Showing posts with label General. Show all posts
Showing posts with label General. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

My Weight Reduction Secret

Today I will not talk about investment or economy but a topic that interest all women – slimming (瘦身男女). I started to put on weight while I was in the Army. Funny isn’t it, putting on weight while in the military organization! Don’t laugh, it least I still physically fit and I passed my physical fitness test.

And my weight has been maintained at 72kg (with std deviation of 1kg) for a decade. I tried many methods to reduce it but was unsuccessful. Methods I tried previously includes:

1) Regular exercise
2) Products that increase metabolism rate.
3) Products that prevent food from breaking down completely for body to absorb.
4) Any of the above combination.

They all never work. Go on diet? I also know that lah, don’t need you to teach! But to go on hunger strike might as well ask me to die. Somewhere in Jul this year, during our usual lunch gathering, one of the senior colleagues shared with me a cheap-and-easy method to slim down. He witnessed how it works on his Pastor. That is:

Eat fruit lunch (even without strenuous exercise)

His Pastor used to be quite fat but after fruit lunch plus regular exercise, he slims down completely. Actually we all know about eating more fruits and vege but my question is, does it really work. In fact, one of my ex-colleagues Ms Jenny mentioned this method before. Now let’s stay focus; we want to see result, don’t we? Everybody tries to come up with his/her own monkey secret that will help a person to reduce weight. You just get disappointed many times. But my colleague’s statement is very strong – fruit lunch, don’t need exercise (though his Pastor exercise regularly). And he GUARANTEES that it will work and I will see result in 3 months time.

The Challenge

I don’t believe but I am ready for the test. On 19 Jul 08, I declared to a few close colleagues that I will start fruit lunch challenge for 3 months. And these are my plan to be followed closely:

1) Only eat 3 times a day, including the fruit lunch.
2) Ban snacks and supper completely. Actually I don’t usually eat supper.
3) No exercise (otherwise don’t know the cause of the result)
4) Target weight: 65kg

And as you know, whenever you want to try to achieve something difficult, you’ll find more friends/colleagues trying to pull you down rather than encouraging you.

“Aiya, you just had a lunch at Fish and Co. so all your effort wasted liao”
(one lunch at Fish and Co. and all the effort will be wasted, can you imagine such motherhood statement?)

“No lah, the key lies in your fruit combination. Your current combination is not good so it won’t work”
(I didn’t know that only certain fruits have fibre while the rest has zero fibre)

“no lah, without exercise no way you can reduce weight”

Remember the movie Pursuit of Happyness staring Will Smith? He said this in the movie, “when people can’t do something, they want to tell you you can’t do it”. That’s human nature. Anyway, I followed through my plan exactly for the 1st month. Come to the second month, I got a problem – I was recalled back by the Army for training. So I could not follow my plan anymore. It’s the Army, not your grandfather’s organization that you can do as you like. Also due to the stress level plus ample of tidbits from my comrades, my slimming programme was totally disrupted. After I completed my ICT, I continued with my plan, only that I changed from fruit lunch to fruit dinner. The reason:

1) It is difficult to have fruit lunch with my colleagues. They are enjoying good food and so it was very tempting.
2) It is cheaper and easier for me to eat fruit dinner than lunch.
3) If you stop taking food after lunch (other than fruits for dinner), your body has very long hours without fatty/oily foods – from lunch to next morning. Imagine the impact!

The Result

Recently I bought an electronic weighing machine but dare not try it. I dare not face the result although somehow I felt that my pants are loosened! But you know, it could be just psychological. It was only a week later that I think I must know the answer. So I jumped on the weighing machine and voila it shows my weight to be 68.8kg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I kept trying and it still shows the same result.

I am not convinced. So I went to the gym to use their machine. Their result shows that my weight is 69.7kg. Ok, so now I know that at least my weight has indeed dropped by at least 2kg. Yesterday, a few ex-colleagues from the Army called me out for a gathering. When I arrived, one of them immediately shouted out “eh, you slim down ah!”

Oh my goodness!!! Another view from someone I’ve not met for more than half a year, cannot be wrong. Thus I declare to the whole world that:

“I had tried fruit dinner method to reduce weight without strenuous exercise. It works!”

No doubt there is still a distant away from my target, but since there is initial result, I will press on. Below is my photo taken a few days back. Other then my face, still like a balloon, look at my waist or tummy. Therefore, from this day onwards, fruit dinner will stay with me till deaths do us apart!

“Whose that girl on your right?”

Well, for me to know, for you to find out…. along New Tiew road.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

中國毒奶粉的事件

Lately a friend sends me an article on China’s milk poisoning issue. Not sure how accurate but still decided to share it with all. At least good as a warning.

================================

中國毒奶粉的事件讓大家都很害怕,每天看新聞報導,說法卻變來變去。沒有人清楚告訴我們到底什麼可以吃?什麼不能吃!!! 這時候該怎麼辦呢?

1.毒奶粉到底是什麼?

就是「三聚氰胺」。這是化工實驗室裡的「三聚氰胺」














「三聚氰胺」原本是做什麼用的呢?它是一種工業原料主要是用來製作「美耐皿」碗盤










還有家裡裝潢一定會用到的「美耐板」











「三聚氰胺」是一種工業原料,根本就不能吃!

2.為什麼「三聚氰胺」會出現在奶粉裡?

奶粉是由牛奶製成的,牛奶最重要的營養成份就是蛋白質。「三聚氰胺」跟蛋白質一樣含有「氮」











偷加「三聚氰胺」,製造廠商可以省下牛奶的用量、降低成本。下面都是「三聚氰胺」,是不是跟奶粉很像?它沒有味道,所以不容易發現。











3.是怎麼發現的?

2007年 美國貓、狗暴斃,在中國製的寵物食品裡發現「三聚氰胺」2008年開始 中國嬰兒腎結石病例異常增多








2008年8月 中國三鹿奶粉被檢驗出「三聚氰胺」










2008年9月 紐西蘭總理要求中國政府處理2008年9月21日 台灣爆發多種食品含有「三聚氰胺」

4.吃/喝了會怎麼樣?

「三聚氰胺」結晶會留在腎裡面,形成結石,堵塞腎小管。結石很痛很痛,結石的人尿不出來,腎臟會水腫。











雖然結石可以動手術拿掉,卻會對腎臟造成不可恢復的傷害,到最後腎臟失去功能,就必須洗腎,否則很快就會因為尿毒症死亡。

洗腎是什麼呢?其實正確來說,應該叫做「洗血」就是把身體全部血液,抽到外面繞一圈,經過機器過濾再送回去。













整個過程大約4個小時。嚴重的人,三天就要洗腎一次,一直到死亡。

必須先在手臂上開這樣大小的洞,才能夠插管子洗腎














為什麼嬰兒最嚴重呢?因為腎臟很小,此外,嬰兒只喝奶粉,所以腎壞掉的速度是最快的。

中國目前已經有1萬3千個受害的嬰兒住院

「三聚氰胺」吃多會急性腎衰竭死亡,吃少會慢慢腎結石、腎病變它會在人體內累積。並不是吃多少的問題,而是一點點都不能吃!

5.哪些東西不能吃/喝?

只要是奶精或奶粉做成的,都可能含有毒奶。包括這些



大家只要記住:有「奶精」、「奶粉」的,都不能吃/喝。

6.毒奶事件影響到哪些廠商?

下面這些都是跟毒奶事件有關的廠商、產品



另外,這些公司也受到影響:

亞信、佳美、上田、特順香、老大房、台威食品公司、高育生物科技公司、雲林北港宗泰食品、尚效、品高、久津、維益食品公司、真口味、維士比、盛發興實業、華盛食品、鴻寶食品、雀實食品、奕瑪國際行銷、寶佳宏企業、三錦企業、魏氏國際實業、國際儲貿、萬記貿易、力遠貿易、丞泰企業、昱彰公司、麒林公司、同興實業、英時公司、菲仕蘭、開元

如果你有親友在中國大陸,必須注意的廠商有:

河北三鹿集團、上海熊貓可寶牌、青島聖元牌、山西古城牌、江西光明英雄牌、陝西寶雞惠明牌、內蒙古蒙牛牌、天津多加多可淇牌、廣東雅士利牌、湖南南山倍益牌、黑龍江齊寧牌、山西雅士利牌、深圳金必氏牌、廣州施恩牌、廣州金鼎牌、內蒙古伊利牌、山東煙台澳美多p‰Œ、青島愛可丁牌、陝西西安御寶牌、山東煙台磊磊牌、上海寶安力牌、福建福鼎市晨冠牌

7.以後該怎麼辦?

至少半年不要吃/喝上面的產品。

如果你的家人是開早餐店、小吃店、餐廳,請告訴他們,暫時停止使用、販賣奶製品。如果你家有嬰兒,請改喝母奶、或尋找其他代替品。

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Pubs Updates

1) Lifebrandz closes Ministry of Sound

Many Singaporeans may have heard and/or been to Ministry of Sound (MOS in short). Me? Never! You always get long queue and I hate long queue. Reported in Business Times today, club operator Lifebrandz closed its Ministry of Sound outlet at Clarke Quay on 6 Sep, less than three years after operations. Lifebrandz said that it has terminated a licence agreement with Ministry of Sound International, which owns the franchise. It said that it plans to redevelop the 40,000 square foot dance club premises into an entertainment centre 'which will be different in concept from the Ministry of Sound outlet'.


2) St. James

Without MOS, we still have St. James. And do you know that St. James is listed! Actually St. James was not listed through an IPO but it was bought over by then listed company JK Technology. I’ve been joking with my friends by inviting them to “my pub” to drink. I don’t own ST. James of course. But since it is listed now, I will get a chance to own it…. very soon.

let’s take a quick look at St. James' performance for the year ended 30 Jun 2008.

Revenue: S$35m (39% variance)
NP: S$4.3m (127% variance)
Margin: 12.3%

Working capital: 1.03 (low but is acceptable since the business deals maintain in cash or equivalent)
Gearing: 0%

The group currently also own Bar None and The Living Room at Marriot Hotel. The group also announced that it has acquired the assets of former Crazy Horse cabaret and turning it into a restaurant with live music – The Bellini Grande. The restaurant is expected to open in late Sep 2008.

Monday, September 29, 2008

Buffett's Battery Bet

Forbes.com

Buffett's Battery Bet
Paul Maidment 09.28.08, 10:02 AM ET

Warren Buffett is buying batteries.

Through MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. he is paying $230 million for a 10% stake in BYD, China's largest maker of rechargeable batteries.

BYD batteries are principally used in mobile phones, for which it also makes handset components. But it has aspirations to use its rechargeable lithium battery technology to become a green car company.

BYD plans to start selling its first all-electric car in China next year and to start selling gasoline-electric hybrids in the U.S. and Europe by 2010. BYD short circuited the difficult process of getting government permission to build cars by buying bankrupt state-owned automaker Qinchuan in 2003 to be the basis of its car-making division, BYD Auto.

The deal with MidAmerican will be unveiled in Hong Kong, where BYD is listed, on Monday. Details became known late Friday.

BYD is based in Shenzhen and has 130,000 employees worldwide. It had sales of $1.8 billion in the six months to June, up 44% for the same period a year earlier. Profit after tax was up 15% at $108 million, as raw material costs surged for both its battery and handset components businesses.

Two-thirds of BYD's sales are in China. The company's chairman, Wang Chuanfu, said in a statement that the investment from MidAmerican will help give BYD further access to global markets, particularly for its new electric vehicles and environmental protection products.

Buffett is getting his BYD stake at a tiny discount to Friday's closing price of HK$8.40. The stock hit a 52-week low of HK$6 on July 24 in the wake of Hong Kong's High Court dismissing in late June a request to halt a lawsuit filed by Foxconn International Holdings, the world's biggest contract maker of mobile phones, for allegedly stealing trade secrets.

Buffett's BYD stake isn't on the scale of the $5 billion he invested in Goldman Sachs earlier in the week, but he has a record of savvy China deals. He invested $488 million in PetroChina stock in 2002 and 2003. In 2007, he sold his stake for $4 billion.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

At The Verge of Recession

As the financial crisis dominates the headline, my friends have been asking for my opinion on stock investment. One of my colleagues asked me the same question two weeks ago. She told me that her ex-colleague encouraged her to “anyhow whack” since “stocks are really cheap now". This was my reply to her:

“How do you define cheap or low?”

I told her that if she buys, her savings would be gone. That was my opinion. In fact, that was my opinion since the start of this year. Checking through my blog you’ll find plenty of it. I don’t have to brag about it.

I was servicing my in-camp training lately. A few ex-colleagues in the forces are also interested in making money. I told them to wait for that opportunity; to wait for my call. Frankly speaking, I have totally lost track of the stock market. In fact, I hardly log into my trading account to check my portfolio. I’m sure I’m sitting on huge losses at this time but my life hasn’t change a bit. The main reason is because I never gamble, and that’s my first principal in investment. I have stop reading financial news, browsing SGX website. So during my in-camp training, I brought Business Times to read and truth be told, all penny stock and mid-cap stock plunged severely from its peak in end 2007.

Following the news on the collapse of Lehman Brothers and takeover of Merrill Lynch, global stock took another plunge. This just to prove my view early this year that US financial crisis has not ended yet. And until US solved their financial crisis, stock market will continue to be highly volatile. In addition, I still strongly believe that we have already crossed the peak of the business cycle somewhere end of last year. We are on the downturn now. There will still be fluctuation and many more “bear traps”, but in the longer term, it’s still going down. Therefore, no matter what you do, if you try to invest now, you’ll have to kiss your money away. Unless you speculate, which I will never encourage, you will never make it. What we need now is to wait for all dust to settle, whether there is going to be a recession or not, and then re-assess the economic movement.

In sum, do not follow amateur’s motherhood statement like “stock price is low”. Keep your money in the bank at this point, although bank will give you peanut rate. What goes up must come down. By the same token, what comes down must go up. The only challenge is – when is the right time. And that is a million dollar question.

Friday, June 20, 2008

You Seen This Before?























Modern Management Theory: Lesson 6

A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field.

While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him.

As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was.

The dung was actually thawing him out!

He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy.

A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate.

Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Morals of the story:

(1) Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy.

(2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.

(3) And when you're in deep shit, it's best to keep your mouth shut!


THUS ENDS THE MANAGEMENT COURSE

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Modern Management Theory: Lesson 5

A turkey was chatting with a bull.

'I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree' sighed the turkey, 'but I haven't got the energy.'

'Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?' replied the bull. They're packed with nutrients.'

The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree.

The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch.

Finally after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top of the tree.

He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.

Moral of the story:

Bull Shit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Modern Management Theory: Lesson 4

An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing.

A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, 'Can I also sit like you and do nothing?'

The eagle answered: 'Sure, why not.'

So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Moral of the story:

To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Modern Management Theory: Lesson 3

A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp.

They rub it and a Genie comes out.

The Genie says, 'I'll give each of you just one wish.'

'Me first! Me first!' says the admin clerk. 'I want to be in the Bahamas, driving a speedboat, without a care in the world.'

Puff! She's gone.

'Me next! Me next!' says the sales rep. 'I want to be in Hawaii , relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas and the love of my life.'

Puff! He's gone.

'OK, you're up,' the Genie says to the manager.

The manager says, 'I want those two back in the office after lunch.'

Moral of the story:

Always let your boss have the first say.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Modern Management Theory: Lesson 2

A priest offered a Nun a lift.

She got in and crossed her legs, forcing her gown to reveal a leg.

The priest nearly had an accident.

After controlling the car, he stealthily slid his hand up her leg.

The nun said, 'Father, remember Psalm 129?'

The priest removed his hand. But, changing gears, he let his hand slide up her leg again.
The nun once again said, 'Father, remember Psalm 129?'

The priest apologized 'Sorry sister but the flesh is weak.'

Arriving at the convent, the nun sighed heavily and went on her way.

On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to look up Psalm 129. It said, 'Go forth and seek, further up, you will find glory.'

Moral of the story:

If you are not well informed in your job, you might miss a great opportunity.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Modern Management Theory: Lesson 1

A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower, when the doorbell rings.

The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs.

When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next-door neighbour.

Before she says a word, Bob says, 'I'll give you $800 to drop that towel.'

After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob, after a few seconds, Bob hands her $800 and leaves.

The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs.

When she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks, 'Who was that?'

'It was Bob the next door neighbour,' she replies.

'Great,' the husband says, 'did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?'

Moral of the story:

If you share critical information pertaining to credit and risk with your shareholders in time, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable exposure.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Stock Updates

I have not been looking at the stock market for about 4 months. This is because I believe that we had way passed the peak of the business cycle. A good friend of mine who just migrated to Australia wrote to me lately and asked for my opinion on stock investment now. Another ex-colleague also called me recently on the same issue. And my answer is always consistent – we had passed the peak of the business cycle, which was in 2007. And now we are trending downward, although there will be fluctuation in stock indexes. But we got to look at the bigger picture instead of those numbers (indexes) jumping up and down everyday. If you don't even understand this, you are not suitable for stock investment. Of course if you speculate, it is different ball game. If you speculate, you can make lots of money regardless of the market direction if you are accurate. And equally, you can loss everything, including your family..... and sometime even your life. And one of my principles of stock investment is never to gamble.

I continue to believe that unstoppable surge in oil price will soon bring down global economy badly. Keeping my fingers crossed, I hope that I'll never experience a depression in my lifetime. If you are reading my blog now, I have a question for you that not many people thought about it – what if there is really going to be a depression? Are you prepared? In fact, how are we going to prepare for it? And for that matter, do you know the consequence of a depression?

Yesterday evening, finally I decided to log on to my trading account and SGX website. My account indicates that the last time I logged on was on 25 Mar 08. Wow! It seems that there was a slight rebounds and my losses had been narrowed by a little bit. However, my paper loss is still significant. Out of more than 10 counters, only two make money. Immediately I keyed in my sell orders. Fortunately, I managed to dispose it today at a decent profit but not to forget that I am still sitting on significant losses. So I will not call for a celebration.

And then I spend two days re-orientate myself to all the corporate announcements. Here are some of the updates.

1) ASA Group. I bought this counter a few years ago due to its strong balance sheet. Unfortunately, since then the company's profit was on the downhill (don't blame me please) causing the stock price to plunge. Luckily, I was able to dispose it with minimum losses a year ago. Thanks for the bull. Whoever bought it from me obviously doesn't understand the fundamental of stock investment. He/she just enjoyed the bull ride. Lately, the auditor cast a doubt over the company's going concern. You can now invest in this company at 5 cents per share.

2) Industry performance and directors’ forward looking. I pick up a few company's results that were announced recently together with the director comment. Here are some of the pointers:

a) Marine, oil and gas companies are doing fine. Generally, we can expect these industries to continue paying fat bonuses.

b) Property had slowed down but local construction sector remains vibrant.

c) Consequently, steel companies are doing fine too.

d) Tech-stock looks very bad. I had already warned many since early this year not to touch tech stock no matter how attractive it is.

e) Weakening of US$, slow down in US economy and rising oil price is a main concern to many companies and may adversely affect their performance.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

My Encounter with Positive Mindset

A Movie to Share

I like to share a wonderful movie today. Yes there are numerous wonderful movies like Lord of the Rings (awesome), Transformer (two-thumbs up), Matrix (fantastic) etc. But today I would like to share one that will refresh your memory on "positive mindset". The word positive mindset should not be strange to all of us. We use it frequently but loosely and indiscriminately at times. Before I talk about this movie, I like to share with you my first encounter with Positive Mindset.

After years of survival on earth, I came to realize that on the topic of positive mindset, I could classify people into two types. The first type is those that require training or some sort of education so as to go into that state of mind. Many people fall under this category. How many times have you heard of friends and colleagues (and yourself) complaining about work load, or how difficult a job is, or how it is "humanly-impossible" to complete a task or "why this work must come to me and not you" etc. All too familiar isn't it. Unfortunately, I used to be one of them though I am not that bad. When I was in SAF, there was a time when our clerk was on maternity leave. Our superior instructed the junior specialists (people at my level) to take turns to cover clerical duty. One of my navy colleagues, a plump guy, was extremely unhappy about it. He argued that he was not paid to cover clerical work and so he protested. Unfortunately, nobody supported him so he was forced to do it.

Another type is the unconscious type, people who are born with it. This type of people tends to be more submissive, patient and not calculative. They weren't trained in positive mindset but subconsciously, they behave like one. One such candidate would be my ex-army colleague Mr Ng. Since I know him at the age of around 23, he never complains about workload, never reject challenges and never being calculative on work distribution. I bet with you to my last cent that he never heard of Neuro-linguistic Programme during those years. NLP was originated by Richard Bandler and John Grinder at the University of California at Santa Cruz in 70s.

The First Encounter

Someone trained me or jump-started my consciousness on positive mindset. He is my mentor in this field. Some of my colleagues might know who he is. If you know, keep it to yourself. If you don't, you'll never. To cut the long story short, he gave me a book written by Adam Khoo - Master Your Mind, Design Your Destiny. Initially I thought it was another book about finance or investment which is nothing new to me. He told me that it is not, and hopes that I can spend some time to read it. Unfortunately, that book ended up on my shelf. Then about a year later, during my in-camp training, I met a Senior Warrant Officer. He was about 40 plus and hold the highest rank in the Specialist Corp. At that age, he continues to maintain his 2.4km run at less than 9min – something "humanly-impossible" for me even when I was a teenage. He took up a degree course himself while in the army and completed it. He trained and MOTIVATES young officers for marathon. Yes he highlighted "changing mindset" to be the secret of success. Finally he shared with us on a book written by Adam Khoo – Master Your Mind, Design Your Destiny. None of my ex-colleagues heard about it except me. The book was still on my bookshelf, remember?

That night I wrote an email to my mentor to tell him that I saw a living example and I will read the book humbly.

“Orh, so you are here to sell this book lah”

Of course not! I don't earn a single cent and I am not associated with Adam. Why should I help him to earn passive income? I want passive income for myself! Many books had been written about positive mindset decades ago but I started with his.

“So anything changed after reading that book?”

To cut the long story short (again), from then onwards, I never shun away from additional workload. In fact, I always volunteer to do more so as to learn more. I place great emphasis on "value-creation". Basically, my mindset had changed.

The Pursuit of Happyness

This movie that I want to share with you is "The Pursuit of Happyness" starring Will Smith. It was released about a year ago. It is a fantastic show because it refreshed my awareness on positive mindset. To sum up the movie, it is about a salesman selling unwanted medical product and is in a financial crisis. His wife is frustrated with him and ditched him subsequently. His landlord is chase him out and he has a boy to feed. He only has a few bucks in his wallet and life is all screw up for him. It is a typical family man that screws up his work and family life.

The only different is – he is always positive. I'm going to quote a line from the movie even before you watch, if you have not. This line is extremely inspiring and I guess people in network marketing business would need it. Will Smith was talking to his boy.

"Don't let somebody tell you, you can't do something. Not even me. You got your dream, you gotta protect it. People can't do something themselves, they want to tell you, you can't do it. You want something, go get it. If you have a dream, protect it"

Then this man decided to do a career switch - stockbroking. I don't want to spoil your mood so I'll leave it to you to watch this movie. Now, this is a true story about Chris Gardner. You can read about him in Wikipedia. Chris Gardner is a millionaire today.

This is really a fantastic movie that refreshes my consciousness on positive mindset. You won't learn anything about investment in this movie, in case you got the wrong motive. So what are you waiting for? Go get the movie.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Blog Reconstruction


I am currently reconstructing a few layouts such that pictures (of my friends and colleagues) cannot be download. At the same time, I am also trying to put my music back. It seems that the free music storage site "MediaMax" will no longer be free. You know the business game.

But I am sure there are other heroes around. I am working on it.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Kim Song & 碧玉

These photographs came rather late. This is because my dear friend Kim Song took his own sweet time to send me his wedding photographs. The special day was on 8 Mar 2008 (三八妇女节). The reason I want to put his wedding photographs on my blog is not because Kim Song any big deal, but because I was told that I am over-dressed that night.

Just kidding! The main reason was because that night was also the gathering of the fellowship. People seated around that table are not only friends but we used to work together in the same office. To-date, many had either left or posted out – I am one of them. So it is a wonderful chance that we met again.

Looking at Kim Song and his 碧玉, don't you agree that both of them are like from the same mold? Certainly, this type of couple will live happily ever after. It's predestined.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

The Ideal Working Life

Ideal Working Life

What's your ideal working life? A company that make money consistently and managed by people with good management philosophy - value staff commitment and loyalty, willing to offer reasonable rewards etc. And we all live happily ever after. Two elements must exist at the same time to create such ideal working life.

Firstly, a company that "prints money". I don't mean exactly printing dollar notes but that the company has strong fundamental such that it can and it will survive forever.

"Impossible lah!"

Impossible, wanna bet? Then how did Warren Buffett earn his billion dollars? What about Coca Cola? Colgate? MacDonald? GE? Many of these companies exist before you were born. In fact, I believe that there are also such companies in Singapore. Perhaps Singpost, Tiger Balm, Tiger Beer, SPH etc. I call this types of companies as a "money-printing" company. They are able to survive in good times and in bad times. They are highly profitable though may not be as profitable as an oil company. But these companies are fundamentally strong and are good for long-term investment even in term of career-building. One of my friends from a local beer company told me that their Finance Executives like forever-never-leave. We call it "pa si bo zhao" (never leave no matter how you whack them) in Hokkein. Question is, why they "pa si bo zhao"?

After having such wonderful companies, you also need another important element – the management team with the kind of management philosophy. Sometime back, I read articles about Singpost and a medicated oil company (can't remember is Eagle Brand or Axe Brand) about their employees staying with the company for a very very long time and that management value such employees. They will train and re-train their employees so as to keep them, even as technology advances. What I mean is that you must get the "correct boss", "correct management team" etc. I will not elaborate on this since some of my colleagues may be reading my blog but you can use your imagination.

This week is a rather an emotional week in my office. A few of my colleagues resigned and we had a last gathering with one of them - Valerie. Val had been with the company for 6 years if I remembered correctly. I only joined their gang after an internal posting in mid-2007. Apparently, Val got her MBA lately and she believe (and me too) that she deserve a higher position in the company – well at least the minimum. Unfortunately, the management has different opinion. As a result, she was, in a sense, forced to leave this place to look for greener pasture. Sad isn't it? I believe that if she has been offered at least the minimum, she would stay as she is emotionally attached to this group of colleagues.

Well unfortunately, we are not living in an ideal world. In the real world, people without the intention to stay on were promoted, and people with intention to stay were forced to move on instead.

This is the world that exist today. Welcome to the real world. (familiar line? From the movie Matrix!)

Actually I had also worked for the SAF for ten years. But my departure was not that emotional perhaps it is because "We Were Soldiers". But I still keep in touch with my brothers. These are my brothers in need. To Val, if you are reading this article, as your friend, I strongly support you to move on. I have no doubt that you will excel in another territory.

Lastly, Val, I like to delicate this song to you – Goodbye!

I can see the pain living in your eyes
And I know how hard you try
You deserve to have so much more
I can feel your heart and I sympathize
And I'll never criticize.....

(the rest of the lyrics are not appropriate)

There's nothing left to try.....

(the rest of the lyrics are not appropriate)

There's no other way than to say good-bye

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

One step at a time

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as
the farmer tried to figure out what to do.

Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway. It just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up. As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up.

Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

Lesson no.1 - Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up.

Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

1) Free your heart from hatred - Forgive.

2) Free your mind from worries - Most never happen.

3) Live simply and appreciate what you have.

4) Give more.

5) Expect less

NOW .......... !!

Enough of that crap . . . The donkey later came back and bit the farmer who had tried to bury him. The gash from the bite got infected and the farmer eventually died in agony from septic shock.

Lesson no.2 - When you do something wrong, and try to cover your ass, it always comes back to bite you. You have two choices...smile and close this page, or pass this along to someone else to spread the fun.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

World Richest

Ever heard someone saying that 90% of the wealth of the world is in the hand of 10% of the population…or something like that?

Forbes.com reported that Warren Buffett has finally climbed the ladder to be the richest man in the world, overtaking Bill Gates, the record holder for last 13 years. Thanks to the surge in Berkshire Hathaway’s share price. According to the report, Warren Buffett’s wealth swell to US$62 billion. With that kind of wealth, can you imagine how many generations need not have to work? You do the math. The following is an excerpt of the report:

Gates is now worth $58 billion and is ranked third in the world. He is up $2 billion from a year ago, but would have been perhaps as rich--or richer--than Buffett had Microsoft not made an unsolicited bid for Yahoo! (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people ) at the beginning of February.

Microsoft shares fell 15% between Jan. 31, the day before the company announced its bid for the search engine giant, and Feb. 11, the day we locked in stock prices for the 2008 World's Billionaires list.


According to the report, Berkshire Hathaway already soared 25% between July 2007 and 11 Feb 2008. The stock price hit an all-time high of $150,000 a share in December 2007. Berkshire Hathaway shares closed at US$137,100 on 12 Feb 2008. The report also gave a short account of the legendary investment guru:

Buffett delivered newspapers as a boy. He filed his first tax return at age 13, claiming a $35 deduction for his bicycle. He moved on to study under value investing guru Benjamin Graham at Columbia University. Buffett began buying shares in textile firm Berkshire Hathaway in 1962 and purchased a controlling stake in 1965. He began buying insurance companies and astutely investing those companies' cash reserves.

Last but not least, the report also listed down Berkshire Hathaway’s stop holdings. If you look at those companies carefully, you will notice certain similarity, which I had mentioned many times in my sharing.

The following are Berkshire Hathaway's 10 largest publicly traded holdings. We do not include any private company holdings. (Source: Form 13-F, Dec 31, 2007, except Wells Fargo because they had an amended filing. Stock prices as of Feb 27, 2008.)

American Express - 12.8% of the company, worth $71.5 billion.

Coca-Cola - 8.6% of the company, worth $12 billion.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe - 18.3% of the company, worth $5.7 billion.

Johnson & Johnson - 2% of the company, worth $3.9 billion.

Kraft Foods - 8.6% of the company, worth $4.2 billion.

Moody's - 17.2% of the company, worth $2.0 billion.

Procter & Gamble - 3.4% of the company, worth $7.1 billion.

US Bancorp - 3.9% of the company, worth $2.3 billion.

Wells Fargo - 9.4% of the company, worth $9.9 billion.

Wesco Financial - 80.1% of the company, worth $2.2 billion.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

九寨沟之旅

Recently, one of my colleagues invited me to join his family to 九寨沟 (成都). This is one of the places in China that attracted many tourists around the world. It is also commonly talk about when people discuss abouy holiday to China. My colleague and his wife had already booked and paid for the trip; that depart right after school holiday - cheaper price. The tour will depart on 28 Mar. When I called up CTC to enquire on this holiday package, I was told that only two customers signed up so far.... and I happened to know these two customers.

It is a great opportunity to go for holiday again, after the traumetic expereince last year to Manila. But my good friend was not to be blame though. It just happen that I am not comfortable with the adverse situation (human and nature) there then. The total damage for default? S$1,200!!!

So this time, I better do proper research and plan carefully. According to CTC, 九寨沟 weather in March is between 10 - 20 degree. To have a better understanding of the temperature level, I asked the girl what's the weather at Genting as I am more familiar with Genting. She replied that it is also about 10 - 20 degree. Still not very sure, I checked the net for China's weather. Here's the bad news. The temperature actually ranges from minimum of about 8 degree to maximum of 17 degree. I can accept 17 degree BUT 8 degree is really really cold. At 17 degree, I can just put on a coat made of cotton. But at 8 degree, I may need something like fur - something meant for winter. I like light attire and hate thick fur.

From the weather forecast, it seems that the best time (with ideal temperature) to go to 成都 is in May. I have no choice but to give this trip a miss.











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