Feeling the heat ... but loving it

Well, I haven't been putting up posts lately because the job had been really taking a lot out of me.

I woke up this morning with bits of proposal papers, notes, pens, pieces of scrap paper, staples and my iPod with me in bed. For the first time since my teenage years when I was scrambling to read up the night before the tests, I actually fell asleep in bed with my homework. I was happy I didn't crush the fragile looking laptop in my sleep. Like, what do I tell my boss then when I have to ask for a replacement?

"I slept with the laptop? ...."

Just two nights ago, I fell asleep on the laptop. When I woke up, there was an unending stream of 'm's across my document. I had to delete about 200 pages of the letter m. Apart from that, I had the impression marks of the keyboard all across the right side of my face. I was happy then I didn't drool - what am I going to say to the IT folks who maintain the laptops when they ask me about the bodily fluids they found on my laptop?

"I slept with the laptop" is hardly a good response.

Anyways, you get the idea. I haven't been getting a lot of sleep. In between trying to learn the ropes in my new job, there are the real work - everyday tasks that needs to be done. And while I still get the luxury of some slack from people who know I'm still new, I don't expect that to last long. And there's the darned World Cup as well - not that I get to watch a lot of it.

The victim in all this? This blog is. I'm going to have to start blogging less now because I am going to need all the time I can get.

One of my own silent goals when I started to do this more seriously was to basically try and blog daily. It was a good stress relieve mechanism for me - and it still is - but time is one thing I don' t have. However, I'm determined not to stop blogging - I just want to blog when time permits. I'd really hate to stop this since this is one past time I enjoy a lot. I hope blogging won't just turn out to be one of those 'phase' thing.

You know, like the 'phase' you went thru when you simply had to have pen-pals because you needed to collect stamps and you don't just want to have an album full of 30 sen palm oil stamps?

Or the 'phase' you went thru when you can't fall asleep without kissing the picture of each of the F4 guys and then hugging the bolster with a picture of Wang Lee Hom / Julian Cheung / ?

Still, to those who think that this new job is stressful, it really isn't. There's a difference between stress and busy-ness. I'm really busy - up to my neck with work, learning and getting used to my new job. But guess what, I'm really happy too.

It's a good sign for me that I'm being involved in many tasks. It's a good sign for me that I'm entrusted with important tasks that have very challenging deadlines. It underscores the trust I'm getting, and it also shows that the level of expectation is high.

I can handle that. I wanted to have important tasks. I'll give up a bit of sleep if that's what it takes. I'm always one who wants to be the guy who takes charge, so this is my chance.

I so intend to take it.

Random Notes ...

The work so far ...
Well, it's been about a month now since I left my previous job. After a short break in the East Coast, I've now been working with a new employer.

I'm enjoying my work immensely ... the challenges are real, and they are big. But it's the satisfaction of having pushed my limits that makes me happy and content. I'm not a very old person, and I by no measure should stop learning, growing and pushing my boundaries further. In a way, I'd hate myself if I just had a 9-to-5 job that promises a life of monotony. I'd die of boredom ...

I'm still getting used to the surroundings and the work environment, not to mention the team. However, everything seems to be alright so far. I've been jumping into the action, which is thick and fast, and I'm loving it too. Seems like the best way to learn might be to get the feet wet.

I'm starting to understand the dynamics of the team better, so hopefully, I'll fit in well. I don't want to be dead weight on this ship.

Rain & Me
Ok, Korean idol fans - stay grounded. This is not Rain the person. This is rain, as in water falling from the sky.

The rain today ensured I had a very, very long commute home along the LDP. And wrecked the shine off my newly washed car. I haven't washed it for ages until last Sunday, when it hadn't rained for a while ... and then ... today, the damn sky had to open up on me.

I'm not anti-rain, but rain seems to just put a slow on everything. It's like that slow spell the wizards get to cast in some of those real time strategy games. Damn. And slowing down traffic while I'm driving home is no fun at all.

Don't we all despise the rain falling at peak traffic hours?

Broken down cars
On the subject of work commute ... I'd like to just say that since I have been driving on the LDP, it appears that cars breaking is a very common thing.

Look, car owners - take care of your car. It's the second most expensive thing you probably own - next to your house. Service it regularly. Keep it in working condition.

Because if you don't - it bloody breaks down when you least expect it to. Like when I want to be early for work. It sucks when you have to get somewhere early, and stuck in a jam because YOUR vehicle is stranded.

I encountered 3 broken down cars today at work. And that made a 30 minute commute turn into a 45 minute one. You multiply that by the number of people who're affected. Let's say everyone travelling my way is late by 15 minutes. And let's say there were 10,000 cars affected.

If you calculate ...

a) Cost of being 15 minutes late
b) Pollution caused by 15 unnecessary minutes the car spent on the road
c) Amount of carbon fuel burnt unnecessarily during the 15 unnecessary minutes of delay
d) Knock on effect 15 late minutes has on the rest of the day ..

Then multiply by 10,000 ... it's almost an insane figure. Someone from our government should make the calculation and decide that productivity is at stake. But, I guess it's another excuse for them to punch in late at work in those government departments, right?

IMHO, Those drivers should all be put into jail !!! It's your responsibility to keep your car in working order, OK? Exceptions will be made for folks whose car break down unexpectedly. But if it's things such as boiling radiator because you haven't been topping up the coolant, or you have not been sending the car for regular servicing, etc., I think a jail sentence works.

And I've been encountering broken down cars almost everyday on my drive to work. Why don't people learn?

Busy Busy Busy
I've been grounded in Malaysia to work on an urgent piece of work.

I'm expecting very little sleep for some days, and I'm expecting very much mental stress and agony. It comes with the job, and makes it fun and exciting. Well, sometimes it does.

Does anyone know a place for quick stress release near Bukit Damansara? I'm talking oxygen bar, foot massage or just a nice tong shui place. Things that will make me forget about work for about 20 minutes everyday. I'll need it. Sudokus don't work anymore.

Last night, it was the opium scented incense. I wonder if it'll work again tonight ... (Don't ask me if it really smells like opium ... I have no idea how real opium smells like !!)

My first time ...
I made my first solo presentation to a customer today in this job. It's nothing to shout about, but I thought I handled myself very well, and was able to carry off a pretty good job.

All journeys have to start somewhere, right?

Now, if I can only stop myself from talking forever and ever and ever. I need to cut down on the number of presentation slides.

The customer seemed happy enough, and my team mates gave me pretty good reviews as well. But they all agreed that it was best I cut down the presentation time ... so ... OK. Heard you. Will do.

Top Ten Ways The Higher Petrol Price Is Impacting ..

It's been a while since I've done a Top Ten thingy. Not much time with the new job bearing down on me, and with some other things happening in my own life as well. But since we're at it, why not ??

It's been a few months now since the gahmen decided it's a good idea to do away with some petrol subsidy, and since then, while the gahmen is acting like all is fine and dandy, we the rakyat faces the crunch. I haven't seen any real action with regards to improving public transportation - I'm a little embarrased to think I actually thought they would really do that in the first place. Heck, as long as our ministers gets police escorts that cut through all the traffic congestion, like, hell no - they're not going feel the pain we do.

Anyways, if you really ask me ... here's how The Higher Petrol Price Is Impacting ...

• Pizza Hut will now only deliver to places they can walk to. And they can't guarantee the pizza won't be all cold and soggy when you get it.

• Girls who stay 10km or further have turned me down - I'm now too expensive to date.

• My mamak sessions lately have been conducted by video conferencing to save costs.

• The delivery charges have actually become more expensive than the flowers I'm sending. So I've stopped secretly admiring anyone anymore.

• Girls no longer dig guys in IT line. Or any other line, for that matter. Girls now dig guys who run petrol stations. =(

• The fancy restaurants had stopped accepting credit cards, and will now accept either cash, or petrol.

• Houses built more than 10 minutes from petrol stations can't sell - they're too expensive to live in !

• Suddenly, your parents are ashamed of you at family gatherings because you don't have a job in the Oil & Gas sector.

• It really hurts you lots when you realise that the petrol pump attendant is probably going to get more bonus than you this year !!

• In the not so distant future, it will be romantic to give your girlfriend a truckload of petrol for Valentine's Day.

And since I'm all fueled up with nowhere to go, here's a couple more ...

• The F1 cars would all be running on electric engines starting from next season.

• The PM's convoy will be converted from all Perdana's and Benz's to bullock carts and bicycles soon.

• All the besi buruk thieves are now turning into siphon petrol thieves.

• Disney is modifying it's "Cars" animated movie to show cars drinking Cappucino and Mocha from Starbucks instead of petrol.

• The next time a tai kor comes and asks for protection fee, you have the option of paying in the form of petrol as well.

• Whenever you get pulled over by the traffic cops, they will now ask for duit Petronas instead of duit Starbucks.
  

Google Earth vs Real Pics

I'm one of those people who are lucky enough to travel a lot on the job. And I've always had this fascination with the view from the plane, so I never fail to ask for a window seat so that I get to take pictures from the window.

I know it's a little childish, but who cares? From my previous trip to Thailand, thanks to the unusually good weather for this time of the year, and also the better than expected visibility, I managed to take some pictures.

This time around - I did manage to get some great shots. Check out this one flying over the northern parts of Bangkok on the approach to the International Airport ... the patches of greens looked like one giant quilt !!


And then there was this great picture of a settlement that seemed to float over the flooded rice fields just beyond the shores of the Gulf of Siam, where the mighty Chao Phraya river delta meets the sea ... you can see the river at the top of the picture.



And just for fun, I went to Google Earth to check out the difference between the real pics and the Google pics ... it was good fun ... here are some results ...

Here is the Bangkok International Airport ...


And here, the city of Bangkok itself ...

And here's a golf course encountered along the descent to Bangkok ...


And finally, here's where the Chao Phraya River meets the Gulf of Siam. Just 50 kilometers downstream from Bangkok, ending a long journey from it's origin in the Himalayas ...


I should do this more often ... cool eh ?? I'm digging up older pictures now to Google !!