Great power comes with great responsibilities

Just something I observed today, the VP of my division gets no rest...even when having lunch there would be people surrounding the VP discussing work..I guess when you get to that stage your life & soul would belong to the company, befitting the salary that they pay you.

Also the decision that you make could change the destiny of your division, be it to the better or the worse, you are still accountable for it. Imagine, getting cornered politically by some hopeful vendors with political connections to supply substandard products to the company, which way to go...do you bow to the political masters and have inferior product infiltrating your network and causing more harm than good plus incurring the wrath of the workforce, or defying the powers-that-be, protecting your chain of supply but committing political suicide in the corporate ladder?

I was told that the VP would only sleeps at 2 am everyday, going through the vast amount of paperwork that needs to be looked into and signed off. That does not include days where you have to finish up late, attending meeting & functions etc....And that is just running a division of a company, not even the whole company, or country for the matter...

As for me, I'm now contented with where I am. True enough, I've got aspirations to be higher than a minnow in the corporate scene but at the moment I am in my comfort zone....maybe my fortune might change somewhere in the near future? They say that this is the year for tigers...just watch this space, ok!

The innocence of kids

I managed to catch snippets of the movie during the CNY break and what I saw was quite good that I've gone out and bought the movie myself. The movie revolves around the childhood memories of 5 friends growing up in the 80's.

As a product of the 80's myself, the movie brought out in droves memories and nostalgic moments in my life. I could still remember at that time the only thing that you need is a transport, which is most likely going to be a 'chopper' bicycle, with selectable speed on the centre beam (bmx came much later), the games are mostly makeshift and not store bought, eg. teng-teng, galah panjang, soldiers, police & thief, konda-konde, selipar tiga, doctor (ATARI was the in-thing, as was Game&Watch and Pac-Man is the coolest game ever), and kids could wander around without any care in their minds. The adults would need to be notified that we're going out to play, and normally we would end up playing way off from where we told them in the first place.

The world felt different then than it is now. The pace of life was not hectic, we were looking forward for any chance of a break from school to continue with playstuff. My mum is quite strict with afternoon naptimes during the weekdays, but we have devised a method to maximise our playtime and quickly rushes in for *fake nap* and when she was asleep, we would slip out of the house to continue playing again. Also pocket money was kinda small at 30 sens per day, so that if you missed the school bus home, than bye-bye your pocket money as the bus fare home is also 30 sens.

Also surfaced the memories of saving up to buy 'branded' stuff, eg Nike's, OP, skateboards ( Powell Peralta, Tony Hawk). We were instilled the 'savings culture' so that we would appreciate more of the thing got.

As for now, I wouldn't think that I could let Aiman wonder around our neighbourhood, maybe not now, but who knows. Wouldn't want him to be deprived of those experience gained from playing around and discovering things on your own. But what I could do now is reminiscing the olden days for him, even though it may sound 'ancient' to him.

I love to fly my kite....

Normally the term 'go fly a kite' would mean that you're telling the other person that they are a pest, and you commanding them to go away and do something else that would keep them busy for a while so that you can get your work done. Considering the things that I have been through for the past week, I guess it was kind of appropriate to just chill out and do some kite flying.

The pinnacle last week was an interview that I attended. It was sort of evaluating the technical knowledge gained for this post that I'm applying. I've been preparing for this interview and upon nearing it I guess that I'm in a good shape. Boy was I wrong! It left me feeling less knowledgeable after than before. The thing is, the interviewer was the sort of person that you see didn't take any notes about what are your responses to the questions, but manage to capture and hang on to your words and use it in a way that left you wondering what the h**l you have said in the first place. IN the end, the interview left me feeling very not "intellectual".

But thank god for the long Chinese New Year break..at least I got away and fly my kite on a beach...but no banana boat in sight ;-)...

Happy 8th Anniversary Dear

Actually it is 8 + 6( prior to marriage ) anniversary.

As a special treat to mark the occasion, I brought the other half for a Japanese Dinner. Actually, we have been trying to get the anniversary cum Valentine's meal last Sunday but due to busy *shopping schedule* we missed the lunch slot. ~ refer to previous posting ~

For me, I was introduced to Japanese cuisine when I started working about 10 yrs ago. The mrs. was one step better as she had actually set food in Japan and had enjoyed the authentic meal at the land of the rising sun. My only claim to fame was that I was brave enough to try it in the first place...( but still wouldn't even remotely consider the puffer / blow fish)

I can still remember when she had the craving for california temaki, and could finish three in a sitting. To be honest, my choice would still be conservative to others but considered adventurous according to my palate.

All in all, it was quite an enjoyable dinner with a relaxed ambiance (rather than the over hyped and over priced valentine's dinner )

Pebbles decking the walls

Table setup - from the next table


some appetizer - didn't manage to get the name but tasted like seaweed ~ nash, any input?~

shisamo - grilled pregnant fish

shiki bento - what the mrs had. a mixture of tempura, miso soup, salad, grilled salmon and selection of sashimi ( raw fish - salmon, tuna and cod )

Unagi bento - grilled eel set with miso soup, rice and salad.

There was a free flow of hot green tea and to cap it off we had some mochi ice cream. If only I could have experienced the real deal and enjoy the meal in Japan itself. Siapalah nak belanja pergi Jepun ni, *wink* ( if any kind soul * you know who you are* in Japan reading this, YM je le )

There's no therapy like .......

..............retail therapy. After all that has been going on for the past month, we feel that it's time that we put those incidents behind us and continue with our normal routine. Hence the 'self indulgence' trip sans du fil is exactly what the doctor ordered.....

It started off with the mrs. wanting to replace her trusted and battered *Sony Ericsson K500i* which she had for almost 2 years (the shop doesn't even considering a trade in - "ini macam third hand punya phone ah...) . It has a long lists of faults and the replacement has a big shoes to fill. The requirement for the new phone is simple :- no fancy-smancy-smarty-pants multifunction-all-in-one-convergence device, just a nice form factor and could handle loads of .mp3 files.

After window-shopping and data gathering, Nokia 5300 fits the bill nicely, plus it has some interesting offer packaged in - eg, bluetooth stereo headphone, memory card upgrade thrown in as well. Plus I got a good deal on a blue tooth handsfree device, to replace my *lost* wired handsfree. Actually I've been meaning to get one since I first got the Treo but putting it off till now.

Also as our anniversary is just around the corner, we decided to have a his & hers complementary fragrance so that we could smell good together. Actually the mrs. has already knew what she been looking for, and upon sampling the fragrance, I agreed with her. Hence we got ourself these ...........

Mont Blanc Starwalker pour homme et Femme Individuelle

As the self indulgence trip took a bit longer than expected, our supposedly advanced anniversary lunch had been postponed as the restaurant was closed when we got there and only would reopen in the evening, but as we've been away for most of the day from our son, we decided to head home and have a some quality time with him instead ( plus to set up the plethora of gadgets picked up during the trip ).

The hardest thing now for me is where to take her for the dinner, as it will so close to Valentine's Day and everything would be commercialized and the price sky high during the 'week of love'....any ideas guys?

Surprise Visit

Today I had the pleasure of my *mentor* and friend came to visit today. He was my first immediate when I first started work and took me under his wing in terms of learning the ropes of working life in a corporate environment. A lot has happened since and we couldn't believe that it has been almost 10 years since I first reported duty. He has quit the company about 7 years ago and now runs his own business, which I think suits him better as he has a special way of creating rapport with people.

As usual, the meeting would be started off with updating of whats going on the personal front. I found out that he had just recovered from an acute cardiac arrest 2 days before X'mas. At 37!!!! The way he was relating the incident to me, make me feels that man, I could in the situation in 5 years time. (which means I have to watch my comfort food intake ) So now he has to keep tab on his diet, reduce his smoking and stress level. Which gonna mean more golf and leisure. Also the conversation was peppered with words of wisdom about his experience venturing out of the company and what I could expect to happen along the line.

To Sam, thanks for the words of comfort and insights. Cheers....

Comfort Food

Part of my new year resolution is to keep my weight below 70 kg. As of now, I'm a tad overweight as per pic :

As 2007 has gone into Feb, the result is still not showing due to the fact that :

1. busy schedule not being able to implement to proposed plans
2. having indulged in too much comfort food
3. excuses instead of action...hehe...guilty as charged

These are some of the food that I had today for tea/dinner :-

Home-made lasagna by yours truly.

The thing about self cook food is that you could control the ingredients used, e.g. not using MSG and to suit the taste to your liking, but could also have the drawback of having too much of the good stuff, where they would be normally skimped in process food (such as loads of beschamel sauce and cheese topping).

Cempedak Goreng

The drawback that having out-of-season food is the out-of-season price. For example, the chempedak weighs in at 2 kg but could only yield 20 pieces of chempedak goreng, which if selling at 3/RM1 would not cover the price of the fruit in the first place...Grrrrr...

Not forgetting the tub of Baskin Robbins acquired on the 31st January..No wonder the waistline is the hardest thing to lose but the easiest to gain...

Oh well, there's still 11 months to go in 2007 and keep watching this space......