Stupidity by XXX Staff

XXX staff are at it again (as usual)... How come they always like to 'chut pattern'? This time, its about some clowns attaching classified documents when they book meeting rooms.

In case I missed out in my earlier postings, XXX is a very security-inclined organisation. They locked-down on many things. Documents are classified according to its Project Classifications, pretty much military-styled place in terms of security.

I received an email from my boss yesterday asking me "are there any new or better ways?". Reading further down the appended content in the email, it seemed that a well-intentioned staff had alerted the relevant people about a potential security loop-hole he had found. What he pointed out is a valid loop-hole whereby a user can book Rooms for his usage, at the same time attaching relevant documents to the appointment. However, users may not be aware that these Rooms' Calendar which they are actually booking for is shared and viewable by everyone, so too the attachments. Imagine if the attached document is a Top Secret thingy, isn't the content as good as exposed to the whole world?

I also gathered from the email that my department used to inform the users in the past NOT to attach documents along with the Room booking due to security issues. However, seemed like some clowns simply do not understand English. Wondering if we should switch to talking to them in 1s & 0s.... If after reminder, people are still doing it, ain't they simply asking for it?

I sometimes really can't stand the level of stupidity in XXX despite those 'esteemed' researchers being the 'cream of the crop', they are unable to practice some simple information safety.....

What a Saturday!

Today doesn't seemed to be my lucky day... in fact, not even my day at all!

Waking up first thingy in the morning, I felt this irritating ache in my right shoulder, resulting in controlled, restricted movement in the shoulder blade. Each time I make any major movement, you'd see me cringed in agony :(

Worse was to follow in the afternoon. I was contemplating between attending Joeson's class @ GWC or Sue's @ Suntec. Decided to go for the latter as I needed to get some gift vouchers for my niece's 13th birthday. Reaching the gym early, I decided not to do any weights training to prevent aggrevating my shoulder. Thats crap you may be saying... As I was sitting outside the studio reading, Uncle Tim came along and commented that it wasn't Sue in the studio teaching BP! I was momentarily stunned because that could 99% mean Sue is not doing BC too! There was still time to hop over GWC if driving. However, we stayed on since already at Suntec... IT WAS A WRONG CHOICE!! The replacement instructor was horrid! He didnt seemed to know his stuff well enough, stole some rest during the class by tell us to 'do it on our own' or "it's your turn" in his own words. I sensed something wrong since the 1st track and had wanted to leave there and then. But I stayed on to see if the rest of the tracks would be better or not. But looks like I was wrong. The tracks are ok, but the style of the instructor ain't! And so, I endured an hour of horrid BC.

My eldest niece, Jamie was born 13yrs ago today. There's a BBQ going on over at her place this evening. My other sister, together with me, decided to get her $100 worth of Swatch vouchers so that she could buy a decent watch that's to her liking. However, both the Suntec and City Hall outlets had sold out the vouchers. I wanted to pop over Bugis but the rain detered me. I ended up getting the same amount worth of vouchers from MPH City Link.

Walking back to City Hall MRT, there's this part in City Link just outside Charles & Keith where you'd need to take the escalator down, walk 20m and then take the opposite escalator up? Well, as I approach this section of the mall, I noticed a large crowd at the escalator, so I took the stairs. As I descended down the steps, I saw to my horror, the entire 'middle' section of the underpass filled 'to the brim' with people. Some going towards the MRT, most towards Suntec for Comex I think. Its all a mess of humans. The worst part : the downwards escalator was still in operation, nearly causing a human crush at the bottom of the flight!!! Luckily someone was quick-minded enough to press the STOP button, otherwise, I would have been one of the eye witness of a pretty bad stampede.

The HUGE volume of human traffic is expected as Comex is going on at full swing in Suntec. But the crowd today is beyond what I had ever seen before. Perhaps the rain helped push crowds into the underpass. it took me 15mins to get from Charles & Keith to BreadTalk (if you are familar with the vincinity).

Someone please remind me to avoid Suntec the next time there are any major exhibitions going on. Thanks :)

My Rules of Share Investments

Rules that I follow when I play shares....

1. Do your homework.
2. Go for companies with strong fundamentals.

3. Buy only companies whose business you are familar with.
4. Do not chase a stock. Wait for the next boat (if any) should you missed the first one.
5. Never invest using borrowed money!
6. Do not be greedy.
7. Know when to cut loss (I'm still learning).
8. Buy when others are selling, sell when others are buying...

Happy playing.... :)

Nine words women use...

1.) Fine : This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

2.) Five Minutes : If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour.. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

3.) Nothing : This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.

4.) Go Ahead : This is a dare, not permission. Don't Do It!

5.) Loud Sigh : This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to #3 for the meaning of nothing.)

6.) That's Okay : This is one of the most dangerous statements a woman can make to a man. That's okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

7.) Thanks : A woman is thanking you, do not question, or Faint. Just say you're welcome.

8.) Whatever : Is a women's way of saying F@!K YOU!

9.) Don't worry about it, I'll do it : Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking 'What's wrong?' For the woman's response refer to #3..Then you RUN!

Jokes - Local Call...

How much would it cost to (telephone) call Singapore from Hell? You'd be surprised!

All human being will need to go to 'Hell' country one day, nobody can stop this natural facts. If suppose Queen Elizabeth, Gearge Bush and Lee Kuan Yew die and go to hell. But the devil allows only one phone call each. The Queen says, I miss my England , can I use your phone and hear how my people are doing up there.

She calls and talks about five minutes. Then she asks: Well devil, how much do I owe you for the call? The devil says: Five million pounds. She writes him a cheque and goes back to her burning chair .

Bush wants to make a call too. He says I wanna call the US . He talks about ten minutes, then asks how much do I owe you devil? The devil says Ten million dollars He also writes a cheque and goes back to his hot hot seat.

Lee Kuan Yew is also anxious. He says I want to call Singapore . He calls and talks for about an hour to his son Lee Hsien Loong about the high cost of living up there and the constant cursings by the people... Then he asks the devil how much do I owe you?

The devil replies: only one dollar. Lee Kuan Yew is shocked and asks 'why so little?'.

The devils says: if you make a call from one hell to another, IT'S LOCAL CALL.

Yanky Land....

My 'Bro' just came back to work after attending the DEF CON convention held recently in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. His trip is fully subsidised by XXX. Lucky b*****d.... He was telling me about the convention and those weird things that those hackers do. He also talked about his follow-up vacation in New York with his wifey. Doubly lucky b*****d!!

Having heard soooooooo much from him about YankyLand makes me all the more excited about my impending trip there next month with my significant other (SO). We'll be going to the West Coast, specifically San Francisco, Los Angeles & Las Vegas (aka Sin City). This is a 12D/11N Free & Easy trip designed by Uncle Law who had no prior experience or a clue about the places he is going. He ransacked the web with his trusty Google and came up with the places to stay, visit and also how to get around, to and fro each city.

Here's some of the highlights :

• Tour to Napa & Sonoma Valleys
  
• Monterey, Carmel & The 17-Mile Drive
• Disneyland in Anaheim
  
• Grand Canyon
• Sky Diving
• Factory Outlet Malls in Las Vegas

I'm quite excited and can't really wait for end-Sept to come sooner. However, there are a few things that I'm having reservations about...

• Safety @ nite - need I elaborate further?
  
• Food - YankyLand is aka Junk-Food Paradise
• Transport - heard that it can sometimes be hard going around YankyLand without driving
  
• Shopping - feared for my legs as I expect SO to go crazy once we reach the Factory Outlet Malls

It's not the first time I'm going on a Free & Easy vacation. In fact, I've never been on packaged-holiday before. Despite that, I still feel apprehensive about each trip that I'm going because I tended to one who doesn't like last minute situational changes.

My last major trip was back in 2004 where I went to UK for a summer module as part of my Degree program. 4yrs later, I'm once again going to a faraway land, the place where you can be shot for no reasons in broad daylight....

Hope we both get to return in 1 piece each....

YouTube Spoofs.....

An 'irritating' friend of mine recently forwarded me this YouTube video of some spoof taken off a Hitler documentary. They edited the original storyboard with their own and came up with the following :



If you visit the actual location of the video @ YouTube, you will be able to find numerous other spoofs using the very same video BUT with different storyboards. Some are pretty lame but damn funny!

MS Outlook 2003 Tips

If you have deleted your mail items the hard way, i.e. by pressing SHIFT+DEL the mail is not sent to the Deleted Items folder and you obviously won't be able to retrieve them there. Fret not, there are still hopes... By default the Recover Deleted Items functionality is only enabled on the Deleted Items folder in a user’s private folders; items that are hard deleted cannot be recovered. However, the good news is that this can be changed by making a small change to the Registry as follows :

1. Start Registry Editor ( Start > Run > "Regedit")
   
2. Locate and click the following key in the registry : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Exchange\Client\Options
3. On the Edit menu, click Add Value, and then add the following registry value :
   Value name: DumpsterAlwaysOn
   Data type: DWORD
   Value data: 1
4. Quit Registry Editor

That’s it. Now you can recover your hard deleted mails as well. :)

Body Combat - Part 2

This is my 2nd post about Body Combat (aka BC), my favourite Group-Xercise Class at the gym. Exactly what is BC and why am I so enthralled by it? Read on to find out...

What is Body Combat?
BODYCOMBAT™ is a non-combat, martial arts-based fitness program with moves drawn from Karate, Tae Kwan Do, Kung Fu, kickboxing, Muay Thai and Tai Chi. Each 55-minute BODYCOMBAT™ class is choreographed to 10 tracks of the latest music, providing an exhilarating exercise experience that delivers ultra-fast fitness results.

- Extracted from Les Mills' Official Site


BODYCOMBAT™ Benefits

• Improves heart and lung function and reduces the risk of heart disease
• Tones and shapes key muscle groups
• Burns calories for a leaner body
• Improves co-ordination and agility
• Improves bone density
• Improves posture and core strength and stability
• Builds self-confidence

A typical class consists of 10-Tracks as follows :

• Track 01 : Warm Up
• Track 02 : Combat 1
• Track 03 : Power 1
• Track 04 : Combat 2
• Track 05 : Power 2
• Track 06 : Combat 3 aka Recovery
• Track 07 : Muay Thai
• Track 08 : Power 3
• Track 09 : Conditioning
• Track 10 : Cool Down

For me, I usually skip Track 9 & 10. However, I will stay beyond Track 8 if the instructor adds on additional tracks (which they often does) instead of proceed to Conditioning after Track 8.

As mentioned in "Body Combat - Part 1", I hit the gym typically thrices weekly on Tues & Sat as they're my usual gym days. Mon, Wed, Fri & Sun are the other possible days. Over the past 20mths of BC-ing, I've come to 'compile' my personal list of favourite, not-too-bad & cannot-make-it (CMI) instructors. You will hardly (if ever) see me attending the class if its conducted by those on my CMI listing.

I've also compiled a list of my favourite tracks as follows :

• Track 01 : BC2901, Thank You
  
• Track 02 : BC2802, The Final Countdown
  
• Track 03 : BC3303, Angel Eyes
  
• Track 04 : BC2704, Tribal Dance
  
• Track 05 : BC3605, Don't You Wanna Feel
  
• Track 06 : BC3506, That's Right
  
• Track 07 : BC3107, We Rock
  
• Track 08 : BC3408, Believe In Me
  
• Add-On 1 : BC2303, Field of Dreams
• Add-On 2 : BC3003, Shooting Star

PS : Conditioning & Cool-Down skipped as I do not usually do them. :)

My Company Folks

My company, being the 'foremost' R&D organisation in SG, hires over 1400 'TOP TALENTS' from the local pool (thank goodness) but there are a sprinkling of converted FTs here and there. Today's topic is not about these FTs, so don't worry....

I've been around the company for nearly 2yrs and had seen my fair share of the uglier side of the folks in XXX (I've replaced my company initials with XXX for confidentiality). I must admit I've not seen worst peoples then those I'm now working alongside with! They are conceited, selfish and very demanding. Before you concluded that I'm bashing the entire bunch, I must admit that most of them are alright, just that there were quite a few black sheeps around in the herd.

As mentioned earlier, the folks recruited into XXX for R&D are usually the 'Cream of the Crop'. Somehow, I also don't know how, a few of these 'Cream' seemed to suffer from Big Headed-ness, Selfish-ness and are obviously very demanding towards their junior colleagues and corporate divisions. There was a case of how a high-level 'Cream' banging the table and demanding a solution from corporate staff, for proper disposal of a pen-knife blade! While another 'Cream' commented that certain items issued to users such as thumbdrives are without hooks which causes users to lose them!

I was dumbfounded when I saw these 2 cases! I can't imagine how/why would someone need to use his 'weight' to demand a solution to a simple problem? You mean you, having studied much (maybe Phd) more than your fellow colleagues, can't even think of a safe way to dispose of pen-knife blades? Do you mean the company is to also to ensure things/equipment issued to you are safely secured? I thought this is our OWN RESPONSIBILITIES?

I cannot imagine the Government, in addition to issuing us with Identity Cards, Passports, etc, they also have to ensure that we do not lose them! How? Provide every household with a safe? This is most ridiculous. I really don't know what to comment of that 'selfish' fellow.

Foreign Talents

They are everywhere...

Before I go further, let me clarify that I'm not against them working here IF they :
1. are more considerate and sensitive to our culture
2. are able to speak some decent English
3. do not create trouble
4. do not take any public place like their own home and do all kinda stupid things
5. genuinely am better than local talents

I've seen my fair share of FTs thinking they're high and mighty simply because our gahmen welcome them with open arms (later, I shall post a quote from MM Lee which pwned them all). There had been numerous incidents of them leaning on the grab-pole in the MRT during peak hours, causing other passengers having virtually nothing or little of the pole to reach out for balance. Another classic case is that of them pretending to be asleep/reading-papers/etc instead of giving up their seats to others who needed it more. Fair enough, many Sgreans are guilty of this, but it seemed that most of those I encountered are FTs (perhaps I'm 'lucky' to keep running into them). Other case which I personally hated is that some of them (typically Curryland Folks) carries a backpack to work, which I sometimes do too. However, in the crowded MRT, at least I would remove it from my shoulders and placed it on the ground between my legs so that I do not hit others with it when I turn or if the train jerks. These particular group of FTs simple love to fill up the backpack and carry it on both shoulders!! Imagine the impact as they move or turn, how many innocent passengers would be impacted?

I'm sure everyone had by now come across 1001 FTs in the eateries all over the island. Noticed that some of them can barely speak a word of English, yet they get hired to take orders!!! OMG!! If its some coffeeshop we're talking about, fair enough. But imagine you go to places such as NYDC and you had to place your order in Mandarin?!!!?? What if you cant speak the language which they can understand? This situation never fails to turns me off each time I encounter it. If you ask me, I think "if you wish to work in a country, you jolly well be able to communicate in their dominate language fairly efficiently!". Those from the Motherland cant speak English, those from Curryland can, but with a very very heavy curry smell that makes you cant understand the words they are trying to say while those ah-nehs dont know how to speak English but only know how to keep looking at you and grin away....

We have FTs in virtually every single industry and sector. Most of them are here because they cost the employer lesser in terms of salary and perks to hire. There had been a few recent cases of murder, suicides, scams all by them. But then again, they come here with virtually nothing to lose and everything to gain, as such, some of them try tricks and patterns to fulfill their dreams quick. If they resort to legal means, ok. Unfortunately, some chose the dark side, preying on the elderly, children and the defenceless (no wonder the crime rate has gone up). This is most shameful! I was listening to the Morning Express this morning on my way to the office when Glenn suggested to have such offenders given the death penalty. I second his idea! In fact, perhaps the death penalty should be meted by means of stoning, not hanging. :p

If you go to a foreign country be it to work or visit, surely you wouldnt display your bad habits in front of everyone because it shows alot about you and your upbringing. It seemed that some of our dear FTs arent aware or even ashamed at all. Some typical behaviour includes placing their bare feet on the seats, digging their nose and flicking it (whatever from their nose) into the air, spitting anywhere they like. I know that Sgreans are guilty of these actions too, however, I dare vouch that they are the minority, thanks to those past campaigns run by the gahmen.

They come here to work, to seek a living. In another word, to 'snatch' the ricebowl from Sgreans. The way I look at this is that 'If you are really that good, I'd gladly let you take over. However, if you're here just to smoke your way out, then please get lost!'. I've come across many of these head-shaking FTs in my course of work whereby during Pre-Sales, everything we request also can deliver. Once the deal is signed, things started to get delayed, then when you 'banged table' and call for a project review, they will tell you all kinds of excuses and say this one cannot, that one is complicated. If you insist on it, need to add on the cost. Basket!! How come during pre-sales you dont tell me all these, post-sales then make so much noise? If you cant deliver, you jolly well say so in the beginning, dont waste everyone's time!

This morning, I was reading the STD (Straits Times Digital, not sex disease) where our dear MM Lee was talking about the impact of the economy downturn and how the gahmen pledges to help us all (by raising GST again?).

He said : work permit holders will 'take the brunt of the retrenchments, saving many Singaporeans their jobs'.

These are some of the best words I've heard from him in years....

Body Combat - Part 1

Tues & Sat are my usual gym days. Mon, Wed, Fri & Sun are the other possible days. I typically hit the gym for BC thrice, sometimes twice, sometimes quadruple times. Do i sound like i got no life? If you asked me, gym-ing had already become part of my lifestyle. During the early days of my signup (thanks to MF aka fwenly gym-buddy), I go 3times to maximise the $ paid. But now, its more like "if I don't go, I'd feel weird" kinda mentality. I'm addicted I guess...

Anyway, if I hit the gym, I'd definitely be doing BC, otherwise I wont even be there in the first place. I absolutely loved the Tues class because of the instructor who is very dynamic, motivating and never fails to inject fun into the class. Of course, her "Fans" played a big part too in injecting life and fun into the class la.

The thing I hate about a crowded class is the lack of space... not that I needed plenty of space but at least let me be able to do my moves without having to worry about hitting anyone around me. I'd consider my day suay if I happened to stand near a newbie. Call me evil if you wish but you know la, these newbies cant follow the moves, so when the class moves forward, they stand there and if you are behind one such person, you must zam brake in time so that you dun bang into them!! arghhhhhhhhhhhhhh!! The other type of ppls I dislike are those with very excessive (aka "Extra") motions. Eg. ppls shuffle 4steps forward at most is 1-2m but there's this clown who does 5m!! He can really shuffle!! I once saw him shuffle all over the place from the back to the front, from the left mirror to the right glass panes!!! OMG!!! We nicknamed him "Shuffle-mania". :p

Uncle Thim suggested we go for the Instructor Course during its next run. I'm keen to try for fun but doubt I'd be able to go up the stage and conduct a full class on my own even if I managed to pass and obtain the cert to teach in PF. Its very intimidating I feel, especially since I dislike public speaking. Do you believe it if I tell you I'd feel nervous even if I'm presenting to my dept folks? I guess being the participant is still the best!

ho seh liao....

now lim bei oso into blogging... wan to try try see see. 1st time play, dunno wat to type, if u cant understand my lingo or words, too bad :p

Let me do a little intro of myself...

1. My frenly gym-buddy likes to call me Uncle Law even though i not uncle at all. but kana called until even not uncle oso uncle liao.
2. I work in some top damn secret place where u cant use camera fone & oso if u know too much, u will die type of place. so secretive until i oso dun dare to know.
3. My main source of income is from being a postmaster + bugs/worm catcher.
4. I like to lim kopi, pah combat, tart kiu, gong jiao wei & sng dian nao.

this morning on the way to work, read in the papers that Tao Li (dunno is Tao Zhe sister or wat) is in the finals of the olympiak swimming. if she win the medal, i dunno ish wanna be happy or sad. medal for SG should be happy lah, but she's ah tiong leh! where's the pride? imagine your sibling cheat in the exams and score top marks, would u be proud? at least i know i wouldnt!

jus now come home that time, walk past the open field opposite the mrt and saw got getai leh... but never go near to kpo la. dunno when else will have hor... if anyone out there knows where got good one, pls let me know ok?

thank you many many....