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Daily Scribble

A break from blog

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I haven’t write a single blog entry for the past week. It is not that I am getting lazy or getting tried of blogging. It is that I just move in with Pat and I am so busy trying to make myself home in the new place. Packing everything into boxes only the weekend before the moving day is quite rush and I have to get rid of the extra furniture in very low price. If I could have start selling my furniture earlier, I could get a better price. On the last weekend before the move, what I care is someone remove the pieces, so I can return an empty apartment. Getting some extra money from the furniture sell is my secondary concern.

The move on Monday is pretty smooth. This time I hired a Chinese moving company. Two middle age guys came instead of the young guys from English moving companies. I found older guys is more reliable then young guys. Maybe I am getting old and start not to trust people under 30. It only took them 4 hours to move all my stuffs. The rate is much better than English moving companies. It is almost 50% cheaper than my move last time.

After the move, the living room is full of boxes. Charlie, Pat’s dog, hardly has a piece to move. He is confined to a small area in front of the Kitchen. The bedroom is not much better, all my clothes are still store in my suitcase. The only thing I had set up is my desk and my computer. I found that moving is too overwhelming for me to get some quiet time to blog every night. Writing a blog entry only takes 15 minutes of quiet time, to rethink about what had happened during the day that worth writing down. Having with boxes every where, I spent all my 15 minutes unpacking and settling down. Maybe I should relax and listen to Pat. She said moving is not a project you have to finish with a deadline, while it is a process for you to reconcile with your past. Although my place is still full of boxes, my life should get back to normal. If I can life off with two suitcase in India for two months, I can life off with most of stuffs packed inside two dozens of boxes.

書評

The Peter Principle – Lawrence J. Peter and Raymond Hull

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The Peter Principle 這次我去印度工幹﹐放週未時逛書店﹐竟然給我遇上了這本商管奇書《彼得定律》。這本小書只有百來二百頁﹐你不會在MBA看到這本書的內容﹐但書中所描述卻是職場千古不變的真理。可能真相實在顯淺得太過尷尬﹐一般商管書籍索性避而不談﹐當作這個真相並不存在。不過讀者也不要過份認真讀這書﹐始終這本書不是學術著作﹐沒有深奧的理論或數據支持﹐只憑作者的直覺分析﹐得出一個令人恍然大悟的結論。彼得定律的邏輯很簡單﹐就是在一間公司或機構中﹐大部份員工都是無能。因為有能力的員工可以升職﹐直到他們因能力所限不能再住上爬﹐於是每個人都滯留在不能勝任的職位。

這本小書水份甚多﹐簡單的幾個論點可以說上幾十頁紙。作者在申述論點之間﹐加插大量道聽途說的小故事。雖然那些小故事讀起來十分有趣﹐不過立旨內容免未過份冗長重覆。書中除了說明彼得定律外﹐還詳細地分析這條定律對工作的影響﹐以及如何運用這條定律。一個機構不論是公司﹐學校或政府機關﹐其存在意義的並不機構的服務理念﹐而是以機構的繼續存在作為其最終目的。太過無能的員工會被開除﹐因為會直接影響到機構的運作﹐但太過能力出眾的員工也會被開除﹐因為會威脅到機構賴生存的潛規則。不過大部份員工也不屬於這兩個極端﹐稍具能力的員工會被升遷﹐直到超出他的能力笵圍為唯止。至於那些升到無能崗位的員工﹐由於他們對機構並沒有重大威脅﹐所以在一般下情況會被容忍存在﹐不過當然就升職無望了。

當明白沒有機構逃得過彼得定律﹐我們便可以發明對我們有利的應對策略。彼得定律助我們理解升職的潛規則﹐明白從上面拉比從下面推更有效率。所以我們想要升職﹐首先要觀察上司是否已經到道彼得頂點﹐他還沒有升遷的希望。若果不肯往上爬的路給堵塞了﹐便要技巧地向橫發展﹐開拓新的升遷空間。若我們已不幸到達彼得頂點﹐書中教我們保持心理健康的方法﹐不要被工作上的錯敗感打跨。書中亦提供方法防止到達彼得頂點﹐明言拒絕升遷對工作有壞影響﹐所以要很有技巧地防止自己升職。最佳的方法莫過於在重要的工作上勝任讓機構繼續在這個位置重用你﹐但在小事情上糊塗讓上級沒有信心把你升上去﹐這就可以保持工作帶來的滿足感了。不過我認為作者的方法行不通﹐工作的最大滿足感是出糧﹐升職後當然會加人工吧。只要不是太過無能而被公司開除﹐在不能勝任的高職位收多些人工﹐總比在勝任愉快的低職位收少些人工好﹐反正書中有方法教導失敗者保持心理平衡。升至無能的職位便順其自然地無能好了﹐一般無能與公司的生存方針沒有衡突﹐反正受害的只是公司的客人﹐和沒有實際意義的工作效率統計數字。

Daily Scribble

Possessions

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Possessions are different than assets. Asset has monetary value. It is very liquidate, you can turn your asset back into money in no time. Possessions are simply something you own, you may value them very much, but it may worthy nothing to other people. I am moving in with Pat, so I am clean my apartment. I am surprise by amount of things in my little apartment. I have accumulated lots of things over the years. My life in Vancouver is in big contrast with my life in India. I have so many things here, but I am able live off with only two suit cases in India. Sometimes, I wonder how much thing a person really needs, probably not much.

In some African tribes, people don’t have any possessions. They only value things that can be carried with them from one place to another. Human start to have possessions when we settle down in a place and have the means to take all our belongs with us everything we move. In modern society, people love to have many possessions. We just love to own stuffs We keep accumulating furniture, clothes, books, CDs, DVDs, collectibles in our home, although we probably won’t use all of them in foreseeable future. Strictly speaking, possessions are useless things somehow make us happy. I guess all we want is just a sense of ownership.

Product Reviews

Canon 450D

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Canon 450D

I have been resisting the temptation to get a DSLR camera for a long time. Finally I gave up and bought a DSLR camera, Canon 450D. I used to have a film SLR camera when I was in high school, so I am not new to photography. I just have too many other hobbies such that I could not afford to spent any time or money in picking up photography. Well, the camera is not for myself, it’s for my wife. She lost her pocket camera and she want to get a DSLR like her friends, so I buy her a Canon 450D for her birthday present. I compare quite a few of entry level DSLR cameras. I rule out brands other than Canon and Nikon at once. For DSLR camera, there are the top two brands with most support in term of lens and accessories. Then I narrow it down to the choice of Canon 450D and Nikon 90D, since I don’t want to get last year’s model. In the end, Canon is cheaper than Nikon, so I go for the Canon.

I just take a few test shots using the camera. It is quite light. The body is not too big. It fits my wife’s small hand better than the more professional models with bigger body. The kit len is pretty decent. It is a 18-55mm zoom len with image stabilizer. The only complain is the aperture is not big enough, only F3.5. I haven’t take serious photos for many years, so I have forgot most of my photography skills. So I also bought a book on how to become a good photographers using 450D in 7 days. It has lots of illustration on how to use the camera. I guess the only way to become a good photographer is to practice more.

Since the camera is for my wife, I bought her a nice purple camera bag, which is her favorite color. Somehow she think the camera bag is blue, although it says the bag is purple in the tag. I can’t really tell whether the bag is purple or blue, it’s kinda in between. But if the tag says it’s purple, it must be purple.

Daily Scribble

Farewell Bangalore

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It is my third time visiting Bangalore. The city still sucks and I don’t have any pleasant experience with it. However, I am getting over all my uneasiness of India and become indifference to the surroundings. I just came to release Bangalore is the forth city I spent most time of my life. I spent almost 3 months here for my three trips combined. Only after Hong Kong, where I was born, Canada, where I grew up and California, where I worked and visit once a while.

Compare to my first two trips, this time I have a very difference altitude returning to India. I come here to work and I get away once my work is done. I did not take many photos this time, only beer pictures with my colleagues at dinner. I no longer amused by the strange sights in India. Cows on the streets and rush hour traffic madness seems so common to me. I still got ripped off a few times, but I laugh at my stupidity and learn the lesson instead of feeling anguish about my lost. I have confirmed my bias and stereotypes about Indian culture and I learned how to cope with it. Just don’t take anything for granted in this country. They can screw things up in the most unimaginable way. I still hate Bangalore, but I am getting accustom to it.