Thinking With Thinkpads...

Everywhere you go, remember to keep your power adapter and water bottle...

I can't believe that it is already 1 month since I've started work at my new place. Before I knew it, it was time for the RBA (Royal Blue Ambassador) to make a call on us to find out how we are fitting into our new roles and work environment.

Yes, in the picture above, you'll see a lot of ThinkPads or TPs as we fondly call them. (^.^)

When I took that picture, we were stuck in the same room for about 2 days figuring out our direction. I have to admit that MR4 is like our 2nd home. Kekeke... Yes, we were doing a lot of "thinking" with them TPs.

It has been a while since I've worked in a client site and so, to adjust from having a desk of my own to being a mobile worker took a bit of time to adapt to it. In my 1st job, I was a mobile worker for 2 yrs but when I head back to the office, I always had a place. This time round, when I head back to HQ, I'll also be hot-desking.

My colleagues are great. We all understand that we'll be working together for a long time and so, we're adapting to each others working styles. I enjoy the camaraderie and teamwork. I've been "profiled" as a Rabbit - i.e. loved by all but tends to move too fast.

I'm also a workaholic. I'm the one who will still continue to work even though I'm sick because I've been brought up that if you can still move around - eat, sleep, shit, walk, talk; hence you can go to school/work. So, even though I'm feeling sick now with this cough; I won't stay home. If I do need to stay home, I'll still work.

Well, falling sick just 4 days into work has taught me the lesson to not take things too hard. Besides that, my colleagues now INSIST that I stay away should I feel sick. Makes sense right?

Mom's Birthday

It was a rather quiet weekend and we managed to celebrate Mom's b'day last night.

My mom is in her 60's and she's enjoying it. Ever since she retired from teaching, she has been taking things easy.

During the weekend, Mom and Dad went down to Singapore to celebrate a close friend's 70th birthday who happens to fall on the same day too! My Mom had wanted to spend more time but because of my new job, she can't stay for very long as I can't take much time off.

As for the birthday celebration, when they arrived home yesterday evening, we went to have a quiet dinner at Chilli's, Bangsar Shopping Centre. My Mom didn't want any cake or anything as she said that she had too much to eat while in Singapore.

Aside from the picture of the burger I had, there weren't any other photos taken that night since both my parents were tired and my bro-in-law looked sickly after recovering from a bout of food poisoning a couple of days before.

I gave my Mom a recipe book of her favourite cook - Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food. She loves his recipes and often wants to give Western cooking a go.

I don't have that many nice pictures of Mom... I'd figured that one day, I have to sit down and take photos of her. My Mom is shy in front of the camera and it is ashamed as she has a lovely smile.

I don't say this very often and I think I should,

I LOVE YOU MA!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Dog Tired Days

I've been learning to adjust my body's "sleep" clock ever since I started my new job. I used to wake up at around 7-7:30am but these days, I tend to wake up at around 1-2 hours earlier.

Firstly, I was still trying to figure out the traffic timings on the new route to my workplace and so, rather being early than late; I chose to go to work earlier.

Secondly, I was not sure how the parking was going to be like and so, rather than lose a parking spot; I chose to go to work earlier to secure a good spot.

Work has gotten to be a lot more hectic with long meetings and discussions; leaving very little time during working hours to get some job done. In the end, the work spills over and I have to continue at home just to keep up.

At the end of the day, I just don't have the energy to do anything else except to unwind with the dogs - Snoopy & Rusty who comes up to give me lots of TLC.

I feel guilty because I've not been playing with them much and I would really like to spend time with them this weekend. *sigh*

Hopefully, I will have some time left over for that as I know that I will have to continue working on my deliverables. After all, there has to be some life after work, right? The PMs are stressing this as they know from past experience about burn-out.

I've been through that before and it is NOT a pretty picture.

Some Taiwanese Please...

Some weeks back, EV wanted to celebrate her b'day by going out to a lunch and movie. Her favourite X-men character Wolverine was playing and she had been talking about it for weeks.

I enjoyed the movie as it was entertaining and that is all. ;-)

We ended up at Fong Lye, a Taiwanese restaurant in Gardens, MidValley.

I can't remember if this is the Peach Ice-Tea or Passion fruit Iced-Tea, but it was refreshing on a hot day!! I usually like to go for Bubble Tea or Milk Tea but the weather being so hot, you just need something sweet or sour with lots of ice to quench that thirst!

The rice-sets at Fong Lye come with a reasonably large bowl of rice, with yummy minced pork. Most sets will come with 3 small side dishes and a bowl of soup.

This time round I decided to go for the chicken chop which was crispy and succulent at the same time. EV went for the Ginger Beef set, of which I didn't take a photo of...

As for the price, Fong Lye is reasonably priced for the portion they provide. This explains why there is always a long queue outside the restaurant during weekends. There is a complimentary lime drink for those who wait outside for their seat - which is great as it stimulates the appetite too. :-) Besides that, I find that to be a nice touch to welcome customers to the restaurant.

This is a restaurant that I will return time and time again.... Yum!

2nd Farewell - Shanghai Bund Style

Ok... This post is late.. LOL! The said farewell happened on 10th April and that was more than 1 month ago!

Well, April 10th was supposed to be my last day but it turned out not to be so as my boss delayed my last day and etc.

Gone were the days when a farewell in the company meant gathering 20-30 people at one go to have 1 big celebration. The last time that happened, we ended up at CPK (California Pizza Kitchen), where that 1 meal came up to RM1,000++ in total.

Here I am with the "leng luis" of the ECM team - above, me with Ai Wa and below, me with Linda. I've known Linda for 6 years!! Both already have MBA and so, wondering when the other "post-grad" options of babies will come....

Boss SH with Lee Hwa, Gwen and Chen Yen

This time, we had our lunch at Shanghai 10 @ Avenue K and it was with the SAP Support folks. Some of the SAP Delivery were represented by Lee Hwa, while support had SH, Gwen and Chen Yen. Although I didn't really work very closely with them in individual support/projects but being part of the bigger family; we often helped each other out - especially at the Team Lead level where some resource management were required.

All of us were so eager to just get to the makan and JY snapped this photo. Look at Kenneth, so eager to eat....

Finally, a "candid" photo of JY next to boss SH. Boss SH was soo busy that during lunch, he had to step out to make some calls. Well, being the Support Manager; he has a lot on his plate. I remember during that time it was a tough period too.

I didn't manage to capture any other food photos other than the vegetables... LOL! It was all devoured before I could take my camera out. What is nice at Shanghai 10 is the Avocado Rolls and Durian Pancake. Since there were so many of us, we had some dim sum and noodles to share.

The lunch was great as it was time well spent with close colleagues on my "supposed" last day.

Thanks to SH, Chen Yen, Gwen, Shoba, Lee Hwa and others who were so wonderful in providing me moral support and advice during those tough days. I do wish you guys the very best!! We'll have to keep in touch especially for those photography sessions!

Mother's Day

Ahhh... Belated post about Mother's Day this year.

Have you noticed that some places have started to re-brand Mother's or Father's Day as Parents Day?

Now, my Mom gets a little iffy this time of year as she does not see the relevance of having just one special day for moms. Everyday should be a celebration of parents... I couldn't agree more. :P

My cousins Matthew, Marcus and Malcolm decided to surprise my Mom, who happens to be their Godmother this year with some gifts. Besides that, they also wanted to surprise the expectant-mom, my sis too.

The boys gave my Mom a pink rose. I can't remember who presented it but my Mom was so touched by it. When we give flowers to my Mom, she would always scold us saying, "Waste of money. What to do when the flower dries up?"

They also baked her a cake... Chocolate cake, which is my Mom's favourite.

Actually, my aunt called up to let me in on a secret that the boys wanted to celebrate the day with my Mom. I let out the hint that my Mom enjoys Chocolate cake a lot. (^.^)

Anyway, the cake was lovely. I believe that Marcus must have baked the cake as he has great interest to become a chef. This is good practice for him and he has improved tremendously ever since that "interesting" recipe of dessert/salad some years back. Kekeke...

Thanks Matthew, Marcus and Malcolm for dropping by the house and presenting those stuff to Mom. She loved the thought and was talking about it for some time.

Back on Track, I Hope...

I've been missing for a few days as I had been sick since last Friday. After my quick post on the Pulau Ketam dogs, I've succumbed to the flu.

This time, the flu has taken me 4 days to recover with 2 trips to the doctor. The doctor even said that my immune system must be low. With the recent hot weather, my fever just would not go down in the 1st two days.

Snoopy is ready for the ride... Yee haw!!

Anyway, that aside, I'm now raring to go with the tasks ahead in my new job and project. I've basically met up with the team whom I'll be working closely with for the next 15 months.

It will be a very interesting time indeed...

Dogs of Pulau Ketam

I first read about this when I visit 5xmom's site. After I jumped the link, I read about the plight of the dogs at Pulau Ketam, I was moved. When I saw the puppy in the tree, it really reminded me of Oofy, my 1st dog whom my sis rescued too.

As a responsible pet owner, it is YOUR duty as the pet owner to provide the following basic stuff for your pet:

1. Proper shelter for your pet
2. Clean Food and Water
3. Medical care when your pet is sick
4. Spay/Neuter should you not want to breed your pet

These animals have no voice to speak out when humans treat them badly. It is up to us to give them a voice.

Please head to Pulau Ketam Dog Rescue for more information and updates. If you wish to donate, you can also find out more info there.

I Just Hate The FUD

It's the 4th day into my job and I suspect that I'm down with a slight cold. Got the sore throat, runny nose and general bodyache/weakness. I'll have to see if I can get that colostrum to build up my immunity. But meanwhile, it's plenty of fluids and some Vit C for me.

Anyway, was at the office for 2 days to go through some induction and to pick up my laptop before heading off to the customer site.

As usual, at the customer site, they only provide temporary seating; a.k.a hot-desking or "hotel-ing". I expected this as I'm involved in a project. If you're in the support line or dedicated development teams; it is common to have a permanent seat with a phone line so that you are contactable.

The project is starting to pick up as the requirements phase is underway which means I'll most likely be attending to a lot of meetings.

Now, why I hate the FUD or Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt.

Fear - Being assigned to some tasks which is a little unfamiliar and so, there is this fear of failure. This may stem from the fact that I set very high expectations of myself. I'm no overachiever but I would like to do my job well. So, the fear of failure is real.

Uncertainty - I'm still new to the organization. There are some stuff which I'm not sure about such as, in the event of me being sick, how do I go about to see the doctor and etc. I'm also wondering if I can work from home. Besides that, I have a fuzzy picture of the project and so, there are some uncertain stuff to sort out.

Doubt - Because of the Fear and Uncertainty, I begin to doubt if I had made the right choice. This is common as once you leave an organization, you can't help but compare your new place with your old one. Even if the previous place was bad, being out of the comfort zone; you will still make some comparison.

I just hate it when the FUD sets in. I'm working on getting over it and am trying to immerse myself in my job to get rid of it. Its just that working for so long, you would think that it would get easier, no?

1st Farewell - It Was A Secret

I'm supposed to be blogging about my brilliant first day but I don't think I'll do it as the experience for me was quite overwhelming.. mentally. Not that it was bad but just information overload. Kekeke... What to do, I'm back to working in a US-based company and as is the culture, they equip you with a lot of knowledge for you to do your job.

So, I was not surprised with all the policy and etc. which they "threw" at us. The info I absorbed today will take some time to digest and thank goodness, they have proper contacts so that we won't feel so lost. *phew*

Anyway, when I first tendered my resignation, my company had not decided to give me the last date yet (so typical of chinaman-run companies) but my colleagues decided to throw me a farewell first.

We had to arrange it on a Wednesday as it was the only day the entire team was in the office. This happened because we were already on that 3-day week rota thingy.. yes.. yes.. after we got that 40% paycut thingy.

Due to economic pressure, we went to Secret Recipe.. Hence, it was a Secret. HAHA!!

I don't have much photos of the food as it was not very good and we finished the cakes as soon as it arrived.

Thanks to the ECM APAC Team - Alvin, Ming Yaw, Huat Heng, Linda, Ai Wa, Boo, Kenneth and JY. JY, your photo is not in the montage 'coz you were busy photographing people. HAHA!

There were the few other people who joined, the Backoffice team - Janice, Sukh and Kelly who always got payroll and claims done on time; also helping to settle the SMART problems.. Thanks!

Patrick and Phoebe from the ABAP Team were also there - Thanks for your friendship and support.

Next up, another more elaborate farewell lunch...

Birthday Dinner @ Italiannies, Gardens MidValley

My farewell posts will be delayed slightly as I will need to post up something in conjunction with EV's birthday.

Yes, it is her birthday today. And no, I shall not reveal how old she is. Kekeke...

Seems that with each passing year, her "evilness" will increase in strength. I shudder in fear to think about how "evil" she will get when she hits 50 in about.... XX years time. (^.^)

Evil Queen Presiding Over Her Loyal Subjects...

I'm not allowed to post pictures of friends as they are awfully shy. So, I will have to focus on the food at hand. HAHAHAA...

Yes, I'm starting to think that this blog will have nothing but food and pictures... Kekeke..

No meal with our friends are complete unless we order some starters. Italiannie's does provide the free bread but whenever my friends head out to an Italian restaurant, the first thing they order is fried calamari. Ok, if you ditch the fancy term, it is just fried sotong-la. The sauce which came with the sotong was amazing. The calamari was cooked to perfection as it didn't turn out rubbery or the batter too greasy.

Again, my mates can NEVER escape from calling a pizza. Since most of the folks on the table were thin-crust fans, we ordered this lovely little pizza which had minced chicken, red and green peppers, mushrooms and cheese. Yummy for a non-seafood pizza.

Oh!! I have to mention that the food pics were taken with my 50mm lens. Love the bokeh and the aperture as it handled well under low-light conditions.

We ordered the roast chicken... again. I remembered my mates ordering this some years back for another birthday celebration and we enjoyed it. The sweetness of the chillies and onions really complemented the chicken and potatoes. The portion was large enough to be shared between the 6 of us.

No Italian meal would be complete without an order of pasta. My friends being fans of seafood, requested for scampi and this pasta was yummy!! Prawns were very fresh and plump and the pasta cooked al dente.

We could not leave EV without some sort of birthday cake. Someone in our group ordered this hazelnut chocolate cake which was not fantastic. I'd guess we should have taken that walk across the street to Delicious for that marvelous chocolate cake. This was a disappointment. I'm also surprised that they did not order Tiramisu... Hmmm...

EV's birthday dinner was fun. Our group had not caught up with each other in a very long time since after CNY and so, it was good to get together again.

Before I forget then....

HAPPY BLESSED BIRTHDAY EV!
May God Shower Blessings and Joy on your special day...