Today is the third and final day of the Chinese New Year long weekend. We didn't go anywhere far since we'll be driving to KL next weekend for the Hari Raya Haji, which by the way is another long weekend. I took the opportunity yesterday (Friday) to catch up with work at the office. Spent the whole day rectifying problems related to the new attendance system. There's still some teething problems which, contrary to what the boss hopes and wants, will always be present because of the way the system is designed. Nevertheless, the visit by Shahrina earlier of the week, helped a lot in teaching me how to solve some of those problems so hopefully, life won't be so bad after this. So, thanks a lot Shahrina even though you ran into some problems like getting lost in KT!!
The West Wing DVD I ordered also arrived earlier this week, all 22 eposides from season 1. I've watched 15 episodes in less than a week and I hate to tell you again and again, The West Wing series is one of the best thing shown on TV. I don't care it has US propaganda or Jewish sentiments. It's a story about people with power and how they handle the power. My favourite character is Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford) the deputy chief of staff. I like the one where he bungled up a press conference when he accidentally confirmed the president has a secret plan to control inflation. Brilliant scriptwriting, just brilliant.
I also came upon another realisation of my current situation. I believe I would still be here, working in Kerteh, for at least another two years. Me and Awi talked it out and it just dawned on me that I need to make some concessions on my part as well. Nothing is concrete so far but based on the information in hand, it is likely that I'm going to stay put for a few more years here.
Saturday, January 24, 2004
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
Am I in the most misunderstood profession?
A friend of mine at work asked me a very interesting question today. He asked me,"What is it exactly that you guys do in your department?" The 'guys' is referring to me, Wan and Am. I was quite dumbfounded and lost for words because I just couldn't believe that such a question can be posed to me. I would think people would already see what is being contributed by this small department that I joined in mid-2002 and do not have to ask such a question. Are we so unknown to the rest of the company that they need to ask? I mean, they can check the Intranet if they want to know what we do. I guess I felt all weird about it because I've been pissing about how busy I am this whole day and I suppose to some people, I was just doing nothing meaningful to the company. Here I am, coming again to work at night, so that I can get away from people bugging the whole day, and for what?
Just for records sake, here's a summary of what I've been up to today in chronological order:
1. Get work permit for the network upgrade work at the Admin Building.
2. Security told me there was a power trip at the plant gate and the security system needs to be logged in. Went all the way there only to find they've already started up the system themselves.
3. Tested the equipment to replace the faulty micro repeater at the Ethylene VAX system.
4. Continued with resolving the many missing data problem inside e-punchcard system.
5. Boss called me into a meeting with Telekom to discuss on the discounted calls issue. Still no decision. The Telekom guy kept continuing on how we need to support Tellekom since it's 70% owned by the government. I just want to shout to him, "Be more competitive lah. Dah lah Jaring pun nak takeover. How to be excellent and preferred if you just want to be monopoly?"
6. Inspected the materials arrived at on-site for the network upgrade project.
7. Continued with downloading data for the attendance system throughout lunch hour.
8. Walked to EMSB Control Room to try out the replacement micro repeater. Didn't work, by the way. :)
Basically, that's all and in between, I called up SSM for the extended security system project, assisted in the new MSD Manager to resolve his Notes Mail problem and received more work from the boss such as on educating users on how to use projectors. It's no Prime Minister's job but it's what I do.
Lesson of the day: What people do or go through in a day should not be questioned as though one doesn't do enough work. It's all about perception. I used to be on the other side of the wall but I believe everyone has their part to play. The most difficult thing to do is changing people's mindset and outlook. Great men had failed doing so.
Just for records sake, here's a summary of what I've been up to today in chronological order:
1. Get work permit for the network upgrade work at the Admin Building.
2. Security told me there was a power trip at the plant gate and the security system needs to be logged in. Went all the way there only to find they've already started up the system themselves.
3. Tested the equipment to replace the faulty micro repeater at the Ethylene VAX system.
4. Continued with resolving the many missing data problem inside e-punchcard system.
5. Boss called me into a meeting with Telekom to discuss on the discounted calls issue. Still no decision. The Telekom guy kept continuing on how we need to support Tellekom since it's 70% owned by the government. I just want to shout to him, "Be more competitive lah. Dah lah Jaring pun nak takeover. How to be excellent and preferred if you just want to be monopoly?"
6. Inspected the materials arrived at on-site for the network upgrade project.
7. Continued with downloading data for the attendance system throughout lunch hour.
8. Walked to EMSB Control Room to try out the replacement micro repeater. Didn't work, by the way. :)
Basically, that's all and in between, I called up SSM for the extended security system project, assisted in the new MSD Manager to resolve his Notes Mail problem and received more work from the boss such as on educating users on how to use projectors. It's no Prime Minister's job but it's what I do.
Lesson of the day: What people do or go through in a day should not be questioned as though one doesn't do enough work. It's all about perception. I used to be on the other side of the wall but I believe everyone has their part to play. The most difficult thing to do is changing people's mindset and outlook. Great men had failed doing so.
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