Friday, October 15, 2010

Bullied gay teen - please hang on

A very moving speech by a city councilman in Forth Worth, Texas, pleading gay teens not to commit suicide... and ....please live long enough to create beautiful memories of their own.

Online: Burns' video on YouTube: http://bit.ly/bRTyvH


It is a very touching speech and ............ YES, I cannot agree more that bullying at school must stop.  It should be a place that children and teens feel safe to go everyday, learning and be loved.

It is painful for families who lose their love ones.  I wonder how the bully can live their lives thinking the pain that they have caused. 
We cannot deny the fact that some bullies are young, and they may not have thought the words they used, action that they took, can be so Cruel, Painful, Unbearable.... and in the end... cause someone to think that it is better to leave the world.
It is very sad that we need someone to lose their life and many enough, before we all realise that "No, it is not ok.".

For teens who happens to join the bully and read this post.  
- No, you don't need to be one of them to be popular at school.
- No, you don't need to be one of them to feel strong and be liked.
- Yes, we may not agree or understand what we see, especially things that are different to values we were taught since young, but you have no rights to hurt anyone intentionally.  We need to keep an open mind.
- No one in this world is exactly the same.  Even if you find him/her, I bet there is something you don't like/agree.

We are different in every way and please open your mind and heart to accept the fact that We Are Different and It is OK.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

A day with big fat farm animals - farm market





When I loved myself enough

I have read an interesting book today, "When I loved myself enough" by Kim McMillen with Alison McMillen.

I have extracted some powerful words from the book and I hope to remind every reader of this post what it means when loving ourselves enough.........

"When I loved myself enough........
... I bought a feather bed."

... I came to see I am not special but I am unique."

... I came to know I am worthy of knowing God directly."

... I learned to meet my own needs and not call it selfish".

... my heart became so tender it could welcome joy and sorrow equally."

... I no longer needed things or people to make me feel safe."

... I quit wishing my life looked some other way and began to see that as it is, my life serves my evolution."

... I quit projecting my strengths and weakness on to others and kept them as my own."

... I began seeing the abuse in trying to force something or someone who isn't ready - including myself."

... I began leaving whatever isn't healthy... people, jobs... anything that keep me small.  My judgement called it disloyal.  Now I see it as self-loving."

... I learned to say no when I want to and yes when I want to."

... I quit trying to be a saviour for others."

... I stop seeking experts and started living my life."

... I quit having to be right which makes being wrong meaningless."

... I forgave myself for all the times I thought I wasn't good enough."

Do you like what you see so far?  There are more powerful and lovely statements in the book.  I love reading the book.  It reminds us to love ourselves... ENOUGH. Isn't there a good saying....  "You can't give what you don't have"

Start loving ourselves and start doing simple thing to love ourselves enough.  Wondering where to start?   How about making yourself a nice cup of coffee and watching your favourite DVD?

That is a start....

Join others who love the idea:
Facebook : http://en-gb.facebook.com/pages/When-I-Loved-Myself-Enough-3/117071565001534
Jenni who shares her own list on Blog: http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=9862737&blogId=471303864

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Bargain sites

1. Books

Buying first hand computing books can be expensive and hard to find, so, what are the alternatives?  I tried to buy from Amazon, but interesting enough, there is no shipment to australia for the book I want.

Have a look at http://www.betterworldbooks.com/, you might find wide range of good priced books.  I have bought from the website once, the book received was in good quality.

2. Others

How about bargain priced furnitures, electronics appliances?  You might want to have a look at http://www.dealsdirect.com.au/ .  There are wide ranges of goods, best of all, there are pictures with it.  For goods like shelf, there is measurement details.    So, it is good to know exactly what you purchase.  Best of all, get the ideas of what is available before going out there start buying.    I found it while surfing the net, so try it at your own risk.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Flat vs Hierarchical Organisation Structure - Good or Bad

I used to work in multinational head office and never like it because of office politics.  I think office politics is damaging.  I think politics exist because of:
- power seeking;
- people involved have their own interest in mind; and
- breakdown of communications.

It brings in acts that are unproductive and waste of time and raises frustration among employees.

I started with my current employer when it was a small 25 employess company with 2 offices.  One in Sydney and one in Melbourne.  The Melbourne office have 8-9 employees. 
It was a flat reporting strucutre where all employees report directly to the boss, who comes only once a month. We did have weekly teleconfence meeting for brief update of the week. Small office, everyone focus on his/her work, very relax environment.  The only setback when we are not in main office, is, internal support, such as IT is slow.  The good thing is, if there is any problem, we directly hightlight that to the boss personally.

My company is doing well and is expanding.  New reporting hierarchical structure has been put in place.  I report to a leader and he reports to the boss.  We no longer meet weekly and the boss may not come every month as there are new offices set up at other states.

While the company is doing well, it is good to know my job is secured.  I think it is effective that the boss focus on strategic decision that moves the company forward.
However, with the new structure in place, that means there is a gap with the boss, especially we don't see him in the same office.  He relies more on others' input to make decision rather than own observations.  I do hope there will be no office politics in future for reasons mentioned earlier.

So, is flat structure better than hierarchical structure? 
It depends on the employees in the organisation.  If the boss is not smart and sensitive enough to ask the right questions and detect hidden problem then either sturcture is bad. 

Going back to the fundamentals:
- it works well if the employees' goals go along with the organisation goals/objectives;
- we are in the generation where Money is important, but Job Satisfaction carries the same if not more weight;
- we get defensive and disappointed when feeling not appreciated and misunderstood;
- it does take everyone's effort to respect the boundaries that each other have at work place.

An example will be my earlier post of the cheeky colleagues of mine taken my parking spot rudely.  It is not a matter of car spot.  It is a matter of being selfish and for own convenince, but affecting others.

So, let's see what comes next.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

It is not how long you work

"I am working hard.... long hours.... but don't feel appreciated.............."

Sounds familiar?

Well, it is time to realise it is not how long you work, but the return of the time you spent.  A good worker does not always mean the one who arrives work early at 8am and leave late.
Cruel reality but it is true.

The fact is:
- when you cannot resolve a problem, it may be a good idea to stop and work on other tasks.  You might see the light after a short break.  It works extremely well for me when looking at a programs that I develop for so long and I can't see a simple mistake.

- If you are working on number crunching / formulas/ programs, it is worth writing simple list of possible solutions on paper and tick as you go.  I found myself lost track of what I have tested after  a long while.

Ultimately, it will be satisfactory only if there is a solution.
Well, when there is no solution, we only says "I have tried my best".

- No one will pay good money for something that they don't find value in.  When asking for pay rise, focusing on what value you bring to the company, not how long you work every day.

Seriously, it is not worth it when getting good money, but no time to spend it. 
No wonder job satisfaction is important nowadays.  Just imagine we are underpaid to work late with no satisfaction. 

That will be really groomy.............  Sigh......

Telemarketing - does it work

"Ring ring ring..............  Ring ring ring......................"

I just got into the door, and heard my house phone ring.  I picked up the phone, guess what......

"Good afternoon, madam, how are you?"
"I am good, thanks"
"I am calling to offer you the service to block all telemarketing calls.  Once you register with us, the telemarketers cannot call your house phone.  It is illegal that they contact you once you register with us..,... "

All sounds good.............. 
The caller keep talking, then he asked for my name, confirm my address and then ...  mobile phone number....

Ok, do you see what is missing here?  There was no mention of cost by the caller...  and.. why would I give my mobile number to a stranger?

"How much will that cost me?
"..  Oh.... that is a very good question.  Just let me explain... once you register with us, it will block all telemarketing calls, charity etc etc and you will only receive calls from your friends and relatives.."

"Ok...  how much will that cost me?
Knowing he can't get away with it....  "that will only costs you $49.95 and it will block all telelmarketing calls..... "

Sigh......... 
- He has just wasted my and his time;
- It is real hard work for telemarketers.  He must have made so many calls and getting impatient;
- By the way... I still don't know which company he calls from;

Typical response to telemarketing calls is "No thanks, I am not interested".  Worst of all, probably just hang up the phone.
So, does telemarketing really work?
With so many scam out there, I will suggest not to give out your details, and be careful before engaging the service, when we have no idea of the caller.

Even if I remember the company, we don't even know whether he actually comes from the company he claims.

So.... think twice before engaging the service.