Promotion lunch

It is a tradition at my workplace for those who have been promoted to treat our friends to a lunch, typically a buffet at a posh hotel. Notice I say friends because for other colleagues, there will be a separate treat of pastries or finger food (but friends also get to enjoy if there are in the same department). Photo below shows the gang walking towards the lunch venue, a high class 5 star hotel, with the restaurant set in within a waterfall landscape, and when one looks out one sees greenery. This must be one of the best lunches in recent years! haha

Resignations

Still on resignations (ie Jason), the division N where I used to work are going to lose 2+1 engineers. Why the plus 1? He is the person that has just worked for one week and he was going to be transferred to N when he threw the letter. As for the other two, I have worked with them for some time, both are intelligent and ok people, so it does really make you think what made them leave.

Some might say the booming job market is good outside but I do not think so. Maybe yes for bankers, accountants or those in the finance sector (for whatever time is left to make the big bucks), but not for civil engineers. So I am tempted to think push factor was the key. And if the organisation refuses to acknowledge the push factors and recruit/ appoint people differently, this may really become a significant risk factor.

Saying Goodbye to Jason

Jason is probably the most friendliest guy I know and who has an innate ability to make friends with just about anyone he wants to, especially aunties whom he professed to have the ability to work on. The bad news is Jason is leaving the organisation and at this workplace where friendly and helpful people are hard to come by, I would say that it is a great loss. For him, I am happy that he has the courage to take this step out of his comfort zone and the new challenges ahead will surely benefit him.

So we had a little farewell dinner for him, organised (I think) by Jiaxia seen below queuing for food with Jason at the Zion Road Nasi Padang Stall.
Telephone number for the famous stall is below if you are interested to patronise. Indonesia nasi padang tastes even better, just for the record.
The gang. We shared many hilarious 'war' stories and spicy gossip. Much of it came from Jason, who spoke more freely as he would probably not have to face the characters in the gossip anymore.
The MAN himself with that characteristic look of his.
Dessert was at the opposite Great World City's Say Cheese-something cafe.
We will surely remember and miss such a good friend and colleague.

Official photo from Melvin & Boon Lin's wedding

Mun Wah's wedding

Just received the oficial table photo of my friend Mun Wah's wedding dinner. Congrats again to him and wife.

Dinner @ NUSS Guild House (Suntec)

To celebrate the end of the financial year (which incidentally was the time we all got a little bit more of income), we had dinner at the NUSS Guild House. The venue was chosen as it was highly recommended by Cheeko who was a member and said that the buffet was value for money.
Mr Kok with his daughter. See how proud he is of his offspring.
Half the table. Forgot to take the other half!
The sinful and guilty but sumptous seafood we had.
Ah Yeo Yeo striking a post. Looking tanned, he said he went for a tanning session, standing up. Which explains the rather uneven shades.
Ah Yeo Yeo striking another pose to show off the 'dragonfly' perched below his neck. Wai Mun do not seem impressed.
Kim "Seng" with an indian girl from the next table.
Cheeko, in the center, looks the oldest. Agree?
Again, half the group.

We will meet again next year!

Original 《陪你看日出》

Photo of the Month

Caption: Molly

Photo : Daniel

Five year old piano genius, and she's blind

This is amazing. You all got to watch this. This little girl who is blind from birth plays the piano very well. Inspiring.

PM Lee on importance of experience

Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong unveiled his new cabinet lineup last Saturday. Today, the Straits Times published an interview with PM Lee and he went into some detail on his comments on the leadership renewal within government.

One of the points which I find particularly relevant to us in this environment where there are many scholars coming in is that we have to hone our skills and can develop our value based on our experience.

Extracted from the Straits Times:

"...You can come in with all the ability in the world but unless you have the background and that experience handling it, you won't have the feel and the understanding overnight. You need years to develop this."

Think different, think positive

Received this via email from a friend. Sharing with everyone the positive moral of the story.

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A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said: 'I am blind, please help.' There were only a few coins in the hat.A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, 'Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?'The man said, 'I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way.'What he had written was: 'Today is a beautiful day and I cannot see it.'

Be creative. Be innovative.

Think differently and positively.