Blogger's Block

No, the reason I've been MIA from blogspot for a week is not for lack of anything to write. Somehow, since coming back from maternity leave I can no longer connect to any blogspot or wordpress website using the office network. I think we've been found out, guys. So now how do I fill in my time while appearing engrossed in the latest issue of 'Control' magazine? Maybe I should jump on the Facebook bandwagon, if Top Management hasn't already caught on to this as well.

Anyway, I did draft a few entries elsewhere, but since I now have very little time to blog outside office hours, the drafts have become, well, stale or basi. I suppose I could tell you about my progress with the house, Aiesyah's development or the latest celeb spotting (none, actually - saja je nak buat gempak) but I'm just too tired from a work-related trip back from PD. I should be sleeping by now, recovering my energy to undertake a journey tomorrow by ERL and aeroplane to Alor Star with two energetic boys, a breastfeeding baby and a maid who suffers from travel sickness. Should be fun.

You probably won't hear from me for another week or two, as I'm finishing off my Annual Leave to coincide with two public holidays and a weekend, so my obligatory 'Hari Kebesaran Agama' Well Wishes follow:

To the Muslims - Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Adha, may Allah Bless us all, accept our deeds and grant us our prayers.

To the Christians - Merry Christmas, hope you get lots of good presents and
enjoy your Christmas Eve dinners.

To everyone else - Enjoy the holidays!

One more day to go

I can't believe I'll be back in the office in less than 48 hours. The remainder of my 60-day maternity leave after the obligatory 40-day confinement certainly went by quickly. And what have I got to show for it?

There was a list of things I wanted and needed to do post-confinement, let's do a quick review shall we?

WISH LIST

1. Have breakfast at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf - something with smoked salmon and eggs. CHECK. The old Coffee Bean at One Utama old wing is closed though. It's been replaced with some Japanese vegetarian joint or something.
2. Have Spaghetti Carbonara for lunch. CHECK twice. Caffe 1920 @ One Utama was good. MPH Book Cafe was not.
3. Have an espresso affogato. Or caramel latte. Or kopi kampung. CHECK CHECK CHECK several times. Never managed to get the affogato. Had latte but without the caramel. Local coffee at several kopitiams and One Utama Jusco Food Court. Agak puas hati jugaklah.
4. Check out the new Gardens at MidValley. NOT CHECKED. Never made it to MidValley, but did go all the way to Suria KLCC as an LRT treat for Nuaim.
5. Check out the new Pavilion at Bukit Bintang. NOT CHECKED. Had planned to go with Mak but I was too busy searching for furniture in IKEA. Should have gone as a Monorail treat for Nuaim.
6. Do all of the above with Hubby. NOT CHECKED. Maybe will do 4 and 5 after the move with Hubby and kids in tow.

TASK LIST:

1. Transfer ownership of the house in TTDI Jaya at MBSA. NOT CHECKED. Not urgent. Can do later.
2. Settle outstanding balance at Home's Harmony and book date to put up curtains in TTDI Jaya house. CHECKED. Roman blinds up, Curtain rods up but curtains need altering due to discrepancy in length.
3. Settle into a regime of expressing breastmilk. CHECK CHECK CHECK more times than I've had coffee. Since Aiesyah sleeps all through the night, I almost always wake up with super-engorged mammaries that I need to express them even if I don't go out.
4. Say Hello to my condominium at Damansara Perdana. Need to declutter prior to move to new house. SMALL CHECK. So much more clutter than I realised. An ongoing exercise interspersed with lots of pauses for air.
5. Buy myself some new nursing undergarments. Wonder if I can find these in KL. CHECK. Not the tank tops though, but well-fitting bras from Triumph. Cheaper and more supportive than the ones at Mothercare.
6. New glasses. CHECK, and sunglasses too. Why do you think my credit card maxxed out before I got to IKEA? Thank God I took up HSBC's offer to renew my card for free.

By the way, I managed to find the children's beds at IKEA - they had them in stock after all.

Things my teachers taught me

Kak Ruby's post here reminded me of several short but inspiring pieces of advice I've received over the years. Strangely enough all of them are from my student days, and all the advice came from teachers. Dah kerja ni keras kepala sikit, tak nak terima nasihat dah - perasan pandai.

"Always do better than your best."

This came from Mrs Ho, former music & maths teacher (what a combination!) at my secondary school. I can't remember when exactly she said this, maybe on her last day at school or at the state level Pesta Muzik competition in 1991. It's my number one motivation mantra.

"As an engineer, you're not expected to remember everything, but you should know where to look for the information."

I heard this from the Dean of Engineering at my university when I attended its Open Day. Let's just say it's the secret of my success at work.

And the last one was an interview tip from Ayah (well, he was a teacher for a very short while), when I was applying for my scholarship. He was relating to me his scholarship interview that finally got him to UK to do his Bachelor's and eventually Master's degree in Electronic Engineering back in the 70's, footsteps I followed 25 years later. Apparently, when the interviewer asked him what he knew about Electronic Engineering, his answer was, "I don't know". The interviewer then said, "If you don't know, then why do you want to take it up?" to which he responded, "It's because I don't know that I want to study the subject."

I thought it was a brilliant answer and wanted to use it for my interview, but his advice was,

"You can't say you don't know. It's not acceptable in this day and age."

Fortunately that question didn't come up during the interview. Although there have been times when it's the only answer I can think of.

Hey Big Spender!

I made a salesman at Harvey Norman's bedding department very happy today. And a couple of days prior to that I put a smile on a sales promoter for pergolas at Jusco Home Centre. Bet the opticians at Focus Point are laughing their way to the bank too. And before the week is over I'll be signing out the remainder of my very limited VISA credit limit to either Homelife or IKEA.

I'm not telling how much I've already spent, only that it's more than the allocated budget. It all started with a little 'treat' to myself in the form of a pergola for the new house. The house needs it anyway, to provide some shade for my sons to play in - as if they'll be content with a space of merely 80 sqft. Then I 'treated' myself to an expensive pair of glasses and new sunnies. I have to admit that the queen-sized bed for the master bedroom is way beyond my original estimate, but hey - Hubby said for me to go and spoil myself so I did. BTW, it's not a four-poster - I need a much bigger room to have one of those. Maybe after we renovate the house and add two new rooms, boleh ye sayang? And throw in an en suite bathroom with a jacuzzi while we're at it.

I have been good, though. I managed to restrict myself from buying a new dining set and leather sofa set, and I'll leave it to Hubby to decide on the TV (highly recommending the new LG Plasma though). But I still yearn for a Barcelona chair. Does anyone know where I can get one locally, or at least a good quality lookalike?

Little Princess bedecked in all her finery

Check out Aiesyah's new bling bling...



And kching kching...



Thank you Mak!

Kualiti teras kejayaan

Translation: Quality is the core of success.

I vaguely remember a government jingle about quality and productivity back in the late 80's or early 90's. It was the first time I had heard of the term productivity and I used to wonder what it really meant. I know what it means now, but everyone seems a bit lost on Quality.

At work, design engineers have to calculate their productivity every month to justify the ridiculously low manhours and absurdly tight schedules that project managers come up with, while the project control engineers record the figures and witness the project going out of control. I bet they wish projects could autotune themselves with the correct PID parameters, or better yet apply APC and RTO so they'd have even less work to do and more time to blog. Until that becomes a reality, we'll just have to stick with estimating over-the-top manhours because at the end of the day the PM will just slash it by half to come up with a low-priced proposal to win the job.

If I were to calculate my productivity index for my current domestic project of moving house, I'd end up with a vey low figure. Firstly, I underestimated the amount of stuff we have, and secondly I overestimated the amount of energy I possess. Not to mention my commitment to blog about all the mundane stuff I do, my boys' incessant demand for attention, and Hubby's requests for baby's latest photos (you can see by the order that this is the lowest priority for me).

Yesterday, though, was a good day. In the morning I managed to have my smoked salmon-and-egg combo breakfast at Coffee Bean, ogle handbags at Parkson (no buying till after the move), and pack Hubby's clothes into a suitcase. More books have gone into boxes, but I'm still left with technical reference, fiction and fantasy on the shelves. Hmm, do we really need 2 copies of Catch-22?

The original plan in the afternoon was to complete an assessment form for a new member of staff who had worked with me on a previous project, and maybe start reviewing the report for the current job (see who has to work on her maternity leave. If I clock 8 hours to do all this, can I get an extra day off?). But Nuaim decided to forego his afternoon nap, and with Nu'man also awake, someone had to referee their play and fights. All the way till 11.00 pm. So I've rescheduled all that work stuff for today, after I post this entry. Promise.

The afternoon and evening were not without their magic moments. Contrary to his lack of focus when it comes to food (in the sense that he wants to eat EVERYTHING), Nu'man can actually concentrate on a specific toy if it strikes his fancy. Last night I realised he's actually quite content to play with building blocks, and was able to build a tower without anyone's assistance. And Nuaim, while 'reading' the Qur'an with me after Asar prayers, was actually able to repeat (to some degree) the verses I recited. And it wasn't any surah he's familiar with either.

Now that's Quality.