YOUR day...

Today is Hao's birthday. He has not been in the best of moods recently due to some issues at work. Thus, I want to make this year's birthday a nice and memorable one for him.

Bought a slice of cake to celebrate with him. Sang him a birthday song too.

Had to meet up with our co-designer today to finalise on some stuff. The electricians have already started work at our house. Our permit for hacking will most probably be approved by Monday, and we have arranged our contractor to meet up with the aircon installation guys on this coming Thursday.

Went to vivocity to watch Pirates of the Carribean : At World's End. Nah, I think it is just ok. Maybe coz I dun really remember much bout the previous 2 episodes. Kinda find it a bit boring. Anyway, its always the same for movies with sequels. The sequels will never be as good as the first episode, where everything is fresh.

After the show, we dropped by BEST to check out the electronics. Saw a fridge that is not too bad. Can't exactly remember if it is from Panasonic or Mitsubishi. However, we found a TV from Philips that we most probably will get. Need more research first from the forums.

Dinner time! Totally have no idea where to go. We ended up in Ellenborough Market Cafe in Swissotel Merchant Court for a buffet dinner. This place is famous for its crayfish (no pics), fresh salmon, oyster (not interested), durian paste and cempedak. I love the cempedak most!

To Hao: Hope you had fun. Happy Birthday deardear....

I did it!

Yes! Finally, I managed to pull my lazy self out of the bed at 620am this morning to go for a jog. It has been god-knows how long that I've told myself and everyone around me that I'm gonna jog at least once a week. Everyone, including Hao, has totally given up on me. Everytime I said, "I'm going to jog tomorrow." and whoever heard that will give me a skeptical look. But, no more! This is the week!

Managed to run 3 rounds in a park near my house. 3 rounds is not equivalent to 3 rounds on the rubber track in a stadium. 3 rounds in the park = 1080m. 120m less as compared to the rubber track. But this is only the beginning. I don't wanna stretch myself too far, so I'm starting with 3 rounds first. It really gets easier when you have the correct breathing technique, courtesy of Hao. :)

Tonight, I will set my alarm once again at 6am.

airconditioner

We bought our aircon yesterday.

Hao did all the research from the singapore brides and renotalk forums. Most of the people from the forum bought their aircon from either G******* or Hong Tar. Many good reviews were given to Hong Tar Enginneering. Anyhow, we decided to check out both.

We went to G******* first and we were not pleased with the salesperson. He doesn't seems to know much, being 8 years in this line, and instead of introducing the pros and cons of various brands, he insisted on Fujitsu. Though he is not hard selling, but I was turned off by the way he promote to us. He insisted that ONLY Fujitsu has what our home required. Being totally new at this, we just had to take his word for it...first.

Hao went back and read up more. He is totally convinced that Hong Tar is good. Though it is quite out of the way, we made our way to check out one of the branch which was nearest to us. It was a small shop, taking up only half the size of a normal stall in the tampines neighbourhood. While waiting, we saw many awards (to this company by all the aircon agents) and pictures on the wall.

A sales lady attended to us. Having 4 years experience, she is very knowledgable. With a calculator in hand, she tried out various ways to choose the best system based on our requirements, by calculating how much BTU each rooms required. Furthermore, she asked for our inital plan and explained to us, how it will not work and how much higher it will cost. She also calculated all possible ways to help us minimise the cost but get us what was required. She was also very patient with our questions and kindly went through each and every detail with us. We were totally pleased with her.

We placed an order within the hour. :)

Most important, besides all the good reviews and our own experience, we bought our aircon from this company because of the good materials that they provide for the piping, as compared to GC. To all those who wish to know more about an aircon, check out the blog below.

http://singapore-aircon.blogspot.com/

now i'm watching...

"In recent days, a seemingly random

group of individuals has emerged with

what can only be described as 'special abilities.

Although unaware of it now, these

individuals will not only save the

world, but change it forever. This

transformation from ordinary to

extraordinary will not occur overnight.

Every story has a beginning. "

- excerpt from the tv serial "Heroes" -

Why employees leave organisations?

A friend of mine recently sent me an article.

Why employees leave organisations?

http://www.citehr.com/why-employees-leave-organisations-azim-premji-vt2059.html

This article makes me think of the recent happenings around me. The company is losing quite a number of people. I guess one of the reason is because there are so many opportunites out there nowadays, and with many new companies sprouting out, it is no wonder why people want to leave. But on top of this, there is also another reason which, I believe, is valid enough to make one change company.

An excerpt from the article:

If you're losing good people, look to their immediate supervisor. More than any other single reason, he is the reason people stay and thrive in an organization. And he's the reason why they quit, taking their knowledge, experience and contacts with them. Often, straight to the competition. "People leave managers not companies," write the authors Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman.

Upon reading this, I thought of the people who are leaving the company. It is true, to a certain extent, that the supervisors/managers did indeed play a part (disclamer: does not apply to all). In one way or another, if one feels the limitation of his/her growth within the dept, job focus is made unclear because of many reasons, directions are often ambiguous, disinterest in the job, there is a tendency for him/her to look elsewhere. The above relates to all supervisors/managers, which I believe, if they take the chance to review and improve the situation, he/she may still be able to keep his/her employee.

Actually, I am in no position to say the above as I have not exactly experienced leaving the company because of the "boss". But it is truly the case for some of my colleagues, who have come from other companies. I guess, to stay or to leave a company depends on what do you want. Do you want to grow with the company, to strive and to learn new things, or to just do whatever your job scope require of you? All these, in one way or another, are linked to the supervisor/manager.

I was recently being faced with a dilemma to accept another job scope or you can say, another area of expertise. This situation arose due to the decreasing size of our team. If I accept this new job scope (not exactly new, as I've done it before for a few months), the "boss" would be free of one problem and all the other team members will be happy. However, it is not what I want as I am satisfied with my current job scope. I am learning what really interest me, eventhough it may take me a bit longer than others to fully understand. I would prefer to continue with what I am doing now and hope to excel in it. Hence, my decision was clear, and that is to remain in my current job scope. Luckily, the "boss" did not insist.

One will go, no matter what, when a better opportunity arises. It cannot be guaranteed that once you leave this company, your supervisor/manager of the new company will be better. But, I strongly believe that the supervisor/manager will somehow play a part in the employee's decision on whether to stay or leave a company.

What do you think?

the before

We started our renovation officially yesterday, as it was a good day to "dong tu". Expected the contractors to hack off walls but because the permit was not approved yet, it was not allowed. Hence, the renovation commenced with the electrician planning the route for every lighting/power points.

Below are the pictures of the raw state of our apartment.

To share with all:

- Wall between MBR and BR2 will be hacked off to join both rooms as one.

- Study room will be knocked off, leaving just a simple study table near the window.

- BR3 will be kept empty, welcome for anyone to stay over and for MJ.

the truth...

..is, i'm an html idiot! Wanted to start my post since 10am this morning, but have been trying to edit my page till now. Qing was going crazy with me. *laughs*

Alrite, let me start what I wanted to share with you since 10am this morning NOW. Lookee here:









Yupz! Our wedding bands! Lovely? Hao and I went to collect them yesterday. Can't see the engraving here of coz, but it's nothing special, just the name and ROM date.




And it's such a coincidence that I read this from the zaobao today.

If you can't read that clearly, let me just share with you one that I find meaningful.

"Love doesn't just sit there like a stone; it has to be made, like bread, remade all the time, made new."

-- Ursula K.LeGuin

I'm such a romantic nowadays, I dunno why.

just to share...

I've finally got infected, and here I am, starting a blog. I know it's kinda slow, with the craze dying down, but what the heck, it's not everyday that one bought a house, renovate the house and get married. So here I am to share, with all, the process of going through to the next stage of my life.


Let me just give a brief introduction to me and my fiance. We got to know each other before we were both sent to Italy for training by our company. There, we became close friends. I do not know exactly when and how, but my heart started to thump real badly whenever I see him. Later, I found that it was mutual. I will not go into the before, during and after, but, here we are, together at last. :) After all that we have went through, I truly believe in fate now.

Just to share with you some places that we have visited during our 1 year in Italy.