End of 2007

Yes yes. I haven't been diligent in updating my blog here. For the record, here's what I did/happened to me during the months between September and now in chronological order:


September/ October - Got real busy at work
September and October were pretty crazy months as my department was completing one of the bigger projects for the year. At the same time, there was some internal corporate stuffs to deal with. Having a unresponsive 3rd party in the project only created more tension among the department. Despite all that, the project went through successfully. Now I can add this item to my resume.


Mid - Late October - Got walloped by Mr. Market
I was taught another lesson by Mr Market again. This time round, the mistake was made because of my position size. When things went wrong, I went into a panic - a very serious and costly mistake. But I have learnt to avoid this by taking on smaller positions so that when things go in the wrong direction, I will still be in a clear state of mind.


Early November - Participated in the River Regatta
The River Regatta made me realise that it's better not to have any reserves in a team. Although it might be hard to believe, some people just don't like to play 2nd fiddler. Noted this in mind so that if I form any sort of teams in the future, I will know what to do.


Late November - Visited my ancestral tomb in China
Now I finally get to see what people has been telling me: China is really developing at the speed of light! The China trip with my family was to visit my distant relatives. I couldn't get used to the food there on the first day. But I grew to like it eventually. Went to Fuzhou and saw the young ladies there dressed fashionably and wearing jade bangles. Seems to me that you can change one's appearance but not the thinking. At least not so fast.


Early December - Attended a creativity and innovation course
The course was quite interesting as it introduced some hard and soft tools to encourage creativity and innovation. I do agree with the trainer that we are too constrained by ourselves most of the time. What I learnt was that the best ideas are usually the last few ideas in any "brainstorming session" and we shouldn't censor our own ideas during such sessions. After all, the last best idea wouldn't be possible without the earlier lousy ideas.


Mid December - 4th In-Camp-Training (ICT)
Donning the green uniform, I went back to my favourite camp for my 5 day ICT. Things seemed to run pretty smoothly this time round. I guess now I'm slightly better off at delegating tasks as compared to in the past. But I must admit that my brains are really rusty from the lack of use, and it's affecting me quite seriously. Anyway, things might have been better this time round because my own perception has changed.


Now - Clearing work. Dental Visit. Looking at various insurance products.
After being away for 2 weeks (in China and ICT), there were lots of work to be cleared. So I spent the past 2 weeks clearing my stuffs before the year ends.

Last week, I went to seek dental treatment for my tooth as it became very sensitive. I subsequently did a Root Canal. The experience wasn't as bad as the Wisdom Tooth episode. But nonetheless, it was still pretty traumatic to have small iron rods filing away the nerve/pulp in the said tooth.

After months of procrastination, I finally got down to looking for insurance products. I am a firm believer of the "Buy Term and Invest the Rest" approach, contrary to the majority of whole life policy supporters. Right now, I am waiting for the agents to get back to me on the different products available and their quotation before making a decision. Maybe I'll talk about this topic in another post next time.

Only 2%?

Came across this quiz yesterday. Thought it'll be good fun to work my rusty brains a little. Einstein supposedly wrote this quiz. He said that 98% of the people in the world cannot solve the quiz. But I'm pretty sure he mean that 98% of the people in the world cannot solve the quiz within 10 minutes.

Here goes:

There are 5 houses in 5 different colors. In each house lives a person with a different nationality. These 5 owners drink a certain type of beverage, smoke a certain brand of cigar, and keep a certain pet. No owners have the same pet, smoke the same brand of cigar or drink the same drink.

1. The Brit lives in a red house
2. The Swede keeps dogs as pets
3. The Dane drinks tea
4. The green house is on the left of the white house
5. The green house owner drinks coffee
6. The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds
7. The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill
8. The man living in the house right in the middle drinks milk
9. The Norwegian lives in the first house
10. The man who smokes Blend lives next door to the one who keeps cats.
11. The man who keeps horses lives next door to the man who smokes Dunhill
12. The owner who smokes Blue Master drinks beer
13. The German smokes Prince
14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house
15. The man who smokes Blend has a neighbor who drinks water

Here's the question: Who owns the fish?

OK. A little assumption I made when I was solving the question: the fifth animal is indeed a fish and not a griffin. There's no mention of fish in the 15 hints given.