New Offer

New path

It was with some trepidation on the day - 15th Feb 2006 that the whole Siebel office waited in the boardroom for our fate.
The Oracle HR have given us a brief on their benefits - not too bad! Things are getting rosy!
But what about the $$...
One by one, we were called and given our letter..
Praise be with God! My base and OTE remains unchanged!!
With this, all the months of uneasy uncertainty ended... of course some did not made it...life goes on...law of the jungle..

And thus ended my relationship with Siebel ... I remembered when I was still a rookie just 3 years after my DSTA days, travelling to US ... driving on 106...going to mega malls...that was pretty awesome to me then.
I recalled being extremely alien to the concept of even conference calls then..haha
And who can forget the heady days of the stock options....
and it has accepted me ....3 times back ..
And now itself, it has returned to its roots...when 14 years ago, in a little laboratory in Oracle, a ambitious man decided to strike it out on his own and created a legacy.

With that, I salute you "Siebel" and thank you for everything.

Sam

Transition to parent company

Reading the oracle

I have to ask you to excuse the pun on the heading :) I'd rather not get sued on using my new company's name ..heh heh

The gods have gathered last week and hath spoken - puny mortals like yours truly can only meekly await our fate on 15th this month when the celestial decree will point to our fates - damn...they better not adjust my base ....mutter mutter

Well on the other hand, I can always look on the bright side - consolidation is a finality in the software world and the most important thing is you lean with the winners.... I'd like to think the big O is a big winner - afterall the 2nd biggest sofware company tag in the world is quite a feat.

It will be a different ball game and I have to step up to another level - this is necessary and thus brook no discussions or whinings. It has to be done - time has to be sacrificed - more work need to be done. Just do it.

On a lighter note, I have begin to train Yang on the academic stuff.. setting goals and all. The trick is to set goals for Yang as well as myself. Objective - to read a ladybird book by end year and add and subtract. Let's have a checkpoint this Dec. If this is achieved - I will get Yang a trip to Tokyo Disneyland and myself a set of Joy irons.. heh heh

Alright, need to go.

Sam

Back to Reality

Work Work Work

After the euphoria of the last few days, it was a bit of chore getting back to the momentum again.
Lots of catching up - got a 38 bucks hong bao from the company which is not that bad.
Emailed customers and kept abreasts of all the happenings.

Oooo....merger to finalized and confirmed this week so I will probably know the results next week.

Hope the big O doesn't cut our base.... that would be a shame.

Sam

CNY 2006

Traditions

Today is the culumination of the efforts the past weeks to prepare for this day.
All seemed to flash past so fast...I ended up wondering if the effort is worth it. Well, it pretty well darn WORTH it.
Adherence to the traditions might seem a chore but the "togetheress" in doing the prepartion goes a long way in bonding the family. At the end of the day, it is the family that counts. What I did not enjoy as a child, I certainly hope Yang would learn and feel the toasty feeling of being in a knitted family.

Sam

Check out the handsome pair *GRIN* 

Family portrait .... all of us decked in glittering new year spendour! 

And the pretty Wabe and handsome Yang! 

CNY Eve!!!

Good tidings

Check out the new year decorations. The air is brimming with festivity and Wabe is busy packing the red packets while Yang is busy with his Ultraman buddies in where else but our cosy study again.

The house looks absolutely ready to rock for the new year. Well don't take my word for it - check it out yourself!! heh heh

"Sitting on the Year's Fortune" stance :) 

Living room before the tatami makeover :) 

Our kumquats for PROSPERITY in 2006!! 

Anger

Ponderings
I will politely divert from the usual diary stuff and rant instead of a certain topic which troubled me greatly.

Whereforth the love of a mother?
The strong support of a father?
That whom is bore is yours to love and hold
Be it a menace or angel
it is your love .. your baby
Has Christ ever forsake us when we sinned?
Who are we to condemn a sinner - based on principles bored by our clouded mundane minds
The Lord said "Judge not and ye would not be judged"
Please take the plank out of your eyes before you rant on the speck of dust in your child

truly in the last days, He has said "fathers would turn against sons"
and truly the first seed of doubt has begun to germinate in me


Sam

Clothes Dryer

Evolution
It is funny how we gradually begin to ape the habits of the West as our lifestyle grows more affluent ... decadent....
Today marked our another step towards that lifestyle...we bought a clothes dryer. I remembered I used to think it will "waste electricity" etc. Well, on retrospect - if you think of the time drying them on cloths line etc - I guess I would rather spent the extra.

Wooo... nice warm smell...no fear of the elements now...no more "Oh no the rain spoiled it...darn" - I guess I will be enjoying this wondeful bliss till the bill comes :)

Anyway, it will be soon CNY..so have a happy properous year!

Sam

Finally back home :)

Woke up early this morning - Zi Lin is coming back today!!

Yang as usual was grumpy and kept asking for 5 more minutes.... man we did ended up late to fetch a fuming Wabe.

Then it was straight to home to a refresher and then CHENG KEE for a sumptious meal as promised to Wabe.

A flower trip to Thomson netted us a pot of kumquat and a pot of chilli plant. Father in law had a friend who tipped us on 61 - a vague place which supposedly had lots of fresh flowers. Well what do you know, he was right!
More plants followed and the back of the Odeyssey was packed even with the last row folded!! Imagine that!

I remembered the last time we had such a great time buying was the good times of 98-99. I have a strong hunch this would be a great year and may health and prosperity be with all!

Then it was reunion time in grandmother in law house - very cosy was usual....but still missing a special twang..

Ok time to sleep - oh I forgot to add, Yang and myself will be decked in the traditional Chinese suit come CNY hehe. Cost me a bloody bomb in Yue Hua if I may add...nice materials though :) My OTE better be as great as my boss promised:)

Night!

Sam

Family Musings

On Leave

Well, today was a jolly good day. In the morning, I had breakfast with Jin Hen and he followed me to the car mechanic. Too bad I couldn't fetch him to the school as I had to rush home to send a mail. Hey I am on leave ! :)

Anyway, I took a LRT train and Bus 907 to Zoo with Yang and we had a great time :)

Now, we are back in our cosy study room in TECK WHYE and waiting for Zi Lin to come back.

Bye for now :)

Sam

Family Musings

Day 2

Just fetched Yang to school. We called Zi Lin this morning - she sounded quite sad. No worries we tell her, it will be soon before she will be back this Sunday and we will off to a sumptious meal!
She don't like French food so I guess it will be a difficult time for her.

Later will go and buy Ultraman toy for Yang.

Sam

Family Musings

Family Musings

Tomorrow Zi Lin is going to Paris on a business trip. Yang and myself will be missing her very much.

We will be there to fetch her when she returns next Sunday!

Our first blog ..almost

This isn't exactly our first blog - it's just we forgot the address of the first one...
So here we are, Sam , Zi Lin and little Yang in our little study in Teck Whye typing our almost first blog..
Here's a picture of the 3 of us :)


I guess this will be all for now...I have got a DVD to catch and little Yang is sleepy. So goodnight!