Sick

Sick today --- as a result of what happened yesterday's night.

Down

又是為了一些根本不是原因的原因吵起來，心情很down。

餘地

今天發了一個電郵，建議TV Presenter在每日的電視節目都加入UV預測，電郵的部份內容如下:
"Suggest treating this as a routine, i.e. announcing the UV forecast in every TV show regardless of the forecast UV intensity."事後我才發現這樣好像寫得太盡，沒有留一點餘地或彈性(雖然我已經在一開始寫了是suggest)，其實可以寫得好一點便是加多一句，如"Having said that, TV forecasters can skip it if the weather situation is complicated, just as what they usually do for the minimum temperature map."所以，在推行一些計劃的時候，很多時推行者和執行者會有不同的想法，因此推行者的建議中應該保留一些餘地，好讓執行作不會感到太大壓逼感，亦讓建議遭反對時推行者可以好些下台。當然，這個不能一概而論，何時收緊，何時放鬆，要視實際情況而定。

Hungry

It's 11:30 p.m. now, but Ceci said that she was very hungry as she did not eat much at dinner. Now she is cooking macaroni, smells good..........

Confirmation

Saw Dr. Tung today and got further confirmation! Happy!

Test

See the vertical red line in the larger circular window, test result is positive!

Brokeback

Finally watched brokeback mountain tonight. You can see the leading male actor(s) (at least one, if not two) appearing in almost every scene. Lee Ang spent a lot of time in showing the inside world of these two men to the audience. A good film to me, but not the best one. Maybe Oscar winning film is usually hard to digest.

Cheating

Went to have lunch with colleagues at a restaurant which claimed to offer 50% discount if we used HSBC credit cared. When we arrived at there, we realized that this applied only to one set lunch, of which the orignal price was $150 and therefore 50% would mean $75. In fact, judging from the menu we knew that this lunch set definitely did not cost $150, and $75 is more reasonable. Well, we understood that this was just a way of promotion. So, each of us ordered that lunch set.

But.....what suprised and angered us was that when we checked the bill after lunch, it charged 10% service charge based on $150, which was $15 !!!!! Therefore, the cost for each person is $90!!! All of us considered this a cheat and we would not go there again, at least in the next few months!

Google Earth

Finally installed Google Earth at home. Very fast, very easy to use. No wonder it becomes so popular now.

Faint

Suddenly felt faint at home tonight....not that kind of faintness or headache during a flu, but just like feeling dizzy after playing the roller coaster, i.e. everything is spinning round. Maybe it is common to others but this is the first time in my life. Um..... maybe I need more rest and relaxation.

付與附

不要再弄錯了:

付上; 隨函付上 (verb)

附件; 請看附件

Characters

I was requested to fill in a form to describe a system using less than 250 characters. You know what? I misinterpret it as 250 words....yes, words. I did not realize this until I have submitted it. Finally, I have to write it again into a very short paragraph with only 2 sentences! Silly!

I think that it was the instruction that fooled me...... it was rare to specify the limit in characters but not in words!!!

圖片資料室

今天到了政府新聞處的圖片資料室，這裡是開放給公眾的，為政府的圖片資料檔案中心。資料室保存的菲林底片、幻燈片及圖片超過二百萬張。市民可要求複製圖片及幻燈片。當然，是要付錢的。照片根據主題分類，職員亦很樂意提供協助。美中不足的是，還未做到用電腦來搜尋照片。

Old Pal

Gathered with Wah Yan boys tonight. Ceci also joined.
The atmosphere was quite good, lots of laughs and talks. I cannot deny that I have become older when I see the children of friends of my age.

CEO

新一輯的「與CEO對話」昨日開始在亞視播出，錄影了並留待今天才看。第一集是訪問中電常務董事阮蘇少湄。以下是她做事的一些手法:
1. 當阮蘇少湄遇到問題時，她不會怠慢、會盡快去處理，以免問題像雪球般越渾越大，因而衍生其他問題。
2. 她做事果斷、著重工作效率，堅持每晚七時下班，無論家庭或工作，兩者都非常稱職、應付自如。
3. 她喜歡下屬坦誠勸諫；她自己亦洞悉知人善用，不會忌才、又著重團體精神。

UV

In Director's annual press conference, a lot of questions were raised by reporters. While we think that no one was concerned about UV, the reporter who had the chance to ask the last set of questions did ask about the launching schedule of UV service. It means that this service, though not as important as those on severe weather, is still meaningful to the public.

和稀泥

最近報章經常報導九鐵兵變事件，用了「和稀泥」形容政府處理事件的手法。原來「和稀泥」是北平方言，意即把稀爛的泥巴攪和在一起。多用來指不分青紅皂白，毫無原則的為人調解或處理紛爭。

Lunch

今天沒有約同事，獨個兒在一間小小的Cafe吃午餐，不用二十分鐘便吃完，之後喝著奶茶，閱讀店裡提供的報紙，非常寫意。雖然今天是工作天，但好像在延續過去兩日的VL......哈!

因果

摘自人間福報網頁的星雲法語：
善人以因果為朋友：一個明因識果的人，肯定相信因果的必然性，他的一切行誼隨時隨地都不會離開因果的範疇，而能「不因惡小而為之，不因善小而不為」，他時刻提醒自己「諸惡莫作，眾善奉行」。因此，因果就如善友，提醒自己不能造作惡業；因果就如良朋，隨時告誡自己以歷史的報應實例為借鏡，不能重蹈覆轍。所以，善人以因果為朋友。
智人以因果為龜鑑：歷史是一部因果報應的記錄，人生是一齣因果報應的演出。世間的善善惡惡、好好壞壞，不管如何變化，都是在善惡因果之內。一般凡夫眾生，總是不計一切的貪愛享樂，或是無明造作之後，才慚愧懺悔自己的過失，往往為時已晚。一個有智慧的人，為了免除惡報無窮，會以因果為龜鑑，他會慎防於因，讓自己免受惡報之果。所謂「菩薩畏因，眾生畏果」，就是說明智人以因果為龜鑑。
(註：龜，龜甲。鑑，鏡子。龜甲可占卜吉凶，鏡子可照見美醜。是以龜鑑比喻警戒和反省。)

懶洋洋

今天過了一個懶洋洋的星期一，不要誤會我在公司偷懶，其實我今天請了一日假，沒有特別的原因，只是因為已經積存了太多假期，非消耗一些不可，聽起來好像有點兒「折墮」，但事實的確如此，相信在私人機構工作的人一輩子也不會理解的。其實，間中讓腦袋輕鬆一下，重新整理一下思緒，第二天的工件會更「醒神」呢!

Laptop fixed

My laptop computer frequently hanged recently. Just before I wanted to take it to get repaired, I fixed it myself! The reason is that the antivirus software was not updated, or even a bit corrupted...... I got the idea from the HP online support site, a very useful site with online chat to help customer! Five-star service!

Prison

It was the Open Day of Victoria Prison today. This prison was built in 1841, the first prison in HK. Prisoner inside could only looked at the prosperous Central district through the bar --- Loss of freedom is really the most suffering thing!(picture from www.csd.gov.hk)

Perspective

Which photo is better for making a poster to show the UV measuring equipment?
At first I think it should be the bottom one, which is of higher resolution. However, my boss's boss said that the top one is better, since it is from a top view, showing more clearly the spherical glass (at where sunlight enters), and also the screws are less rusty. For the bottom picture, one will see the metal case at the first sight.

Again, I learn that one has to judge matter (no matter how small) from many perspectives.

Investment

Had lunch with TC today. He talked a lot about his way of investment. Quite inspiring...... stock, fund,....etc.....I still have a lot to learn.

LegCo

Watched the LegCo meeting on Cable TV tonight. Quite Interesting to see the councilors debate. I also found that there was a lot to see in the webpage http://www.legco.gov.hk!

Job assignment

My boss's boss talked with me again.........mainly talking about other people.......but I found one point worth to note. He said that when a supervisor asked a subordinate to do this and that, especially long term jobs, the subordinate should think critically and carefully whether the jobs are good to himself, can help him grow up, or earn any merit. Why? It was because sometimes when the supervisor arranged work for his subordinate, he just thought of his own interests and would took advantage of the subordinate.......treated him as a "tool" only. In such case, the subordinate should voice out. Or, the subordinate should take the initiative to take up those jobs which are good to himself. I think that this is quite right sometimes.

斷背山

相信今天在互聯網裡，這個題目會出現在數不盡的blog中。李安憑斷背山獲得奧斯卡最佳導演(註:頒獎日期是美國時間3月5日星期日)，的確令無數人，尤其是華人振奮！我第一次認識李安，是透過他的電影喜宴，也是談同性戀的，想不到他這次奪標也是憑一套談論同性戀的電影。我還未看斷背山，希望不會因期望過高而失望吧 (很多時都是這樣)！
(相片來自www.oscar.com)

Time Management

Ceci and I participated in a church activity today. It was a succesful activity which highlighted the important elements in a marriage. As the MC, we also enjoyed the acitivity very much.

However, what disappointed us was that the activity started late, because of the late coming of some couples, and it also ended late, because of the poor control of time in each program.

Time management is very important..... we wont' let this happen again next time.

Three kinds of time

Extracted from the famous article "Who's got the monkey?" from Harvard Business Review with slight modification by me:

There are three kinds of management time:

• Boss-imposed time--used to accomplish those activities that the boss requires and that the manager cannot disregard without direct and swift penalty.
• System-imposed time--used to accommodate requests from peers for active support. Neglecting these requests will also result in penalties, though not always as direct or swift.
• Self-imposed time--used to do those things that the manager originates or agrees to do. A certain portion of this kind of time, however, will be taken by subordinates and is called subordinate-imposed time. The remaining portion will be the manager's own and is called discretionary time.

Managers should try to increase the discretionary component of their self-imposed time. They will then use the added increment to get better control over their boss-imposed and system-imposed activities.

Johann Pachelbel

3 March 2006 - It's exactly 300 years since Johann Pachelbel left the world.

His "Canon in D" is the piece of work I like most among all classical music. It was even played in my wedding mass by a student of Ceci's secondary school.

The same two-bar bass line and harmonic sequence repeated over and over. The structure of the canon becomes increasingly dense towards the middle of the piece as the variations grow in complexity. Afterwards, the piece gradually returns to a less complex structure. So wonderful.........

訓練營

Ceci 今天去了一個兩日一夜的訓練營，初時她有點擔心繩網的環節，不過黃昏時她打電話給我，說她已成功克服了，我也替她高興！希望她能從這次訓練學會更多有關團隊合作及溝通方面的技巧！ 今晚一個人睡......miss her...........

sudoku

Ceci gave me a free newspaper tonight when I am waiting for the bath. With nothing else to do, I picked up a pen and played the sudoku.............finally I finished the sodoku for the very first time.
Quite interesting as one has to think logically in order to complete the game. However, there are many such games in the world, even many many years ago. I still wonder why this game becomes so popular nowadays...???