I'd like to begin this blog with a little article that I've read recently (taken from here).
A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.
Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups – porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite – telling them to help themselves to the coffee.
When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: ‘If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups… And then you began eyeing each other’s cups.
Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of Life we live.
Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us.’ God brews the coffee, not the cups…..Enjoy your coffee!
‘The happiest people don’t have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything.’
Live simply.
Love generously.
Care deeply.
Speak kindly.
Leave the rest to God.
You are the miracle, my friend,
Your life either shines a light – or casts a shadow.
‘The purpose of life is to live life with purpose’
True enough, we all do like to have the best looking cups around don't we. But alas, it's the coffee that matters (I miss the coffees in NZ~).
Speaking of coffee, I think I might need to lessen my coffee intake nowadays. Bad for the bones it seems. Me and my pals were discussing about the effects of coffee the other day (actually it was quite some time ago), and we came across this fact (which my friend had actually googled while we were having lunch) that coffee can actually decrease the body's ability to absorb calcium - hence bad for the bones. But the effect can actually be offset by taking milk. Drinking a glass of milk would basically simply remove the "bad" effect of coffee.
So that's that.
Right now it's April. And in Comptel, April is a month that basically has everyone on their toes. It's the month that basically determines whether one should stay in the company or simply move their asses elsewhere. It's the month that the salary is revised. Whether it be in the form of increment, or readjustment - or whatever. Bonus too if um not mistaken.
Me? I guess I'm eyeing for my next payslip as well (cause they normally don't openly declare these sorts of thing). Whether the number would be the same as the last, or will it change for the better. Rumour has it that they're gonna be a mass exodus should there be no increment this year. But then - that's just the rumour lah, there won't be anyone from Comptel that can prove it. Quite a hot topic of discussion nowadays - especially during lunch time. :)
The migration project that I've been a part of for the last year or so is finally coming to an end. Been awhile - loved to be a part of it. People say that experiences in projects makes for an impressive resume. Well frankly um kinda hoping it would look that way. Having a good looking resume is always a good thing. Makes job hopping easier - wink wink to all the hunters out there.
Currently though um stuck doing support work for the next 6 months. The boss says that it's gud a learning experience. Well - we'll just have to see about that now don't we.
On the other side of life, I've been doing a lot of things as of late. Renovating the house mostly. Ever since our effort of getting a new house kinda hit the wall a few months back - I basically called an audible and decided that we might as well just settle for what we have right now and just make the best of it.
That basically means this house in Sepang is going to be our house for the next 5 years or so.
Got a new paint job for the wall.
Got laminated wooden flooring at the living room.
Replaced the tiles in the kitchen.
Extended the table top in the kitchen.
Will add a kitchen cabinet soon, hopefully by end of this week.
Also, currently I am working on applying a new look on my mom's old black shelf that she has way back when she was young. Hopefully it would look good. Planning for it to have that rustic white touch to it. Been spending a lot of tiresome nights on that piece of wood. Tiresome - but satisfying at the same time.
I guess you can call me a programmer by day, self-help guy by night. Or at least that's how I look at it lah.
The bean bag project is looking great. I actually now have a usable and rather presentable bean bag to land myself onto each time I'm in front of the TV. Love the flexibility of it.
Not sure whether we're ready to sell them just yet though. Currently we're in the "fine-tuning" phase of the project. Several things needs to be fixed still. Like the velcro and stuff. The price can be intimidating to some - so the cost factor would have to be looked into as well.
While we're on that project - the wife has started another project in parallel. Make that two. One is the Ariana tudung, and the other is the cloth diaper. The Ariana project is going OK I suppose, right now we're trying to gauge the market in Ipoh, since we know that we can sell the tudung at a competitive price there. For the cloth diaper - I think that we'll just wait for our baby to arrive first before we actually sell any of them. Need the kid to do some factory testing if you know what I mean.
I'm no entrepreneur. But I love to be a part of it. It's kinda thrills you I guess. The idea that you can achieve something from nothing is simply inspiring. And it's no fantasy either. It just requires you to do own homework and have enough drive and tenacity to go forward and take what you think is yours. Sometimes I wish I had the time to do a proper research and later embark on some entrepreneurial project, but I guess someone still needs to pump in the capital - and I guess that person would have to be me. For now I'll just leave the projects to my wife. Hopefully she's reading this and get inspired somehow rather. ;)
A year has passed us by and in few more months, god willing; we're going have an addition to our small family. Hopefully we'll be able to take good care of this amanah.
A stable job. A house. A wife. Good health. Relatively sharp mind (needs more work here). Upcoming baby.
Alhamdulillah.
My coffee does taste good in this plain ol' cup after all.
A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.