觸聽驚心

今天在火車上, 隣座妙齡美少女與手電另一邊廂的對話實在惹人暇想, 又心驚肉跳 -
"食藥好傷身... 唔乾淨ga... 要三日... 重好辛苦..."
"有'架生'... 去深圳... 八舊... 好乾淨... 間間醫院都有..."
"條仔俾錢啦... 唔喺掛, 條女好有米咩... 要人陪ga... 叫條仔陪佢去啦..."

不知看官以為話題是什麼, 但我以為她指的是墮胎. 而令人不安的是, 她的口氣就像介紹boutique般平常. 無話可說.

本週第二次的感動 - 關淑怡演唱會

剛剛從關淑怡演唱會回來, 心情還是既興奮又感動. 竟然在一星期內有幸享受了兩個十分出色的演出(Eason & Shirley), 實在有點難以置信... 可能是因為我對香港今天的所謂流行樂壇, 已習慣了不設任何期望. 但這星期在這兩場演唱會的體驗提醒了我, show biz帶來的"效益"其實是可以很personal的. 樂壇是一個場境, 一個觀察到的現象, 我想不應因一個現象的不濟而忽略了部份還是很有heart很有水準的人和事.

時間關係, 待續...

但肯定的是, 必定要為今晚表演動人的Shirley及觀眾掌聲鼓勵!

撃球中不能承受的震

主觀意願是每週六打網球, 但我對上一次網球活動已是農曆新年期間, 之後數星期沒有打是因為(排名不分先後): BBQ, 下雨, 趕不及從BJ回來.

今早終於"打得成". 整個過程中有大約1/3時間打得還可以, 其他時候甚是強差人意. 到尾段的時候, 我狠狠的一撃, 啪!! -- 眼角捕捉到有個黑影隨着球以極速彈出. 心想 "又斷線?? 不是吧... 這副線才換了不久..." 立刻朝球拍一看, 球拍線卻是完好無缺. 哦, 原來是那塊穿在球拍線上的"防震膠"飛彈了出來, 從底線直飛場中, 再跳彈至網前才倒下... 就是它了...

80%

Congratulations!! Sis bean was promoted, after her 1.5 years of corporate life. and, accumulated a pay raise of >80%... of course, on a small base (smile). while she always complains about the freaky corporate practices and particularly in 'use of talents', I can only tell her that this is inevitable. yet be honest, I can see no better way to deal with these besides doing your best. Rewards, tangible and intangible alike, are not guaranteed though.

well done, sis!!

Mark Twain

Talking about quotes from Mark Twain, here are a few that I like for now (haven't read enough to conclude yet) -

"Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint."
~ Applies to all "information" indeed.

"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."
~ Parents and certificate pursuers, pls note this. I implemented this when I was at college... hehe

"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear."
~ Recalled a similar conversation with b that EQ is not a blind positiveness on everything, but the massaged mental quality to manage opportunities and less-favourables.

"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first."
~ Though this may over-simplify the situation, it's a fact somehow.

"Adam and Eve had many advantages, but the principle one was that they escaped teething."
~ ha... teeth's teething? or the teething of the very complicated relationships...?

"IT IS MY BELIEF THAT NEARLY ANY INVENTED QUOTATION, PLAYED WITH CONFIDENCE, STANDS A GOOD CHANCE TO DECEIVE."
~ aarrr...!!!!!

(Quotes were extracted from http://www.twainquotes.com/ and http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Mark_Twain/)

Maniac

"The only two certainties in life are death and taxes"
Today, had a short conversation with a about the quote Mr FS used in 'defense' of his Budget. It's a quote from Mark Twain. a mentioned that there is probably another phrase in front of it, bringing in the subject of "uncertainties in life". Just now made a very brief search on the internet about it but yet to yield anything close. In fact, I stopped searching after reading another quote from Mark Twain:
"Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint"
Just reminded me the importance of independent thinking especially in this era of information overflow and media maniac.

Break or Stop

I was telling p that Windstopper is different from windbreaker. and my verdict is that Windstopper is superior to windbreaker (and some other fabric technology).

p is then so smart to tell the difference: the latter cannot stop but break the wind only.

Back to the Windstopper topic. Now I can see the beauty of it - The problem with ordinary fleece (supposedly good at keeping warm) is that it doesn't shield you from wind. Wind could effective lower the temperature several to double digit degrees celcius depending on the speed. That's why I used to wear a gore-tex outside to keep out wind & water plus a fleece inside to keep warm. Sometimes I found such combo quite heavy and clumsy. The beauty of Windstopper is that it serves both purposes. It 'stops' the wind (aarrrr yes, what else?) and those with a warm structure (e.g. wool or fleece liked linen) keep you warm. Of course, Windstopper only allows some water repellency but not totally water-proof. So don't expect you can walk dry in the rain.

Whatever Marginal

Reading a's "Sleepless" (http://shallwetalk.blogspot.com), I suddenly think of the book Good to Great...

Also, this made me recall a conversation with b. Let me recap what I can remember. [Disclaimer: this means (1) I may not remember correctly the conversation; (2) even if I can remember it correctly, the content itself may not be accurate; (3) I may not remember correctly the conversation and may add to the inaccuracy of information (...smile)] -
Q: What are the two Fortune 100 companies of the 70's remain in 2000 Fortune 100?
A: GE and Kodak
Q: What are the top 3 things that bring down the companies?
A: (1) Standardized processes; (2) "good to great" too costly; (3) customer-centric (!!!)

aarrr... hmm...

兩種心情

聽着收音機(一年沒一兩次的"娛樂") -
主持人輕奮的說着Eason的concert, 尤其中間窩心溫情[單車, 大個女等]的一段, 心情也輕輕的.
咪頭一轉新聞報道 - 陳方安生的母親方氏離世, 享年92.

Last Day at 7-Up

Today is the last day at 7-up. I never have a fixed desk here, and indeed most of the time I stayed at clients'. Having said that, I have gradually built up 3 lockers of stuff. While I was puzzling what to go and what not, a came with a suggestion - scoped to 2 cartoon boxes, that's it, and surplus goes away. sounds good. well, who cares, at least someone helped making the decision which history has repeatedly proven to be painful.

See what I may miss at 7-up:
~ boss's desk (still don't like people sitting at her desk :p)
~ windows (real ones u know)
~ sifu, PN, TL, 女... et al
~ 13005, 13006
~ 1302

Yet looking forward at down-7 to:
~ building up a cosy corner with the lovely gang: w, a, t, k
~ building a Disney castle on MY desk
~ magneting stitch & chip & dale & tigger at the hanging cabinet
~ being the first walking out of the elevator
~ ... reprinting name card...?

Advocate

"My tax return in the United States has to be kept on a special computer because their normal computers can't deal with the numbers."
- Bill Gates in a speech to a forum in Lisbon, Portugal, extolling the benefits of modernising government IT systems. (TIME Magazine, February 13, 2006)

續陳奕迅演唱會

... aarrr... 其實非筆墨所能形容... 總之十分精彩, 要在現場才能體會得到! 多希望你也在場!!

美中不足的是, 大會派發的"噪音棒棒"極度剎風景. 實牙實齒"賣唱"的歌手應引以為鑒.

Get a Life - 陳奕迅演唱會

昨晚去看陳奕迅演唱會, 可說是近年來最享受的一個show -
~ 全場爆滿, 氣紛非常熱烈
~ 沒有嘉賓, 沒有握手
~ Eason 只管唱歌, 差不多沒有說話 (終於連Encore足足唱了200分鐘 - 抵!!)
~ 原本有點不情願看第8場, 因他這些年來的表現及情緒好像有點失控, 擔心他會在頭數場太盡情而影響之後的演出 - 結果是喜出望外, 唱出水準
~ 舞台, 道具, 人物設計不俗, 造出不同的場景及氣紛
~ Eason 表情豐富投入不在話下, 舞技也意外的可觀, 自然不造作
~ 沒有明顯的"掉歌詞"情況
~ 音響控制得宜, 沒有爆咪的情況
~ 與Hamburg Symphony 的3首歌 [傷信, 1874, 黑夜不再來] 效果不算很特出, 但還是很喜歡 - 唱得好也奏得好, 可惜1+1還沒有>2. 認真的弦樂跟廣東流行曲不容易相處. 港樂 (HK Philharmonic) 以往與香港流行樂手的合作演出, 我認為有不少是頗牽強的, 效果平平. 而且樂團往往是大配角, 我覺得是挺難受的. 今次Hamburg Symphony 站在台上的當眼處, 跟Eason 各佔一角. 這3首歌的前奏, 過場, 轉折等樂章都重新編排及加長, 讓HS有表演的機會. 其實他們奏得蠻感動的, 當時很希望在場的觀眾都會懂得(起碼嚐試)去欣賞, 覺得這是一個大好的"教育"機會. 結果觀眾的能耐到第3首[黑夜不再來]時開始鬆懈, 當Eason唱完一段讓HS獨奏過場時, 部份(不少)開始忍不住大喊Eason的名字... 有點失禮.
~ 最後大半小時, 全場萬多觀眾在沒有被"要求"下自動和唱. 緯為奇觀, 也感動.
~ 還有... (aiya... 用中文實在太慢... 趕不上... 待續)

One Minute Ahead

My flight back to HK was scheduled to depart at 0750. I only managed to settle on the plane at 0749 (so fortunate). It's time to conduct lessons learnt.

Plan worked like this:
0000 Online check-in
0625 Check-out hotel
0630 Car pick-up
0650 Arrive at airport
0750 Depart

Time ticked like this in reality:
2100 Online check-in [ahead]
0637 Check-out hotel [behind]
???? Car pick-up [not even happened]
0647 Get on an old taxi [not planned]
0700 Still stuck on the road [not expected]
0713 Arrive at airport [behind]
0717 Get boarding pass [behind]
0747 Pass border & security [behind]
0749 On plane [finally]

Lessons learnt:
~ Don't assume all Sat mornings are beautiful
~ Don't assume your driver can pick you up so early while it was -xx degrees celcius (even he promised)
~ Don't assume you can always reach him by mobile (for one time, a woman claimed to be his wife picked up the phone and said something...)
~ Don't assume traffic is very kind given so early - the whole world is travelling with you
~ Don't expect the custom, border and security are fast - again, the whole world is travelling with you
~ Keep on waving to CX staff (who hold a final call board) indicating you are the missing person(s) when queuing at the border. I did that.
~ Don't assume Gate 13 is close even though Gate 19 is right behind the security

Thanks god I was not the last one... I was the second last. still, what a shame.

Can we beat Marathon with a template?

T, forgive me if I mis-use the OC here... hehe, which you know which "OC" I'm referring to. A little supplement to T's post (http://lostincloud.blogspot.com).

Template is very important. yet a common understanding, execution and thus interpretation of the required information by all stakeholders are even more critical. Defining template to the lowest level possible seems can fix part of the problem. But then it would be very time-consuming to complete, time-consuming to review (esp for these senior OC people), and the flavour of fostering a team's insight into the decision could be stripped down to a mere numbers' game, which could be done with a program in the extreme.

ps1 I was not that frustrated afterall (though super tired), for my piece of decision not being addressed... I somehow foresaw that, didn't I? so it's all about expectation... It seems that we still have to stay IN the clouds for more while... we still have to run more marathons...
ps2 I still think, T, it's better to point out the observations vs the 'expected results' of the OC... tricky on when and how though...

P.S.1 Visioning Fish or Chicken...

Bingo!! The dinner menu on the Valentine's Day CX312 was as predicted - Chicken or Fish...

I ordered fish. Simply calling it fish may sound too dull, but that's what they did. I think it was steamed Cod fish (dunno black or silver though, probably black... cheaper) with dried red dates (yes, Chinese ones).

Switched to a hotel that I haven't stayed before - the Kempinski, where T and myself had had a memorable German lunch before - which is nice. Rooms (standard ones) not superb but typical, nice international hotel chain type. What I like most is the deli there, which sells 'normal' sandwiches and pastry and bakery and German bretzel. I tried their coffee, ham and cheese crossiant and chocolate crossiant for breakfast, which are all up to standard.

Back to the valentine's nite. To celebrate with F, we wanted to go to Paulaner (the German restaurant) but a queue (not very short) was still there at 9pm. So we decided to give up on western restaurants and went to... Sorabol!!! yes, there is a Sorabol in the hotel's mall (the Lufthansa Center BJ). We had their famous homemade noodle with beef (as nice as that in HK and a little cheaper), and a pan-fried stuffed vege (green chilli, mushroom stuffed with minced beef) and egg-wrapped fish. Priced a little cheaper than HK but 15% hotel surcharge applies. (I took some pics with F's camera, show later if good)

Visioning Fish or Chicken for Valentine?

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. While I'm so delighted to having the honour to have Valentine's dinner with 女中豪傑, let me predict what will be available on the CX menu tonite - Chicken or fish?

Again, while thinking if they will play any gimmicks today, just now took a look at their vision statement -
"Our vision is to make Cathay Pacific the most admired airline in the world.
- Ensuring safety comes first
- Providing Service Straight From the Heart
- Encouraging product leadership
- Delivering superior financial returns
- Providing rewarding career opportunities"
...
Quoted from Cathay Pacific website (http://www.cathaypacific.com/intl/aboutcx/cxbackground/0,,126072,00.html)

Frankly speaking, these are VISIONS?? gee...

明火4小時

很久沒有齊齊整整浩浩蕩蕩的與至愛團隊郊遊, 出發前心情固然輕奮, 卻又帶點晃惚 - 可能是人大了, 顧慮多了(真多餘!), 總覺得"盡興"準不是必然的幸福吧... 結果, 經過明火4小時的精心泡製, 這次BBQ真的令人十分回味 - 值得回味的不單是食物, 更賞心的是確認了這團隊仍舊是我至愛的團隊. 雖然有部份隊友沒有出席, 他們仍是我至愛的隊友.

好事不能盡錄, 只管回顧一些風流人物:
~ 全體人員: Team 1, Team 2A & Team 2B 一如以往超高效率高質素的分工合作, 成就1+1+1>3.
~ a: 大PM領導有方, delegation 之準繩更不在話下. 自己不(能)吃鷄翅卻給我燒了一只滿分的.
~ 虎: 全能8哥, 打折(只需露面, 不用講價), 擔抬, 起爐, 帶小孩, 放狗樣樣通 (唯獨不能叉鷄翅).
~ w: Program Manager, 督導大PM兼QA質量保證. 與生猛小蝦博鬥3個回合終大獲全勝.
~ 女: 身懷火中取物絕技, 主理炭火直燒.
~ p: 樂而忘返(學). 發起BBQ期間吃雪糕雪條, 造福人群.
~ k: 多D嚟密D手, 將翠綠蔬果變身成錫箔閃閃生輝的待煨羔羊.
~ pd: 無懼熊熊爐火, 如常身繫pro機, 配服.
~ pn: 緊張媽媽, 身懷較剪, 為愛兒b仔隨時跟食物(與狗)一較高下.
~ b仔: 腸仔殺手, 還有"the blue one". 有馴狗天份.
~ tl: 生日快樂!! 培養出m仔好幫手, 恭喜恭喜.
~ m仔: 8哥4年級版, 可造之材.
~ d弟: 青年男子組代表, 半隻腳踏進i-kee門檻, 祝好運.
~ moi: 是日單尾代表作 - 單叉雙籤式手動翻包面燒烤蜜糖多士.

後記1: 部份片段在a's blog 曝光 (http://shallwetalk.blogspot.com)
後記2: BBQ在大潭, 地方不賴 - 基本設施, 地方清潔, 後勤補給也方便. 的士從灣仔出發約30多元, 天后約50元. 路邊泊車位甚少, 可泊在Parkview時租.
後記3: 總行程超過6小時, 快活真的不知時日過.
後記4: 回程途中k說看見歪咀男藝人. 另, p說兩次在我們身邊經過的黑色Ferrari人很面善.

Down 7

It's said that the big-I team will have to move to the floor-down-7 this month. Frankly speaking, after 5 yrs of a mobile-undesked corporate life, I've got used to the life of being a 飄泊的浮萍... It seems fine as long as there is adequate periphery, legitimate or otherwise, to lay my stuff, and myself. Indeed, I still regard mobile office a brilliant idea, considering in particular:

~ the complementary (complimentary?) work-from-home flexibility
~ the spirit of "the early bird catches the worm" for the sake of relocate-yourself-from-evil neighbor
~ the beauty of leaving confidential (aka unwanted) materials (include unfinished latte, business cards, candy wraps, expired coupons) at literally nobody's desk
~ well... onDemand

I'll probably miss the good old days...

p.s. after reading p's pilgrimage to her big boss's office today (http://pomxpom.blogspot.com) - well, i would say the setting is a zero-downtime (i.e. zero-tolerance) environment. can't use the a-dude-somewhere-jammed-the-stupid-networked-printer excuse any more... poor thing...

勝在夠索

猜一種家居或辦公室用品.

我不特別喜歡Garfield - 實情是有點討厭他奸狡的様子 - 但今天看見這造型, 都忍不住笑了出來.

有心人可到K仔便利店消費, 研究一番.

Mindful

Interesting findings reported by TIME magazine (January 23) tells something about our minds (dear young and young-at-heart, please note no.9) -

1) Grandma was right - fish really is brain food
2) A steaming cup of coffee does turbocharge our mental acuity
3) Getting less than 8 hours of sleep seriously compromises our ability to concentrate and solve problems
4) Creativity rarely strikes in a flash but more typically results from steady cogitation
5) Multi-tasking can exact a heavy toll on the quality of our output
6) Daily meditation physically transforms the cerebral cortex
7) Physical exercise is as important as mental gymnastics in keeping Alzheimer's disease at bay
8) Human brain retains plasticity and capacity for learning throughout life
9) In some respects, our mental performance, despite a few glitches with short-term memory, doesn't peak until midlife, when the white matter in the loftiest parts of the brain is thickest

鬆緊有序

今天跟我的 Key stakeholder 再次對話 -
"鬆"的暫是一口氣: 電話另一邊的聲音聽來沒平時的笑意爽快, 反而稍帶疲憊的問我對於某高層要求的 action, "認為是否可能做得到" - 原來我不是唯一有疑問的人...
"緊"的還是一雙眉: 還是要 action 的... 好戲在後頭呢...

Quote

Somebody says "Just because a man is born in a stable, it doesn't make him a horse."

This made me recall the infamous quote from a HK legislator years ago, which disagrees -
臭甕出臭草

年初一後記6 - For Record

Remember my 老老友S whom started to dive in Harry Potter after my encouragement? I received her call last nite -

(seriously) "hey mo... do you have a minute? i really really need to talk to you..."
(hastily) "do you remember...?? ... !! ... ?! ... !? ... !!!!! "
(for your interest's sake, I've deleted the 3,950 words that followed, as these are about a crucial plot in the Half-Blood Prince)

anyway, for record and justice for buddy S, she has made a point that "RAB" (again, for your sake, don't ask me what is it. if you know you know) is Sirius's younger brother.

let's see what history (or future? in Book 7) would tell about buddy S's brain and passion...