テディベア

Who would have guessed? My 20-year old teddy bear has a Wiki page!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AG_Bear

I will post a picture of his current condition once I get the chance...



Here is my 20-year old AG Bear at home:

Random Thoughts

A few work related incidents provided me with new insights lately.

1. When working with a jerk, I need to give him the same treatment to get him off my back.

What happened: Part of my job at work is to review the code implementation and provide my review feedback/comments. I always do my job of giving honest feedback with the customer point of view in mind. If I see something that could use more enhancement, I say it. I don't just give it an easy pass without raising questions. A jerk agreed with my comments in the meeting but came to me afterwards and asked me to reduce my requirements from 3 to just 1. I said "I am fine either way" verbally but did not send out an email to inform the rest of the team. He sent me an email and asked me to inform the team but I did nothing. He instant messaged me wanting to come by to talk about it again and I told him I am busy. He is not getting through me and so he had to do it as we agreed in the meeting. - Problem solved -

2. When you can't solve a problem right away, sleep on it. Do nothing for a few days. Come back and you will see the answer in front of you.

What happened: Last Wednesday, we faced an issue and we spent about 4 hours trying different things to resolve it. Nothing worked. We were all frustrated but did nothing for the rest of the week. This Monday, I decided to try something totally different and just to see what happened. It made sense and provided more information and now the problem is resolved! Just like that.

3. You get to know the real person by observing them in company activities.

What happened: It's Summer Olympics time again and we need volunteers and players for the games. Some people are good at any sports and they tried their best. Some just participate without winning in mind but just to show management they participated. The team are better off without these people as they don't give their 100%. Some signed up but were no show at the game despite talking about the games from time to time. You don't want these people in your work project team. They are the talker but do minimal. Volunteers - these are the good people you can count on as there is no glory to help with the organizing and cleaning up!!! You can let these people try their hands on leading some small projects.

4. You know you are not working with first class leaders when something they pushed for loses momentum.

What happened: I was asked to create a business initiative within the team and gave a presentation that was well received. I have lined up activities to follow the initiative for those who are ready to do more. But those activities required management lead on each to further drive it to success. The target start date is mid-July and it's close to end of July, nothing had happened. It's easy for management to ask for something from the subordinates but when it comes to follow-through with actions from the management team, you don't see solid ownership or real results. That's when you know the quality and ability of your upper management. Also, a time to look for better opportunities under a stronger leadership.

ALWAYS三丁目の夕日

Also watched this movie on a late Sunday night. It's a good movie with stories about a few families on the same street after the war. But I guess we were probably too tired for movie, so my mom felt asleep half way and I forwarded some of the silent scenes to get to the end. It's a movie my dad would probably enjoy more as he could relate to the that time more being in Japan.

うどん

We saw this movie UDON last night. The first half of it is ok but not as good as the story seems to drag on. I think the story is too simple to be made into a 2-hour long movie. But I guess it's alright to watch it once.

Dolls

Saw this 2002 movie on Sunday... All I can say is that it's strikingly different. The movie is beautifully shot with the characters having very few words of exchange. Watch it with someone and if you want to unwind and be surprised.

傷だらけの男たち

I have seen this movie 「傷だらけの男たち」 twice.
The story is not bad and I like the cast.
It has started showing in Japan on July 7.

思念是一種病

Just a wonderful song to share.

ペーパー・クリップ

Growing up in Hong Kong, a lot of words were spoken in their English form. It seldom occurred to me that a mixed of English and Chinese was spoken. Lately, I have been watching some Hong Kong TV programs and I found everyone was speaking a lot more English nowadays than when I was growing up. Sometimes it feels unnatural, sometimes it feels unnecessary, and sometimes it's just plain annoying when it looks like the speaker has o make an effort to get that particular English word out.

So while that's what I feel after watching some of these Hong Kong programs, I found out I am quite lacking myself in terms of being able to speak everything in Chinese. Like for example, paper clip is just paper clip, I would not say or write that in Chinese. I am using paper clip as an example because today I came across the official Chinese word for paper clip and I found out I actually never knew the official word for it. It turns out to be: 迴紋針! It completely blows my mind and I have to type it in and do a google image search to understand what type of "needle" it's referring to. When the images of a paper clip appear, it was pretty surprising!

I looked up the Japanese word for "paper clip" and I got the above Katakana. So I guess the younger generations in Japan are also indirectly speaking a lot more English now than solely Japanese? Must be sign of the times.

楽しい一日

I took yesterday off from work to spend some time with my mom. That was not really the plan in the morning but because my husband need to be at work earlier than usual and I just wanted to sleep a little more. I could have driven to work separately but I have 4 meetings to attend yesterday making it all the more tempting to just take the day off.

So the two of us went shopping from 11am and came home at 6:30pm. Yeah, that's a lot of shopping! It's one of those rare days that I can pretend to be those stay at home moms/wives and just go out for shopping and lunch. Was it enjoyable? Yes, you bet. But I think the reason why it's enjoyable is because consciously I know I still get paid for the day not being at work. That's the great thing about having a job! I think if I am not working, I might not feel as great and maybe even guilty for buying anything!!

On second thought, I must be a pretty good wife since I only think of my hard-earned money as my shopping money. :-)

悪夢を覚えた

Yesterday on my way home from work, I saw an old Toyota Eclipse which I have not seen for a long time. My ex-roommate had one of those when we were living together. Then it dawned on me that we had never bumped into each other, not even once for the last 10 years, despite working in the same area and my house is a bike ride away from her work. But that's a good thing. A very good thing indeed, at least for me.

I started to remember what a nightmare it was living with her... I found the apartment and she was a friend of a friend's friend who heard about it and wanted to share. She came by to look at the place and immediately gave a check as the move-in deposit. A quick decision-maker, I like that, so I thought. She moved in almost right away with just a bed, a desk+chair and some of her personal belongings. Little clutter, that's good, so I thought. I have been living by myself for more than 7 years by then so I have the full living room set, dining room set and kitchen and bedroom stuff. I filled the 1100 sq. ft apartment comfortably with TV, sofa and everything one would need. That's when problems started.

First, there is only one garage parking and we both drive, so the rule was based on first come first serve. Ok, I was working with Apple Computer then which is less than 3 miles from the apartment so I thought I would have a fair chance of parking inside sometimes. But no. I think I parked in the garage only maybe 1/10 of the time while we were living together. But that was fine and the least of the problems.

She abused my stuff and me. She would climb onto the sofa feet (sometimes shoes) first before sitting down. She would always had Friday night gatherings with friends over making a mess in the kitchen and the shared areas using my stuff while I was out with friends. When I come home, it would always be messy if they had already left or very noisy if they were still around. The worst thing was they never clean up! My roommate always just sent them home and go to sleep and started driving back to her parents' house in San Francisco the next morning. I always ended up having to be the one washing the dishes and cleaning up the mess! It wasn't fair, of course, so I naturally talked to her. Her reply was, "Sure, that's fine." But guess what, she picked a floor scrub to clean the pots and pans and decided to use the cleanest towel for the dining surface to wash oily dishes instead of using a sponge. She would also put the non-dishwasher safe items into the dishwasher! So she basically wanted me to tell her, "Oh, no!! Not like that! Never mind, let me take care of it." Also, because it was my vacuum cleaner, she said she's not comfortable using it and would not want to get a new one if it breaks. Great!

Then one time, I was home during lunch time and I saw her and her love interest at our apartment. She was finishing the lunch she cooked and he was watching TV! I wondered how often do they come over, but anyways, I just said Hi and did my own thing. He started talking to me non-stop and she did not like it and quickly got him out and left. That night, she lectured me for an hour to please leave them alone. I really did not do anything but that was fine with me. I tried not to go home during lunch time.

Then it was her best friend's wedding. They wanted to borrow my car for the day with a bunch of other cars and in return I was invited to the wedding. I wanted to say "No" but then they sort of begged so I said "Ok". Long story short, in the end, the car came back all scratched up because of the decorations they put around the car and on the hood with the metal ties scrapping the paint while driving in the wind on the freeway. And the back side bumper has a small dent. Yeah, they did that to my bearly 2 year old car. I talked to my roommate but she forbidded me from telling the groom and the bride saying the repair would be covered by my own insurance! She said the couple are in their honeymoon phase and should not be bothered by the minor mishap. I waited for a few months before I finally told the couple. They questioned the scratches and the dent but luckily, the scratches were in the form of a heart-shape and along the side of the car in equal distance meaning they were really their decorations! Anyway, they just gave me a check for $500.00 and asked me to sign a release of liability. It was a nightmare but a lesson learned.

Finally, we could not stand each other any longer and we started looking for a place to move separately. She found one first and told me one night. The next day upon coming home from work, all her belongings disappeared!! Yes, just like that. One day notice, with no strings attached!? But guess what? I have things missing!! The kettle, the floor lamp, the tea pot and some mugs! What happened? I had to contact one of her friends to try to get back my stuff, but that guy said "Could you guys take care of this between yourself? I don't want to get involved." It was a bit of a shock but that's fine. I emailed her using her non-work email address. There was no reply. I gave up despite of being mad. A few weeks later, the stuff came back. It was delivered inside the apartment lying on the floor at the front door. It was scary! So, she can still come into the apartment whenever she feels like!? Anyway, it was all in all a 1.5 year nightmare... I am glad I never bumped into her thereafter.

I quickly shook off the image of her and the memories from those days. I really wish I had never met her.

武士の一分

This movie was in theatres when we were in Japan this January. Only my dad went to see it and we opted for more sightseeing around Tokyo instead. I finally watched it last night at home. It's pretty good except I wonder if Kimutaku is the best person to play the role. I usually like him but somehow I am not sure about this one. Anyhow, the ending is good!

Wimbledon 男子決勝

The final game was just one of the best tennis played ever!

Federer, really my all-time favorite since Borg , and Nadal, another young and extremely talented player rising so quickly, gave us such a great 5-set match on Sunday!! I can't wait for US Open to start in September and I hope they will again face each other in the final game. This is really tennis to the next level!!

And I must say I am glad Bjorn Borg still looks great after all these years!!

歌舞伎町案內人

Last night, we had Indian food for dinner. Needless to say we all had chai, too, and then I was unable to fall asleep for the rest of the night. I started reading this book that my brother bought from his June trip to Vietnam-Hong Kong at around 1am and finished at around 6am. It was quite well-written (in Chinese) and I guess must be intriguing enough for me to keep reading non-stop. This book was also published in Japanese from what I've heard.

I guess what makes it an interesting read is that I have not personally experienced the offerings at the red-light district around Kabukicho in Shinjuku, nor am I planning to anytime soon. But by the time I reached the end, I'm not sure whether I was too tired or what but my first impression was "Oh, that was it?" I was expecting more insane stories besides his own experiences working odd jobs in Kabukicho. There is a second part to the book which my brother also bought. I wonder when I will start on that one.

結婚できない男

I am currently watching this Japanese drama: 結婚できない男 and am really enjoying it! Abe Hiroshi (阿部 寛) is really quite a good actor. I have watched a lot of his drama before and his characters are always very funny and likeable, even when he is cheating on his wife in the story. Anyway, these days, he reminds me of Hugh Laurie.

プレゼンテーション

Recently I gave a big presentation which I prepared for over 3 months. There were reasons out of my control that contributed to the time required to prepare such a simple presentation. But in summary, I bombed the presentation for the first 15-20 minutes (out of the whole 90 minutes). The overall content of my presentation was well-received, but it's my presentation skills that were poor and (self-)disappointing. But you know what, I have learned so much from the experience. I really get to know myself (strengths and weaknesses) first hand at this presentation. There were quite a few challenges which I had to bend backward to accommodate during the preparation and arranging the logistics. There were some red tapes that I had to cut through and people to meet to get the buy-in. But all in all, it went well except for my presentation skills or maybe the overall style. My style probably works well with junior engineers who just joined the company but probably not cool and inspiring enough for those who have been around a few years longer. Also, I tend to over-rehearse and hence speak at a fast TV commercial pace. I should not have sprinkled my presentation with catchy jargons that everyone can relate to but come up with something that's more from the heart... Anyway, I will be taking steps to overcome my weaknesses even without any new pending presentation for the year.

Work life is stressful but nonetheless you can get something good out of it from time to time besides a steady paycheck!