Desperation

Hot off Yahoo! A last ditch attempt by the partners to make me stay. It's like Liverpool asking Michael Owen to come back...

counselor: eh, we have to talk abt that - ur not going
karipap: i think neanderthal thinks i will be around forever, she keeps bugging me ... being her usual self...
karipap: if can, i'd like to go off earlier...
karipap: tired oready
karipap: it's been a long time since aetna .. the pain is coming back...
counselor: huh?
counselor: what pain?
karipap: that pain in the ear of being nagged at
counselor: lol
counselor: that one easy to handle la
counselor: not a good reason for going
karipap: that's not the reason lah
karipap: u know my reason
karipap: i won't make partner anytime soon, so i might as well go now
karipap: my heart is no longer here..
counselor: lets talk abt a 2yr plan
karipap: it's ok lah brader...
counselor: i have spoken to insurancedude, blackdude and germanfreak
counselor: adn bitchwoman
karipap: insurance dude? why?
counselor: i have a proposition for u guys
karipap: no lah.. it's ok, brader.. please respect my wishes...
karipap: i have donated blood to the firm for 13 years, i just hope i get this one wish
counselor: u hv donated 13yrs, its not worth throwing it away just like that
counselor: we owe it to u to make it happen
karipap: i don't think i'm throwing it away man...
counselor: for this wish, i humbly ask for chance to debate it
karipap: i just don't see it happening.. so no point chasing something that's just a dream
counselor: its taken time to talk abt this, but i wanted to cover the ground with everyone - blackdude, insurancedude, bitchwoman, germanfreak, headhoncho
counselor: blackdude, fsheaddude, germanfreak and others wants to talk to u earlier - but i asked for time to think/plan what makes sense
karipap: I spoke to blackdude, NYPartner, NiceAPkaripap: they all agree with my thinking.. so I don't think there's anything new...
counselor: as in go?
karipap: ya
counselor: u sure or not?
karipap: i just spoke to NiceAP last nite...
counselor: i spoke to blackdude, not sure if thats what he thinks
karipap: when did u speak to him? I spoke to him last Thurs
counselor: NYPartner - i know his answer - go!

I called Insurancedude on the way home to see what that "deal" was about. Insurancedude doesn't know anything about it... hmmm?

Acronyms

During the architecture school, I came across some great acronyms for architecture components.

BRA - Batch and Reporting Architecture

Breast - Batch, Reporting and Statistical Architecture

Orgasm - Online Report Generator and Summarisation Module

Fuck - File Upload Conversion Kit

I can imagine conversion conversations

"Fuck! Fuck's Fucked!"

"What happened?"

"Fuck's abended and caused Breast to stop producing..."

"Did you ping her?"

"I can ping her, but I cannot get Orgasm"

Implosion

Yesterday, after teaching the architecture class, I went off to 1 Utama for an ISAC-M meeting. We have a slot to present in the upcoming TechNet/MSDN session on Sept 15 (http://www.microsoft.com/malaysia/events/technetmsdn/) so we needed some discussion on topics.

After that, I went over to my counselor's house and dropped off 2 boxes of moon cakes. I then SMSed him and said "I dropped 2 boxes of mooncakes for you, one for you, the other, if you can, please pass it to Andy Tan". Now, because I was SMSing, I did not check the text and Andy came out as Body (go check it out...)

Then my counselor smsed me back "Who's Body Tan". The deal here is he did not even say Thank You to my gift. Makes me sad...

I got a call from another Associate Partner who knew I was leaving. I told her my reasons. She agreed. Sigh...

Classic

As I sit down here and wait for my turn to present, I was going thru my old emails and I found some classic emails.

Here's one from a 3rd party vendor. Basically, he's bitching about something.. but it's a bit hard to comprehend...

---

“The first to present his case seems right, till another comes forward and questions him”

In the luminosity of the preceding declaration, at this juncture what is fitting and inquisitive is bringing accountability to light.

Given that every occasion becomes significant and scalable the moment a date is associated, even as I gauge the progress to this regard beginning 27th Dec’04 (Inauguration of SIT, culmination 26th Jan’05) hither to, the advancement undeniably isn’t satisfactory. It is quite disappointing that between a publisher / subscriber with a unified intent in establishing a synchronized messaging interface between systems we all are still wallowing without being able to successfully establish a consistent communication in the face of an alternate arrangement, taking into account that the designated entry (server) is at present absent to take delivery of our request.

It is my understanding that (Indian Vendor name removed) responsibility ends the moment we place an authenticated XML request at a unanimously agreed interim location and subsequently to take attendance of an anticipated response. If that’s true may I humbly urge the respective representative to be heedful and do the requisite in aiding us all move forward without swerving to the left or to the right in the undertaking.
----

here's another one...

---

In the course with time we all have cooperatively stayed shoulder to shoulder in the quest to date, nevertheless at this juncture (UAT phase) inquisitive in learning the reason of an interface instance that was functioning as anticipated during SIT, however at this point in time is inoperative?

There isn’t any room for misunderstanding to penetrate in a communal road, however why is this succeeding explanation transpired to the intended audience just now. It is seen more suitable to bring to light when we all had breathtaking moments the day after SIT was concluded.

In the ardent interest and goodwill of everyone let’s come together and resolve this amicably, nonetheless please make certain that we don’t have a reoccurrence of the case in point.

---

I feel like my command of the English language is suddenly so bad...

Faculty

Today, I take a break from Cyberjaya. I need to do 2 "national services" to "give back to the firm" before I leave. The first is to be a faculty member for an Architecture Principles Workshop. The 2nd national service is to win that god damned portal project I am chasing.. we're selected for the finals and we're presenting to upper management Sept 9.

So, here I am, sitting down in Sheraton Imperial doing the course...

Then I get some yahoo from the neanderthal asking me for something. Damn.. I spent a few hours on Saturday just to craft that conversion approach paper for her and not a single freaking word of thanks, the bitch! And got the cheek to ask me questions that clearly the slides addresses. TNAS!

Bluetooth

Phew... haven't had time to blog for a phew days.. getting withdrawal symptoms!

Anyway, I took Friday off as it was the last day of the school holidays. My son starts Standard 1 proper next year, so I best spend some time with him.

I cannot believe it has been almost 6 years already. He's still so cartoon at times.. At today's pasar malam, we met a neighbour who will also have her daughter start school next year, the difference is her daughter's born in January, my son's born in December. The 1 year difference really showed! Whilst my son was jumping around like an Energizer bunny, the other girl looked taller, quieter, more matured... my son was jumping around to Axel F being played at the illegal CD sellers!

Anyway, on Friday, was at Ikano. I bought another piece of my home office, this time a DECT speakerphone. http://www.telephonesonline.co.uk/details.asp?prodID=935&title=Panasonic+Dect+Phones RM279. Good deal.

I also took the opportunity to test out my Bluetooth head set. Well, I'm not so impressed now... firstly, when I had my Nokia 6230 in my trouser pocket, the reception wasn't so hot.. I had to bring my phone closer to my headset then the signal became better. Funny, when I placed my phone on my back pocket, the signal was better!

My son, the future Standard 1 kid, said "your backside is warmer, daddy, so the signal is stronger..."

Unrespect

Towards the end of yesterday, something really pissed me off.

U remember I once talked about my discomfort of going to the Cyberjaya project because of certain neanderthals stalking the project? Well yesterday that same person called me up to "assign me something to do".

Honestly, I have no issues taking instructions from this person but the deal is today, I'm supposed to be on leave (being the last day of holiday) and for next week, I am a faculty member teaching a course. And this person always assigns you shit at the last moment, not wanting to respect your leave!

This is not the first time it has happened.

And this person knows I'm leaving, so why load all this shit to me, and then get it transitioned next time?

Damn pissed...

SOHO!

Today, I was in the client site in KL. I met one of the client big guns by the name of Jade. My wife once had a girl friend who went out with an older man with the name "Diamond".

How many of you have such metallic experiences with names? I digress...

Once I finished the meeting, and with the irritating Associate Partner off my back (no, she was not trying to be sexual.. you know what I mean), I detoured to Low Yat Plaza, every man's dream. And I'm not referring to the Red Box KTV or dodgy parlours there..

There, I started stocking up on my home office equipment. I bought
- some antenna to boost my wireless signal of my ADSL/wireless modem -> RM90
- an 80G pocket hard disk to back up all my mp3s for the last 13 years AND project materials -> RM480
- a HP 5510 fax/printer combo -> RM660
http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/product_detail.do?landing=printers&category=all_in_ones&catLevel=3&storeName=storefronts&subcat1=home_office&product_code=Q3435A%23ABA
- a Level One Bluetooth headset -> RM210
http://www.level1.com/products3.php?sklop=17&id=590020

I must say I was most impressed with the bluetooth headset. It was small and cheap. I tested it by turning it on and walking at least 3 rooms away from my phone, around the corner.. still receiving the signal. Sweet!

Back in KLCC, finally, a KL partner spends 1 hour talking to me about my decision to quit. In the end, this partner also agreed with my points on why I wanted to leave
- the firm makes one a partner based on sales targets and supervisory targets, not on whether you have the skills
- there is a great deal of luck involved in making partner

I told him where I was going to and he gave me great encouragement. Sadly, this partner was not my counselor.. who I must say keeps avoiding the issue... well... apparently some other guy sent in his resignation some time ago, and the partners only started talking to him 2 weeks before he left!

Switch

I caught up with folks of my other new company for lunch. It was quite ironic as they were telling me that one of the first projects I would be handling was a new core system replacement. Yes.. another one. Let me see, when I first joined the firm, I was on this death march project where we wrote from scratch a custom retail banking system. It was leading edge at that time.. Windows 3.1, Tuxedo, Oracle, a custom built architecture.. damn cool shit.

After that project, it was one core system replacement after another.. this is probably my 5th or 6th.. Anyway, back to the lunch thing, they were telling me that there is an ongoing evaluation between 2 "vendors" right now in terms of selecting a vendor to perform business requirements across 16 countries. And the ironic thing is one of the contenders is the current firm I'm working for! Worst still, the proposal my firm wrote was quite pathetic! Sigh...

Anyway, back at the project, the room I was seated in became the subject of a potential renovation to turn it into an operations room. The client project director was there when one of the renovators said
"here, we can place the console"
the client said
"console, for what?"
"running batch"
"what's batch?"
:))

Other developments include the portal project I'm pursuing, we just got selected into the finals to present to upper management after Merdeka.

Also, I got yet another SMS from an ex colleague asking me "do you want to lead the EeDeEs data centre in Cyberjaya". Here we go again...

Hydrogen

Yesterday, I took a deep breathe and called the CEO of the startup I was supposed to join. Was very worried I'd get a shelling... because honestly, that company has been chasing me for almost a year and this was going to be the 2nd time I was going to say no to them...

The 2nd time? Long story.

I agreed once to join them last year then I was asked to transfer down to China. So I told this startup it won't work and pursued my transfer to Shanghai. It broke down because of the child education compensation which my firm was too stingy to pay, even though it was clearly stated in the Policy 800 that we have.

So, fast forward back to today.. here I go again, turning them down. I do feel sad cause I will definitely kick myself (no, I'm probably not that dextrous) if this company succeeds.

Branching off and talking about something on tangent again... during the dot com days, I was seconded to be a CTO of a startup. We were building this kick ass B2B payment infrastructure that allowed BILLIONS of dollars to be pushed through the internet and then the bubble burst so I was sad that the start up I was involved koyaked. The 2nd start up I was involved was www.finatiq.com. That was at least successful at that time. That was the project lah that the partner promised the client that "we can launch a complete virtual bank in under 100 days". Then on day 40, the partner kicked out the Dallas based project manager because that manager said "it could not be done". So I was brought on to salvage the project for the remainder 60 days.

Then, during the dotcom days, I was also headhunted by www.ewarna.com. That one, I nearly went because it was situated in Malacca, my home town. Don't know for what reason I turned them down at the last minute... and now I find that they are very successful.

So, I do have a passion for start ups, and I feel a little sad I have to turn back this opportunity for something more stable.

So back to the phone call to the CEO. The CEO was very silent on the phone. I sensed shock. But I had to end the conversation fast. Sigh.. there goes another missed opportunity.

I am now sitting at Proton Mutiara waiting for my car to be serviced. There's wireless here... can also do some work...

Clearing

Not talking about the haze here.. but my thoughts are definitely clearing.

So far, I have been quite focused on thinking about my career. That's why I was hesitant to take up my friend's job offer. Going to the CTO job gives me the chance to shape a new company, shape new technologies and shape my future. But I guess I need to increase my "circle" to include my family members.

With a start up job, whilst there's the technology passion, there's gonna be the late nights. Will my family appreciate that? Maybe not.

With the other job that my friend is offering, I get to work at home. Yes, there are going to be some flights overseas, but I do get to spend substantially more time at home. Probably a better balance.

But I do feel the pain of the company that I might turn down. I will call the CEO and explain. Yes.. the CEO will be pissed... but I will offer some of my time for free to help shape that company and provide leadership. I hope things will work out...

Cyclone

Here we go again. Another curve ball.

I was all geared up to sign my contract tomorrow (good date in the Chinese Calendar) when I get a call from a good old buddy of mine who has left and joined a client and getting paid US dollars. He made me an offer to be the "Chief Enterprise Delivery Director". Ya man.. fancy name... typically wants me to run all projects globally within the company.

Yes.. it's now dilema time again.

On one hand, this client
+ Damn good money -> in USD! In one swoop, I will make more money than an Associate Partner!
+ can work from home
- more PMO work. Less techie work
- Title not so steam. I mean, compared with a "Chief Technology Officer" title...
- Working from home sometimes can be distracting cause my son's gonna drive me up the wall

I dono.. this has come so suddenly. It's like the moment I intended to leave, all these great offers come my way to tempt me.

Deep down inside, I actually wanna do the CTO work. But with this US dollar coming into play, it is hard to say no....

What do you think?

Conversations

I had a nice yahoo conversation with an angmoh partner, who used to be my counselor in the early 90s.

NewYorkPartner (5:37:36 PM): Hello, my ex-accenture friend
karipap (5:37:43 PM): i haven't left yet!
karipap (5:37:56 PM): still doing my favorite task - powerpointing...
NewYorkPartner (5:38:33 PM): It's all in the mind.
NewYorkPartner (5:38:44 PM): I'm in Korea on my way to China.
karipap (5:38:50 PM): ha!
karipap (5:38:52 PM): what's up there...
NewYorkPartner (5:39:32 PM): Dude, China is where it's at these days
NewYorkPartner (5:39:32 PM): You should know that.
karipap (5:39:38 PM): i know...
karipap (5:39:45 PM): but i don't want to leave good old malaysia...
NewYorkPartner (5:39:52 PM): I am the latest in a long series of white people to lose money in China
karipap (5:39:54 PM): my kid starts primary 1 next year...
karipap (5:40:02 PM): ha! so are u gonna be reposted to CH?
NewYorkPartner (5:40:02 PM): Malaysia Boleh!
NewYorkPartner (5:40:22 PM): No way!
NewYorkPartner (5:40:22 PM): Is primary school taught in English or MAlay?
karipap (5:40:30 PM): both languages
NewYorkPartner (5:40:47 PM): No chinese?
karipap (5:41:02 PM): unless u go to a chinese school.. yes.. there's some chinese
NewYorkPartner (5:41:49 PM): Melanie starts high school this year
karipap (5:42:12 PM): that's fast!
karipap (5:45:41 PM): so what's this project you're going to? is it a BD? or some execution work/
NewYorkPartner (5:47:50 PM): I have some AO and BPO work going on in Dalian and Shanghai for a client in Chicago
NewYorkPartner (5:47:50 PM): I need to go there and kick some ass
NewYorkPartner (5:47:58 PM): Since I can't count on you anymore!
karipap (5:48:13 PM): alamak!
karipap (5:48:31 PM): well, if there's something that can make me make l4, i would stay..
NewYorkPartner (5:50:20 PM): There's only one way to make senior executive
karipap (5:50:28 PM): SELL!!!!
karipap (5:50:39 PM):
NewYorkPartner (5:51:04 PM): How did you know? Someone has been spilling secrets
karipap (5:51:20 PM): ha! world's worst secret
NewYorkPartner (5:52:19 PM): Pipeline does not count
NewYorkPartner (5:52:31 PM): You gotta ring the f@#$ing bell
karipap (5:52:48 PM): unfortunately, there're not that many bells here...
NewYorkPartner (5:52:55 PM): Hey - I'm going to close the year with $40-50M, depending on this last deal
NewYorkPartner (5:52:55 PM): Whoo!
karipap (5:53:04 PM): damn
NewYorkPartner (5:54:15 PM): I had 3 SM's working for me with $10M plus sales - none of them went up!
NewYorkPartner (5:54:21 PM): Because they have only a one year story.
karipap (5:54:34 PM): consistency is the key, ya?
karipap (5:54:46 PM): and worst if u're in a country where RM1 = USD.25
NewYorkPartner (5:55:04 PM): It was pretty frustrating.
NewYorkPartner (5:55:10 PM): It's like all those sales get wasted
karipap (5:55:20 PM): that's why.. i'm frustrated...
NewYorkPartner (5:55:27 PM): Should have given them to you or Rohan.
NewYorkPartner (5:56:02 PM): You should emigrate and work for me in China!
NewYorkPartner (5:56:14 PM): I am looking forward to losing some big $$$ there.
NewYorkPartner (5:56:14 PM): But having fun
NewYorkPartner (6:01:11 PM): It was a good move for me to come back here.
NewYorkPartner (6:01:11 PM): But it was very very very hard at first
karipap (6:01:28 PM): are u moving your family to China?
NewYorkPartner (6:01:46 PM): No f@#$ing way!
NewYorkPartner (6:01:57 PM): Are you kidding me?
NewYorkPartner (6:02:03 PM): I have no plans to divorce my wife.
NewYorkPartner (6:02:16 PM): How about you?
NewYorkPartner (6:02:16 PM): You are at least Chinese
karipap (6:02:56 PM): well.. i was close to moving to china last year
karipap (6:03:06 PM): then we bitched abt one point - child education...
karipap (6:03:24 PM): the firm said I won't be getting anything. i showed them policy 800 which said i am entitled
NewYorkPartner (6:03:36 PM): Good for you
karipap (6:03:59 PM): yet, it was an impasse. They then relented and said USD5K a year then...but from what I researched, the international schools are at least USD10-15K!
karipap (6:04:05 PM): so this ding donged for many months
karipap (6:04:17 PM): whilst waiting, I decided to start enrolling my son to a school in KL
NewYorkPartner (6:04:24 PM): Was xxx involved?
karipap (6:04:27 PM): so, after so many months, i just decided it wasn't worth it
karipap (6:04:33 PM): abc was involved....
karipap (6:04:48 PM): honestly, if the firm wanted me there, USD15K a year wouldn't be an issue..
karipap (6:05:18 PM): and the ironic thing is I got a call from a competitor, they wanted to hire me to run the FutureFirst implementation in China XXX, and they would foot my son's education! Just so ironic
NewYorkPartner (6:06:41 PM): That's so true.
karipap (6:06:52 PM): so ironic
NewYorkPartner (6:06:59 PM): What did the KL partners say when you told them you were leaving?
karipap (6:07:40 PM): ha! even more bizarre...
karipap (6:07:49 PM): NO ONE has spoken to me seriously abt this matter...
NewYorkPartner (6:08:03 PM): What a bunch of monkeys
karipap (6:08:12 PM): One partner said "ok.. i reject your resignation, but i got too many fires to fight now.. so i'll talk to you later abt it"
karipap (6:08:15 PM): it's been a week....
NewYorkPartner (6:08:27 PM): You are welcome to come work for me anytime.
NewYorkPartner (6:08:27 PM): In any country
NewYorkPartner (6:08:27 PM): Any time you want
karipap (6:08:45 PM): Another partner actually even agreed on my reasons of wanting to leave "you are right, it's gonna be tough to move up"
NewYorkPartner (6:08:46 PM): the monkeys are running the fucking zoo
karipap (6:08:47 PM): damn...
karipap (6:09:04 PM): so, i can tell u, it has been quite amusing so far...
NewYorkPartner (6:09:27 PM): "It's going to be tough to move up as long as my worthless ass is occupying a seat"
NewYorkPartner (6:09:53 PM): 4 partners, 3 million revenue. What the ???
karipap (6:10:32 PM): ya lah
NewYorkPartner (6:10:50 PM): I love those guys, but I would fire all of them.
karipap (6:11:04 PM): sigh..
NewYorkPartner (6:11:10 PM): If XXX were around, they would all be gone
karipap (6:11:11 PM): i have not told XXX tho....
karipap (6:11:31 PM): i think he would have a serious conversation with me.. but he's in government now...
NewYorkPartner (6:11:31 PM): Fucking vampires
NewYorkPartner (6:11:31 PM): Really?
NewYorkPartner (6:11:44 PM): If I were leaving, he would be one of the first people I would tell
NewYorkPartner (6:12:04 PM): In fact, I talk to him frequently and ask his advice about my career
karipap (6:12:55 PM): ok then...

Then later today, he SMSed me and offered to take me over to Chicago for a job there... I'm tempted... the saga continues...

Oxymoron

yesterday brought some rain. It was good. For for the first time in a few days, we managed to get clear blue skies.

I was having dinner outside under the clear sky where I overheard someone ordering drinks
"saya nak Barley panas, taruk ais"

?

On top of that, today was an extremely busy day. Started off in Cyberjaya. Then mid morning got a call from the bank that I was chasing after, they wanted me to come into the bank in the evening for more discussions. So at 4pm, I made a long trip from Cyberjaya back into the heart of KL to have more discussions with the bank. Things are looking good at the bank. They asked us to prepare for a presentation to the upper management.

One of the partners called me up to discuss the above matter. He tried another attempt to make me stay. He said "eh.. you relak lah with your letter... you never know with this bank.. we could win it". I said "aiya... consider this my gift to the firm..."

Translucent

Yesterday and today, the API readings for Kuala Selangor and my areas improved greatly. My son was lucky for school was closed on Thurs and Fri. Yesterday, Saturday, he had to go to his art class. But going for his art class posed less resistance from his normal days going to school...

It's a good thing the haze has started to clear up. My asthma's getting better, eyes not so watery, throat still a little itchy tho...

damn those Indonesians who caused the haze by open burning.

On the ongoing saga of my new job, I got the contract yesterday via courier. All things look ok. But my feng shui calendar says I missed contract signing. Friday was a good day. So I now have to wait till August 20th to sign (another good day for contract signing).

Choke

The last 2 days have been very bad on me. The haze has been causing havoc engulfing almost all the states in Malaysia, especially Kuala Selangor (near where I live) where a state of emergency has been called. API reading was above 500 last nite.

Worst still, I work in Cyberjaya, where it's close to Putrajaya and that place has API readings above 350. Doubly bad for me, someone who has had asthma before.

Badawi has said "We now leave it to god".

I'm even contemplating moving my family back to good ol' Malacca for a while to escape the haze.

On another note, I told one of the US partners (who I used to work for and who was my mentor for many years before the economy downturn in this region forced him to go back to the states) about my decision to resign and he wished me all the best and also agreed that the firm sometimes doesn't really recognize talent correctly. Now it's 2 partners agreeing with my point of view!

Pinball

Wednesday, I took a break from powerpointing. I did quite a lot that day.

First, I finished 24 Season 2.

Later, I went over to my son's school to confirm his registration for Standard 1. When I got there, the clerk there asked me...

"ada bawak birth certificate?"

"eh... itu surat dari kerajaan dan sekolah tak cakap pun?"

"ye ler, tapi mesti bawak birth certificate"

"aku ni tak boleh baca otak orang lain lah. Mesti bawak ke? Saya ni tinggal jauuuuhhh ler.."

"nanti ku tanya gurubesar..."

Then this Chinese woman who looked like she came out of a Lat comic strip came and talked to me.

"mei yeou tai lai birth cert ar? pu ker yi register!"

Niama! Like.. all the way from Sungai Buloh and now she says I need to bring the birth certificate. I felt like supplexing her but decided against it as my son probably has to spend his next 6 years in this school.

So I did my next task then. I braved Jalan Pahang and Jalan Genting Kelang to make my way to the Wangsa Maju JPJ to "batal hak milik". I called up the JPJ hotline earlier (which no one picked up, until my 3rd call...) and the lady (who sounded damn tu lan) said that to do so, since my car was registered in KL, I HAD to go to Wangsa Maju. My god, in this day and age, I still need to go to a particular branch...

When I got there, in the bad haze, I was intercepted by some woman who offered me her "services". No.. she wasn't a prostitute (damn ugly). She had some friends upstairs already waiting in line ready to offer express services for any JPJ related activities! I asked her how much.. she said RM80! Niama! I decided to line up and take my chances.

Took me 45 minutes to finish what I wanted to do. But not before being told to go here and there, take this number, fill this form, that form. There were so many counteres, but each one dedicated to some specific tasks. Some counters were damn busy. Some, the woman behind it could even do her knitting! To sell my car, I even had to get this form "certified" in front of some officer. The funny thing was I had to go into the office area to do so, then another officer said "pakai seluar pendek, mesti tunggu luar". What the...

Olajuwon

You're probably wondering.. who?

At my age, and if you follow NBA, Hakeem Olajuwon was by far the best blocker in basketball history. He could block like there was no tomorrow.
http://www.nba.com/rockets/history/Hakeem_Olajuwon_The_NBAs_Bes-91094-34.html

And today, one of the partners did an Olajuwon on me. "I do not accept your resignation. But I cannot discuss now, too many fires to fight. Gimme the weekend". So I wait and see....

My new contract is on courier on the way to my home. From my mother in law's special Chinese Alamanac calendar, I see that Friday is a good day to "sign contract". So I'm wondering if I should buy more time...

Back at the client, I had to drive all the way to Cyber from KLCC today. It was hazy throughout. And when I got to the client, it was back to stroking powerpoint and MS Project. Hey.. MS Project 2003 man... state of the art... ho hum...

I hope Villareal beats Everton tonight in round 3 of Champions League.

Confirmation

I'm sitting in the training room listening to the Country Managing Director talk abt our firms performance. Suddenly, I get a yahoo message from a partner:

X : bro...throwing in the towel....?
karipap: no lah. i still think we can win the proposal
X : abt your resignation lah
karipap: ya lor..
karipap: cause i figured..... it's not gonna be easy to make it anyway.... to the next level...
X : probably right on that...holding on is also vely tough

NCH man.. what better confirmation on how screwed the situation is!

Then in another discussion, the CMD says "if someone is a bad counselor, or does not take care of his people, there is no way we will rate this person as outstanding".

KNNECCB! That was exactly what I was fighting against in the last promotion banding. Remember, I was telling you abt this one manager who just is so crappy to his analysts but because he has good client relationships, he was rated outstanding? There you go!

Calm

Today was surprisingly calm. Yes.. my resignation letter is in, but I was expecting a flurry of phone calls etc (which I did get, but all from the headhunter who wants me to go down to China). I met my counselor on the project and all he said was "Aiya, why u throw in the letter? We talk later".

So I guess we'll talk later.

On the other hand, my client in Cyberjaya pasted a huge wallpaper on their Mission XYY to state that they will go live with X countries in YY years... which I found damn funny because only last week I told him that he won't meet this mission...

Rebound

2 things happened just this morning that I'm wondering if it is an omen.

Firstly, I sent an email yesterday to the CEO of the new co (actually, I could have sent an SMS, but nevermind) to inform them of where to courier my employment contract. The email bounced back! Weird.

Then, this morning, when I did my morning jog, I got attacked by a female dog (yeah.. the bitch!). So bizarre. I fended it off with 2 well placed kicks to the head. It was quite funny because I was jogging with my mp3 player, and I could not detect the dog bounding towards me. I blame Limp Bizkit for me not hearing the dog coming.

I was telling my wife abt the attack
"since I'm a dog too, could that have some underlying message?"
My wife said "actually I'm a dog too, so does that mean you're gonna attack me, ha?"

Hmm...

Lillian

I was looking at my Lillian Too 2005 Feng Shui Almanac and found that today's a good day for a dog (which I am). Also, found out that there are a few times that are considered auspicious. So I waited until the last possible auspicious time slot today to send my resignation letter. The last auspicious time slot was between 9pm - 11pm.

So I drafted the letter (which I had no clue how to, so I did a google and found some templates on http://www.i-resign.com/uk/letters/letters.asp) and sent it in at 9.08pm.

Let's see what happens next

Moolahism

Some of you have asked why not tahan sikit because I'm so close to the top.

The deal here is this. The firm I work for is very numbers oriented. And it's also an up and out policy. I don't mind up and out, but when the importance is put on numbers, that's when i get pissed off.

For example, on a previous project, there was this other manager who did nothing but talk cock and smoke with the clients. Doing that, he built a close relationship with the clients and his sweet mouth (even though his face will drown the Titanic) allows him to close deals better.

For me, I don't do all this shit. I'm a Nike kinda guy. I'll just do it. So this is where the conflict is. During the last round of manager to snr mgr promotions, I fought tooth and nail to stand my ground that the guy I was talking abt above did not deserve promotion cause he's just all hot air, he treats the surrounding analysts like shit, but the biggest defence was "he is about to sell RM20M". How to fight like that? It's like, you can be the biggest talk cock king, but dono how to execute, never mind, can get promoted. Doesn't the firm value skills, ability to deliver, ability to manage, ability to nurture the younger folks any more?

Back to the up and out thing. I have perhaps another 2 years to make it. If I don't, I'm out of here. With my "numbers bringing skills" as great as the Malaysian soccer team, I know that next fiscal year is gonna be tough. Why? I'm now on a new project with so many other snr mgrs who will obviously get a higher allocation of numbers. So, I need to demonstrate 2 years in a row of continuous numbers. Last fiscal year was good for me. This fiscal year, crap. So, by the time I hit 2007, I got to sell like some big time job to make it.

This new job I'm going to, well, I've negotiated an ok package. There are all the upsides. If I do well, we bring the company towards IPO, then there's so much more upsides. I can mould the company to what I want, and not be bogged down by the tremendous chains that a large firm has.

If I don't make it, I can perhaps humbly come back to the firm, and try again for partnership. It's all win win for me, don't you think?

So, all in all, it's a calculated risk. The way I look at it, if I stay, I definitely won't make partner till 2007. Even that, it's not easy. I might as well leave now, take a year to see if I can make this new company successful. If not, I'll re-consider my options.

Vortex

I've had a discussion with my mentor, who is also the partner on the job for this insurance client in Cyberjaya. I made it clear to him that my passion for work is large scale delivery work, and in this Cyberjaya client, making me do programme management work, although I can do it, is quite blase to me.

I also shared the fact that I'm considering moving away from this firm, but because I have spent 13 years in this firm, moving away is emotional. We spoke about promotion to the next stage, but honestly, on the project I am on, with so many other senior managers around, moving up is not gonna be easy. At best, unless a miracle happens, I am only shooting for promotion in 2007. That's a long time to wait to get the moolah I was talking about.. so, if you ask me, the pendulum has swung back again...

Vertigo

For those of you who have yahoo-ed me, thanks for your concerns. I am no closer to making a decision. So cheong hei want, ya? Well, 2 days ago, I would have gone.

Yesterday, my wife sat down with me and gave me food for thought. What I have right now is stable income. If I moved, I don't know what will happen. Yes, work is sometimes shitty, but hey, what isn't?

I also found out that the firm has a new career model moving up. If I make it to the lowest partner level, it's good $. Damn good $. And there's like a USD100K bonus, stock options etc etc. But the problem is whether I'll even make it. The firm now is so sales centric, and you know me lah, i cannot even sell warm clothing to eskimos.

So here I am, spinning around, like Kylie.

Ironic

I just got off the phone. Another head hunter passed my details to this Asia Director of Financial Services. The first funny thing is that his surname is Suaku. Ya man! The whole "interview", i didn't know whether to laugh...

So, he asks me about my insurance experiences, and tells me about this great project that they are implementing this kick ass Object Oriented policy administration system for this China Client and they're looking for some Solution Architect to oversee the implementation.

He tells me that they will bring me over to Shanghai, put me up in expat accomodation, pay my child's education etc etc.

The ironic thing is earlier this year, I was also close to transfering to my own company's Beijing office (which to the chinese, they call Beijing BJ.. yes... I also nearly laughed at BJ). But this transfer deal broke down because my firm did not want to pay for my son's education. So, this head hunting deal damn ironic man.

What's more ironic, my company bid for that project at this head hunter current project. And lost, obviously...

One of my colleagues tells me that the whole of China is looking at this project, to see this other company fail! HAHAHAHA.. I guess I will probably not go... Like I said in an earlier blog, If I went to a competitor, I would really be cutting ties with my current company.

That's why I've decided to go possibly accept that CTO role (possibly because still can change my mind!). Yah.. it's tough, but at least I won't be cutting ties with my current company. And I probably can come back if things don't go right.

Today, I'm back in KLCC preparing for the afternoon demo to Bank X. Tomorrow I'll be back in Cyberjaya where I will have to break the news to the partner on the Cyber project... but then again, who knows, I could change my mind again :))

Signs

Today when I got to work, I got another appropriate note from Daily Om: http://www.dailyom.com/articles/2005/478.html

Is this a sign?

I've done the technical due diligence. Lots of challenges... still waiting for the business due diligence... the switch could be close...

Conversations

The good thing about vendors are that they know where good food exists. For lunch, the guy brought me to this Hai Lam Chicken Rice shop somewhere in Pudu behind Shaw Parade. This guy is so well known for his Siew Yoke that people just go there early to book a place to eat. Amazingly, this guy actually has a PJK (Pingat Jasa Kebaktian) -- for what, you asked? Cutting up pork?

Anyway, we sat there from 12.15pm till 12.45pm waiting for the master to bring out the bbq pork. All this while, there's this young boy behind the counter chopping up chicken. Then suddenly, when the master appears, the boy has to vacate! Wah.. it's like bruce lee walking in with the bbq pork. Somehow, the boy is not allowed to handle the pork, only the master can cut up the pork. Damn funny! It's like when you join this place, you start chopping chicken. You must master some kinda black belt before you can chop the pork!

Back to this vendor. I think his kung foo not good enough for the demo. So I SMS my partner to ask him to pressure the sales fella. My partner SMS' me back
"But Sales Person says the tech guy says he can demo"
I sms back
"Of course lah. If I ask you how long your dick is, you will surely tell me it's damn long!"

Later, I get an sms from my partner

"OK. Spoke to sales person. He will get a longer person"

Talking about funny conversations. In the lift, we were reflecting yesterday's news where a young girl drowned in a pool because her leg got sucked into the filtration pump. http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2005/8/1/nation/11645964&sec=nation

He said "how come down there can suck one"

Conflict

Today I'm back in Menara Tan and Tan working with the vendor. As expected, even though our demo is on Thursday, this vendor has hardly gotten anything started. Damn.

Then I get this email from the partner who runs the project in Cyberjaya. He wanted me to "predict how much time I would spend chasing this other piece of work so that I can ... ahem... avoid conflicts". KNNECCB! Last week, this same person said if I have the bandwidth, I should go ahead... Now... because I told the partner something he did not want to hear, he's crapping up on me...

What did he not want to hear?

Our Cyberjaya client basically had a mission statement. This mission statement was like ... Mission 69 stating that in 6 months, they will hop into bed with 9 women.(ok.. that's not really it.. but you get the drift... if I wrote the exact mission number, I would get some ninja assassins on my ass!)

So, based on the release planning I was working on, I found out that NO WAY! You definitely cannot bed 9 women in 6 mths. More like a mission 61!

Tomorrow, I have another meeting with the Cyberjaya project director to tell him the bad news. So of course, my partner is panicking. But then again, this is what happens when you ran the previous project doing estimating by plugging a spoon up your arse and counting the number of stains that come out. Workplanning takes time and experience and when I say "you cannot do it", no one is happy.

Sigh.

Lemah

Didn't feel like blogging anything during the weekend.

It was the Malaysian Mega Sales carnival and because my wife's No. 1 hobby is shopping, like a mindless zombie, I joined tons of people thronging the malls. My son utterly enjoyed himself over the weekend because he has finally mastered the art of skating on those roller shoes.

I must say I was impressed with the sales over at Ikea. Never have I seen Ikea slashing so much on their merchandise.

A new A&W opened at B1 of Ikano power centre. There were some free coupons and one of the deals was a RM1 for an A&W rootbeer. The funny thing was when I got my rootbeer, it came without the one scoop of ice cream. So I kow peh with the girl over the counter. She said for a single scoop of ice cream, I needed to add 95 cents. Niama! But then I showed her the picture on the coupon and it did show root beer with ice cream. So I got my one free scoop after all. It was free because even though the picture showed root beer with ice cream, the description said "root beer". Root beer with ice cream is described as "Root Beer float".

Shit.. why am I crapping up so much about root beer? I have 25 mins to go before a meeting with the client project director and I just wanna work up a foul mood.