[Self] Spurs in Finals (again)

Tribute to them, but it should have been the Suns :(

Most probably Spurs v Pistons again as back in 05. Don't think a Spurs v Cavaliers is that probable.

[Work] Annual Dinner 18May07 (Arrr !!)

Annual dinner mid May twas held in a nice rooftop bar this year - very nice place. But it was a bit weirder than last year's...

Pic: Luna Bar sweet indeed

First of all, the pirate costume thing. Looking mean and being nasty is such a natural trait I was totally at ease!! At least I know I do have a fallback career if I ever need to become a pirate.

Pic: Arr TJ !

Pic: Some hippie from another group wandered into the wrong crowd and was made short work of real quick

Secondly, got some work award though I am still not sure how. But heck who am I to object :)



Pic: 5 minutes after this pic, I was stressed out already >_<

[Self] Book Talk Again - The Age of Extremes

I recently forced myself to finish one of the more intellectually demanding books since I last touched something called Applied Finance back in college days Year 2.

It is "The Age of Extremes" by some historian Eric Hobsbawm who I don't really know. But I picked the book semi-randomly back in Sept 06 when I was on the PSMY project. Though the learned one deftly paints strokes of historical events and provides interesting patterns to movements across the 20th century - it was nevertheless damn dry.

Anyway, it did take me a bloody 6 months to finish. No intention to re-read it anytime soon. Maybe in another 5-10 years time when I've got more perspective in life - but I suspect it'd be countered by Parkinson or something by then.

I don't think it was his fault probably more of mine. I mean to use a parallel - how do you expect an earthworm to comprehend the complexities of the plots (the definition of "plot" used very loosely) in say ... One Tree Hill?

And in the meantime ... bless that good ol' chap of mine whom recommended me to Rumpole, of which I managed to get the 2nd Omnibus in Singapore's PageOne at Vivo. It's not as good as the 1st, but enough to keep me chuckling out loudly into the late nights.

[Work] "Golden Ratio"

4 babes, 1 guy ... ah now this is what a PM's Golden Ratio should be!

[Self] What To Say?

I've got 2 lady friends who are going to give birth sometime this week. And I have no idea what is a socially approved / correct way to tell them. I mean ....

- Have a nice delivery ~ Sounds too much like "Have a nice flight" kan? And I'm a guy so this is totally wrong for me to say something like that
- Hope you have a good one ~ I cannot point out what's wrong with this but it feels terribly wrong
- Pray everything will be alright ~ Good intentions, but sounds morbidly out of place
- Heya, have fun with the kid! / Heard you're gonna burst this week g'luck! ~ I'll be lucky if they don't bonk me real hard on the head! Many many many times!!

So I guess here's what I'll do instead - just shut up and wait for them to tell me all went well, then visit them and googoo-gaga at those bundles of joy :)

[Self] 赤壁

Really need to make that trip to China in autumn. And one of the places that is a MUST GO is 赤壁。

So did some googling and found the following:
赤壁有文赤壁和武赤壁两处。其中文赤壁在湖北省黄冈市境内，武赤壁在湖北省蒲圻市（今赤壁市）境内。赤壁遗址位于赤壁市西北36公里的长江南岸，隔江与乌林相望，陆水由其东注入长江。赤壁是著名的古战场，东汉建安十三年(208年)，刘备与孙权联合，大破曹操于此，这就是历史上有名的赤壁之战。
... and the site had this poem from 苏轼 which stirred up memories of Chinese classes and 名句精华, of which I only remember the first line but that's the beauty of the ancient text.

念奴娇·赤壁怀古
大江东去，浪淘尽，千古风流人物。
故垒西边，人道是：三国周郎赤壁。
乱石穿空，惊涛拍岸，卷起千堆雪。
江山如画，一时多少豪杰。

遥想公瑾当年，小乔初嫁了，雄姿英发。
羽扇纶巾，谈笑间，樯橹灰飞烟灭。
故国神游，多情应笑我，早生华发。
人生如梦，一尊还酹江月。

[Work] P1A Disband

There was this discussion on Gantthead about team dynamics. On a discussion thread, some PMs added to the continuum of ... "Form > Storm > Norm > Perform" > Disband.

And as P1A ends and from the ashes shall arise deadlier phoenixes in the form of P1B and P2 - what was remaining of the P1A onsite team had a lunch to disband. Developers to roll out if not already rolled out, and a tech lead goes off and is replaced by another.

Pic: Before Xtreme Makeover

Pic: After Xtreme Makeover
Pic: On the right

Pic: On the left
Pic: Tech Lead Dudes

[Work] Viva Le Magic Quadrant!

So there I am whacking slides this whole morning and thinking about how the hell to get some points explained easier in a less-text (not nontext) format for a set of data.

After knocking out some slides that did not even meet my own satisfaction, I for some reason drifted off wondering about some emails in the past and 2x2s back in Marketing 101 .... then absent mindedly sketched out some info on a piece of paper and boxes within boxes .... and voila Magic Quadrant saved the day!

Magic Quadrant and "magic" ... coincidence? I don't think so!

[Self] Playoffs 07 Round 1

The 2 teams who made it into the grand finals last year got kicked out in the first round.

Heat - not much of a shock; Wade is the only person holding that team up, they better restructure fast else his extended contract is a damn waste of his talent. Shaq has outlived his use big mistake dishing out that big fat extension he's more a liability than anything now.

Mavericks - I felt they did at least deserve a conference final but despite their great season they've perpetually faced problems with the Warriors the entire year. Avery Johnson as head coach was great last year but facing up against his mentor Don Nelson he has a bad record. Plus the problem with Mavericks is their entire play is reliant on Nowitski, so if he's cold they're a write off.

Other stuff:
- Blissfully caught Game 6 of Jazz vs Rockets. Yao Ming still sucks most of the time despite improvements - Hakeen he is not; T-Mac is in a sucky team. And until the commentator said so, I had to idea Jerry Sloan has already been coaching the Jazz for 20 years! The game plays are pretty much the same as the Malone-Stockton days but it's interesting to watch Boozer and Kirilenko play, but they need a bit more offensive firepower.
- Spurs are a damn good team still, but not this year :)
- Suns IMHO are not that much a run & gun team this year based on the limited games I've watched, but heck love their lineup and play. They have such a kickass unit in Nash, Marion, Barbosa, Diaw, and Stoudamire. Hope these fellas take the crown this year.

[NothingInParticular] Reagan Excerpts

Got this from one of BBC's news today, snipped and edited for the nicer bits which I felt were very human and humorous. This kind of reminded me of one of Tunku's later memoirs he wrote that showed our leaders did once have a twinkle of mischief and a certain down-to-earth humbleness; but no ~~ these days its about how much bling the keris has, and the ever convenient instigating of racial politics to stir up the political base. Anyway I digress - here's the excerpt:

Reagan's diaries to be published

Two decades after he left office, the diaries kept by US President Ronald Reagan when he was in office are being published for the first time. Excerpts have been printed in the magazine Vanity Fair.
..........

His private musings while in office were recorded in five maroon leather volumes embossed with the presidential seal. Even on subjects as worrying as the Cold War and relations with Cuban leader Fidel Castro a folksy sense of humour is evident.

"Intelligence reports say he Castro is very worried about me. I'm very worried that we can't come up with something to justify his worrying," he wrote on 11 February 1981.
..........

The diplomatic crises of the 1980s are recorded as well as the faux pas. When Prince Charles - "a most likeable person" - visited the White House his tea was served American-style: "The ushers brought him tea - horror of horrors they served it our way with a tea bag still in the cup.
It finally dawned on me that he was just holding the cup & then finally put down on a table. "The Prince said: 'I didn't know what to do with it'."

Of his wife Nancy, he wrote after he was shot: "I opened my eyes once to find Nancy there. I pray I'll never face a day when she isn't there.
..........

[Self] 多杯茶

自叹自息 ，有点忧郁的感觉。

精神上累透了，仍然还要咬牙切齿继续坚持!

冲多杯茶来调解吧.....