ERC Work

I am so dead tired...Have been working on ERC work for about 16 hours per day with 4-5 hours sleep per day since 6 days ago....I am surprised my body can handle this pressure...

Surprise...Surprise...Surprise

My day was filled with surprises...Were they good or bad surprises? Well, I would say they are ok. It's not life threatening ones. Neither they are making me really happy.

The only advice I told myself is that to go with my gut instincts. Most of the time, I can guess correctly. But oh well, I just couldn't believe some part of the surprises.

I sold one of my bikes today. I think it's a win-win deal. I get the price I want. I didn't expect that person to make the deal with me. The lesson learnt from today's transaction is that it's never wrong to give slightly higher price to your customers if you can be a friendly and helpful seller. Once businessman to be, always businessman to be! The hardest thing that I can't never do is to sell things to my friends...I don't have the heart to earn profit from them.

I guess fewer friends I have in business, the better my business will be.

Successful CEO

I attended a talk by Jack Welch, former CEO of GE. He came to Hale Auditorium to promote his second book titled "Winning". I actually dun care what book he writes. I have read quite a lot of bio books on famous people. It's all about risks, hard work, and guts.

I didn't know that he started as an engineer in GE. He said the need to score well in the work assigned by your boss.. When your boss asked you to do A, you should give him A+B, but be careful, you shouldn't outscore your boss. Instead, you should make your boss looks good.

Any point he brought up that I can sync with is the gut. The gut to make decision is very crucial. he honestly said that it's the gut that distincts him from other CEOs. Also, from the experience, he can make better decision with less data.

For me, the tough decision laying ahead of me is to whether to stay in US and look for a pathetic cubicle job or go back to Asia and do something. I can't find a compelling reason to stay here. I find I need to be different from other people. If the difference will make me become worse in term of income, i dun care. At least, I do what I strongly believe in.

Staying in Ann Arbor for 5 yrs is more than enough for me. I can kill 2 birds with one stone if I go back to Asia. I wont' be lonely there and also I can be an entrepreneur. I dun like to play safe!!! But I don't want to take stupid risks too!

Lastly, I wonder why there are so many people lining up until on the sidewalk of Tappan street after Jack's talk today to get his signature. Does having a signed book next to your bed will help you to become a successful person? I don't think so...I think those people are trapped by Jack's marketing. A lot of sweeping statements here...but who cares!

If there is no ERC work

I am so occupied with Java coding for my RFID system. I wonder what I will do if I don't work for ERC? I will be bored to death!!!

I am so glad that one of my singapore friends actually remembers my birthday. I feel so embarassed as I forget her exact birthday. But anyway, I know her bday now...It's easy to remember:)

Back to create my cup of Java!

Job or Work

Is there any difference between job and work?
I have heard from a lot of people that their jobs are so boring/routine. I went to visit the International Truck and Engine in Indiana last Friday. The moment I entered the office, I was disappointed to see all the cubicles. The people seem to be like "batteries powering up a company". I just didn't feel good in that company.

I really don't want to have 8 to 5 kinda job where you are thrown piles of work to finish, where you don't learn new thing much. I don't think I can survive long in that kinda environment. I rather have 8 to 8 kinda work where I have control over the direction of my work/company, where I can prioritize my work, where I have to make difficult decisions, where I get to try/learn new things.

My work in ERC, however, is not boring. The environment is very supportive. I guess it's the challenge that keeps me interested in my work. The vast of knowledge I have gotten so far is unbelievable, at the expense of a lot of my free time. The ambition to make myself to be indispensable in ERC has driven me to keep improving my performance. However, in the end, I know I have to leave ERC...

Courage under Pressure

My life has been really stressful this week, eventhough is my ultah this week.
Anyway, I have been writing Java programs for past few days.. Programs to control RFID system in RFT testbed. I was so stressed up just now realizing that my Java program couldn't handle 2 OPC server connections. After brainstorming for solutions for 1 hour, I managed to come out with a pretty decent solution:) I was so happy.

Before that, I went to TKWu for dinner with Snoppy. Both of us were so tired. Our order didn't come quite right. Snoppy's diet coke came with extra layer of grease on the top. My bubble tea came bubble-less. Our beef noodle soup should be called beef noodle sourly soup.

Came back home to watch the Apprentice...Disappointed with Trump for he didn't fire the person I wanted him to get rid of. Anyway, it's just a show...

There are so many things to be completed before April 22nd...I am going to hide in my dungeon from now onwards!

Another title for me

I won the Badminton Michigan Cup today. Well, I expect myself to win this tournament. The tournament was alright, but I had to wait for 3 hours to play my final match. The schedule is supposed to end by 3 pm, but in the end, I played my final match at 4 pm.

I am satisfied with my performance this term. Intramural title and Michigan Cup.
I am so dead tired now. Have a good one!

Downhill

Don't like today. I felt stupid, weak, stressed.
Stupid because my laptop is behaving weirdly and I couldn't solve it and therefore my programming output today is so minimal.

Weak because I get back pain after playing badminton. And I will have tournament in 8 hours time. I didn't play hard today because of tournament later. Lost most of my matches.

Stressed with school work. I don't like doing homework!!! It's a bad move to bring your office work to home. Once you started doing that, you won't be able to separate your free time from working time. You will be working 16 hrs on your office work.