Tuesday, September 22, 2009  

[AJ Styles is TNA Champion!]

I know it's not "real"...But I don't care.


AJ Styles is TNA Champion!


Hope he gets a decent run, and not lose it this week on Impact! or something...

^^^ by Locksley @ 10:52 PM. 1 comments.
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Monday, September 21, 2009  

[Muddled...]

My plans for the evening got cancelled. Which is fine by me. I didn't really feel like going out, to be honest.

Woke up with a bit of runny nose. It's my allergies acting up again. I took a quarter of the pill I usually take and it wasn't too bad. I wasn't too sleepy and the runny nose stopped. It's starting up again, so I will probably take some more after dinner and hit the sack early.

I've been looking forward to this three-day extended break for the longest time. I was really stressed at work over the last few weeks. The three days passed so quickly. And instead of getting recharged, I feel more burnt-out than ever.

Things have been going on at work. Due to my supervisor not getting along with a certain Director, our team was being broken up. My colleague already got transferred to support another department and a new girl has taken his place. While it hasn't been officially communicated to me, I know my supervisor will be transferred come Oct 1st and who his new replacement will be. For me, I have three options.

One, I can stay at my current role and work with the new girl and the new supervisor. The new girl, who is holding a more senior position than myself, isn't working out. She doesn't do as she's told, her staff work is shit, and her work-rate is low. The new supervisor is supposedly an okay fella...But I wouldn't know for sure until I work with him. The good thing about staying is that I would already know the job scope and, in fact, would be the most experienced of the three of us. Which isn't saying much since I'm still learning. However, this means being transferred over to the above-mentioned Director's department for me. I don't care much for her.

Two, I can request for a transfer to another department. A very specific department, doing the things that I was "trained" to do during my time in NUS. Sounds great, except that my supervisor over there would not be an easy person to handle. And all the people there are very experienced so I don't know how I would match up against them. They should have realistic expectations of me if I go over, but I really don't know. Plus, I really have no clear idea of what working over there entails.

Three, I can quit and find something else. I never really expected to stay at this job forever anyway. Very few people stay for life at their first job. If I were to look for something else, I don't think companies in the private sector can match my current pay. After taking into account my bonus and stuff, my total annual cash is pretty respectable for someone in my position. I seriously doubt it can be matched by the companies in the private sector. I can always apply for jobs in a related Ministry, but I don't know....The good thing is, they don't encourage OT and you can't bring work home with you. And the pay is supposed to be a little better. Better pay, better work-life balance. Sounds too good to be true?

Right now, I'm leaning towards option one. Two of my closer colleagues have advised me to pick option one instead of two. Even my current supervisor has hinted that I should not think about option two right now.

While I'm leaning towards option one, I'm still wrestling with the idea of two and three. Particularly, three. If I'm lucky, I may even be able to walk to work. Then again, if I pick three, should I just concentrate my efforts...there? Or should I look further and elsewhere as well?

What I need...Is a crystal ball. So I can see how each decision would turn out.

^^^ by Locksley @ 5:22 PM. 2 comments.
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[Manchester United 4 - 3 Manchester City]

Matches like this is the reason why I watch football.

Manchester United v Manchester City

^^^ by Locksley @ 12:36 PM. 2 comments.
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Tuesday, September 15, 2009  

[Not so good....]

Computer was down recently. I formatted my hard disk and it took me longer than expected to get everything up and running again. Mainly due to the lack of free time. Plus, I hate the reinstalling phase after formatting.




Things are not well at work. New girl's not working out. And now she's away on MC for a week. A Director is breathing down my neck. I thought about transferring to another department but it might not be any better over there. And the work scope would be foreign. At least I'm already familiar with my current work scope.

I'm even contemplating quitting. Maybe it has something to do with the 13-hour day I had today. I don't know. We'll see. Even if things don't improve, I'd probably stick around till the end of the FY. Get my performance bonus, then leave for somewhere else.




After all these years, Singnet has yet to get their act together. It took me two hours to figure out why Hotmail and Blogger could not load correctly on Firefox. As it turns out, it was a problem with Singnet.

If you surf without a proxy server while using Singnet, from time to time, certain sites would not load correctly. I believe it is because some files are not downloaded correctly. Like CSS, Javascript, or something like that. This has been going on for a long time, ever since I first switched over from Starhub about three and a half years ago.

So why not surf with proxy on? I haven't really tested it lately, but in the past, it was slower and there was a maximum of five connections. If you opened a ton of sites at the same time, nothing would load. But when they do load, all the sites load properly.

This problem wasn't too bad when I was using IE. There's this option that allows you to check for a newer version of the page whenever you surf. So even if the page or site doesn't load right, you could turn the proxy on, refresh, and everything would be fine.

Not so for Firefox. No such option. So if you're there the first time without proxy and things don't load right, turning on the proxy and trying again would not help. Whatever's in the cache will be used. No replacing with a fresh, problem-free copy.

Took me two hours to figure that out. The return of an old problem. So anyway, I downloaded a nifty little add-on for Firefox that allows me to turn proxy on and off without going into the options. As long as I turn the proxy on before visiting the "problem sites", things should be okay....

^^^ by Locksley @ 10:58 PM. 0 comments.
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Friday, September 04, 2009  

[Eye power!]

Do you know why so many China products are basically epic phails? It's all because of their QC process, as the following pictures show...

A guy, staring very hard at a small bottle.


What's he doing?


Unless this guy has insane Superman vision of some sort, I don't know how this qualifies as inspecting a vial of vaccine. He's just looking at a bottle, very hard. It could be water inside the vial, for all we know.




In my workplace, we try to be very careful with what we send out in emails. The stuff we write, as innocent as they may be to us, can easily be turned around and used against us if we're not careful. I always read my email a few times before clicking the "Send" button. I try to see if the message I'm sending may be misinterpreted in some way.

I spotted something in the papers today that could illustrate what I mean.


What they mean, is that their prices are cheaper than Comex. But interpreted in a slightly different way, it could also mean that they are giving away their stuff for free.

Think about it.




Something's wrong with Firefox. It doesn't load Blogger properly. I have no issues whatsoever with IE6, which is what I'm using now to compose this entry.




Things at work could be better. The new girl isn't really working out. It doesn't feel like she's part of the team. It feels like my supervisor and I are doing one thing, while she's doing something else. I try to go with the flow and do the best I can with what I've been given. It's not too bad so far, but it could be better.

Even if we were in the same office, I'm not sure if things would work out any better. I don't think I'd get along all that great with this girl. My colleague, whom she replaced, said that she's rather defiant. I agree. She doesn't do as she's told and my supervisor has no control over her. Mainly because while we're in the same "team" and have the "same" supervisor, she reports to someone else, and is mentored by someone else. Three different sources of...influence. I would go crazy.

I'm more concerned about my own future. What is likely to happen is that after our new supervisor comes over, I would have to move over as well and bid farewell to my current supervisor. I don't really mind working under a different guy. My current supervisor can be difficult at times. Then again, the new guy brings with him a new working style so it's hard to say if life would be any better.




If all this is not enough, lunch at work has turned into a political game.

Let me start at the beginning. Ever so often, I would tweet about someone in the office acting cute and how it's driving me crazy. She is a 31-year old woman with two sons, with the elder one in Pri 4. Do the maths.

But that's not the point. The point is, that for someone with two sons and over 30, she still acts like a little girl. She won't go for lunch if it's just with the guys. Girls must be present. What the fuck is this? Kindergarten? Guys are eeky?

She laughs at every single little shit thing. Her laughter is so forced and fake and makes me want to put a pencil up my nose into my brain and poke the memory away.

She's fat. And all she wants is her walnut cake. Seriously, how about a salad? If your ass gets any bigger, you're going to need to wear two pairs of those granny panties that you wear. Yes, we can all see your VPL. One of the few times I wished I didn't go for Lasik. By the way, she always have them, even when wearing jeans. I'm not kidding. Her ass is that big and her underwear is that ugly.

I try to get along with everyone at work, so I put up with her shit. Once in a while, I would tease her or even put her down in front of everyone because I simply couldn't take it anymore. Recently, she said something that made me pretty angry. A colleague was involved in an accident and fractured her pelvis on both sides. When we brought up the idea of sending her a get-well basket (which we have done before in the past for other colleagues on long MC), she said that it wasn't necessary because it wasn't "serious enough".

From then on, I decided. She's not a good person. And her husband deserves a medal for being a better man than I am - He is able to put up with her. Maybe she tricked him into having a baby with him (done the maths yet?).

Now, she has taken things to the next level and made things sort of personal. We used to all go for lunch in a big group. Now, she informs her clique and they sneak off somewhere quietly.

It might not sound like a big deal, but if you were there, you'd know that it's more...serious than it sounds. It's like the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about. Everyone feels odd, but no one wants to talk about it.

I know that there's no way for me to "win over" the people in her clique. I don't intend to. It's time for me to sow the seeds of discontent...In the people remaining behind who can be easily influenced.

My policy towards office politics has always been this: Play, or be played. I spent the first year acting the fool, keeping quiet and building up a mental profile of everyone. Now it's time.

Let the games begin.

^^^ by Locksley @ 10:38 PM. 2 comments.
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Wednesday, September 02, 2009  

[You're here too?]

Last year during ICT, I reported sick when I was outfield. It wasn't too serious, but I got stuck in a tonner with the downgraded personnel from HQ.

What a bunch of jackasses.

These people complain all day long, about things that don't matter. They are all downgraded, so they don't really have to do anything physical. If I was downgraded, I wouldn't complain so much. You've got it made. Shut up. Sit down.

One of them was an exceptional ass. Maybe it had something to do with his face. Believe me, no matter how mild-mannered you are, you will agree that he has a come-hit-me-right-here face. I couldn't stand him. He was so uncouth. The moment he laid down on the bench in the tonner, he fell asleep and snored like crazy.

I really wanted to rifle-butt his face. I would be doing the world a service - no one would have to look at his face anymore.

Anyway, I saw him today at my workplace. The main office. Where most of the people are. I don't know his name, so I can't look him up. But I definitely will, the next time ICT comes around. I want to know which department he's in and send them all a sympathy card.

^^^ by Locksley @ 9:23 PM. 0 comments.
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