Hi Ho Hi Ho,its Off to Work We Go Go Go.

At Pattaya Walking Street


Man Kissing Snake - Everyday Activity in Pattaya

This month is going to be a very crucial month for us as far as our business is concerned, we have 1 major equipment installation at a major car company located in Chonburi - 2 hours South East of Bangkok,Thailand. 2 'teams' of 2 technical engineers from my company are scheduled to fly in at 2 week intervals and coordinate as well as assemble the largest Walk-In environmental chamber (I am quite certain) in the Kingdom of Thailand. With the assistance of 2 German engineers from our principal plus 3 local Thai technical staff,we intend to work at some speed and objectiveness to finish the project, hopefully by the 1st week of April.

The first photo above shows Kannan (Regional Manager) and Taawatchai (Thai Sales and service Executive) at the world famous 'walking street' of Pattaya as well as one of the acts in the many pubs, snake show plus Thai kick-boxing. Oh yes, there are plenty of side attractions like the girlie shows and other creatures of the night.It annaully draws people from all parts of the world ranging from the newly wed couples from Eastern Europe,Chinese tourists, and many over the hill aged Western men.The juxtaposition of happy families shopping in the Department Stores side by side with the Western men with their part-time dolled up escorts is quite strange.

We need to achieve the objective,with safety and coordination as this equipmnet will be the showpiece for our small company in S.E. Asia. the first of its kind in this much demoralised car industry.

Hi Ho Hi Ho, its Off to Work we Go Go Go ; A Go Go is a No No No - not till Evrything is Zuo Ho Zuo Ho ! (Done Right).

Then A Go Go Go till we To To To ! (knock out )

To Play at the Highest Level

The recent seminar held by QRA and its co-host SIRIM reminded me that we have very few instances for us as a small company to show our business partners and principals how good - or bad - we are as a professional. Sales Targets and Objectives are well and good.EVERYONE can put on a nice shirt and tie and manage existing accounts like SIRIM and P & F.No special skills required. Its the "walking the talk" and following what is expected of you is what is most important . The point I want to put across is that All things being equal, there is few basic values which separate the Premier League (Top Division) from the lower levels. I am of course referring to our Sales and Service Team :

a) Punctuality
b) Reliable - can be counted upon
c) Knowledgable of your product
d) Good Attitude and Emotional Quotient to interact with existing and create new ones
e) Presentability - Dressing and Speech
f) Know your Limitations and Admit your Shortcomings - Say Sorry

To be at the top of your game, you must exhibit all of these and more. Sad to say, some of our QRA Team need to improve on these.

Bollywood Song with English Lyrics

Here's to all my Indian friends and to me too !

5 days, 2 Seminars, 70 attendees,2 countries - Glad its Over

Today 20th February marks the end of a very hectic week for me,starting from 15th February when I flew up to KL to meet with my Germany colleagues from our principals Weiss Technik and Atlas.The seminar week was planned about 3 months prior to February and Mr. Dieter Haus,Mr. Burkhard Severon and Mr. Fred Schweitzer flew in from Shanghai to Kuala Lumpur and I flew in from Singapore to meet all of them for the first leg.

On 17th February, we had our co-host and longtime customer, SIRIM arrange for us, at no cost the seminar entitled " Reliability Testing for the Photo Voltaic Industry" and their reach was far and wide to customers in all parts of Malaysia. A total of 40 attendees came,with a major segment in the Photovoltaic and Solar industry. It is still early days yet, but I am pleased and grateful for a supportive principal who has spent alot of money to drum up interest and hopefully spur sales and profits in one of the projected 'star' industries as an alternative fuel source to oil once this Financial Crisis is finally over.We had met with the Managing Director of SIRIM in person, Datuk Mariani who was not only very supportive but struck me as a warm and approachable MD.At the end, we had some decent enquiries and interest from 2 companies, outside of SIRIM.



On 19th February, my company QRA International hosted the same seminar with the same speakers at Hilton Hotel Singapore.Many who turned up at the Singapore seminar were very established Test Lab VPs and Senior Managers.Their presence really honoured out small company as we had practically 90% of Singapore's Test Laboratory senior people attending.



Aside from the several slipups such as broken spectacles,driving half-blind,oversleeping on the job (from too much to drink) - I will spare some of you the embarassment, everything else went very smoothly and contacts were made, customers were truly impressed and enjoyed the rare seminar which was fact full,with good food and a fair dose of German humour - that was necessary as we were seeing each other every day for 6 days at a stretch.

Thanks to Kannan,Wahid the Federer,Taqi (SIRIM marketing), Hasnul (SIRIM) and their marketing team for a successful Malaysian seminar.

Thanks goes to Sebastian, Johnson and Rick (all QRA Singapore) for coordinating the Singapore seminar.

At the end, we had good work, loads of fun, some stressful moments,whiskeys drunked,beer quaffed, cigars smoked and Mas Selamat's sister entertaining us.(Of course I am joking, Kannan will vouch for me!)



A job done well. It was fun while it lasted, now back to the serious business of selling and serviving the test equipment.

Valentine's Day Surprise

I had a pleasant surprise today,outside at my roof garden, I found a nest with 2 young baby birds. It started when I went to the attic toilet and I noticed like what seemed to be a very large and dead caterpillar carcass. Strange, I thought, we don't have such big trees at the rooftop garden to sustain such a giant thing. On walking outside, I saw the mother sparrow flying off and there at eye level is this little birds nest and 2 live baby birds.
In our modern and deforested environment, it is increasingly common to find the wildlife encroaching on human communities due to deforestation and this is such an example. I hope these babies have a chance to grow.My neighbouring environment is quite condusive to many species of birds and I have spotted a whole family (5) of yellow crested cockatoos nesting in the forest near where I live.
So its a nice surpirse on this Valentine's Day Feb 14th 2009.

In a Cave Somewhere...........

Buy Toto for 1st Time - Blur

I bought my first set of Toto numbers today,obviously influenced by the S$ 10 Million 'Hong Bao' draw and the frenzy cooked up by the newspapers in recent days. This morning I went to the neighbourhood Coronation Plaza and queued up with the Filipino and Indonesian maids,retirees and some contractors who happened to be passing by and also trying their luck. I had no idea how the Toto system worked so was in effect a clueless first timer. I picked up several Toto forms and filled up 1number per box (!). I just plucked numbers from the air,and filled up 6 boxes with 1 number n each box ! Not knowing what System 7 was (apparently it was for 7 numbers all coming out accurately). I asked the Indonesian maid who was next to me and she also had some numbers (they were 6) sent to her by her friend - she as also a first timer - so she filled in the form same as me.Confidently I queued - luckily it was not a long queue - and presented my filled in form.

" Sir, what you doing ah ??" the NTUC cashier asked me and gave me a look of "another blur sucker first time play Toto, gimme a break "

" Must fill in 7 numbers in 1 box"

Crestfallen, I went to the back of the queue,threw out my coupon and picked again random numbers and filled out the forms as per her instructions. I asked some Singaporean contractors this time around whether I had filled the forms right.
Upon reaching the counter, I beamed at the Aunty and said :

" Wish me luck OK ?"

She shot me a pained look with ("why me ?" written all over her face), she also
double checked that I had filled the coupon corectly.It was over in 10 seconds,I had 4 sets of 7 numbers and :

NOW I LIVE IN HOPE.

At least until tonight, when I will listen to the results and say what a dumb ass I am throwing S$ 14 bucks down the drain, when the chances of 6 numbers coming out (1st prize) are 45 x 45 x 45 x 45 x 45 x 45 x 45 or 1 in 8,303,765,625 (1 in 8 billion).

At least it was fun for a while.