Happy Chinese New Year everyone!!
Enjoying my 3-week break before starting work at my new company. Had dinner with my new colleagues last week. I think it’ll be good. It’s a lean team but everyone is technically strong so i believe this team will rock the market.
Two underwriters told me that they’re glad the 3 of us left my old company… Cos we dominated the market and could pressure the underwriters. They said it was good to “spread the talent pool around”. But the way i see it, my new company will be even stronger than my previous one… Except our focus is in Structured Trade & PRI.
I’m looking forward to my upcoming holiday in NY & to start work at the new company. The Empire needs to be taught a lesson.
Everytime it rains, ants take shelter in my toilet and they don’t leave even when the rain stops. So annoying. I hate ants. I hate cockroaches. I hate all sorts of bugs. Argh!
Ever heard the saying 钱不是万能，但没有钱却万万不能? In the past year, i have been approached by a few companies who felt that i may be able to contribute to their business. I considered joining a bank, insurer, reinsurer and brokers. Ultimately, it came down to a choice between taking up the position as head of department in my current company and joining another brokering house. I decided on the latter due to a variety of factors, including but not limited to the the job scope, the office politics (or the lack thereof), the colleagues and so on.
Having said that, i have to admit that the luxury to mull over these qualitative factors was anchored on the fact that i was going to get a decent pay increment at my new company. Although the HOD position would have paid more, if the pay at my new company was not to my expectations, it would have been unlikely that i would want to make the switch.
If you think about it, it’s very similar to how we spend money to buy things right? Why do people fork out top dollar for a BMW? A Kia would also take you to from point A to B isn’t it?
What i’m trying to say is that there’s no free lunch. You want something good, you gotta pay for it. Although choosing to serve the nation requires one to have the passion (similar choosing your career), remuneration, while not everything, is still an important factor.
So the hot topic today is how our ministers’ salaries will be cut. I’m quite indifferent about it. After all, bringing down their salaries isn’t going to increase mine right? If people feel they’re earning too little, then they should focus on finding ways to increase their income, be it find a new job or take on a side line. Heck. If u’re good enough, go be a minister & u can earn that high salary too.
I read that a politician from an opposition party said that the new politician is not money motivated. Really? I think the old guards are not money motivated. Fighting for independence from British rule is driven by an idealism & belief that we should have the right to govern our own nation. Politicians these days? Would top brass from the private sector join politics if their remuneration was pegged to the bottom 20% of wage earners? Come on man. Get real please.
My mom’s been badgering me for a new handphone ‘cos she wants to use Whatapp (she was using the SonyEricsson T707, or at least I think that’s the model number). She lamented how her colleagues & friends would group chat to arrange lunch/ dinner appointments & how she always was the only one who had to be informed by SMS.
She also complained that her phone’s so old that she feels embarrassed to be seen with it on the MRT. So I scouted around for a new phone & finally decided that the new Nokia Asha 303 would suit her.
Got it from the Nokia Store at Century Square at SGD249 (without contract). The S40 OS was easy to use – didn’t take much effort before I ran through with my mom how to use the phone. I think she should be able to copy fine.
My mom also wanted to find out how to download games so I showed her how to navigate the Nokia Store. I think it’s good that my mom isn’t a techno-phobe. Heh.
Now I’m thinking of getting a new phone for myself – but there’s no phone out there that inspires me! First of all, I highly doubt any handphones in the market now has a better camera than my Nokia N8. In fact, apart from my ancient Nokia N82, I don’t think there’s any other phones that has a Xenon flash installed. Once you’ve used a Xenon flash on a handphone, you would never want to use a LED flash ‘cos the latter just whitewashes the picture.
I also want a phone that can multitask, which means the iOS is out. I find Android hard to use (struggled with the interface on my dad’s Samsung) so that pretty much leaves me with buying either a Symbian or Windows device.
Nokia hasn’t really launched any Symbian phone that can trump the N8… so that narrowed down my consideration to the Nokia Lumia 800 which runs on Windows. Sadly, although the Lumia 800 has a much faster processor, the camera pales in comparison with my N8’s… and Windows doesn’t allow users to customise the phone as much as Symbian (I can’t have multiple profiles, ringtones, message tones, homescreens, wallpapers, etc installed on Windows).
That brings me back to square one. Sigh. How how? Nokia, will you launch a 2nd generation N8 please?
I have resigned.
I have lodged a complaint against some people in my company who made derogatory remarks against me. Seeing regional HR on this matter on Fri.
I feel sad that I will not get to work with some colleagues, at least not for the foreseeable future.
I will need to get used to a new work environment, new boss, new colleagues.
Although I feel bad for Mr Minutes, I can’t help him much as I have to stay out of the politics in my soon to be ex-company.
Sigh.
2 head of departments resigning in 2 weeks. Whose fault is it?
Pinky’s been really lonely since Horlicks & Coffee passed away. Since he was young, Pinky has always been accompanied by another, for the lack of a better term, living thing. When he was baby, he used to stay with us on the 2nd floor of my patents’ house. When he got bigger, he stayed in the garden with his mom, separated by a fence from Coffee & Peanut. When Peanut & Horlicks died, Pinky still had Coffee around (even if they didn’t hang out together) for company. Now that even Coffee has passed on, poor Pinky’s been really lonely. Once he hears noises in the living room, he’ll press his paws against the side door asking to be let in.
Even if it’s just to sleep while we watch TV or chat, he’s satisfied. I spent almost the entire evening keeping Pinky company just now & boy was he happy. He scurried around the hall, sniffed toes & refused to go home after spending more than 2 hours with us. I had to push his backside bit by bit to get him to go back out into the garden.
I am going to try to visit Pinky as many times a week as possible. He’s an old boy now – at 5 years, 10.5 months. I hope he’ll be as happy as he possibly can for the remaining period of his life.
Really not sure how long more we’ll have with the darling of the family. He’s been having soft stools off & on for about 2 months now but he’s still active & has a good appetite.
I hope Pinky has many more years with us. He’s such a loveable bunny.
I don’t know why we sometimes have a tendency to complicate matters. In our attempt to avoid unpleasant confrontations, we actually prolong difficult situations.
Note to self: Keep it simple, stupid.
I’ve had quite different types of bosses over the 10 years of my working life. From the type who will try to backstab their own staff to the kind but incompetent type, i’ve learnt that having a good boss can make or break your career.
To me, a good boss is someone who’s capable and who rewards his/ her staff fairly. I believe the best way to move up the corporate ladder is to help your boss move up. A fair boss will recognise your efforts and pull you up along with him/ her. Having a capable boss is thus important because if you report to a fool, that person will never get promoted and your chances of getting promoted will be as good as nil. Along the same vein, the more capable your boss is, the faster he/ she will rise and the more opportunities you will have.
Some people may think that the best way to move up is to replace (i.e. overtake) your boss. I think this is despicable and naive. Despicable because it implies that you will purposely try to make your boss look bad – sounds unethical to me. Naive because bosses will more often than not have the upper hand. An incompetent boss will hinder all opportunities in which his/ her subordinate might shine. In addition, if management does not like the incompetent boss, chances are, the entire department will suffer together with the boss. A capable but cunning boss will get rid of you once he/ she senses dissent. Therefore, thinking that you can supercede your boss is really not a sensible thing at all.
How do you find your boss? Do you take into account the personality and chemistry you have with a potential boss during interview? What sort of boss do you think you’ll be?
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