i seemed to get alot of bad/lousy phone interviews lately. at 12 noon this afternoon, i received a call from a non profit organisation. the caller/interviewer wanted to speak to me for 15 minutes on my job application for a pr position in the non profit organisation. as usual, i was elated. i described about my job, the projects i have done and went on to explain on my liaison with the local press. he seemed interested initially and suddenly he said "ok, i think i have no more questions, do you have questions for me?". i was surprised that he interrupted my narration of my projects. i was at a loss momentarily and was pissed off with his interruption.

well, he either gets the gist of my work history and not impressed about it or he could not be bothered. anyway, i was taken aback by his VERY RUDE behaviour. i believe he is the communications manager of the non profit organisation. never mind the job, but his PR skills sucks BIG TIME. in fact, he has negative PR. i am just surprised that the non profit organisation still employ him. hmm...maybe he is cheap labour. i believe he is.

i am definitely not optimistic of the outcome. i will wait for the rejection letter in the mailbox. what's new?

during the worst outbreak of my back (or should it be spine) problem, and just before my chicago trip, i was kinda overloaded with tons of stuff, for example:

- x-ray of my lower back, neck, spine
- examination of my x-rays (it wasn't a pretty site that's for sure)
- chiropractic treatment
- 1st part of my formal interview process for my new cheese
- That big Release tool 3.1 UAT - i've completed my testing - considered the QA failed
- That big lab tool UAT - stuck at the first icon for hours - failed too
- Review submission - a new Committments thing which raised some more efforts to complete
- another session of chiropractic treatments
- 2nd part of my formal interview process for my new cheese
- some other project that i can't say (oops.. did i say it?)
- print mse monitoring (thank goodness nothing came in!)

my team was kinda understrength at the moment as:

- i'm in chicago
- one colleague is out for 3-6 weeks
- another colleague is on urgent leave
- another colleague is on leave

so the team that needs to work from 7am-11pm have to come up with very creative ways of maintaining the coverage, and i think with a bunch of good folks, we are getting that done.

After a long chat with the AV researchers at the Fairmont lobby, we finally started to proceed to our dinnerplace, Buddy Guy's Legends.

It had a blues band that played some fine blues, the food's great and the drinks were cheap. All together a damm nice place to go!

The last few days of constant chiropractic treatment at the chiropracter's, and ice treatment at home, had helped to cut down about 80% of the pain. I was pleasantly surprised that the four hour+ ride from Sea-Tac to Chicago didn't cause any troubles.

Checked into the Fairmont after some initial difficulties. Perhaps the receptionist didn't like us, and told us that my booking was from tomorrow onwards. No way! I've faxed the reservation (which had no responses), and Sharon did a phone check last night and confirmed it.

The gal went into the room and "checked" with her manager, and came out with a "okay.. they changed the date" and checked us in. Hooray..... cause we're at the 34th floor, with a pretty good view of a main street.

Went around to grab some food, and the two of us came across this rather old classic restaurant at one of the street corner. It had pretty good food, though the proprietator was a little bit strict with his system, but Sharon raised a chuckle or two out of him 8)!

That's how my spine looks like in this morning's Xray. Bummer

Here's how i feel now. My upper body is leaning towards the left subconsciously,

jon is having a very bad backache. it has happened before and it is back with greater intensity. i applied ointment on his back but we are just treating the symptom and not the root of the problem. after two days of enduring the pain, he could not walk straight and walking is stressful for him.

he suggested calling chiropractors. i called several chiropractors on a saturday morning and i was referred to their voicemail. finally, i managed to contact one chiropractor who has left his cell phone number in his recording message. i am very grateful that he agreed to meet us in such a short notice. the chiropractor is patient and gave jon several tips of taking care of his spine.

while jon is recovering, i am down with flu and fever. i think this is a vicious cycle. when your spouse is sick, you take care of him/her and you fall sick while looking after him. but we will be well in no time.

a word of advice for those who plan to stay USA for a long while. understand your body, take good care of yourself, eat well, have regular exercise and learn to self-medicate. it is always good to have some medical knowledge.

the health care cost here is really expensive. one consultation costs between USD150 to 250. that does not include medicine and X-ray. it is good to know that jon's company provide full health care insurance coverage. if not, we will have to pay him with our miserable savings.

in bellevue, when you take a bus, you have to pay USD1.25 for bus fare during non peak hours. the ticket or transfer allows you to re-use the ticket within 90 minutes or more on the same day.

i took a bus to my stupid job interview (why stupid, see story below) at 2.45pm and the ticket expiry time was 4.30pm. this means that i can re-use the ticket within two and half hours. how nice. i don't have to spend money on transport.

so, after i left my stupid job interview at 3.06pm, i boarded the bus at 3.30pm (yes, you have to wait approx. 25 minutes for the next bus to arrive) and reached jon's office at 3.40pm.

i left the office at 3.55pm and met a middle eastern woman waiting for bus. i took out my ticket and gave it to her. the ticket was still valid till 4.30pm. i told her she did not have to pay for bus fare if she take my ticket. she was puzzled by my gesture but i gave it to her and walked away. when i turned my head, i saw that she was smiling at me.

i may have a stupid job interview but at least i helped someone today.

i went for a receptionist interview this afternoon. unfortunately, the interviewer was too busy to speak to me and i have to leave my resume with her co-workers. this really pissed me off because she scheduled the interview i didn't. her co-workers were apologetic but interviewer did not even acknowledge my presence, let alone apologise to me. such a rude person! hey, i'm not hard up for the receptionist job you know. i may not even want to come for the interview if you call me. i doubt she'll call. she has too big an ego to do so.

Paranoia here i come. It looks as if one of the most important criteria in my new cheese is to TRUST NO ONE. hmmm. i wonder where i heard that phrase before ? 8)

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barbara and i waited anxiously for more than one week to attend this job fair. to my disappointment, i was not impressed and felt it was a total waste of time. barbara felt that the job situation had certainly improved as 17 companies participated in this sales and marketing job fair and all of them were recruiting sales people.

there is nothing wrong with sales jobs. in fact, i look up to sales people. they are always chirpy and have a positive outlook in life. they are high energy people. but i don't think i take up the challenge. i prefer to work indoors and not outdoors. i don't mind doing sales support work but not sales. it's not my forte.

i have been searching for jobs for more than 3 months but i could not find a job which matches my skills and experience. is my kind of job extinct or does the employer feel that i am not good enough for him/her?

every month, i will receive more two calls or emails inviting me to be an insurance agent. i was not interested untill i attended the insurance briefing of american income life insurance (ail) this afternoon.

it is a very interesting outfit. they have a ready based customers waiting for insurance agents to sell them supplemental life products or life insurance to trade unions, credit unions and trade associations members.

during the presentation, i was drawn to the large amount of money pay out to the members or their spouses in the event an accident happened. for example, when a member or spouse or their kid is hospitalised, ail will foot the hospitalization fee daily upto a certain amount until the patient is discharged. in the meantime, the member or spouse will be given a sum of money to compensate for their loss of income while looking after the patient.

if the insurance agent works hard to get 5 people to sign up for the life insurance plan, his or her take home pay per week for could be USD600. by the way, ail pays weekly to its employees. so, in essence, if you work hard, you reap the rewards. unfortunately, in this business, even if you work hard, you don't see the results immediately. people will reject the offer more frequently than accepting it.

in america, every family has more than 2 insurance policies. would they care to have more. if so, they will have less personal income. unless, you are rich, you would not mind getting more insurance. if you are rich, wouldn't you be investing your money in stocks and shares and not insurance. you would have problably appointed a financial advisor/fund manage to manage your assets.

not sure whether i am keen to up the job but it is interesting - for now. or rather, in desperate times, you are too eager to get a job than to care about whether the job is really suitable for you.

yes, after more than 15 lessons from lao instructor, i have finally improved in my driving skills and ready to take the test in two weeks' time. it has been a long and difficult journey for me. but, to many people, driving is a piece of cake. to me, operating a machine on the road is a big challenge. i am proud that i have finally conquered my fear and gained confidence to drive a car.

tomorrow or the day after, jon and i will go to the licensing office to apply for the driving test. i hope i will pass test. i am still not very confident in parallel parking but lao instructor said most drivers do not park in parallel parking lots as there are always other parking lots available. i agree.

well, good luck to my test!

Lords Of The Rings - For Those That Do Not Have the Intelligence, Patience, Time, Energy to read the three books (1000+ pages), or watch the 10hr+ movies

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Tom Peters, the guru of management, has started a series of tips for success and money making on his blog.

Though it is now only tip no. 4, i think there were events that i could have used at least two of those tips.

Tip No 4 - MAKE THE CALL! TODAY! NOW!
My take on it? - There are events and situations where if actions can be done TODAY NOW MAKE THE CALL, the unnecessary consequences that came out of it wouldn't have been possible. But hey, that's hindsight for you.

Tip No 3 - The rarest of gifts ... THANK YOU!
Tom Peters is capable of making the smallest of observations, and pointing out the bl**dy obvious. It's true that Thank You as a phrase might be overused, but i agree with his insight that sending it to someone, especially on handwritten notes, beats the hell out of tons of emails with thanks (autoinserted of course).

In fact, his blog is so useful, i've added it onto the list on the left.

Someone asked me how i can be on friendly terms with everyone. My instant response was "since when was i friendly?", and "everyone??"?

I would like to think that i'm a truthful person most of the times, and represented myself as such most of the times. Most of the con jobs were done in the army. Nuff said. 8) Since i was conned 30 months out of my life, my thinking was that i conned them back as much as i could, and i think i succeeded in doing that.

However, that place (among others) taught me one thing, or like the X-Files slogan, Trust No One. It wasn't that bad in most instances, but when situations dictate that you need to be careful, you choose the right people to be with.

Be aware of what people are doing. Be aware of what people are not doing. Be aware. Some people you know you can trust, some you know you can never trust, so why bother?

Back to the question. I'll try to answer it in a logical manner.

How can u be friendly with everyone?
Define friendly
if definition is not established
- friendly can be a Hi, Thank You, SAY NO MORE, even OI!
- friendly can be tons of FW: emails full of rubbish, signifying nothing
- friendly is what other people perceive. I could just be playing with them.

Was called at the very last moment, just barely awaken at that time, to meet up with Kurt Natvig, Maddy and of course, Randy, at the Atezca restaurant.

Kurt, who was responsible for the development of the awesome Sandbox technology in the Norman Virus Control product, is in town on an unplanned stopover on his way to the Virus Bulletin in Chicago (which i'm going to btw).

It's quite funny when you have a bunch of virus researchers around, as most of the jokes and in-jokes are all related to the antivirus industry and of course, my company.

We also talked a bit a bout Malaysia, as that was his last stop before coming over.

Talking about the Sandbox, I've been playing with it lately and it's cool.

當一些亞洲人和歐洲人靜悄悄地在總公司出現﹐你就會聯想到他們在這裡肯定沒有好事。

we dont get signs like these easily.

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With fall comes the winds of change.

Seems like the wheel has started rolling onwards towards my new cheese, initially it was almost like a 0-gear, or neutral. You know the engine is on, it has power, but it's not moving at all.

Even when it did move, it was just some minor movements here and there. Come this week, it suddenly jumped to fourth gear.

Hopefully, i'll get to the finishing line on Monday without much trouble, and then i can go on my Chicago trip in my actual new cheese role.

It was the official end of summer a few days ago.

Now's it's fall. The temperature has gone down a few degrees, and the nights come into work a lot earlier. The wind blows stronger, the trees starting to turn yellow.

This makes our days feel like they have shorten a lot.

Saw this book off Haacked.com, and boy am i tickled!

The fact that someone would write, and convinced others to publish a book like "How to Date a White Woman: A Practical Guide for Asian Men" really amazes me.

Is this a reflection of the general market (in heat?), or is this a racial joke of some sorts?

ok, it's confirmed. i do not have split personality. i was net surfing for a job and ended up taking a personality test online. the results showed that i am depressed. what's new. i am depressed because i don't have a job.

anyway, i went to meet this counselor who evaluated my results. she was nice and told me that i need to break through this depressing barrier so that i can view things positively. hey, i don't need a counselor to tell me that. i need to know how to break through. here's the catch, attend this seminar for USD50 and you will be able to find the right methods to think positively and my outlook in life will be wonderful.

so, i need to spend USD50 to learn and apply this method in order to feel positive. what if i still feel depressed after the course. i didn't ask her the question but i feel that this is really a con job. i told the counselor i didn't want to attend the seminar as i am not working i.e. no money. she told me to reconsider and call her later. maybe, her intent is sincere, that is, she really want to help me. but i still think this is a con job and i was conned to buy a book at USD5.00. i felt trapped in the situation, but i still did not agree to attend the seminar.

picture this, you invite net surfers to take a free test and then you trap them to attend a seminar for a fee. that's marketing gimmick. similarly, there is a book company in singapore which publishes children's storybooks. they tapped on kindergarden database and send these books to parents, inviting them to keep the books for 30 days. imagine, your children see these books and they love it. here's the catch, if parents do not return the books after 30 days, they will have to pay for the books. this marketing gimmick is good.

Came back after a totally drained out gym session, and was told by Sharon that Randy got me a meeting with Mikko at building 25. Looking at how bad the traffic was along 148th NE, i walked to my building and called for shuttle.

While waiting, i bumped into, or rather, wendy and anne bumped into me. Since i was rushing for the meeting, we didn't say much.

Stepped into the meeting room with Richbe, Randy and Mikko. He was here in redmond for a few webcasts, and allocated some of his time to discuss stuffs with us.

He displayed a very clearcut and concise way of thinking and communication. Straight to the point, and objective. It should be fun to work with him and his colleagues on some projects.

It's now on our weekend routine to have a bowl of good Vietnamese Pho at the Redmond Town Center's Pho Than Brothers restaurant.

When you get into the restaurant, you'll be served with some of the best cream puffs ever, for free. After you order your Pho, and there's only like 15 variations of Pho, the meals will be served almost within 5 minutes.

Adding some basil leaves, bean sprouts, oyster sauce, chilli sauce and some pepper will make this a very delicious dish!

The price at this place is amazingly good too!

Another car, with the license plate WRKHARD. It seems to be that a lot of people here think that they are the hardest working people in the world. Well... N O P E.

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Here's Pamela.

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Thanks for the rides! This was our rental car.

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If your pets could blog

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I just realised that you can be fined or charge in court if you are found owing yourself $$$ in a particular asian country. Wow.

Not only that, if you take your own $$ out, you have to pay interest on the $$ that actually belongs to you.

36 signs you've been in Singapore too long, especially if you come from a Western country
-> 36 sign you were from Singapore, and now stay in a Western country

1. You've lost your sense of irony, sarcasm, and cynicism.
-> I've regained these.

2. You don't know what's lame and what isn't anymore.
-> I know!

3. You think there's nothing wrong with putting chili sauce on everything you eat.
-> For the first two months, that's exactly what i did. Nowadays, i use BBQ sauce, mustard etc.

4. You wait for instructions from people in authority before doing anything. Always.
-> It's quite unfair. Some of the people i know in APOC doesn't wait for instructions, while some here do.

5. You join queues without knowing or caring what the queue is for.
-> It's actually quite common here to see long queues, for things such as Fable, Halo 2 (already tons of people are planning to queue up on 11/8 night at game shops)

6. You know what "queue" means!!
-> See above

7. Your idea of a good night out consists of having dinner at a hawker centre, drinking beer, and then going to another hawker centre and eating again.
-> Have a nice meal, enjoy some music if possibe, and relax

8. You've lost your ability to criticize people in higher positions than you, even if they're wrong.
-> Criticize all you want, but here the political atmosphere is getting somewhat closer to Singapore than youw ould think.

9. You think it's okay to have only one meaningful choice on a ballot.
-> Here, it's choosing the lesser of two problems.

10. "Crossing the country" means taking the MRT to the end of the line.
-> Just crossing the city takes a while, even at 70mph on the freeway.

11. You have a high tolerance for nagging.
-> Get to the point, man!

12.Most or all of these acronyms make sense to you: NUS; NTU; ERP; SDU; PAP; MRT; LKY; GCT; PRC; TIBS; SBS; SMS; JB; JBJ; AMK; AYE; PIE; ECP; ISD; ISA; 5 C's; CPF; CHIJMES; SPG; CWO.
-> Other than internal acronyms, nothing else have as much of these.

13. You use too many acronyms when you talk, or you create new ones.
-> again, only for internal discussions. It's funny how many references to MOM we can get.

14. You think that nothing makes a girl or guy more attractive than to dress exactly like hundreds of thousands of othe girls and guys who all dress exactly like girls and guys in malls.
-> Individuals rule! by wearing the same individualistic clothes 8)

15. You think that S$100,000 [= US$ 57,000] is a reasonable price for a Toyota Corolla and S$1,000,000 is a reasonable price for a bungalow, but S$5 [= US$2.85] for a plate of fried noodles is a barbarous outrage.
-> I got my car for 3400 USD. A plate of "singapore" fried noodles cost about 10 US.

16. You believe that not being able to get decent roti prata outside Singapore is enough to keep the best and the brightest people from leaving.
-> I'll live. Helps in my diet too!

17. You see nothing wrong with forming committees of select elite people to deliberate and study ways to stimulate creativity and spontaneity.
-> Sad to say, my immediate dept forms meetings of selective people to discuss ways how to do more meetings (ala Dilbert)

18. You justify every argument with the phrase "in order for us to be competitive in the 21st century."
-> Actually, for this point i think here's actually pretty similar to Singapore

19. You think everything should be "topped up."
-> Supersize is no longer in vogue!

20. You see nothing unusual about an organization of trade unions spending more time owning and operating supermarkets, parks, drugstores, amusement nightclubs, and financial services than planning the next strike.
-> Strikes!

21. You believe that a lack of land is enough justification for the goverment to do what it wants.
-> Here, a perceived risk is enough.

22. You wear winter clothes indoors and summer clothes outdoors.
-> Wearing the clothes IN the season they are meant for.

23. Durian and belachan no longer stink to you.
-> Durians here are frozen to minimize the smell. THANK goodness. Belachan, hard to find man.

24. You like to have fun, but not too much fun, since you need to correctly gauge the amount of fun necessary to achieve the optimal result. Any more fun that that would bring shame to your family and your country.
-> Just like the Beach Boys said/sung "fun fun fun fun fun"

25. You're not confused by a street naming system that locates streets like Clementi Road, Clementi Street, Clementi Crescent, Clementi Lane, Clementi Drive, Clementi Way, and Clementi Avenues 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 all within walking distance of each other.
-> here all streets are numbered in the correct order, and a general sense of direction is helpful, though the signs could've been clearer.

26. You get irritated if you don't see a sign telling you how long your wait's going to be for a bus, a train, or the expressway to take you where you want to go.
-> Relax and chill.

27. You're certain that Holland Village is for hippie bohemian artist types and not for overpaid yuppies.
-> There are quite a number of bohemian gathering areas.

28. When you cross the border into Malaysia, you automatically and deeply fear for your life and your wallet. Especially your wallet!!
-> Here, people cross the border into Vancouver for good and cheap food.

29. No matter what you're doing at the moment, you'd rather be shopping.
-> I'd rather be relaxing at home/

30. No matter how miserable you may be here, you thank God you're not in Indonesia.
-> Phew.

31. You're impressed by high-rise apartment buildings with actual lobbies instead of bare exposed pillars on the ground floor [such as are found in much government-built housing].
-> It's almost a rare thing to see any buildings more than 5 levels tall in my immediate area. Only the downtown areas of major cities have buildings tall to block the sun.

32. You forgot what chewing gum tastes like.
-> I dont even care what it taste like.

33. You're sure that the best way to change social behaviour is through consistent and comprehensive government-sponsored campaigns that permeate as many aspects of daily life as possible. And when they don't work, you never speak of them again.
-> Just do what you want to do man.

34. You agree that what the government thinks of your personal habits and lifestyle should determine whether you get a condo and how much you pay for it.
-> You get what you pay for. No one else cares.

35. You've become a fan of either Arsenal, Manchester United, or Liverpool when you barely knew what soccer was before you came to Singapore. And you don't care that none of these teams are Singaporean!
-> Simi si soccer?

36. You think a bus is incomplete without a TV.
-> Thank goodness the transit here doesnt have TV at all. Enjoy the ride.

1) Steven Lim
Do you people ever click on the blogs on the left hand side?

Steven Lim, Singapore's most famous street eye plucker, was on the Singapore Idol show it seems a while ago.

If you ever think William Hung was good, (not that i would), Steven is the BEST!!!!

Check him out on Singapore Idol!

2) Mixmash of songs
This might be more for the folks that listen to a lot of pop songs. You'll need a lot of background knowledge to totally understand the mix, but this mix is now a permanent fixture in my mp3 player.

3) Jay-Z vs Jimi Hendrix
Jay-Z released an accapella version of his Black album, and all hell broke loose. Tons of different mixes, ranging from the Beatles, Metallica, Latin, Coldcut, Pink, etc were mixed onto albumloads of mixes. This is a rare one, and i'm glad that i came into hearing it. An awesome mix of Voodoo Chile and 99 Problems.

These clips might be gone soon, so check them out!

Today, we went to Alderwood Mall in Lynnwood to pick up a lady in green, born in the year of 1998, with the name Pamela, and drove her home!

In case you're wondering about our lives, we are still very much normal. Pamela is the name that we gave to our recently bought car.

Why Pamela of all names? The keys that were passed on to us by the previous owners who have the name Pamela on the keychain. They were not able to explain why Pamela was on the keychain, but we thought it was fun to name the car that.

sharon : yeah, she is jon's mistress. she lives in the carpark.

As part of the relocation package, i was given a two months car rental package from Avis. Tomorrow, i'll be sending it back.

The car is pretty smooth in its driving, except the slight problem in having to steer the wheel too much to even turn a simple corner.

Kinda bad that with the new financial year, new relocation packages will only have a month of free rental. I don't think that it is enough for someone that is still facing a wholeload of major changes, but hey... better than none.

most companies proudly acknowledged that they are equal opportunity employer organisations. this means that every person, regardless of race and religion is given the same opportunity when applying for a job. companies do not discriminate minorities. they are looking for qualified candidates to fill the vaancies.

initially, i was impressed with their business ethnics. after 5 months staying here i was not. employers still prefer to hire whites. if they could not find a suitable white candidate, they will advertise the same job one month later, and hopefully, a suitable white candidate can be found.

it is sad to be such a situation but i can't change the system and i certainly can't break them. so, good luck to my job search.

carol, my friend is kind enough to keep giving me extra driving lessons despite her tight work schedule. this afternoon, i drove for 3 hours to unfamiliar places. i kept going in circles but i was not afraid that i would be lost. not sure why, i just don't have panic attack.

in the first hour, everything went well, except i nearly collided with a white van when i tried to turn to a left lane. believe me, i have checked carefully before i changed lane. but i don't why i didn't see the white van. of course, the driver was angry but i could not see his reaction. hmm...i have better to more alert. the good news is i was not spooked.

two hours later, it was pouring heavily. it could be a spillover from hurricane ivan from florida. i could not see the road in front of me. the wipers were cleaning the windscreen frantically but i still could not see well and the road in front of me was a total blur. suddenly a car honked at me. i didn't know he was honking at me till carol reminded me that i have to drive faster. how can i drive fast in the heavy downpour. so, carol advised me to move to the left lane. i did, to allow all irate drivers to pass me.

i was not angry at them but i hope they understand driving fast in heavy rain is a stupid idea. i know they are experienced drivers and they are road warriors. big deal.

a few minutes later, a pickup hit a red car and traffic was building up behind them. i hope it was not one of those irate drivers. if so, it's their fault and they deserve it.

As expected, I didn't get the job. I won't say that it is their loss but I know I was treated unfairly during the interview. A 3-minute interview can't tell much about the interviewee. Congrats to those who snagged the job. It will be fun to undergo 9 days fully paid training.

I went for another interview in a recruitment company. As usual, you repeat the same story on why you have been relocated here and sat on more skills tests. Surprisingly, I did well for the tests. I scored over 80 for excel and word. I wonder whether there is a bug in the PC. I am definitely not good in excel and word. I skipped and given wrong replies to alot of questions. It's not that I don't have faith in myself. I am practical in my expectations. If I know I don't do well in an assignment, I will find solutions to solve it. If all else fail, ask for help.

Anyway, back to job search. What's new?

Though we are tuning to my personal radio via the creative zen and the fm tramsitter, we do tune to this station KBSG 97.3 FM.

They play the oldies from the fifties, sixties, and have almost played the beatles' complete discography on our drives around Washington.

They had the Beatles on their radio the whole day once to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their visit to Seattle. That was the day when Randy, Carol, Sharon and I went to the cornfields to watch (and sat) on planes.

I hardly even tune to another other stations here at all.

There's two critical updates from Microsoft that was announced two days ago.

Security Bulletin MS04-028 is a graphics display issue with the JPEG files processing technology.

This bulletin affects software that supports this image format, including some versions of Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, and Microsoft developer tools.

Hence, go to that website, and update your system. After a reboot, do the scan again just to be sure.

The other update
is not as commonly used as JPEGs, but is also a critical update if you have the Wordperfect 5 converter installed in Microsoft Office.

I thought I have improved on my driving skills. Well, I thought wrong. I was so spooked after the instructor kept correcting my mistakes in parallel parking and backing out to a corner. I was so mad with her. She kept yakking and I could not concentrate on driving.

She told me that I have better improve on my skills as I have five more lessons to go before the driving test. Thanks for your reminder, I will show you I can do it.

Jon seems to be unfazed by my complaints. He is either used to it or he could not care less. Fine. Even my husband has no response to this.

Fine, I will improve and stop bitching about her.

edit: corrected some typos.
Jonathan: I seems unfazed because i'm sure Sharon will be able to pass. No worries man!
Sharon : Liar

It's exactly 4 years and 1 day since i first joined APOC. So, it's my



I still remembered how i came over. I ran out of leave in my previous company, and have to stay for the morning half to clear my final hours. A final lunch with some colleagues later, i took a cab to Technopark and reported for work!

It was a bit rush as Chan was just about to leave for Redmond on Saturday, so it meant that i had about four and a half days to learn the software release processes, get my email account setup, and the typical new employee orientation stuffs.

Whatever else happened within the first week, i cannot remember now, however, standing at the other side of the ocean now, i really loved almost every single minute there.

I learnt a lot, and i mean A LOT, from my various managers, teammates, colleagues and vendors within the 3 1/2 years in APOC. The constant need for quality; detailed mindedness; root cause prevention; leadership; open communications; and a whole lot more.

I loved the "road marches" when we had our peak workloads; 16 hours days were, to me, a great way for the team to grow together. I loved to be able to help the company get a product shipped, no matter what it required me to do, be it middle of the night delivery, overnight monitoring of jobs etc.

With the hardwork, come the fun too. I loved the luxuries of being able to get my hands on the latest Xbox games before they are released. I still remembered how much i love the first Halo, and took every single opportunity that i had to play this marvellous game. I loved the regular eating outings that we had as a department, and as a company.

Along the way, i made many friends within my department and within APOC. I also learnt a lot of things that i didn't plan to.

Went through quick expansions, reorgs, change of reporting lines, splitting of teams, decentralisation, centralisation. Saw colleagues joining from other teams, colleagues leaving the team, saw vendors becoming colleagues becoming excolleagues becoming colleagues again. Constant changes, not a oxymoron, but a reality.

I think this song really describes the experience i had in APOC, constantly Under Pressure, but with a lot of fun being pressurized all the time. Have a listen to this great song!

J	Joker
O	Overwhelming
N	Noisy
A	Arty
T	Timeless
H	Hilarious
A	Astonishing
N	Naughty

Name / Username:

Name Acronym Generator
From Go-Quiz.com

i'm not sure whether my instructor has alot of faith in me, herself or both of us. she told me to drive to bellevue square(bs), a downtown shopping mall for its residents. there are three routes to bs. we took the longest and safest route. along the way, she pointed out the building where her daughter works. i was really envious. i want a job!!!

traffic was light and there was no hiccups. that's because it's 10am in the morning and the morning peak hour has passed. i wonder how i fare during peak hours. better not think about it. i will definitely be a road hazard because i am good at it. it takes me three lessons to turn changing lanes. such a slow learner.

10 minutes before the lesson ends, my instructor told me to drive along the highway. i nearly freak out. i was going 50m.p.h. which is about 70km per hour. i will definitely get a ticket in singapore if i drive at this speed. my instructor told me i was too slow as the speed requirement was 60m.p.h. i did not make it far as my instructor said the short highway trip was just a teaser. i will have more practice on wednesday. i enjoy the cheap thrills. i certainly look forward to it.

i must overcome the fear to turning lanes, making left turns and driving on highway.

I went to an open interview for a customer service job in a Spa Salon. I arrived at the office 45 minutes early. I was the first candidate to be interviewed. There were 15 candidates (12 whites, 2 blacks and 1 chi-na) interviewing for the same job. Well, there are 8 vacancies for this position. The interview lasted 3 minutes. My interview was interrupted by a co-worker as the room was booked for another meeting.

I wonder how much will the interviewer knows about me within 3 minutes. It was so unfair. We took more than 45 minutes to get the office and all I received was 3 minutes of her time. I didn't even have the opportunity to ask about the job much less about the company.

Maybe, I should not go to interview too early. Life Sucks!

Today, we went to visit Paul and Barbara in Everett. Another long drive up an unknown path, but i think we're getting better in terms of driving through long stretches of highway, and providing navigation information.

We stopped using the inbuilt CD player too, as CDs can only play for so long before we get bored. I got a radio transmitter connected to my creative zen nx player, and have my own radio station! Aint it cool?

Paul helped me to preselect a few cars, and after a very sumptous lunch made by both of them, we headed out to look for used cars. He had quite a task since we told him our budget would be about US 4000 dollars.

Our Car!



Barbara actually found this car, on one of her drives through the neighbourhood. It is a 1999 Chevy Prisim car, and was previously owned by an Urkraine couple. The posted price was US 3800, while the recommended selling price for such a car was in the US 4000+ range.

Since we are absolute beginners in cars (driving and ownership), Paul helped us to check through the internals, engines, brakes while we took a quick look at the very clean exteriors. He also helped to get an absolute minimum of US 3500 from the owner.

A quick drive around felt good. We decided to take a look at other cars before we make our decision though. However, after a luckless drive around some used car lots, we decided to get this car.

Sharon asked for a further reduction. It was agreed to be US 3400. The check was made, and we drove the car away immediately back to Paul's premises.

It's still at his place now, for some expert tuning up. I hope to get it back once i come back from the Chicago trip in about 2 weeks time. The rental car's due to be returned just before my trip too, so all the timing is absolutely perfect.

A few more *real* photos of the car are available.

Looks like Spiderman needs to go on a diet here!



With a pair of free tickets from one of my colleagues, we printed out the directions to Puyallup, and off we went into one of the biggest fun fairs in USA.

The drive itself was i think the longest ever we drove on our own. Each way was more than 45 minutes driving, that's without any looping or missed turns! 8)

When we reached the main street of Puyallup, there was a lot of people on the side of the road waving banners and flags to attract the drivers to park their cars at their site.

Moo Moo 2



The nearer to The Fair, the more expensive it was. I chose a mid-range of $5, and parked the rental car.

A short walk and we're in! There was a pretty interesting performance by the Gentlemen Jugglers. Throughout the fair, there were performances by country folks and hillbillies. Gee, ain't it fun?

There were tons of burger stands, corn dogs, chowders, food, rides, rides, and more rides. There were cat shows, sheeps, petting zoos, pigs, cows etc.

MOO MOO!


The best part for me was the collections exhibitions. There on exhibit were personal collections ranging from Beatles records, Superman collectibles, Star Wars, Frankenstiens, Hardy Boys etc. I think in a few years time, i can join them in showing off my Crayon Shinchan collection, of coz, with the help of other people. *wink wink blink blink say no more*

By the tine we got back, we were dead tired!zzzzzzzz More photos and videos available.

After living in Bellevue for 5 months and sent out more than 100 resumes, I still do not have a job. Friends told me to be positive. What's the incentive to be positive. Positive outlook does not help me to get a job.

Everyday, I wake up, the first thing that comes out of my mouth is 'sian'. Another day of wasting time to watch sunrise and sunset.

There are so many jobs in Washington, in fact, Washington accounts for 1/3 of the new job creation in USA. So many jobs mean there are vacancies in admin, marketing, public relations, customer service but yet no one wants to employ me. What is wrong with me????!!! Yes, now I have very low self esteem. I have hit rock bottom and I am scraping the bottom.

I don't want to know how other Asian wives adjust their lifestyles because I could not care less. They care about their children and their husbands' jobs. I want to selfish for once. I want to care about myself. It is enough.

I want to vent my frustrations whenever and wherever I want.

There is an interesting book detailing the life and thoughts of Leonardo Da Vinci. Reading does gets a little dry at times, but it is an excellent book. You will get great insight into da Vinci's genius and wisdom.

A few ways that you can get access to this book, as a plain text file, via RSS on a daily basis, or purchase it on Amazon.

An excerpt on Page 93 on Perspective:
"Small objects close at hand and large ones at a distance, being seen
within equal angles, will appear of the same size."

Enjoy

I used to play a lot of football in the years of old, but i know i was never this good. I wonder how they will perform on a real football pitch though.

I just realised that if i'm a cast member of Peanuts, i would be

Which Peanuts Character are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Since we're on the topic of chickens and eggs, are you still eating the fried stuff being sold as chicken?

If you take a look at the research that PETA had made, you will not want to eat that stuff anymore.

They even renamed the C into Cruelty!

Take a look at their video. Though it's small and grainy, you can clearly see what the people are doing to the live chickens.

I've read that Singapore's ban on eggs due to the Avian flu from Malaysia is still in effect, and that the only eggs available are imported from other countries.

Unofficial sources provided an almost 300% increase on the eggs, with some stalls selling eggs at 60 SGD cents EACH.

Question : Singapore banned Malaysia's eggs, but Malaysia's population many times over Singapore's population, are (presumably) still consuming the same eggs (that Singapore banned). Is there any news that any Malaysians fall sick as a result of the eggs? What about the consumption of chicken in Malaysia?

Question : Birds fly, don't they? Is there a scheme (e.g. Anti-Air Defence) against birds that fly to Singapore from Malaysia? Do they need a passport to verify last port of dock? 8)

Recognize these??

Posted by Hello

I bought this pair of gym workout gloves with the birthday present funds from Baby via Jas.

During my not so 100% period, i lost one of the gloves and couldn't find it back. Bummer. Another pair, which is my first pair since i started going to the gyms, is about to be sent to the recylcing bin soon.

Baby, THANKS!!!

Posted by Hello

Jas was in town for a few days for a summit, and we met up for some thai food here in Bellevue.

The place was supposed to be a pretty good hole in the wall place, though when we reached the place, it had a big banner saying "Grand Opening"!

We had some nice food like grilled beef (i think i liked this dish), stirred fried veg (2 versions of it) and tom yum w/o chilli oil. hehe.

Not too bad lah. We had some good and fast conversations and i got some new insights into some events, and additional data on some other incidents.

I N T E R E S T I N G to say the least.

"Pestered by beggars [..} I longed for Singapore's security, amenities and efficiency." - Datta-Ray

A journalist wrote this in an article in the dailies. I know that i've been away for more than 4 months now, a mere hundred twenty over days, but is it possible that the old folks that i saw scavaging through rubbish bins, recycling bins searchnig for aluminum tins are all gone?

A walk along Joo Chiat almost always ensured that kids walked by your side begging for money, a sight that's more familiar in undeveloped countries, not a first world country!

Was there such a big change?

It's not only us that are facing changes. I was very pleasantly surprised at the recent news in Malaysia, where Anwar Ibrahim won his final appeal.

"Nothing in life is more exciting and rewarding than the sudden flash of insight that leaves you a changed person - not only changed, but for the better. "- Arthur Gordon

It's certainly given me a new insight into what the new government in Malaysia is. I think that the current Prime Minister Adbullah Badawi, affectionally called Pak Lah in the country, is is more straight than anyone else in Asia.

He promised anti-corruptions policies when his term starts, and this is definitely one of the more obvious results of his policies.

Check out more news at Malaysiakini!

I was so happy to receive a letter from Washington State University requesting me to send my transcripts, samples of my writing and references to them. While I don't recall sending my resume to uni but it was good know that one organisation is interested to interview me.

As usual my happiness is short-lived. After checking map point on the driving directions, I realised that the uni is located in Pullman - a 4 hours drive from my apartment to the uni. Pullman is city located on the far east of Washington. Well, the invitation letter did state that the uni is able to provide accommodation if prior notice has been given. Thanks, but no thanks.

Maybe my prayer is not specific enough and God has mistaken my intentions. From now onwards, I will be specific in my request. "I want a job in Bellevue, Redmond or Seattle only".