Baby Xin's visit to Domain apartment

These past 4 days, J had taken the whole family back to his hometown to visit his sister.  Only Baby Xin and I did not go due to some work commitment that I had.  So during the weekend, I was left alone with Baby.  

Today  I had some more repairs to complete at the Domain, as well as a short-term tenant moving in, so I had no choice but to bring Baby Xin along.  

The good thing is that being a toddler now, she easily adapts to new environment, discovering ordinary objects that fascinates her.  Here are pictures of her at the Domain lobby, where she had fun playing on the mozaic stone seats.  So it was a great pleasure to combine my "work" as a landlady, and spending time with her.

Handling a Team

I realized I have blogged less and less about "Work" here, even though that is part of my theme.  Increasingly, it is difficult to keep a blog about work when there are so many challenges and I only want to blog about success and happiness and keep the negativity at bay.
Still I would like to be thankful for the learnings that I get, so that I keep improving myself.

Photo from: http://munei.co.za/team.html

One of the lessons is what do you do when you lead a team who may be less enthusiastic than yourself?
By "enthusiastic", I mean having the passion, the drive to go out there and execute the plans even though all the odds are against you. Doing whatever it takes doggedly, even though immediate results may not show.  And this is critical especially when you need urgency and action amongst your team to turn the situation around.
I spoke to several people regarding this, and the feedback was always the same.  When this happens, you talk to the team first, to ensure that they all understand the situation and what needs to be done.  If they know and they are still not doing it, it means that their hearts are not there with you anymore.
Worse, if there are negative people in your team, not taking ownership of their portion of work and even infecting the others with their defeatist attitude.
For most of these people, the solution is only to change the job environment.  This is where management skills will come in to handle the situation properly and objectively, not emotionally and judgmentally.  It is better this way for the person and for the manager.  The person in the team will have a chance for a new lease of life in a different work environment, and the manager gets to hire a fresh start who would not have all the burden of negativity of a long-ailing business environment.

For me, the most important is your immediate boss knows that you are doing all you can.  That way he or she can support you and vouch that you have tried your best.  In my capacity, if I am still needed here, I would do what I can, which includes weeding out the weak chain-links that do not work, and bringing in new links that will make the team stronger.  Sure, the results would be devastating for a while where the technical know-how and business relationships disappear with the old team.  But a fresh start works better than the same old doldrums of non-performance.

Bicycle Seat for Baby

While I was away on company trip, J bought a new bicycle for Yuan.  This bicycle has a metal holder behind the seat, so in one stroke of ingenuity, J thought about installing a seat on that metal holder.
This is how he did it.

He removed the legs from the Ikea high chair that we have at home, and fastened the seatbelt onto the metal holder.  So the seat is now secure.  It is so much fun watching the kids take turns to ride the bicycle with the baby in the seat.

My World Vision Stamp Collection

One of the charities I support is World Vision.  I have sponsored a child since 2006 (I think).  Each year World Vision will send an annual progress report with a picture of the sponsored child and some of his writings. I think my sponsored child was 5 when I started, and he is now 11 years old.
I think it is a great charity to help underprivileged children in remote areas, for only RM50 a month.  Sometimes we don't know how much RM50 a month can do, especially in areas less fortunate than ours.

I am especially thrilled because World Vision takes the effort to select beautiful stamps to send the annual progress report of my sponsored child.   As an avid stamp collector, I show off my World Vision collection here ;-)

Successful Eye Surgery for Correcting Squints

These past 2 days I was on leave, because yesterday was Yuan's eye surgery.  She had a squint problem in both eyes.  While most are squinting inwards, her squint is outwards.  If we leave the condition for too long, she will have poor eyesight.  After I took her for the eye checkup, the paeds ophthalmologist recommended for surgery, so we chose this May school holidays to do it.

Before surgery

I didn't tell Yuan about this until the day of the surgery because I didn't want her to be afraid.  After Yuan changed into the ward clothes, the anaesthetist came along and explained to her, and she seemed to understand and was very brave about it. Yuan underwent general anesthesia, and the surgery procedure took only half an hour. We went to the eye centre at 9am and checked out at 1.30pm, so it was a hassle free, daycare procedure.
When Yuan came out she was asleep, and upon waking she was fretting because she couldn't open her eyes. But this was already told to her before the surgery, so she calmed down.  As a post-surgery gift, Yuan got a stamp album, something which she has been requesting for a while.  She couldn't see it, but she could touch it and count the pages in it.
Today we went for the post-operative checkup and I was delighted and thankful to hear the doctor said that Yuan is doing very well.  Perfectly straight eyesight, no more squinting upon testing.
For this week, Yuan has to refrain from swimming and avoid getting bath water in her eyes.  Besides that she needs to apply eye shields when she goes to sleep to prevent accidental rubbing of eyes.  We can see that the corners of her eyes are still red from the surgery scars, Yuan calls them vampire eyes.
Now I learnt that all kids before entering primary school, should have a routine eye check up with an ophthalmologist.  Another thing I am thankful about is, when Wei had his eye check up yesterday, he has perfect eyesight!  No problems, despite all the computer games, iPad games, tv etc......

Centrifugal force

Comic from: http://xkcd.com/123/

Wei did something extraordinary and unbelievable today.  Before starting our Sunday Buddhist class this morning, and Wei helped to get a small pail of water to clean up the bookshelves in his class.   Halfway walking through the corridor, he asked me to hold the rag, and said: "Mom, I will show you magic."
There and then he started to swing his pail of water round, wanting to show me some physics law of centripetal and centrifugal force, where the water was supposed to stay in the pail.
And you know what happened, half the water spilled into the corridor hallway, and I was staring at Wei in disbelief.  Wah, I was so mad, how could he do this? I started to scold him, and quickly got a mop to mop off the mess, while he returned to the class.
Thinking back now, and telling J about it, we both laughed and laughed.  I should have taken a picture of Wei in action, swinging the pail.  Obviously he didn't swing it fast enough and didn't have the sense to try the swinging in the bathroom instead of the corridor.

Golden Rules for Career Success

I had the opportunity to come across this article which was being circulated in our office, and I can't help but think, it is so true.  So I would like to share it here, for those of you who work in a corporate environment as I am now.

Image from www.autoprofessionals.com.au

Golden Rules for Career Success

Richard Moran : Working as a business consultant all over the world, I have discovered some basic career-related rules that everyone should know – but many don’t.

* Business is made up of ambiguous victories and nebulous defects. Claim them all as victories.

* Keep track of what you do; someone is sure to ask.

* Be comfortable around senior managers, or learn to fake it.

* Never bring your boss a problem without some solution. You are getting paid to think, not to whine.

* Long hours don’t mean anything; results count, not effort.

* Write down ideas; they get lost, like good pens.

* Always arrive at work 30 minutes before your boss.

* Help other people network for jobs. You never know when your turn will come.

* Don’t take days off sick – unless you are.

* Assume no one can/will keep a secret.

* Know when you do your best – morning, night, under pressure, relaxed; schedule and prioritize your work accordingly.

* Treat everyone who works in the organization with respect and dignity, whether it be the cleaner or the managing director. Don’t ever be patronizing.

* Never appear stressed in front of a client, a customer or your boss. Take a deep breath and ask yourself: In the course of human events, how important is this?

* If you get the entrepreneurial urge, visit someone who has his own business. It may cure you.

* Acknowledging someone else’s contribution will repay you doubly.

* Career planning is an oxymoron. The most exciting opportunities tend to be unplanned.

* Always choose to do what you’ll remember ten years from now.

* The size of your office is not as important as the size of your pay cheque.

* Understand what finished work looks like and deliver your work only when it is finished.

* The person who spends all of his or her time working is not hard-working; he or she is boring.

* Know how to write business letters – including thank-you notes as well as proposals.

* Never confuse a memo with reality. Most memos from the top are political fantasy.

* Eliminate guilt. Don’t fiddle expenses, taxes or benefits, and don’t cheat colleagues.

* Reorganizations mean that someone will lose his or her job. Get on the committee that will make the recommendations.

* Job security does not exist.

* Always have an answer to the question, “What would I do if I lost my job tomorrow?”

* Go to the company Christmas party.

* Don’t get drunk at the company Christmas party.

* Avoid working at weekends. Work longer during the week if you have to.

* The most successful people in business are interesting.

* Sometimes you’ll be on a winning streak and everything will click; take maximum advantage. When the opposite is true, hold steady and wait it out.

* Never in your life say, “It’s not my job.”

* Be loyal to your career, your interests and yourself.

* Understand the skills and abilities that set your apart. Use them whenever you have an opportunity.

* People remember the end of the project. As they say in boxing, “Always finish stronger than you start”.