Back up

Posted on December 15, 2010 · 3 Comments

Do you have a back-up plan?

Do you have a back up plan? — Photo credit to Images by John K on Flickr

Question: When was the last time you backed up your personal & work files i.e. documents, photos, music, videos, etc?

The reality is, a lot of us don’t pay much attention to the importance of backing up. We keep hearing about hard disks crashing, or even worst, a computer being stolen.

The latter happened to my work computer last month. The team and I were in Egypt running our final show for the year, and unlucky for us the office got broken into and most computers were taken.

I had a back up. But it was on another colleague’s computer—which was also stolen (then I realised that’s not really a sound back up plan FML). For a second, I felt my heart crush. All my hard work, all my sweat and blood for the last 3.5 years, all my portfolio….down the drain. My heart was all over the place—angry at the thieves mostly but at the same time upset that all my stuff’s gone. I later was told that I have an alternative back up on a HDD, but it was only backed up in mid-September; which meant I still lost 2 months of work in progress. Damn you thieves! I hope you choke on a fishball and die a painful death!!!

Anyhoo, because of the break in we’ve learnt that back up is not only important; it is essential. Being in a service industry, our product being intangible—our intangible assets are what drives our business. We’ve learnt that as much trouble and hassle it is to back up, WE HAVE TO BACK UP.

Even with our own computers at home I strongly feel that we need to have some sort of system to back up our personal documents, photos, videos and music. Just imagine losing your graduation photos, your wedding photos, your family holiday photos, your firstborn’s photos? How sucky would that be?

Be it using an external HDD or and online backup service or even a simple file sharing service like Dropbox, find a backup solution that suits you. There will be some investment involved but it will be worth it considering the files you’re backing up are priceless.

P.S. are you backed up? Here’s an easy way to get started. Sign up for Dropbox and backup your documents for free!

Filed Under: The in-betweens Tagged With: ,

one of those days

Posted on August 4, 2010 · 2 Comments

Frustration

Photo credit – Frustration by music2work2 on Flickr

We’ve all had one of those days where

• You have a flat tire
• Your can’t start your car because your car battery’s gone flat
• Your car battery’s gone flat because you forgot to switch off your headlights
• Your windscreen breaks
• You lock your keys inside your car

You get the drift…

For me, it’s plain getting stuck in an unusual traffic jam. Note the word, unusual. Having grown so used to making it to work in under 20 minutes; if I get stuck in a jam, it pretty much has ruined my morning. I know that accidents and vehicle breakdowns are beyond my control, but it sucks so much to be part of the crawl!

For the record, I am rarely late for work. If my boss can make it to the office on time, I should be able to too (considering he lives in KL and I in Shah Alam). I take pride in the fact that I can get up on time and stroll into the office before everyone else. Which . is . why . I’m . so . hard . on . myself . when . I . am . late!

So, to anticipate that I “may” get stuck in an unusual jam sometime in the near future, I guess I just need to wake up earlier and leave the house earlier too!

P/S: On a random note, I watch this video to de-stress. Love it at 0:43!

YouTube Preview Image
Filed Under: Work Tagged With: , ,

Red tape, bureaucracy, or simply pride & stupidity?

Posted on June 14, 2010 · 5 Comments

Photo credit – the original red tape by SuttonHoo on Flickr

I rarely rant about work. Why?

  1. I try to keep my blog free from negative vibes
  2. I limit sharing too much work-related content so I won’t bore my only 3 friends who actually read my blog
  3. To protect my ass in case the Bosh finds my blog
  4. I just want my little space on the innernet be a happy and fun place

HOWEVER, I’m breaking the norm. Just this one time.

Every year, I need to produce a port & shipping industry related conference in India. IMHO technically, if you’ve worked on the same project for 3 years in a row, every year after would be a breeze innit? Nope, not in the case of India. Every year the red tape gets wider and longer & the bureaucracy gets more ridiculous. What is with all the pride? Why do procedures and processes change every freaking year? Why follow rules which are obviously made just to give that 100,000,000th person in the population a job that pays him peanuts?

I can’t believe that 3 years on we still have to deal with bribery–we need to kow tow to a certain few, rub shoulders with the big Kahunas to get things going and “offer” freebies to move forward just to make that profit. Working with the same vendors doesn’t mean it’ll get easier too. Every year there will be something “new” to add into our invoices, prices suddenly increase (because we need to pay 5 people to do our job when 1 person can actually get it done), and there’s bound to be a fee which has never existed in the past to suddenly miraculously appear.

Vendor woes aside, I have to deal with people who’s heads are bigger than the hats their wearing. Small kuci rats who want to speak at the conference and ask for every Rupee in their travel cost be covered. Eenie-meenie CEOs who boast of their expertise, strengths, intelligence and power but isn’t willing to pay for a night’s stay at the conference venue. So-called “big shots” who don’t respect punctuality and expect to be welcomed on a red carpet when they are already 10 minutes late for their presentation. Hey, you’re not the Queen!

I know that God had put these challenges on my lap so that I can work on my patience, work on improving my communications and work on my attitude and dislike I have for this project. However, I can’t help but see that every year as it gets tougher and tougher–it’s because of the idiots in the system! Why can’t they see past their pride? Why can’t things be simplified for the benefit of all parties? How does a country move forward if there are so many potholes and speedbumps along the way (p/s: a certain few may say, “Hey, are you talking about Malaysia?”. This one we keep for another day, in a separate discussion *ahem*).

Perhaps, this has been deeply grounded in their culture? Perhaps, it is the way of life that cannot be changed? Perhaps, they are just all idiots. Nuff’ said.

Filed Under: Work Tagged With: ,

My name is …

Posted on June 15, 2009 · Leave a Comment

My boss passed me some leads this morning for our Bangkok conference in October. As I was sifting through the stack of business cards, I came across this one:

thai.001

Try saying it quickly 3 times! I wonder if he (I think this one’s a he) ever has enough boxes on those forms when filling out his name. Does anyone know of a surname that’s even longer?

Filed Under: The in-betweens, Work Tagged With: , ,

Merah Putih Bisa! The Jakarta Trip

Posted on June 8, 2009 · 4 Comments

After spending 4 nights in Jakarta, I’d like to share with all of you the memorable observations/experiences from this dynamic city.

Always start and end the trip with some local food. Thanks to a former uni-class mate I got to taste Sate Babi, and some Bakut without the teh. It’s ribs in some “kiam chye” soup base. I thought my stomach wouldn’t be able to handle the street food but, all is well. Bakso on the other hand has no “bak” in it but yummy beef dumplings (and some other yong tau fu inspired accompaniments)jkt001

Keep in mind the zeros in the rupiah are not really as big as it seems. (IDR 1,000 is barely 40 sen)

Container ports in every country look pretty much the same except some are bigger, some are smaller.jkt002

Bahasa Melayu and Bahasa Indonesia are 2 very different languages.

I can survive running and managing 2-day conferences as long as I have my iPod and I have wi-fi.jkt003

Older men can be cute and look like underwear models too.jkt004

I discovered that there are some things that I’ve never heard/seen of in the last 28 years of my life such as the Angklung, a traditional musical instrument from the island of Jawa.jkt005

I also discovered that the Angklung is so much fun–not only it can make music but it’s a great headpiece.jkt006

Filed Under: Travel and Culture, Work Tagged With: , ,

Jakarta here i come

Posted on May 28, 2009 · 8 Comments

Come Monday I’ll be in Jakarta for business trip part 3 of 6 for 2009. I’m happy ‘cos

  1. Jakarta is just 2 hours by plane
  2. I’m staying only for 4 nights
  3. The kek lapis rawks
  4. Super Cheapo DVDs (according to Peanut‘s mom—Mangga2 rite???)
  5. I realised my dream of becoming a millionaire for the 3rd time (the RM 370 meal allowance boss kasi can dapat IDR 1,125,304.10)

OMG. I can only think of 3 4 5 points wtf.

Randomly, I was looking up at my event files and thinking of where I’ll be going over the next year and a half. I took a picture so I could show you guys how much trees I’m killing by filing everything and anything. Hey, I’m old skool can?

eventschedule001

And I also suddenly feel like a teacher so I’m going to teach you to say “How are you” in the local language of the 10 cities listed in this photo.

Jakarta – Apa kabar?
Chennai – Ap kaise hain? (to male) / Ap kaisi hain? (to female)
Bangkok – Sabai dee mai?
Bahrain – Kefe halak?
Sydney – G’day mate how’s it going?
Mauritius – Ça va?
Ho Chi Minh City – Ang coh quay kong? (to male) / Em coh quay kong? (to female)
Mumbai – Ap kaise hain? (to male) / Ap kaisi hain? (to female)
Cape Town (in Afrikaans) – Hoe gaan dit?
Alexandria – Izzayak? (to male) / Izzayik? (to female)

Now give yourselves a pat on your back will ya?

Oh yeah P/S Taurus I’ll search hi-and-lo for your Starbucks tumbler.

Filed Under: Travel and Culture, Work Tagged With: , ,

When you have nothing to do in the office

Posted on April 24, 2009 · 1 Comment

I have nothing against forwarded emails. Yes, occasionally I get chain letters (omg so yesterday can??) and also some middle aged man trying to give me his life savings of USD 10 million cos he’s dying wtf . I must however say that some forwarded emails come across as inspiration to add colour to one’s life.

Earlier this morning, Taurus forwarded me the following email.

ntdio2-customThis then inspired us folks in our quaint lil’ office, armed with our mobile phone cameras and developed the following masterpiece:

ntdio-customNow, that’s what I call when you have nothing to do in the office. Okthxbai.

Filed Under: Work Tagged With: , ,

What do you do?

Posted on April 13, 2009 · 3 Comments

I get this question quite often, and I always find it hard to explain in one sentence. So to all the Doctors, Accountants, Travel Agents, Teachers, Consultants, Pharmacists, Project Managers, Software Developers, Architects, Policemen, Lawyers, Engineers, Pilots, PAs, Journalists, Receptionists, Tea-Ladies (insert all possible obvious-in-your-face job titles here) be thankful cos you don’t have a hard time explaining what do you!

So here’s the deal. I usually start by saying, “I work in an events management company”.

Then, I get the “Wow, must be tiring, must be stressful, and must be working weekends”.

I then say, “Actually the events I deal mostly with are conferences and exhibitions in the ports and shipping industry. I only take care of the conference side of things”.

Then, I usually get silence, and people stop trying to process what I do. And, I usually keep it at that.

OK people–I am a Conference Editor.

When I’m not running the event, I’m sitting in an office, in front of my PC, 8 am – 5.30 pm, Mondays to Fridays. At the office I do research on current topics affecting the ports and shipping industry in the areas that we cover (namely South East+South+West Asia, Australia and Africa), I draft conference topics based on my research findings, I invite speakers to deliver presentations on the topics in the conference agenda, I plan and manage all activities in the conference itinerary (including site visits to local port operators & terminals) and I put all these into a glossy, printed in full colour, 4-page brochure.

At the event, together with my sidekick Lil’ Girl, we take care of all operational matters in the conference. This includes going on the port visit (pre-conference activity), setting up the conference room, emceeing the opening ceremony, and running the conference. I would admit, at the event itself, it is long-hours, late nights, aching legs and baggy eye bags. Oh yeah, repeat the same process 5 – 6 times a year.

Yup, this is what I do loh. Okthxbai.

Filed Under: Work Tagged With: , ,

in search of me

Posted on April 3, 2009 · 2 Comments

I’ve been working on the blog post of our weekend adventure in Paris, but it’s been taking longer than expected. I think it’s because I’m trying to watch back episodes of Emergency Unit and trying to get to the finale before Astro cuts the transmission of it this weekend.

I would like to make a statement here—my brain can’t pay attention at two things at a time (one being writing my blog post in English while recollecting the places we saw in Paris AND two being trying to understand, in Cantonese, the plot of the undercover cop in a triad seeking to topple an Ecstasy pill production factory). Anyhow, I’m pretty sure the full report on how to see Paris in 48 hours will be published this weekend.

In my most recent business/leisure trip, I found a couple of strange but true facts about myself, which got myself pondering, what else don’t I know about myself?

  • I say I can survive without rice but I was wrong. 10 days of baguettes and croissants at every meal proved this point.
  • There’s always a photo of me with my hands in the air.
  • I’m a serial planner (which is why I will get irrational when things don’t go as planned, i.e. cancelled flight out of Dakar)
  • As irrational as I get, I bounce back into the planning mode quickly and manage to reschedule everything for the Paris trip. It made me feel like I saved the day.
  • I thought I can handle the cold but realized I can’t when my mouth went numb and I talked funny.
  • My body language is very subjective. Every time I try to explain and ask for something from the banquet staff, they never came back.
  • I heart Starbucks, anywhere I am in the world. Maybe it’s the sense of familiarity since I can’t have nasi lemak in Paris.

Sometimes it is a good idea to sit down, and try to understand your own self before judging others’ weirdness.

Filed Under: Work Tagged With: ,

and it took 24 hours

Posted on March 22, 2009 · 2 Comments

It’s 4.30 am, I’m awake and I decided to write this blog entry to kill time.

Finally, I’ve arrived in Dakar, Senegal. Located on the westernmosttip of Africa, the journey took me through Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport, car-transferred to Orly airport, before we hopped on to an Air Senegal flight to get here. All in all, 24 hours. Thank God we managed to catch an earlier flight or else we would have needed to wait 10 hours in transit for the one we originally booked.

First impressions? Airport reminded me of the Aklan airport in Philippines, very, old-skool. Customs also very chillaxed. Conveyor belt looks like it needs—a new belt. And everything looks brown.

People? Freaky!! They want to “help” you to carry your bags ALL THE TIME! I didn’t take any photos on the way to our hotel cos I was afraid my camera will “help” itself onto their hands. One guy was trying to take my bag away from my hand, and I was holding on to it with my life!! The a policeman came over, pushed the fellow, and yelled at him go away in French I guess. The he walked away with a black face.

Hotel? We’re staying at the Le Meridien President, which is quite fancy on the outside, but the rooms are rather 3-star. Haven’t got the energy to explore the exterior, but will definitely go outside today to look and see.

Water? Tastes funny. And my stomach has got wind, it’s so uncomfortable and it keeps making a funny rumbling sound. And no, I’m not hungry.

Language? French all the way. I hope to learn some new phrases in the next 5 days we’re here.

Hoping to take some nice photos today of the place. Dang, its only 5.35 am.

Filed Under: Travel and Culture, Work Tagged With: ,
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