Nguyen has been hanged ...

It has happened. 6 am this morning this young Australian man's life
was taken to pay for his crime of smuggling heroin into Singapore.

I was following this story and have read about many others in the
past, who had been sentenced for various crimes like murder, drugs.
However in this case, unlike before, I started to ask myself whether
any crime, however heinous, deserves the this sort of punishment.

I still remember vividly watching videos of the beheading victims in
Iraq and how it left a sick feeling in my stomach. I could not
understand how these militants could just slice off the heads of their
prisoners and hold them up proudly, all in the name of their cause.

In the video, you could literally hear the prisoner's pleas to spare
their lives and then hear their gurgling screams in between choking on
their very own blood a few seconds later.

Somehow, I felt this familiar sickening feeling in my stomach once
again in relation to the impending execution of Nguyen.

The setting was different, but the plot seemed the same. In both
instances, the "captors" believed that their prisoners had committed
crimes that deserved them a death sentence. In both instances there
were pleas from their own countries to spare their lives and many
people held vigils to pray for their safe return. In both instances,
the death sentence was carried out.

I could not help but draw parallels between these 2 scenarios simply
because for those that carried out the beheadings were called
terrorists, unlawful barbarians and the latter, was an act that was
within the boundaries of a lawful civilized society. It's a matter of
perspective I guess, but I'm pretty sure that in both cases to each
party, they had carried out lawful executions according to their own
laws and beliefs.

I woke up early this morning at 5.40 am and said a prayer for Nguyen, not because I supported what he did, but because he was another human being after all, who had made serious mistakes and had to pay for it with his life.

So is the death penalty justifiable in any society today? In my view, no.

Father Peter Norden, a priest from Nguyen's home said it pretty well, "We reject the power of the state that destroys human life."

What would it prove? Absolutely nothing. Would it deter future drug syndicates from sending their couriers through Singapore? I seriously
doubt it. I doubt it because as long as there is a high enough price
tag attached to the job, someone will take the risk, as we all know,
Nguyen did.

What we need to do is to punish them by taking them out of circulation
for a very long time. Many societies are realizing that now and we see
increasing numbers of countries, states and cities abolishing the
death penalty.

Anyway, Nguyen is dead and has paid for his crimes. I pray for his
soul, that he is in a better place..

A New Found Respect for Manual Labour ....

In Singapore, we have this strange phenomenon of typecasting people by
the work that they do.

Road sweepers, Rubbish collectors, delivery men, couriers ... all these
jobs command very little respect in our society.

It's no wonder that nobody wants to do this kind of work! The Ministry
of Manpower is trying its darndest to reinvent this kind of jobs but
if Singaporeans in general, continue to look down on these types
of work, it won't help, no matter what you name them.

I am not a delivery man per se, but sometimes I make deliveries myself
to save on costs. So I bring along my trustee trolley and do my
delivery runs with my colleague.

One such day was yesterday, when I had to deliver some diaries to a
client of mine. It was in the heart of the city, so parking was not
easy to find. I managed to get a lot along the road and proceeded to
unload the goods onto the trolley. Making my way to my client's office,
I decided to do some site recce before trying to bring all the cartons
in, mind you there were 25 of them.

I asked one of the staff downstairs for the person in charge and was
directed upstairs. When I went up, I asked the bloke if there was a
lift I could use as it would be a daunting task to lug each carton,
weighing 20 kg, one by one up the staircase. To my dismay, he said that
there wasn't one and I just sighed and proceeded to bring each carton
up the stairs, one by one. I was with one of my colleagues and
therefore thought that it would not be so bad.

Being branded as delivery men by then, I noticed
that we suddenly became 'transparent' the staff in the office. They
literally look past you as if you don't exist. I am not being paranoid
as when I'm in my client's office as a Business Development
Manager, I realize that the treatment is very different, hence I could
feel the vast difference in the treatment in this instance.

Anyway, after lugging 18 cartons up the stairs, one of the girls, who
obviously had not noticed us 18 times earlier, asked my colleague in
Mandarin, " Next time you should bring a trolley, then you can use the
lift behind."

I was dumbfounded and asked out loud just to clarify, "You mean there
IS a lift?", and glanced at the bloke that said that there wasn't
initially. He sheepishly grinned and said that there was one, but they
never really use it!

I then looked at the girl and told her that we DID have a trolley and
that she should have told us earlier. She said, "I did not know how
many cartons you had, mah!" With her accompanying Ah Lian grin.

I took the balance 7 cartons and brought them up using the lift and up
to that point, because of the look on my face, I think they felt a
little bad.

They felt bad for several reasons, I reckoned. They felt bad because
they could not care enough for one minute to make another human being's
life easier by pointing him to the lift in the first place. The felt
bad because they believed that we were just delivery men, the lowest of
the low in society ... so who cares if they have to walk up the stairs
25 times! Only when they saw the sweat and the toil that we had to go
through, did they realize .. hey, they're human too!!!

So I have a new found respect for manual labour because I know how hard
it is to do their jobs, having worn their shoes for a moment. I admire
them because they still can do their jobs with dignity and pride even
though the rest of the world doesn't acknowledge them. I admire them
because they simply have to put up with a discriminating society like
ours.

Being old and lonely

I have a grand uncle that lives in a nursing home. If I'm not mistaken,
he's probably about 88 years old. he is related to my mother as he is
her aunt's husband. My aunt is long gone and without any children, we
are basically all he has.

Unfortunately, he had a reputation of being a unreasonable and stingy
with his money in his younger days and now that he is old, a little
senile, none of us wants to look after him.

He does have one other nephew, my mum's cousin, who currently lives in
France. He treats him like a son and has willed all his earthly
belongings to him. But seeing as he lives in France, he is unable to
look after him either!

After selling off his private property and other non-essential assets,
my uncle has a reasonable sum of cash in the bank plus a miserable
pension that the government pays to him every month. The silver lining
for us is that the cash that he has, is probably enough to see him
through till the end and being a pensionable, all major medical bills
are taken care of by the government.

My mother was given the arduous task of looking after his affairs and
long story short, because of his progressing dementia, his obnoxious
side surfaces sometimes and had pissed her off some months back. She
does not want to have anything to do with him and neither does my
sister.

Since my brother said that he was ill-treated by him when he was young,
that pretty much leaves him out as well. So the responsibility now
falls in my lap.

My role now is essentially to collect his bank statements from time to
time to check the balances and make sure that he has enough in the
current account to pay for the home charges and if it runs low, I have
to bring him to the bank and transfer funds from one account to
another.

This is what I had to do today as his current account was running low.
I was dreading this task and called the home in advance to have him
ready to go by the time I got there.

My plan was to get him to the bank, do the deed and get him back as
soon as humanly possible. After picking him up, I realized he was
indeed excited to leave the home although he had no idea where he was
going to and with whom. We were at the bank and in no time, our task
was completed.

My instincts were to rush him back to the home and be proud that my
duties were successfully executed. However during the drive there, it
dawned on me that it had been sometime since this bloke had actually
been outside the home premises. "Aiyah, nobody brings him out one!" -
The nurses words were still ringing clearly in my ear when I approached
her to sign him out. She could not find his file that had all the
people sign him out - because ... there wasn't one! The last time he
was outside the home was when my sister signed him out 2 birthdays ago
to do the exact same deed that we were doing today.

My conscience pricked me and I felt ashamed that we had left him there
for so long .. no visits, no outings.

So I asked him if he wanted to eat something and immediately saw his
eyes light up. I knew that being an Ang Moh bloke, he wouldn't have had
much of his "own kind of food" often as the majority of the residents
in the home were Chinese and they would have had mostly Chinese meals
on a daily basis.

I decided to bring him to Jack's Place and ordered Fish and Chips
complete with the full set meal of soup and dessert.

I actually thought that being as old as he is, he would have probably
only finished a quarter of what I ordered for him but no matter, I was
just happy to give him a taste of his Western food.

But when the soup came, he finished every drop of it and went through a
fair bit of the fish and chips, not forgetting that he lapped up every
possible spoonful of the caramel dessert that came with it.

I could see contentment in his eyes as he exclaimed that he was "full"!
I asked him if he enjoyed it and he responded with a big yes.

I brought him back to the home and brought him up. Before turning to
leave, he grabbed my arm and thanked me for "bringing out and treating
him to the meal". Normally I would shrug it off as everyone whom I had
bought lunch for, normally said the same. But this was different, I
could see sincere gratitude in his eyes and I knew then, that my small
gesture had meant the world to him.

I felt a mixed sense of guilt, happiness and satisfaction all at the
same time. Guilt, because I had not done this nearly as often enough
and really am unsure if I will continue to do so. Happy because I knew
that I had made a difference in someone's life that day and satisfied
with myself that I had made the conscious decision to go outside my
comfort zone and do something for someone that day.

Today .. was a good day.

Here goes nothing ...

It's been at least 2 months and I've been procrastinating following up
on design project left behind by my ex-designer.

Being a born Freehand and Photoshop guy, I wasn't too thrilled getting
into Adobe Illustrator as it looked really complicated to use.

It didn't help that I tried to call at least 5 freelancers and about 3
agencies to see if they could take this off my hands and when I
mentioned the bad word ... Illustrator, they all cringed and whimpered
apologetically that they could not help me ...

With my deadline looming, I took the bull by the horns and opened up
the file after a few encouraging words from my ex-designer, who is now
working for another design agency.

Voila! After about 30 minutes, and really getting into the swing of
things, I found that it wasn't so difficult and managed to get around
the navigation tools and buttons.

Lesson to be learnt, never, I say, never think that anything is too
difficult for you until you give it a go yourself!!!

Cheers!

What's going on?

I haven't been blogging this past month as I have been busy with work.

I came on today to check out some of my regular blogs and found out
that Hazel's has shut down her site and Wendy has been slammed for her
comments on disabled amenities.

So much so that she has lost 2 product endorsements in just as many
days.

Well, I have always thought that her mouth moved faster than her brain
and from other posts from her past especially her comments about her
trip to KL, she has certainly riled up some bloggers from across the border. I guess she has really offended this disabled chap and he has
certainly been key in causing her to lose these endorsements.

Personally, as much as I support freedom of speech, I feel that she has
done a disservice to herself by voicing her opinions which have given
rise to controversy amongst the blogging community.

Her rational of having the right to say what she wants is a double
edged sword that has come to bite her in the ass and unfortunately has
caused her to lose some valuable revenue which she has admitted, was
money that she could have used for her family.

I guess the recent publicity in the media has finally struck home that
as bloggers, we do have a responsibility, not only to ourselves, but to
the community at large as well. Sure, be controversial and make your
views heard, but also bear in mind, that what you say can hurt the
people that read your blog.

So to Wendy, keep your blog going, girl, but if you want to mix
business with pleasure, I guess there must be a balance between being
politically correct and having the freedom to express your opinions!

Okay ..... 'Nuff already

Okay Anne ... I guess I can't win here. The more I write about it, the
more I get accused of being "obsessed" ...

Honest, it was an experiment. I merely wanted to get my blog out there
and did not mean to suggest that I was infatuated with ... (See? I did
not even mention the name).

Let's move on. I agree with you on one thing though. Blogs should be an
avenue of expression ... good expression if possible.

Dissatisfaction ....

"Tsk tsk tsk, shame on you Kimson, for having an opinion." At least
that is what one reader is trying to say to me.

Unfortunately "her" argument is flawed. This reader by the name of
"Anne", has been leaving comments on my last entry. It is obvious, she
is unhappy of my support of Sash's blog site and does not believe it to
be worthy of my praise.

You see, if she bothered to try and understand the purpose of my last
entry, she would realize that the design of my entry was to point out
that anything that revolves around sex or, the subject of it, will
generate plenty of interest, hence the title of my last entry. There
are many blogs out there, which contain explicit descriptions of their
own sexual encounters, but I chose Sash's blog because unlike the rest,
she writes pretty decently.

Whether her stories are true or a figment of her imagination is
absolutely irrelevant. If you read my last entry, Sash's website was a
means to my end, I wanted to see if by piggy backing on her website, I
could generate a higher hit rate on my blog.

I'm happy to say that it worked because I have enjoyed more hits and
more profile reads in the last 2 weeks than in my entire year as a
blogger put together! The fact that her blog was an interesting read
was a bonus! But I do understand that one man's meat is another man's
poison, so I can appreciate that Anne does not appreciate the contents
of Sash's blog.

Likewise, I do expect her to accept that the content of Sash's blog
does appeal to a segment of individuals.

What I do not understand is why she continues to visit the blog if the
contents of which repulses her? How do I know that? Well, because she
took offence to my comments about her left on Sash's blog, that's how I
know ...

Anyway, a personal note to Anne - Sash's may not reveal her true
identity, but at least there is an communication channel open for us to
interact with her. I'm sure you have a blog too, and I do not really
care if you leave your real name or use a pseudonym, but be brave
enough to allow us to redirect our responses to you.

Sex DOES sell I guess ...

Being a relatively publicity shy person, I was apprehensive when the idea
came to gain a little more popularity for my blog site.

Months had gone by and it was kinda depressing that the web hit counter
only moves when I visit the site!

I still wanted to do some research though, on the implications of being
so popular. Should I pen something that is politically controversial,
racially biased or even morally questionable?

Hmmmm ..... well the answer came with the arrest of 3 jokers by the
Singapore Police. They were subsequently charged for sedition and now
are awaiting their trial dates.

I also noticed that the over popular Wendy's blog site had been the target of malicious hacking and her comments about her trip to
Kuala Lumpur did not go down well with many readers.

It was then that I decided that I did not want THAT much popularity but
at the same time, wanted more hits on my blog site, albeit indirect
ones. I remember my ex-boss, a marketing guru once told me ... "Sex
sells!" and decided that I would post a comment on one of my favourite
blog sites on sex!

No .. no .. I am not an internet, voyeuristic pervert! I stumbled on
this blog by Sash. It is essentially a journal of her sex exploits and
after reading the articles for about a month, I must say that I was
intrigued. I was intrigued not because of her explicit description of
her sexual encounters but more on the way she wrote them.

Her chronicles, although graphic and precise, are written well and they
were almost like pages from a romance novel. It was a pleasure to read
and to a certain extent, I found it classy.

So I decided to participate in her blog by leaving a comment and at the
same time leaving my identity behind. I was lucky as I was the first
one to leave a comment, hence my identity was right at the top.

Within and hour, my web counter for my blog site, shot up from 30 to
80! My profile reads rose from 32 to 130!

I even received a call from a friend that he saw my comments on the
blog and was wondering what I was doing reading blogs like these! Hey,
I should be asking him the very same question! But I know for a fact
that he is a horny dude and would almost screw anything that moves!

Thanks to Sash! She has springboarded my blog to new heights. In
tribute, I have created links to their blogs ...

Life sucks sometimes!

Yes it does! I keep on telling myself that which does not break you
only makes you stronger.

But my resolve is wearing thin. It's tough running a business on your
own and having to worry about expenses, both personal and well as
corporate.

In the last 2 months, I've had to live on a very small amount because
my clients have been slow in their payments. Having started the
business on next to nothing, you can imagine how cash flow can be
sometimes be a problem. Don't get me wrong, the business is profitable,
but sometime when your "stars" are not aligned and Murphy is your best
friend, things just do not go right.

But I guess such times comes with the territory.

Buy hey, I am human too, right? When I see me friends having a
relatively comfortable life with ample cash, I kinda wonder if I had
made the right decisions in life.

To even have a day, at my age, and wonder what I can eat for $2, is
quite depressing, really. Especially when you consider that I have come
from backgrounds that would have more than likely ensured that I could
afford a $20 lunch any day!

I keep telling myself though that things will pick up soon and that
what fortune tellers have predicted for me will come true - that I will
have ample cash!

I guess, as with many successful businessmen who have started from
scratch, they too have has trying times in the past and have endured
and persevered.

A short note to fate - I do need some sign here that things will be
better ....

You are rich ... even if you do not know it!

Have you ever, at any one time, had the feeling that life is bad, real bad,
and you wish you were in another situation? You find life make things difficult for you, work sucks, life sucks, and everything seems to go wrong...

Read the following story... it may change your views about life

After a conversation with one of my friends, he told me despite taking 2 jobs, he brings back barely above 1K per month, he is happy as he is. I wonder how he can be as happy as he is considering he has to skimp his life with the low pay to support a pair of old parents, in-laws, a wife, 2 daughters and the many bills of a household.

He explained that it was through one incident that he saw in India... that happened a few years ago when he was really feeling low and touring India after a major setback.

He said that right in front of his very eyes he saw an Indian mother chop off her child's right hand with a chopper. The helplessness in the mother's eyes, the scream of pain from the innocent 4-year-old child haunted him until today.

You may ask why did the mother do so; had the child been naughty, had the child's hand been infected?? No, it was done for two simple words- - -TO BEG!

The desperate mother deliberately caused the child to be handicapped so that the child could go out to the streets to beg.

Taken aback by the scene, he dropped a piece of bread he was eating half-way. And almost instantly, a flock of 5 or 6 children swamped towards this small piece of bread which was covered with sand, robbing bits from one another. The natural reaction of hunger!

Stricken by the happenings, he instructed his guide to drive him to the nearest bakery. He arrived at two bakeries and bought every single loaf of bread he found in the bakeries. The owner was dumbfounded but willingly sold everything.

He spent less than $100 to obtain about 400 loaves of bread (this is less than $0.25 per loaf) and spent another $100 to get daily necessities. Off he went in the truck full of bread into the streets.

As he distributed the bread and necessities to the children (mostly handicapped) and a few adults, he received cheers and bows from these unfortunate. For the first time in his life he wondered how people can give up their dignity for a loaf of bread which cost less than $0.25.

He began to tell himself how fortunate he is. How fortunate he is to be able to have a complete body, have a job, have a family, have the chance to complain what food is nice and what isn't nice, have the chance to be clothed, have the many things that these people in front of him are deprived of...

Now I begin to think and feel it, too! Was my life really that bad? Perhaps... no, I should not feel bad at all... What about you? Maybe the next time you think you are, think about the child who lost one hand to beg on the streets.

"Contentment is not the fulfilment of what you want, it is the realization of how much you already have."

When the door of happiness closes, another opens, but often times we look so long at the closed door that we don't see the one which has been opened for us. It's true that we don't know what we've got until we lose it, but it's also true that! We don't know what we've been missing until it arrives.

The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.

The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past, you can't go on well in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.

Friendships

In my lifetime, I have made and lost friendships quite a few times.

The old adage that a friend in need, being a friend indeed still holds
true for me, but alas, I am beginning to lose faith in the whole idea.

I had a very dear friend, whom I had held very close to my heart a few
years ago. Unfortunately, his quest to find love cost us this treasured
friendship that we shared for more than 14 years. I won't elaborate as
this is a public domain. The lesson that I have learnt is that
friendships are never carved in stone and no matter how solid a
foundation you believe the friendship is built on, never bet your life
on it. I had been too trusting to outsiders related to this friendship
and as a result, I was robbed of a potential lifetime friend.

Life goes on I guess and I moved on to newer things, in the process
making more friends. I have not really been able to trust new
friendships and have always been cautious and maintained an invisible
wall between new friends along the way.

I have also rekindled relationships with childhood friends and realize
they never really ended, but were kind of, on hold while our lives took
different paths. All those early years of playing marbles, pulling
ridiculous stunts and getting in trouble together, somehow bonds you
for life. I was pleasantly surprised to encounter this when a tragedy
befell one of my childhood buddies. His older brother passed away
suddenly and upon visiting the wake, he hugged me and just broke down
in tears. It was as if, he was waiting for me to arrive, and once I
did, he knew that I was the only one that could offer that shoulder of
comfort, solace during his bereavement.

It was then that I realized what true friendships are really made of.
It is always there and ever present no matter how little attention you
have paid to it. No matter how long, it was since you last caught up
with each other, when you finally meet, it was as if time stood still.

Unfortunately, just like many religions, there are many false prophets
out there, so do be careful. They proclaim that they are your friends
and are with you during a a time of crisis. In your time of need and
vulnerability, you succumb and accept the assistance this person offers
and for awhile, it seems like you've found a new friend. But lo and
behold, once the moment passes, and you've recovered, there he/she is,
awaiting for the appropriate payback.

No, I'm not talking about money, but these people are generally
insecure themselves. They offer help and time when you need it only to
claim the same from you and in most times, the payback is manifold. Out
of obligation, you spend your time and efforts to sit there and comfort
them, once, twice, three times ... and then it dawns on you that this
is not a friend but someone who has purchased the right to call on you
in their time of need - which is, most of the time! So you start to
pull back and give excuses as to why you can't be there for them this
time, next time and the time after that.

Suddenly you check your e-mail and you find and 5 page e-mail from this
person telling you what a lousy friend that you have been. How they
have helped you in your time of need and how ungrateful you are not to
have been there for them in their time of need.

Yes, false prophets, or false friends ... be aware of them and be
selective of the friends you turn to in your time of need. True friends
are there for you anytime of any day, without a hidden agenda of a
future payback. It is difficult sometimes to tell them apart, but if
you feel comfortable accepting help from this friend, chances are, it
is real.

This article is dedicated to my true friends - A tribute to our
friendship!

Jesus is Watching

A burglar broke into a house one night. He shined his flashlight around looking for valuables, and when he picked up a CD player to place in his sack, a strange, disembodied voice echoed from the dark saying, "Jesus is watching you."

He nearly jumped out of his skin, clicked his flashlight off, and froze.

When he heard nothing more after a bit, he shook his head, promised
himself a vacation after the next big score, then clicked
the light on and began searching for more valuables.

Just as he pulled the stereo out so he could disconnect the wires, clear as a bell he heard, "Jesus is watching you." Freaked out, he shone his light around frantically, looking for the source of the voice. Finally, in the corner of the room, his flashlight beam came to rest on a parrot.

"Did you say that?" He hissed at the parrot.

"Yep," the parrot confessed, then squawked, "I'm just trying to warn you."

The burglar relaxed. "Warn me, huh? Who in the world are you?"

"Moses," replied the bird.

"Moses?" the burglar laughed. "What kind of people would name a bird Moses."

"The kind of people that would name a rottweiler Jesus."

My view on the NKF Saga

A hot topic for many Singaporeans these days, for the last 2 weeks at
least.

With the furore slowly dying down, I thought it would be a good time to
pen my thoughts on this issue.

There are always 2 sides to a story and there is no exception in this
case.

The court case was the catalyst of this whole episode to begin with. In
the hands of Mr Davinder Singh, Mr TT Durai was reduced to mush and for
what SPH was paying him, Mr Singh had indeed achieved the desired
effect, that is, to cast aspersions on Mr TT Durai's integrity and the
way that the NKF is being run.

My gut feel tells me that there's more than meets the eye over here. As
many have eventually concluded, the revelations during the court case
should not be taken as is, because the manner of which it was
presented, was designed to inflict maximum damage to the plaintiff's
case against the defendant. While there are truths in what was said, it
probably could have been seen from many other perspectives, of which,
it may not have looked so bad.

I strongly believe, even now, that Mr TT Durai ran NKF as well as he
knew how and in the process was compensated a remuneration that was
perceived to be fair in relation to the efforts put in and the results
achieved, not to forget that the remuneration he received, was approved
by the Board as well. There have been many testimonies in the media and
the internet substantiating this fact. He DID put in much effort and
his time into building the organization and he HAS achieved milestones
in terms of the services that NKF provides for the patients in its
care, let's not rob him of that.

It has been said that you can make 1 mistake out of 10 and you will be
remembered for that 1 thing, no matter how well the 9 times you
succeeded. I think that describes this situation best.

Don't be mistaken, I am not pro-NKF because I always been against the
idea of them organizing so many charity shows in a year as well as
disagreed with some of their implementation policies e.g. subsidy
qualification standards etc etc ...

Mr TT Durai's undoing however, has been his deep desire to keep private
certain information, such his salary and perks, which when revealed in
court, was the single factor that may have caused his downfall. If he
had been open about this pay and perks all the while, the backlash may
have not been so bad.

But alas, what has been done cannot be undone and he would have to live
with the consequences of his action or inactions.

Many have said that it was the revelation of the actual numbers of
patients versus what was communicated by them was the straw that broke
the camel's back. I disagree. Firstly, I did not even know how many
people that they treated and that would not have been a criteria for my
donation in the first place. This I suspect, is the case with most
people as well. I read in an internet forum and this person put it
correctly saying that does it mean that if they knew there were 2,000
patients, they would have donated $2 instead of $3? Rubbish!

Some of the reactions following the court case was indeed uncalled for.
I read that there was this joker who demanded for his $12 that he
donated and eventually the staff took out the money from her own pocket
to appease him. That guy is an idiot! I guess what they say about the
mob mentality of human beings may actually be true.

So let's really move on from here. Let the new management do their job
and hopefully they would make the changes required to regain the
confidence of the donors.

In Honour of Pope John Paul

The Pope arrives in heaven, where St. Peter awaites him.St. Peter asks the Pope who he is.
The Pope : I am the pope. St. Peter: Who? There's no such name in my book.
The Pope : I'm the representative of God on Earth.
St.Peter: Does God have a representative? He didn't tell me...
The Pope : But I am the leader of the Catholic Church...
St. Peter: The Catholic church...Never heard of it... Wait, I'll check with the boss.
St. Peter walks away through Heaven's Gate to talk with God.
St. Peter: There's a dude standing outside who claims he's your  representative on earth.
God : I don't have a representative on earth, not that I know of... 
Wait, I'll ask Jesus. (yells for Jesus)
Jesus : Yes father, what's up?
God and St. Peter explain the situation.
Jesus : Wait, I'll go outside and have a little chat with that  fellow.
Ten minutes pass and Jesus reenters the room laughing out loud.
After a few minutes St. Peter asks Jesus why he's laughing.
Jesus : Remember that fishing club I've started 2000 years ago? It  still exists!

Meaningless Promotions

Companies have long since jumped on the bandwagon of Customer
Relationship Management and we have seen endless promotional deals to
reward customers. From telcos to even the smallest of restaurants, each
of us, at one point in time or another have benefitted from deals such
as this.

This is my experience on one such promotion.

2 weeks ago, I was in Parkway Parade and my sis-in-law, who had been
meaning to get a computer, was bent on getting one that weekend. She
was keen to get a computer from Courts using the usual credit
arrangement deals that they had, but I advised her against it because
she would be paying the installments long after the computer is
obsolete and after paying the interest, the final sum would be more
than double than the initial purchase price! A case in point - she was
looking at this system which had a price tag of S$1,999. After 48
months of paying $87, she would have ended up paying S$4176! Simple
arithmetic tells me that the price has increase by 108%, meaning that
over 4 years, the interest rate would have been a whopping 27%!

Anyway, that was not the issue, after explaining how ridiculous it was
to consider such an arrangement, I recommended to consider putting
together a system from scratch. Having my staff who is good at putting
together was clearly an advantage. I suggested that we see what the
ISPs were offering as bundle deals and go from there.

Lo and behold, there was a StarHub point of sale shop just opposite
when we walked out Courts.

I had a look and discovered that they were offering a free Compaq
Presario LCD Monitor with a sign up of their basic plan - for existing
customers. I assumed that they were interested in enticing their
existing Cable TV subscribers to hook on to their Broadband plans and I
thought that it was a great idea seeing as we would be saving a bundle
from having to purchase a monitor for the computer system.

I told her to sign up and I would put together a CPU, mouse and
keyboard for her.

This is where it gets ridiculous. The customer service officers advised
that if I took advantage of the complimentary installation, I would
only have to wait 5 days. If I opted for cash and carry, I would have
to wait 7 days to collect the monitor myself. "No brainer" - I thought,
so I suggested the complimentary installation, thinking that the
technician will come down with the equipment as well as the LCD
monitor. After rushing and putting together a CPU, mouse and keyboard
less monitor, within 3 days, I was confident and told my sis-in-law,
that she had just to wait for 2 more days before she's hooked up to the
World Wide Web.

On Friday, exactly 5 days after signing up, the technician comes and
immediately notices that there isn't a monitor attached to the system
and advised that he would not be able to install the system, as he
would have needed a monitor to setup the system. My mother-in-law who
was there, asked where the free LCD monitor was, and he replied that he
would have to install the system first and collect the money before
releasing a redemption letter to self-collect the LCD monitor from
Funan Ctr - after 7 more days! He suggested that we "borrow" a monitor
from someone first! Good God!

I was overseas at that time and when I came back, I gave the customer
service officer on the phone a great piece of my mind.

All I really got was the tired cliche that "it was their procedure".

So to summarize, we had to sign on the plan, wait 5 days for the
technician to come and install the system (of which we would require a
monitor) and then he gives us a letter to collect the LCD monitor
ourselves (which we would not really need any longer seeing as we would
have to get one for him to install the system in the first place).

Holy Moses! This is what you call "rewarding" the customer?

After explaining that we deliberately signed on for a plan for the
monitor and did not have any intention of "begging, borrowing or
stealing" a monitor just so that silly technician can do his
installation, this was the best that they could do to resolve the
situation.

"Go back to the shop where the plan was signed up, cancel the initial
order and re-apply another plan on a cash and carry basis". "Great", I
thought, then I could carry my monitor myself and solve this ridiculous
situation.

After going back to shop and explaining the situation all over again to
the bloke that was there, he said that he needed to check with StarHub,
as they were just 3rd party vendors. Mind you, this was Saturday
evening, the day after the failed installation on Friday. The bloke
tried calling and then told me that the customer service center manned
by StarHub was closed for the day. He advised us to come back again the
next day, on Sunday so that he could clarify the matter with them.
"Great" was the thought that went through my mind. "I had to spend 1
more day, ironing out this Bullshit".

The next day, after lunch at around 2pm, I went to the shop again. This
time the bloke seemed to be more aware of the situation, but he still
had to make more phone calls to confirm. "Bloody Hell" - I just wanted
this hell to end. "Nevermind, I need to upgrade my phone anyway, and I
told the bloke that I would return shortly. I popped over to SingTel
Hello shop and presented my vouchers. What a world of difference!
Finally a place where people knew what they were doing! Before I could
say Jack Robinson, I was out of there with my brand new Nokia 3230!
Kudos to you SingTel! You restored my faith in customer service!

Oh dear ... suddenly I realized that I had to go back to the StarHub
joint and see if that bloke finally has his act together. Just as I
thought, he hadn't! After another 45 minutes of waiting for him to
"clarify" the situation, he finally advised that he just need to amend
the original order form form the "Free Installation Deal" to "Cash &
Carry" - all of which took him 45 minutes on Saturday and 2.5 hours on
Sunday. "Great" I thought, finally we can sort this thing out.

After making the necessary amendments, I got my modem and wires and
stuff and he handed me a letter and said that I could go to Funan
Center and collect my LCD monitor - AFTER 7 DAYS!

Aaaaaaaaaargggggggghhhhhhhhh!

Air Supply

No no ... I'm not going to write about the depleting ozone layer and the
decreasing quality of our air supply.

I'm talking about the legendary duo, Air Supply - the singers.

Many of you may not have even heard of them if you're below 20, but at one
time, their music were the source of emotional comfort for many after
enduring breakups with their sweethearts, mostly those in their teens back
in the 80s.

I for one remember bawling my eyes out to the tunes of "All out of Love"
when my dad told me that I could no longer see a girl whom I had just began
a "steady relationship" with when I was just 13.

Looking back, we all can laugh about it, but to me at the time, my world as
I knew it had come to an end.

All this because my grades had slipped a few notches and my dad actually
called her up and gave her a piece of his mind! I was crushed to say the
least.

All I could do was to head upstairs to my room and put their cassette tape
in my then non-descript Panasonic "squarish looking" player and cry softly
to sleep to their melancholic tunes, over and over again.

This is precisely the reason why I'm heading down to the indoor stadium
tonight to pay tribute to the band that offered emotional comfort during
those fragile years of puberty ....

I think they should get a lifetime achievement award or something just for
staying together all these years.

Here's to you Air Supply, let the legacy live on!

Altruism?

One afternoon a wealthy lawyer was riding in his limousine when he saw two
men along the roadside eating grass. Disturbed, he ordered his driver to
stop and he got out to investigate. He asked one man "Why are you eating
grass?"

"We don't have any money for food," the poor man replied. "We have to eat
grass." "Well, then, you can come with me to my house and I'll feed you",
the lawyer said.

"But sir, I have a wife and two children with me. They are over there, under
that tree". "Bring them along," the lawyer replied. Turning to the other
poor man he stated, "You come with us also."

The second man, in a pitiful voice then said, "But sir, I also have a wife
and SIX children with me!" "Bring them all, as well," the lawyer answered.
They all entered the car, which was no easy task, even for a car as large as
the limousine was. Once underway, one of the poor fellows turned to the
lawyer and said, "Sir, you are too kind. Thank you for taking all of us with
you."

The lawyer replied, "Glad to do it. You'll really love my place; the grass
is almost 1 metre high!"