meaning of words

now here's a good one

there's a sign on the wall
but she wants to be sure
'cause you know
sometimes words have
two meanings

-1971

interview, again

another job interview today. I'm sick of attending interview now. last time there were very few interviews session but now I'm sick of it. it cost me money but no result. worse than gambling.

cat

is cat part of environment or another living thing that need space to live?

Japan, nuclear waste and sunflower

so they are planning to plant as much sunflower as they can. it's a symbolic, they said. after renouncing 'live by principle' axiom, I believe what we should do is more effort and thinking to minimise what ever risk we face. why symbolic? this kind of thing reminds me to my previous boss who always said he's talking in symbolic and expecting people to understand. what the meaning of that? could he just got straight to the point instead of 'symbolism' which people may not understand due to 'poor or stupid symbolism'.

'An Engineer in the Courtroom', by William J Lux

today I finally received my book entitled 'An Engineer in the Courtroom'. I've been scouring this book on the net for a long time only to find the cost is prohibitive because of the currency exchange. remember I'm jobless. I had finally found a very cheap copy of the book on the net at www.abebooks.com two months ago. I'll write something on the book later.

uk nuclear power plants sites

ok now the UK has named their nuclear power plants site. Japan is still studying, I guess, since there is no news about their fuel strategy. as my country, still no news.

gambling

I got another call for interview in the coming Monday. what else I should do than attending interview. it's very painful. even attending an interview cost me some dollars. attending an interview for me is just like a gambling. it's a bad habit with lot of loss. you'll reap some money along the way but never can cover the cost. only a small fraction of people with good luck will hit the jack pot. or in the case of job interview there is another factor. you need to know somebody. I believe in that factor because now I'm no more fell into the 'live by principle' maxim. you know somebody? use them!

lives by principle

last time I was a stern believer in 'I live by principle'. but up to this moment, when my life was shredded and what is left is only hope, if any left, the maxim is only for philosopher and people with money. there's almost no value in it. the philosopher can only talk about it. they are paid for doing that. and for the man with money, I want to share a quote from my 'man with money' friend: "... now I recognised that if you got money what ever you said will be heard by people. ... I found that people will laugh at my stupid joke and they even laugh although I've yet to arrive at the punch line".

well, bye principle. just do whatever you want as long as you're not get caught by the law.

interview

I'm going to have another interview today. it's a post totally deviate from what I have been done all this while. well, what to do...

job and kids

I got a call today offering me a job. but I must again hit road and again travel 800 km away from my home because the offer was from my previous company. why is it happening this way? and also today I got a phone call for up-coming interview. gosh, the odd of I'm getting an interview is now stands at 4-to-almost 150 applications or about 2%. with that percentage, how much is the probability of getting a job? to date none.

division by zero

just like Greece, yesterday I was on a mission to secure a bail out. but unlike Greeks I'm not having a big deficit, then. but with the job is gone, the deficit is now undefined (I just remember the concept in arithmetic that anything divide by '0' is undefined). now what's the meaning of undefined in my case? I'm in danger drowning myself now.

living cost

there is a spat right now in my country about one particular paid-tv station which wanted to increase their monthly subscription fee. it appears to be that the government has say in the subscription cost. that's new to me. I thought the tv station as a private entity can do whatever they want.

the last time the station raised their fee was also contested by the subscribers. but the station won and people has to pay. we are too attached to the entertainment that we could no longer live without it. now few 'consumer organisations' are also making noise about the raise. "let us boycott the station", they said. huh...

I didn't subscribe the channel. for me it's sort of luxury. I remember one story about a house belongs to an old women was luckily didn't brought to earth by fire. I went to the house the next day after the incident. there were also few locals. some of them asked about the help from a government department on making good her home. her answer was stunning. she said "they came. but upon seeing the satellite dish antennae, the officer decided that the woman (and his son, who live with her at that time) is not eligible for the help. the family has paid-tv channel". it was sort of a joke but I kind of agree on the statement of the government officer!

nevertheless, let the station increase the fee. let only the people who has excessive money subscribe it. let the people with less money lose the channel so that they can sleep early and ready for work tomorrow morning. let the kids of this less fortunate family have more time to read books and interact with their parents. let us back to time when that box named tv didn't control much of our time. let it be.

let it be, by the beatles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdopMqrftXs

heaven and hell

the story I'm going to tell you was told by one of end user of a large construction project I involved about ten years ago. he was a pious person and this Ph.D on his name. the story may be an old one. but at the time I heard it, it was my first time. and I've never heard that kind of story again after that.

"after a while, people in the heaven decided to pay a visit to their friends or relatives who had been thrown to the hell. but of course, they cannot cross into the hell. so they decided to built a bridge from heaven to hell and meet each other at the boundary of the two places. so they communicated this idea to the hell's inhabitants and they agreed to do it together. but after a while, the idea of having the bridge did not materialised fully. only bridge's on the hell part was finished. there was none from the heaven side. the reason: 'all contractors live in the hell, none of them live in heaven. so who are going to build the bridge for the heaven residents?'".

I was shocked when I heard the story particularly when it came from the mouth of such person. I don't know what his attention or whether he booked a place in the hell as well. but why can't he respect others?

greatness, Japan style

after I finished my blog yesterday, I kept on thinking how the Japanese is facing the aftermath from the tsunami. the destruction, death, nuclear threat, political instability - all in one short period of time. but they preserver and nothing hinder them from moved forward.

they are certainly a great nation and great people. just look at how they redefined themselves after the devastating world war II. I would like to share with you an old Japanese song I learnt from my Japanese teacher more than two decades ago, 'Kojo no Tsuki' or 'The Moon Over the Ruined Castle'.

1. A banquet was held  in the splendid castle in the season of the cherry blossom.
Where is the light now, that shadowed the glasses and flew through the old pines?

2. (The second verse is difficult. There are many interpretations of the text.)
The encampment was covered with frost in the autumn.Where is the light now, that shone on the swords like plants, that were as numerous as the cackling wild geese, that flew ?

3. Now there is the moon over the desolate castle.
Whom is it shining for without change? 
Only tendrils remain on the walls.Only the storm sings between branches of the pines.
4. The shadow of the sky doesn't change. But the moon is reflecting  it as before, changing for better to worse? Ah! The moon over the desolate castle!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77Nbtemm2qQ

greatness

“If there is no passion in your life, then have you really lived? Find your passion, whatever it may be. Become it, and let it become you and you will find great things happen FOR you, TO you and BECAUSE of you.”


-T Alan Amstrong


Who's the hell is T Alan Amstrong? just google it!


today I got one very miserable news and two great news. the bad news is I'm going to be without work, I'm going to bite the dust longer than I thought. I might as well finally fell into bottomless pit. this is very bad indeed.


today also I received the monthly magazine from my engineering society, the biggest of it kind in my country. the topic of the month is 'risk management in engineering'. my God, my believe in risk management exists in engineering field is once again proven to be correct. I hope three of people who laugh at me during my presentation on applying the risk management in then our engineering department can now bite their dust. they must. they get the same copy as I am because they belong to the same fraternity. but wait, they must be keep on laughing because they're clown.


late today my kids came back from home and told me about their mid-term result. they are so improved from last year when I was working very far away from home. I'm now ever believe that the decision to move back home is correct.


so I'm great. but I've no job that I don't know for how long more I can exist. I've already partially lost my car now, so what next will I have from the Pandora box? my life so far has already defies what ever Alan Armstrong feel.

environment V

notice the white shade on the hill edge? it is sort of greenhouse for plants. the last time I was here, the place was still green. now it's white and green. yeah, sure. people need money to buy food. they can't eat the trees, aren't they?

environment IV

this picturesque small water fall is no place for picnic or swim. despite remotely located from the development of human being, the view is just sick. there were trash all long the banks of the river. it's very weird. the river originated deep in the forest located more than 50 km from cities. to reach there one need to drive a zig-zag trunk road, 1.5 km above sea level. yes, there are small town near to this place, may be 2 km away. but the town is so small that I believe that the population is small. I believe that the trash were transported here far from this place. I even found thrash neatly wrapped in plastic bags but left by the river bank.

environment III

this is a view from top of isolated mountain 1 km towards low land. two decades ago there were only a handful of buildings. but today I can see that they can't even stop the construction of buildings. perhaps they'll never do. I don't see the point of having barren or landscaped highland when my intention to go to such places is to see the nature in its 'natural' condition.

yes, I'm among those who support nuclear for electricity. but there must be places where we developed them and then places where we can have breath of fresh air. yet the people around this pristine areas longed for development (or in other words it is actually money). for thousands of years we have been plundering this earth for wealth. is it all that we need?

environment II

this is a village my family & I went last week end. I got to know that this is a traditional village. so I suggest the view here, except the tarmac, must has been here centuries ago. it's all natural, in colour and the life.

environment I

few days ago my family & I went for a famous tourist spot in our country. it is a highland with few small towns.

the picture above shows a lake by the old main road. there are few outlets there selling fresh vegetables and fruits. there was a food outlet but it was closed. the lake is actually feeding an electrical power station. the lake was a major attraction then. few years ago I read about the lake was clogged with dirt. the culprit, the report said, was the extensive forest clearing to make way for commercial use. today the river is barricaded with construction hoarding. there is 'No Entry' sign. the view is blocked. the road in front of the picture is actually the path used by lorries that transporting dirt. may be they are digging out the dirt out of the lake. there is picturesque view no more. even some of the outlets are closing down including the only one which selling food. my plan to sip a hot fresh tea beside the lake was hold back.

thank to the development.

sales, 'The Greatest Sales Stories Ever Told: From the World's Best Salespeople', by Robert L Shook

this 'The Greatest Sales Stories Ever Told: From the World's Best Salespeople' book by Robert L Shook is very entertaining but valuable. here are the attributes of best sales peoples according to the book.

1. mental attitude (enthusiasm)
2. the initial approach
3. selling yourself
4. innovation
5. selling solution
6. creating a sense of urgency
7. closing the sale
8. servicing the customer

thank you for reading.

GREENHOUSE GAS RELEASED: negligible (due to my current financial difficulties, I cut several electrical usage rigourously)

interview, again II

I've finish the interview. don't know the fate.

interview, again

so I'm scheduled to have yet another interview. after a devastating interview session last week, I better be prepared so this one. and I don't whether it will be fruitful one. I very much hope it is. I very much hope it is.

GREENHOUSE GAS RELEASED: negligible

justice

I was having a breakfast with my kids when my son suddenly spoke that "we're lucky to be living in a country where there's no real threat to life (war)". I asked them is it good to be a independent nation or under some sort of colonization. of course their answer were "independent".

I told them about how people defending their rights. that including go to war. I'm also told them about the character of colonial who built sort of infrastructure, e.g. railway, not for the benefit of the people. but for them. then I told them about a friend of mine, who is a high government officer, proudly announced in the public that "as a government servant, I (his son) deserve to get government's scholarship". so I told my kids to have a look at both stories and make a comparison.

I still remember a Metallica album '... and justice for all'.

GREENHOUSE GAS RELEASED: 0.03 kg

nuclear fuel Japan - underestimate the risk

so there was report from United Nation saying that Japan has underestimate the risk of hazard by tsunami to nuclear power station. however the praised the Japanese response as 'exemplary'.

I hope I can learn that 'exemplary' steps. such an effort towards such a serious event can be easily adopted into solving other lesser problem. and about for the last one or two days senior citizen of Japan are volunteering themselves in fighting the radiation. they gave their reason but saying their mission is no 'kamikaze'. kamikaze, according to them is a weird strategy where 'people go and never comeback'. but their effort is 'go and will come back'.

I should go to Japan, work there and learn.

GREENHOUSE GAS RELEASED: negligible

the light of a new beginning

exactly 17 months ago, I was 800 km from my home. I just reached there that night after an epic driving, alone. left at home was my pregnant wife and our three kids.

it was my first day in a new job. about 30 minutes from end of the day I got a call from my mother in law that my wife was going to deliver our kids. my God, what should I do. so I went to see my project manager and he advised me to go home and defer the actual report duty to another week. but I told the HR manager that I'll be coming back after the weekend over.

so that evening I grab my car steering and started to drive. I was not pretty sure whether to drive back or what. but next thing I knew I was half way heading home. I got a call late that night that my wife was safely delivered a baby girl. after a short nap, I drove back home only to stop by my parent's house because I'm too exhausted. I drove back the next morning and finally got to see my kid, 12 hours after she was born. I called my HR manager and my project manager that I wanted to defer the formal report duty for another week.

due to that moment, we named the girl with a name meaning 'the light of a new beginning'.

GREENHOUSE GAS RELEASED: 0.117 kg