How rich are you?

Found this interesting site: Global Rich List.

Out of curiosity, I put my first salary in 1998, and amazingly I'm still in the top 15% of the world rich list, and I thought I was underpaid BACK THEN!!!

You should try this. It's a good therapy when you're stuck in rat race.

When I met a friend who was living in Australia, I asked him whether he enjoyed living there compared with living in Indonesia. And his answer was...

"Yeah, I like it here because there's no pressure to earn more money just to live a decent life"

Class!!!

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I QUIT!

Nope, just kidding. I'm still happy with what I'm doing now, but boy how fun it was when you said that two words to your boss after you felt you're going nowhere with your current job. It's even more excited if you happen to be 'quite important' in your department and your boss will try his best to prevent you from moving on.

Based on my experience there are 3 phases which you will go through:

Phase 1: Persuasion.
Your boss will PROMISE to give you a raise, promotion, new office, new gadget, better environment, etc. If you think you can survive if you stay, and his offer is really the reason why you leave, and most importantly you BELIEVE he will deliver his promise, why not? Personally, it is amusing how your boss can only realize how valuable you are when you say those 2 words. I usually only listen to all this nonsense just to boost my ego, for once I can feel that I AM that important.

Phase 2: Guilt.
Your boss will beg you, saying how difficult the department (actually himself) would be if you leave. How you have been treated well or have been trained abroad and you just leave them all behind. This is the tough phase. If you're not strong enough you'll fall for it!

Phase 3: Threat
Now that your boss is so desperate, he will try to threaten you. I have one occasion when I was working in Singapore where my boss threatened to file a report to immigration so that my permanent residency would be withdrawn. She claimed I got my PR because she gave me the job there in the first place. Tough luck, I wasn't dumb (otherwise I wouldn't have left in the first place) and I was sure she didn't have power to do that. If you manage to achieve this step, congratulation! You will be SURE that you have made the right decision, that your boss is a crook and doesn't deserve you.

So for all you quitter out there, have fun!

Disclaimer: Do not quit until you get new job, capiche?

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Save the Earth or...

What's on 22 April?

In case you're not aware, it's the Earth Day. The day when every body becomes expert on environment, recycling, global warming, etc.

The day when we pledge ourselves to save the earth or NOT...

Do we really care about the earth?

Don't you think we care more about ourselves?

We try to save the earth so that WE, the shameless humans, can EXPLOIT the earth for a few more years. Aren't we evil? Claiming we want to save something while we wish to kill it as slow as possible. Yet, we can feel good about it, congratulate ourselves that we've done 'good thing'.

The truth is: we only care about ourselves. I'm pretty sure that the earth will be just fine when all men (and women) disappear from the face of the earth. Chances are it will have been a much better place then.

You don't think so? I guess those noble dinosaurs also thought the same way as you do before they were extinct.

I've had enough of this nonsense. My pledge for this year's Earth day will be "go natural": do whatever I want and let nature take its course. I guess I've done the earth a favor: speeding up the extinction of humans which means getting rid of its bigger enemy...

Happy (belated) Earth Day!

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Philosophical question of the day

You're standing at pedestrian crossing
The pedestrian light has turned red

You look to the left:
No car, no truck, no motorcycle, no bicycle

You look to the right:
No car, no truck, no motorcycle, no bicycle

Zip

Should you
Stand there and wait
or
Walk across and move on with you life


Life's hard...

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RIP. Sir Edmund Hillary (1919-2008)

I know who Sir Edmund Hillary is, he's one of the guys who reached the Mt Everest summit for the first time. I didn't realize he's a kiwi until I read the news that he'd passed away. Shame on me! He apparently is considered as true great NZ hero, he really is. He's no ordinary mountaineer, and the Nepalese probably won't remember that he conquered their highest mountain for the first time. They will remember him as a guy who respected them and provided them health and education with his Himalayan Trust. What a guy...

Who's my hero then? I've been thinking really hard and couldn't find any face or name who's really touched my life. Back in my school years, we were taught of numerous Indonesian heroes and yet none of them really deserved to be called hero. It might be because we were introduced to so many 'heroes' (I reckon it's more than 100 names to be memorized), that there was not sufficient time to really know what they did in their whole life, except that they'd been involved in one or two wars before they finally died. I'll blame it on education system :-)

"Well, it doesn't have to be national hero", some says. How about international hero? Well, they didn't teach me at school, and I'm just too lazy to read biography, so the answer is none. I have soft spot for Nelson Mandela though (and George 'hey where's me brain' Bush killed him already, bugger) as I believe he is the role model for reconciliation.

Celebrities? Nah, they seem insincere to me.

Perhaps I do set my standard to high?

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That's probably why I can't be a boss...

Story 1: It's lunch time.. walk to pantry, heat my packed lunch (thanks hun!) up in microwave, and enjoy my lunch while reading free newspaper which is provided by the company (my client's company) in the kitchen.. One of the high point of my working day! I couldn't do it anymore today.. The idea of having free newspaper has been canned. No obvious reason why, but people are getting upset about this. (Cost cutting of $2.5 doesn't seem like a smart thing to do, does it?)
Story 2: End of the year, it's time to party.. some companies throw end-of-year parties, some gives bonus or gifts to their employees.. What's the worst gifts you've ever got? A few weeks ago Stuff asked its readers this question. Two of the hilarious ones:

I remember one year when the company had had a good year and the directors gave themselves a great big pay out and the rest of the staff received two wine glasses with the company logo on it. Miserable.

At a company I worked for in Wellington in the mid-1990s we had a Christmas work lunch that was pot luck, and every year we would get a company diary for the following year (which we needed for work anyway). One year, with a great flourish, the ancient head of the company handed out an envelope along with the customary diary. Was it a gift voucher? Was it some sort of lucky prize draw? Nope, it was a piece of paper entitled "Are you living the life you deserve?". It asked all of us to really look at how we were spending our lives and decide whether it was really how we wanted it to be. Needless to say, once the Christmas break was over an avalanche of resignation letters hit the boss's desk... funny that!

I believe small things count in workplace. There's no scientific proof that a piece of newspaper or corporate gifts can make the employees happier, but I know that it can only make their employees less happy. It's the feeling of being disrespected by someone you put your blood sweat and tears for more than 8 hours day in day out.

I wonder why the big guys in the office just don't get the idea. In the name of cost cutting: no more free coffee and tea, no internet , change catering providers to cheaper one, no more stationaries, you name it, and this does happen to those multi national companies, with billions of $ of profits. I guess it's easier to do these than handling real problems in the company.

Well, enough ranting. I guess I just have to have my lunch in front of my PC tomorrow...

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