Today my church, St. Mary, is having our annual picnic in a park by the Fraser River. We have an outdoor mass, followed by food prepared by church goers, then a relaxing afternoon to enjoy the nice weather. The church setup big tent with chairs to host the mass, but many people also bring along their beach chairs. Since today is also the Canada day, many people dress in red, the color of the Canadian flag and there are lots of flags flying. The food has lots of varieties, other western style pasta and bread, Chinese style noodle and rice, there are lots of Philippine dishes, since the church has many Filipinos. The youth band was playing music after lunch. They did not play those boring old fashion church hymns nor mushy praise and worship songs that call Jesus’ name in every other sentence. They played some light country and rocks with meaningful lyrics. While I lay down under the tree shades and enjoying the music, I felt asleep. I was waked up by the laughters and noise of the games organized by church volunteers. Little children and adults alike have fun playing tag-o-war and other group games, even the priest enjoy himself in the games. This picnic in afternoon was a very relaxing way to celebrate the Canada day, a welcome break from my busy overloading life.
槍牌
相信大部份男性對槍械也情有獨鐘﹐是小時候看槍戰電影時 ﹐總會幻想自己像主角一樣是槍神手﹐放學與朋友拿玩具槍﹐口中高呼砰砰彭彭的駁火。很多年前我在美國試射過真槍﹐一直以來也很想玩射擊運動。在香港射擊是一門十分冷門的運動﹐全港大約只有二千人持有槍牌。一般市民想擁有槍械十分困難﹐除了要負擔高昂的槍會費用﹐還以通過重重關卡才獲發槍牌﹐射擊只是富貴人家才能享受的高尚玩意。在美國的情況則是另一個極端﹐差不多任何人也可以購買槍械。市面槍械泛濫﹐所以久不久新聞就有狂徒開槍連環殺人的報導。加拿大的槍械法案則取兩者的平衡﹐保障市民安全之餘﹐又不過份限制市民參與射擊運動的自由。
在加國擁有槍械必需要考取槍牌﹐並向政府證記所擁有的槍械﹐防止槍械落入不法之徒手上。考取槍牌的資格十分嚴格﹐考試分筆試和應用試兩部份。筆試要回答一百條關於槍械安全知識的問題﹐應用試要在考官面前示範如何安全操各種槍械﹐更要即場回答有關槍械的問題。通過了考試後﹐還要再等二十八天冷靜期﹐通過保安檢查後才可以買槍﹐防止精神有問題的人買槍。購買火力強大的自動步槍 ﹐裝彈數量大的彈匣在加國是犯法﹐因此殺手不能大開殺界﹐釀死美國的槍擊屠殺慘劇。槍械存放有嚴格的保安規定﹐減低槍械失竊的機會。帶槍械出街要運輸許可證﹐不像美國般人手一枝槍。因此加拿大的槍械問題並不嚴重﹐每年平均只有一千三百宗槍殺宗﹐而其中超過八成是死因是自殺。事實上在靶場中槍的機會﹐比在游泳遇溺的機會還少﹐所以射擊是一項十分安全﹐適合任何人仕參加的運動﹐
加拿一向大甚少槍械罪案﹐我一直以為加拿大與香港一樣很難擁有槍械﹐除非從美國非法走私進口。早陣子剛巧和一位玩槍的同事說起﹐得知原來要擁有槍械也不是太過困難﹐於是我便下定決必要擁有自己的槍械﹐報讀加拿大政府認可的槍械安全訓練班。訓練班的課程十分集中﹐在一星期內上總共十二小時的課﹐在第三晚的課程完結後就是槍牌考試。上課的同學各色人等也有﹐很多人的家人或朋友已擁有槍械﹐他們考槍牌的主要原因是可以一同去打獵。還有一個從中東來的同學﹐上堂時常認叻說自己以前開機關槍﹐實習時把槍械舞來舞去。幸好最後他不及格﹐否則如果他有了槍牌﹐為保人身安全﹐以後見到他可要繞路走。
課程分理論和實習兩個部份。槍械理論教我們認識槍械的歷史﹐法律﹐原理﹐構造﹐上彈方法﹐安全閥﹐子彈分類等等﹐一枝槍可以分三個主要部份﹐每個部份在長槍和短槍中的名稱也不相同。長槍有六種上彈方法﹐短槍有四種。安全閥有超過八種﹐某些安全閥只應用於某類槍。子彈分類最複雜﹐子彈口徑有沒有統一的量度分法。扶槍口徑號碼越大﹐子彈就越大﹐散彈則剛剛相反﹐口徑越大號碼越細。彈頭有超過十種﹐有些合法有些不合法﹐有些可以合法購買但不能合法進口。 量要命的還是槍械法律﹐那些什麼年期的長短﹐什麼口徑的槍不合法﹐彈匣藏彈最大數目﹐全部也是沒由原因只能死記的數字。一下子要把大量槍械的專有名詞﹐一大趕沒有關連的數字塞進腦袋﹐理應要讀得很幸苦才對。可是說起來奇怪﹐以前返學考試背書我總叫苦連天﹐但今次學槍械理論卻能差不多過目不忘﹐不知是否有興趣的知識特別容易記憶起來。
實習部份當然不會讓我們開槍﹐說到底這是槍械安全課程﹐讓沒有槍牌的人開槍是一件十分危險的事。課程內我們用來實習的槍械不是玩具槍﹐而是封死了不能發射的真槍。長短槍加起來超過二十枝﹐如果可以發射的話﹐簡直是個小型軍火庫。實習的重點是要我們熟習槍械安全措施﹐熟到連下意識也懂正確的做出來。槍械安全有四大天條﹐考試時犯任何一條也立即肥佬。第一條是不論何情況下拿起槍械﹐就算別人告訴你是空槍也好﹐都必須立即打開槍膛﹐親眼確定槍中沒有上子彈。第二條是除了射擊時﹐手指不可以按在機板上。第三條是不論任何時間﹐槍管也要指向安全的方向。若不小心指著別人﹐會被立既逐出靶場。如果指著別人的槍上了彈﹐更會屬犯刑事罪行。第四條是除了在射擊時﹐槍械必需保持空彈狀態。每天上課在教練不講書時﹐我們就不停地反覆練習上彈和退彈的技巧﹐直至熟習十種考試會考的槍械為止。放學時雙臂很累﹐真槍很十分重。連晚上睡覺發夢時也聽見﹐卡嚓﹐卡嚓的上膛聲。不過說起來那些的上膛聲﹐倒也十分美妙悅耳﹐我最喜歡是雷明登鳥槍拉後上彈的那一個聲音。
經過一星期嚴格的訓練後﹐我成功地考獲槍牌﹐只要把文件寄回槍械管理處﹐再等一個月我就可以實現擁有槍械的夢想。希望剛剛可以趕及八月前收到﹐可以買枝新槍送給自己作生日禮物。我的第一枝槍打算購買Glock 17﹐這槍是香港和加拿大警察的標準裝備﹐價錢也不太貴才不過八百加元。我己經例出了我夢味以求的槍械清單﹐當中自然有我最愛的雷明發鳥槍﹐城市獵人用的Colt Python﹐占士邦用的華特PPK﹐當然也少不了省國旗兵最愛的紅星黑星。不過這可要一步一步慢慢來﹐先練好槍法的基本功夫。留待有什麼升職加人工喜慶日子時﹐才買枝槍獎勵自己。別人喜歡收藏名表﹐名牌衣飾﹐紅酒古董﹐我的嗜好則是收藏槍械。槍械除了觀賞價值外﹐當然還有實際的用途﹐在靶場練習固然是有益身心的運動﹐但更加好玩的是去野外打獵。打獵這項運動﹐可以親近大自然洗滌心需﹐可以有實彈射擊的緊張刺激﹐最後還有野味大飽口福﹐一次過滿足晒三個願望。
一字排開的各類長槍
古代要用人手點火的手槍
長短槍俱全的槍牌考試
Lucky draw
Normally, I don’t have luck in lucky draws. I guess the stars must be right, I am the monthly winner of gift pack from Waterloo Alumni for updating my contact information. I got an email notified me I had won the winner of June. I totally forget about it until I recieve a call from the post office to pick up the package. I won a backpack, a baseball cap, a keychain, a water bottle, note pad and an useless sticker, all of them come with the Waterloo logo. The backpack is really nice, with comfortable shoulder padding, lots of compartments, clip on cell phone bag and a special pocket to store iPod, which leave an opening for the headphone. Well, statistically speaking, no winning any prize in lucky draw is the norm, winning is the exception. The only way to increase of your chance of winning is to enter more lucky draws. Therefore, I update my contact information in the alumni website again right away, hope to win another gift pack next month.
Tried.
No wonder I am tried like hell when I got home today. I have a full day of work, plus 2 hours of driving and 4 hours of classes. That is almost like working a double shift. Fortunately, I only have one more class left on Friday.
At first, I just pick up firearm as a hobby. The more I read about firearm, the more I appreciate the reasons behind America’s forth amendment. In Canada, people are only allow to shoot as hobby, but firearms really should be intended for self protection and preservation of liberty. The argument is not intuitive, but elegant when lay out properly. I read two reports from the Fraser Institute, compare the crime rate in gun control countries before and after the regulation. The conclusion is gun control does not lower the crime rate. The criminals still have guns, but the victims now deprived of their means of self defense. If every people is rational and law binding citizen, then gun actually make the society safer. The only problem is there are crazy people shooting others once a while. This problem can be deal with if everyone carry a gun and learn to disarm the crazy guy at any sight of trouble.
Arguing in the scope of political philosophy, gun actually protect the liberty of the citizens. Without any means of self protect, good citizen can only rely on the police to protect themselves from criminals. In order to effectively protect defenseless citizens, the government have to increase the authority of police. Everyone knows increasing the police power will erode the liberty we enjoy in the society. Gun ownership promotes a smaller government, which is good for the economy and liberty. This pro-gun argument is still a very rough idea, I should give it more thought and write an article exploring it with further details.
Project management
There are two kinds of project, one use proper project management techniques and the other has absolutely no project management. Managers in my old department are the firm believers of the first kind. We try our best to do project planning, estimate the scope of work, resource requirement and schedule. We have objective matrix to to measure project progress and individual performance. So, the projects are running quite smoothly and in general people are compensated fairly.
On contrary, people in the new department, from top to bottom, lacks any viable project plan. No wonder the project is in a mess and people feel like being slaved. The leader and manager have no clue whether the schedule is on track, since they don’t have any estimations to begin with. There is no way to keep track of progress, they don’t even know what the scope of work should be. All they have is just a date and the mentality is to meet that date at all cost. The task assignment is vague, you have no idea what is the real amount of work you have signed up for. You don’t see the light at end of the tunnel, you don’t even know how far you are from the finishing line. To make it worse, people refuse to do proper planning, using lack of time as an excuse. Here is a catch 22 situation. If you didn’t plan ahead of time, it is guarantee you will run of of time at the end. How can you meet the schedule if you don’t even know what is the scope of your work? Then the busier you are, the more excuse to ignore planning, hence formed a downward spiral all the way to the doomed land.
When it comes to evaluation, since there is literally no data on how well you perform, it all comes to the boss’ impression of how hard you work. In project management, evaluation should be result oriented instead of effort oriented, lots of effort does not always mean good result. Result is what delivers to the custom at the end of the day, not the effort you spend in making the result. Measuring on effort will tempted people to creates artificial effort out of thin air which is not tend to any result, with sole purpose of leaving good impression to your boss. Luckily, my intermediate boss of the project is a nice guy, so its not a big issue for me. However the boss one level up lacks visibility of my work, how can he evaluate me fairly?
Responsibility and expectation of the deliverable has to be clearly define, otherwise it will only lead to the tragedy of common. Being flexible does not mean refusing to laying out any job boundary. Dynamic adjust the job boundary to cope with the need is perfectly fine, as long as at a certain moment, everyone knows who is responsible for what. Theoretically speaking, anyone can do anything given enough time. The question is whether the time is spent efficiently. For example, the verifier can dig out the required information from the design if necessary. But the time of verifier is not best use in document hunt, it takes much less time for the designer to update the document in the first place. It is the designer’s job to provide adequate document to the verifier. Busy is not an excuse for the designer not doing his job right, since verifier is equally busy.
People are willing to walk a few steps further when they are working with friends. However, friendship cannot replace the need to define job boundary. It is OK when things are working fine, but sometimes things may get edgy. In this case, the job boundary definition comes in handy, it prevents friendship turning sour from misunderstanding. Just like no matter how good the friendships you are, money matter always have to deal with absolute clarity.
If any project management courses wants counter examples on productivity. I think I have a textbook case of poor project management. Enough bragging for today.