stopping by at my humble door-less cubicle. Apart from just one guy who actually stopped by for a friendly chat, everyone one else who came or called wanted something to be done.

Now, all this was not without detriment to my own work. I was working on a 3 page checklist for an upcoming online meeting with my overseas counterpart (or rather, boss). What normally took me an hour to finish took me FOUR hours to complete. Nearing the end of the day, I was quite stressed out and unintentionally lambasted another colleague of mine who just happened to cross my path.

At the end of the day, leaving for home (at ~9pm), I thought over the events that had transpired today, how I felt and how I had acted. I realized that I had over-reacted and was wrong in my actions. Along the drive home, I made a silent emotional decision (silent as there was no one in my car to hear it anyway) to apologize to her first thing tomorrow morning when I came to work.

Side issue - halfway home, there was a car that came really close from behind. Tailgating was supposed to be a traffic offense, but unfortunately there was no one around to enforce this law. Almost certainly in the past, I would floor the accelerator and let the fellow eat my dust (or maybe not, since I had no idea what car was behind me). This would have resulted in two cars speeding through the poorly lit streets ahead, a risky affair that would continue until either one of us disengaged (or took opposing paths at a junction or fork). However, my brief by meaningful experiences on the tarmac of the Sepang F1 Circuit and the twisty Batu Gajah track have thought me just how close we can come to losing control when driving in an aggressive manner.

However, as I know now that the streets are not the place for racing, and the road up ahead was dark and under heavy construction, I did something different this time. I maintained my speed and kept close to the road shoulder to let the guy pass. Though, even at moderate speeds, it took him quite a long time to overtake me, so I took my foot off the gas so that he would be forced to swerve into my lane when an oncoming car approached. It was a silver Proton Waja, with a dented bumper and one of those Mugen-style rear spoilers that was as out of place as a Kangaroo in Antartica. Anyway, immediately after the offensive driver was ahead, I noticed that I was now calmer and peaceful. My pulse was beating normally, instead of jumping wildly. Why? It's because I no longer had a mad driver with a risk of collision at my rear end. 10 seconds was all it took to transform this stressful condition. I reflected upon my decision and noted the change in my mind, body and heart.

When I got home, I "upgraded" my earlier decision and gave my friend a call, even before I got out of my car.

An old friend and colleague, I was glad that she understood my predicament and heartily accepted my apology. Over the phone, I managed to get a clearer picture about the issue which cause the enormous ruckus. Practicing crystal clear communication from the start would have avoided my earlier outburst, as I would have understood the situation better and responded differently.

Well, when I hung up, I was happy that we were still friends, and I was lucky to have such an understanding friend who was unfazed by my brazen behavior.

From the episode today, I remember the lessons learned from various mentors, including my GM and the Chief Master Trainer:-

1. Don't take things personally. Nothing people do or say is because of you. No need to get emotionally tangled up in matters. Applies to the seemingly endless stream of colleagues coming to me for help.

2. I have to change before change happens. Doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results is insane. Do something different and look for the response. By doing something that I have never done when encountering a mad tailgater, I found a better way of dealing with a frequent stressful situation.

3. Make a silent emotional decision to do something, and go ahead and do it! I made up my mind to call my friend. Didn't need to tell anyone about it. Just had to pick up the phone and dial.

4. Crystal clear communication can help to avoid unwanted situations. Don't make assumptions. If I had calmed down and sized up the situation before jumping to conclusions, I would not have acted in this manner to put off my old friend.

Well, the story above is real and unscripted (of course, I have removed references by name, but you may be able to guess if you have a high enough degree of awareness). I just write about it as it happened, and would like to share these lessons that I have learned. Hopefully that has added value to you reading this in some way....