Crazy Hong Kong

Couldn't find the inspiration to write for the past few days...have been trying to catch up on my readings and have been quite occupied with thoughts regarding my studies that would probably bore most of you to death. Well, I have finally gotten ahead with my readings over the weekend. Yippee!

The weather was crazy in Hong Kong yesterday. It was almost 34 degrees, then the thunder storms came with winds so strong that it blew a woman diver off her boat in Sai Kung and she got drowned. Also in Fan Ling, hails were reported! Goodness, I sure hope that it will not get any crazier than that! Over in Kowloon where I am staying, it was all calm except that the sky turned suddenly really cloudy at around 2pm yesterday. My colleagues who stay in the New Territories were saying that the thunder storm was quite loud and scary.

Also, today in the news, Nestle workers are out on strike following Vitasoy and Watsons Water, they are asking for 7% increment in pay and 6% increment in commissions. I think they will get their way...the workers at Vitasoy and Watsons Water got their increments after they went on strikes. So after Nestle, who's next?

And the doctors are getting really busy these days as people are getting sick due to the crazy temperature gaps in Hong Kong. Outside in the sun, temperature can rise up to 39 or 40 degrees but indoors at the shopping centers or inside subways, the aircon is set at around 23~24 degrees. So imagine walking in the sun for about 5~10 minutes and then going indoors, your body will be subjected to a temperature difference of up to 17 degrees! No wonder I am getting many sick leaves from my staff...

Decision-Making

My 1st discussion topic for my 1st subject of my MBA program was : " Assuming you are the CEO faced with a prospect to lay off 600 workers, which decision-making model will you use and why." *Yucks!*

I don't believe anyone would like to make a decision like that and I definitely hope that I will not have to make such a decision in real life, especially not when I am the CEO! Anyway, after reading 2 related chapters of the textbook, I realised that there are many models of decision-making and approaches which I actually have been applying at work all the time but had no idea that they have names. For example there is a model called The Garbage Can Model of Decision-Making whereby I must have been using all the time in this company. I have to make decisions under highly ambiguous conditions whereby the goals are not clear, the participants change fast and I also do not have a set of rules to guide me along! So I am actually a Garbage Can decision-maker all along! And the Japanese bosses in my company will always use the Political Model of Decision-Making whereby they use their powers (titles) to affect the decisions...

Most of friends who have done the MBA are telling me that I will have a freshing and enjoyable time doing my MBA. I was at doubts about myself going back to studies after so many years but I am beginning to believe them now. I feel that my time is spent more fulfilling now that I have things to read about and the theories I learnt are actually applicable to my work! It is really a revitalising experience. I am looking forward to starting my next subject next month and then the next

Lunchtime Topic - Miss HK 2008

Today's discussion topic over lunch with my department was on the results of the Miss Hong Kong 2008 held over the weekend. The attendants consisted 2 gals and 2 guys including myself. Both the guys were very disappointed with the results, especially the winner whom they thought really do not deserve to win at all. The other gal in the group confessed that she didn't watch the whole event as she thought it was really poor quality this year, so she played with her son instead. I, on the other hand, had no son to play with, so I watched the whole event while reading my notes and had thought that it was really entertaining. I thought it was entertaining not because I thought the quality of the show or the girls were good but I am just amazed at how hard these girls try to present themselves on stage even though they are being treated like puppets and props. The girls were made up to look like some hardrock bar-top dancers, peacocks, babydolls, beach babes and lastly they had to wear the Chinese Qipao with shoulder-pads so big, it looked like some costumes from Star Wars, now aren't that entertaining? I really admire their courage to pursue their dreams despite it all.

The guys thought that they are just bimbos but I think bimbos or not, these girls are merely trying to pursue their dreams and I think they are better than many bimbos out there who may not even know what they want in life. I think people who have no dream, no goal, no purpose in life are more pathetic. This yearly event is the expressway to stardom for many Hong Kong girls without which they will be just another nobody in this crowded city. Without this beauty pageant, the gossip columns will have 1 event less to write about! We, the normal working class people will have 1 topic less to discuss over lunch. And all the eligible bachelors and rich men will have less "stocks" to choose from!

A Tale of Mari and the Three Puppies

Mari and Aya

Hubby and I watched a very touching movie on DVD late last night. It was "A tale of Mari and the three puppies" (マリと子犬の物語) and I cried so much that my eyes were swollen the whole day today. So glad it's Sunday and we do not have plans to go out anyway.

The movie is based on a true story which happened to a dog named Mari and her 3 puppies during the 2004 earthquake in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. The movie version of the story is a little more dramatic with added characters such as a little girl and her elder brother but the fact that Mari helped saved her owner is well depicted in the touching movie. I definitely recommend all dogs lovers to watch this movie!

The movie started out with Ryota and his little sister Aya walking home from school in their village and chance upon Mari when she was a deserted puppy. Aya fell in love with Mari immediately and thus started their owner-pet relationship. A year later, Mari became mother to 3 very cute puppies but then tragedy struck the village. A severe earthquake struck the village, collapsing almost all the houses. Aya and her grandfather was in the bedroom when the earthquake struck, Mari and her puppies were outside. The roof collapsed on Aya and her grandfather immobilising them under. Mari dug at the ruins trying to help them out until her paws bled. She kept licking her owners encouraging them not to give up and also barked for help when the rescuers came. Aya and her grandfather were saved but the rescuers couldn't take Mari and her puppies because of the severe conditions...that was when I cried the most. :(

In the end when the conditions turned better, they went back to find Mari and her puppies. Somehow, they survived and it was a happy ending but the story was really touching, so my tears kept rolling down. Below are some scenes from the movie...Enjoy~!

Mari when she was a puppy

Mari when she is adult with her puppies

Mari's 3 puppies...so cute!

Beauty Pageants

Miss Hong Kong Gallery 2008

I love watching beauty pageants, especially the ones held in Hong Kong yearly, I think there are be at least 3 major pageants. Miss Hong Kong, Miss Asia and Manhunt Hong Kong. This year's Miss Hong Kong was held last night and I watched the live telecast on TV. It was terribly entertaining to watch those girls worked so hard on the stage, trying their best to remember their dance steps, their spots to stand on the stage and not forgetting to smile. They had to walk up and down the stairs on the stage in their ridiculously high heels and outrageous gowns, yet they could still maintain good posture (chests up, butts out) and kept smiling the whole night! Other than the usual dance routine, self introduction, evening gowns parade, swim suits parade and the Q&A sessions, there was a session where the girls had to do the trampoline stunts in clown-like costumes. And I thought that was really terrible for the girls. *Poor things*

I don't know...although I had done some modelling in my teenage years, joining a beauty pageant had never crossed my mind. I guess walking around the stage in a bikini to be judge by people is never my forte. But for these girls, this beauty pageant is their entry ticket to the entertainment business in Hong Kong. Many famous actresses and singers are born this way in Hong Kong. Maggie Cheung, Cherie Chung and Anita Yuen...just to name a few actresses that I really like.

This year's winner is Edelweiss Cheung, 22 years old student and in her own words, her dream is "to be a successful person". 1st runner-up is Skye Chan, an air stewardess who aspires to be a Japanese-language teacher. 2nd runner-up Sire Ma who is also a student and her aspiration is to be a successful actress. The names are special, aren't they? I believe these names are not given by their parents but adopted by themselves for fashion. And I guess these days the fashion is to find a name as rare as possible for themselves?

Nevertheless, the winner this year is definitely not the prettiest one in my opinion but she is definitely the tallest. She towers over all the other contestants and made the 3 male hosts looked like dwarfs! Well, I think it is good that they had chosen a tall girl to represent Hong Kong, at least she will still be able to stand out in the international arena. Good luck, Hong Kong!

My work

Went to an executive reception held by LogLogic last night at the Four Seasons Hotel with my IT manager and met some interesting people in the industry. I had a feeling that most of them were just there for the food and wine provided because there was no presentation on their product at all! There were just 2 speeches introducing the company and then 1 speech on the need for keeping logs. Then we were left to eat and drink with the presentation slides running in the background. Which was really good for me because I really don't enjoy having to sit down and listen to presentations.

We went by invitation by one fellow whom I had totally forgotten about, honestly. He used to work for Verizon (a solution provider) and he had tried to sell me an exchange migration + archiving solution. He quoted us too expensive, so we decided to buy from another vendor in the end. Nevertheless, I thought he is working for LogLogic now but apparently he is not but he knows them. *So what the deal for him?* He introduced us to the VP of LogLogic and we started to discuss J-SOX which is effective from April this year.

I am not sure if any of you know anything about J-SOX, but the criteria for compliance seem not as stringent as SOX and many issues regarding the IT portion are not clearly stated. For example, there is no mention if email archiving is necessary and neither any mention if device logs must be kept. Also, I heard that the Q&A sessions for J-SOX left people with many more questions instead. So we are just guessing here and trying to set our own standards/criteria. This is just so typical of the Japanese. There will never be a clear "YES" or "NO" and neither will there be any clear "RIGHT" or "WRONG". Everything is GREY. *Sigh*

Like the Japanese company that I am working for, there will never be clear directions coming from HQ. There will be mottoes, slogans, targets but there will not be clear instructions on how to go about achieving these targets. I have been swimming in this unknown ocean for more than 6 years now and so far, I am still swimming. I have been given targets and left to find out for myself how to achieve them. Lucky for me, most of the targets have been achieved. Nowadays, I don't even get targets from my bosses anymore. I am left to find targets on my own and achieve them on my own...Is that a good thing?

My study routine

I am suppose to introduce myself to my course professor and my course-mates so that they will be able to get to know me better in the form of a post. I am suppose to give a little background on what I am doing and how I have come to this point of my career. My course-mates will do the same, of course. Base on these introductions, we will choose our course-mates to work as a team for team assignments and projects. So, I need to make an impression!

Also, I have just downloaded some reading materials for the 1st segment topics on Problem Solving and found out that I have 2 chapters, total of 50 A4-size pages of reading to do. On top of that I have a case study from Harvard Business School on "Taran Swan at Nickelodeon Latin America" to read and analyse. There will be 7 segment topics in Organisational Behaviour and they all have plenty of reading up to do! Looks like I will be quite occupied with reading this weekend and many more weekends after...I have calculated, at the rate that I am planning for my studies, I may need 2 years or more to complete my studies. The intensity of this new commitment I have gone into is dawning on me now. I really will not have leisure time to bum around over the weekends anymore!

For the past few days, my daily after work routine went like this:

Dinner with hubby as usual => Go home, watch TV for an hour or 2 => Do exercises with my Wii Fit Instructor => Shower => Skincare routine => Read my textbooks/notes in bed while I use the OSIM uZap on my tummy for an hour => Sleep

I wonder how will my routine be when my study program go into full-swing?