construction, 'Sack Your Boss' by Jonathan Jay

above is a picture dated on July last year. the picture was taken in a site which i was directly involved as part of project management team. The picture depicts one of the most important event in any construction stage - the first pile! precede to that, there are a lot of other important things.

there are certainly lot of activities before you can turn that key and get your feet inside a finished building. there are elements of law, contract, engineering, science, technology, environment, management, lot others but i think the most important is humanity. the more I think about it, it is more and more about human and art. and I'm an engineer...

there are a lot of thing about humanity that I learned during my stint as project management team. and I think I also bit by bit discover my strengths and interests. I must live within this strength or otherwise I'll doing things that I probably hate. I remember reading a book 'Sack Your Boss' by Jonathan Jay 4 years ago on the same issue. however I realised that only a year ago, through a hard way. some of us only learn things through the hard way, I supposed.

so I should start put my strength on the run, again I supposed. but how?

country life, 'The Third Wave', Alvin Toffler

this is my grand ma's barn. what you can see here is the wood logs and an old wood stove. she cooks certain dishes using this wood-fired kitchen. i loved to sit here to get the aroma of the food as well the smell of the burning wood. i wonder if this kitchen is less environmental-friendly compared to gas or electricity fired stove. i should do some research on this fact!

whenever there is a need to cook dishes on a larger scale, e.g. during festive, we will swarm this place. we need to get a hand in preparing the food. it used to be joyous, momentous and free from the outside world. but after my grand pa passed away few years ago, the event is not as joyous or momentous as before. there are less participation nowadays. in fact the conversation becomes more and more about work, car, house, technical, money and about people. the modern life has finally creep into this country life.

is country life style need to be defended? may be it is because i notice that more and more vacation planners promote this 'country life' getaway. i, myself, longed to live in this kind of life style. but according to Alvin Toffler in his book 'The Third Wave', the change is initiated by every one of us.

about a year ago i worked in a company overseeing massive development areas initiated by the government. one of the area is very close to a small town. one morning, i am having my breakfast alone in a traditional styled outlet when a local man, about 50 years old, came and shared the table with me. after learning where i'm working he expressed his eagerness to know about the development. but after that he expressed his concerned on what will happed to his sleepy town, traffic, to their villages and also the effect on the environment. immediately my mind struck back to the Alvin Toffler's book.

i believed i heard someone talking about 'the price of development' not long ago. but i couldn't remember the context of the conversation. may be i, myself, can fill in the context of such phrase. after all, i, is the one who initiate the change.

sea side

last Sunday afternoon my family & i went to a small fisherman town. by the time we reached there it was raining heavily. we managed to get a shelter in a small building by the sea side. it is a two-storey building and close to a jetty (in the picture). at the ground level are food outlets while at the top are shops, less than 30 i guess, selling sea-related products. i believe the outlets are run by villagers.

there were people having their food. i don't know whether the food is good or not, but the 'ambiance' was certainly very 'delicious' considering the condition, heavy rain and by the sea side. most of the people seemed to get themselves 'busy' looking at the sea. there were also people fishing on the jetty despite the rain. i also saw kids having fun playing in the rain. i also noticed that my kids were happy. even my one year old kid is having a good time looking at the sea and the rain.

so last weekend was certainly a good one. but i'm still out of a job. nevertheless i'm also started to read a book titled 'get real, get reach' by Farrah Gray last weekend. i'll come back more about the book later.

market place, 'Let Them Eat Cake' by Danziger book

the picture was taken by me on last weekend. it is a view of a small wet market place in a remote town. this is the place where commoners buy their fish, vegetables etc. it is very small with about 20 'outlets' (or tables). however only about 70% were occupied.

it was morning and raining very heavily while my family bought some of the necessities. i stood with one of my kids looking at the rain. the ambiance was so 'luxuries'. it was cold, comfort, plus listening to the falling rain and the voice of people inside the market. i remember according to Danziger, experience during shopping is also contribute to the 'luxury' concept. as a commoner i felt luxury having my time at the market. the sound, smell, feel, sight, was very 'luxurious'. i even had a very quality time with my kid. we talked about the rain, the drain, people etc. i hope she can remember the moment too.

i should be looking more of this moment.

business

today i went for a breakfast in a small coffee shop in a very small town. very small indeed that there are less than 10 businesses and half of them are eateries outlets. around the town is rural area.

despite that, the coffee shop is busy with people. i'm wondering is it because variety of the food available? to say that the food there are tasty is inaccurate. they are, taste about the average. is it because of the scarcity law? i.e. there is not much food outlets that people have no other choice but to have their breakfast there. is it because of the ambiance of the outlets. but one thing is true lots of the customers are also passer byers. i can see a lot of lorries, contractors vehicles and also municipals machineries. there are also people wearing all kinds of corporate uniforms having their good time there.

it is an interesting subject to learn. but may be because all the while i've been an employee, i couldn't appreciate or understand the situation. yes, i read a lot of books but i think i still remember one of the dialogue in the film 'jurassic park' about the different between astronomers and astronauts.

now i think i want to be the astronaut.

boundary

yesterday someone from my previous 'life' called me telling about work. it was like a carpenter is told to do goldsmith's work. multitasking, right?

however my mind flew back to about 10 years ago when i was assigned to be in a committee that do the audit for built-up facilities in a piece of property. the audit was designed to capture all the existing condition of the facilities. i was, and two other guys, representing the seller, which was also my employer. in the committee there were also representatives from the buyer.

so we did the audit. however the buyer representatives had in their hand the sale & purchase agreement while i'm not allowed to even to see the agreement from my employer. it's confidential, my employer said. oh, ok, so let it be. the audit finished, documented and presented to both parties.

though it was a good experience, but something else struck my mind yesterday. the audit that i went through was actually to set a boundary on which both parties could turn into if they were involved in any dispute later. and they were got into dispute later on. i actually got that idea about 10 years ago, diminished and only to be rediscovered yesterday!

perhaps it is a good practice to draw a line from which we started something. put it on record and periodically check for our progress. and document it. in the case of a carpenter who is told to do goldsmith's work, i need to take a deep thinking. should it be done? is the boundary need to be crossed?

life is somehow hard enough and don't make it harder.

paradox

for two days i've been absent from the cyber world. reason? i got an acute tooth ache! i was just 'pampered' my self in a sofa watching what was going on in my country and around the world. up to this point of time, i think every one has already built their mind on the Japanese disastrous natural and man made events, and also foreign forces action in Libya. And back in my country, political events are becoming daily news menu. really i mean every day news feed.

then i have this feeling that any of us in this world is commoner! one day we're the master and the other day we roll down to the commoner level. Japanese may be a master of technology but nothing to the natural wrath. and know what, they are now racing against time to undo wreckage done on their own (nuclear) technology! we create weapon as means to protect humanity against tyranny and we are also the one who will destroy humanity with those weapons! what a paradox!

once i used the word 'paradox' to describe certain conflicting directions in my previous organisation to my boss. he agreed very much but he said we could do only this much. of course that statement dismayed me because as an organisation which stood on some sort of regulations, something must be done. justice must prevail! after all human being have 'perseverance' concept fixed in their soul. we live by that concept, i explained. then i realised that indeed what my boss said was true. we cannot beat our superior and i concluded that we are just commoner.

but is it? just imagine that i had to face the height of pain with my tooth ache, deterministic, and finally the feeling diminished. i took some time but i won. but in the other part of the time as a commoner i lose out. take into consideration the fact that i'm jobless now.

paradox?

professional duty of care

four years ago, on the way to be a certified professional engineer, or PE, i was introduced to the word liability, negligence. then there was a concept of duty of care. now i'm in trouble. i've never heard any of those words during my study years nor before i decided to get a PE. i mean, i've never heard in the context that i'm now facing.

luckily, by that time i've developed interest in law (i've even finished several books on constitutional law, e.g. a book written by Michael Allen, Brian Thompson and Bernadette Walsh). but i'm not going to be some kind of lawyer or what but it really an eye opener. an engineer must be careful in discharging his role as, an engineer. it says when i offer my service, i owes duty of care to the man on the street. if i fails to discharge that duty (or they called it, breaches the duty) reasonably & that man suffers, so i may be in trouble. and all this can arise even if there's no formal contract between me and that man. and i may even liable if a third party suffers because my conduct. and this conduct may in in term of my action or inaction (or omission, they said). i'm not offering any advice here, and any law man out there please help me if i'm wrong.

in order to refresh my mind the following cases have great influence on what ever things that i've wrote.

• Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562 - duty of care and who is your neighbour test
• Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee [1957] 1 WLR 582 - duty breached and the standard of care test
• Hedley Byrne and Co. Ltd. v Heller and Partners [1963] 2 All ER 575 - damages

all those cases were laid well before i was born and i believe they are now have stand the test of time.

i wonder is it good if all those concepts and what the history behind them be taught during the study years? i don't really know but i'm really glad if i had the opportunity to learn them during my study. those things should be able to prepare the undergraduate to be kind of 'prepared'.

so for those undergraduates, please dig deeper in what ever your field of studies. ask people around you. some say asking correct question is sometimes more important than answering correctly. i've already had my lesson for not thinking out of the box.

luxury, 'Let Them Eat Cake' by Danziger book

today i'm able to write again! this morning i read a book about luxury in a park beside a river. there i had a glimpsed of an old man picking up some plant from the river. i know no one would eat that kind of plant. i took a picture and started to think whether this old man has a good life. according to the book, luxury is now more towards experiential luxury. brand related luxury still exists but we can expand the meaning of luxury.

the book by Danziger, entitled 'Let Them Eat Cake', really makes me rethink about luxury. how i'm going to insert this interesting aspect into what can i give to the world. few years ago i did think how about giving a service, for example in engineering consultancy, plus some additional punch such as after sales or service advice.  engineering consultants seldom do this. or in my experience non at all. after they have finished a building, hand it over to the client together with operation & maintenance manual, they just go. what if they come back, take a look what has happened, look back at their design efficiency or practicality etc. i believe client will feel 'luxury'. what if....

yea, what if ...

unemployed

this is my second day without job. it' hard. nevertheless i keep on searching for money so that i can keep on paying those bills, loans, meals... my kids. i love them very much that i must strive to give them a good life, good education. i pray that they should never ever follow my hard life path. i hope that they will be able to chose a career that suit them most, do what they like most. for me, i'm stuck here with 'my' past mistake of choice.

it's very common 20 years ago (1980s), in my country, that commoners don't have that knowledge of choosing. believe me, that by the age of 17 i still could not appreciate the meaning of 'diploma' or 'degree'. i was sort of love, at that time, to get involve in something that have to do with computer, physics or architecture, or even agriculture. but the remarks a got from my family was "physics? are you going to be a physics teacher?" and "architecture? it is a recession now, you won't get a job". for agriculture, it was a big no-no. there was not enough information where actually those fields that i like can bring me in my life.

i still remember that when it came to chose for university courses, i looked at ads showing 'computer science integration'. integration? what the meaning of that word (later i found that it means a diploma program that come with the opportunity to degree level)? then i went for the interview for 'bachelor in computer science with education' (most of my family are teachers, my father too). later i found that the course trained people to be a teacher. i'm not interested so i just told the interview that i'm not going to be a teacher.

i was later found my self doing electrical engineering! it was the topic that i did badly in my physics subject! during the study i was actually told to do 'x-ray course' sponsored by the government so that i can get a job easily. i resisted, got some advice from my lecturer (whom of course, had more knowledge; she was no commoner) and stayed. nevertheless i studied electricity, graduated and work as an electrical engineer. and know what, for the last 4 years i am a licensed, professional electrical engineer. is it an accomplishment? but being an engineer, i need to work as engineer (is it true?). so i have been in the maintenance, facility management, project management, design, contract management, safety & health, resources (machines, human, finance) management etc. some where in time i excelled and rewarded but satisfied? where is physics, architecture, agriculture?

is it important that people need to work (or live) in the field they interested most? i believe it is. one day i watched this episode in national geographic about marine life. there was a marine biologist doing the talk about the thing. i've forgotten all the things that she said except that she told she had been interested in marine study from her childhood. i couldn't imagine i'm working in a field which i interested most. i can't imagine because i've never been there yet.

today, i'm out of the job, i'm still a commoner.

hello world

hello world! I'm now ready to bliss this world with life of a commoner. Yes, there're still a commoner in this modern world.