a troubled period

at this point of time, i'm half way through the current work trip with the U.S. leg complete, and customer visits will begin soon. work is piling up quickly and there is no chance that i can settle stuff before the wedding in June... and there is more clarity on the uncomfortable situation here...

i had thought that it was awkward when some new people came to the Singapore office to replace some existing staff as their functions were to be migrated to another location. the transfer of knowledge and equipment took place over a year, but imagine how the outgoing staff must have felt. it was awkward when i was not directly involved... it is much worse now, with some of my colleagues leaving. 4 to be exact. and during the meetings and meals, i was very conscious about what i say. maybe too conscious... if i were closer to them, we might have been more candid. but it would not make a difference.

well, this is no time to be too affected by the current situation. less than a month away from the long await trip.

Baseball in Houston & Walking around in Boston

Houston ...
As part of the team building, we went to catch a game of Houston Astros vs Chicago Cubs at the Minute Maid Park... a game of baseball that is. As the last baseball game (or 40% of a game) that I had watched was more than 2 years ago, the knowledge of the game was almost negligible. Luckily for me, the new R&D manager who was sitting by my left was enthusiastic enough to share his knowledge of the game. Not that I would be a fan of baseball in any case, but it certainly made the activity more interesting.







Boston ...
after a (adjective not to be included) meeting in Boston, there was time for me to roam around a bit. as i was still under the weather, it was difficult to really be enjoying the whole opportunity. as it turned out, Boston looks like a great city to live and work in. Perhaps it is because the weather is pretty excellent and not freezing cold, like it would be more than half the time in a year.

the beginning of a long one

it was a very long sunday,.. with an extension of 13 hours by travelling to Houston. while i was healthy and sharp at the beginning of the flights, i was sneezing like mad just before i slept 3 hours ago, with a throat in pain right now. Ouch...

this is the beginning of a long one... a long work session. Austin in a couple of hours, Houston for the days after, Boston for the weekend, Houston for some meetings, Korea for a few customer visits, China for a couple of follow ups. Feels tiring just thinking about it.

the labour day special

April - it was a Bintan overnight department meeting, a messy meeting in Japan, some difficult meetings in China, with many proposals being due, and then a mid-duration work trip in Korea... Kinda tough, especially when I had very little time back home, and lotsa follow-up items not done. But it was good that I did not get a chance to go for the conference (otherwise known as a holiday for the "participants" who were not there to meet customers and discuss work). Missed a trip to San Diego and stayed at Daesan, South Korea instead? Fine by me.

Too early at Daesan with the delays that went on and most of the time was spent doing work from other customers. But as I followed the work pattern of the other people around me, it became 12-hour shift days, so more time was spent at "work" than I would have liked. Energy level went to all time low for the past few days... so really glad to be leaving today. However, there is still one more stop before I get back. Back to Yeosu!