What Luck!

I read that the 42km eastern cycling route has finally completed. I was very excited to try out the route on Sunday morning as KY class at JG has paused for school vacation. I slept early and woke up at 6am only to find out that the bike tire has deflated at the door. What luck! So I went for a short run at ECP instead. I finished the run 45 minutes later and it started to drizzle. It poured soon after. Lucky me to miss the ride!

Project 'Moving In'

I call this project 'Moving In' and I am quite an expert with projects like this. YF actually commented that I am the only person he knows that have moved so many times: Potong Pasir to Bedok North to Bedok Reservoir View to Telok Kurau to Marine Drive.

And finally, we are more or less settled down at the new place. I said 'more or less' because you are never done with projects 'Moving In'. There is always something that is left unpacked, unhanged, untouched, and continue to be left alone until the next project.

I also come to realise that there are fewer and fewer old stuffs that get moved along each time. The only piece of furniture that gets moved along from day one until now is my mum's sewing machine. I dare not lay any thought on dispoing this. But the trophies that my sisters and I won in schools and little souvernirs/gifts that our long lost school friends exchanged may not have made it here.

门口?!

Doe pointed to KY the word '问' and asked if she recognises the word.

KY paused (to think) and then replied happily '门口' .

SOLD!

Finally, after more than 2 months, the house is now sold. Though, it falls short of our target price, Doe and I are still happy given the recent down in market sentiments. On the other hand, I can't say we are really in the mood for celebration. We really like the house, though we have to constantly remind ourselves "never fall in love with property" and "better to run when there's money". I am sure we will find another one which we eventually love forever.

I still remember our first night at the house. Doe and I went to bed, and while lying on our back, the same feeling hit us both at the same time, "the ceiling was really far and high".

She speaks!

After 5 sessions at Julia Gabriel, she finally speaks to Adrian, the giant teacher with moustache. I can see that she is less reserved, enjoying the songs and games. Before this, she simply refuse to speak a word with Adrian and repeats after him.

First Who ... Then What

Jim Collins says "First Who ... Then What". I begin to see some truth.

I used to think that as a great bus driver, you need to start the journey by telling people where they are heading. You need to set the direction or articulate the vision. But according to Jim, leaders of good to great companies think first about "who" and then about "what". They get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats, before they figure where to drive the bus. When you have the right people on the bus, you don't have to worry about changing directions along the way. The right people looks at who else is on the bus and adapts to the change knowing that it is good for the company.

I remember that when we first started Crimsonworks in 2002, we have 3 amigoes on the bus with no bus driver, and not knowing exactly where we are heading. With a sense of collective ownership and trust, we manage to set out the direction and take turns to drive. Though, I can't say that Crimsonworks is today a good company, I realise that it is the people that will make it good. The concept of "First Who ... The What" not only applies on the company itself, it can also apply to projects we embark on. It is the right people who will determine the outcome of the product or service.

Firework is Spectacular

Lucky thing that we made it for the Saturday's final NDP rehearsal. The whole experience was simply great. Kaiyi and I had the chance to see mummy's office. And the view from the top at Doe's office was simply fantastic that evening. The choppers were flying so close, the boats were sailing in formation with the lighted "flying wantons", and the spectacular fireworks. We have never seen fireworks at such close range and so high up. I bet we have better views than those at the spectator stand.

The city skline is going change a lot in the next 2-3 years, and it will be impressive. When Singapore celebrates 45 years in 2010, I hope we have the chance to watch it from the top again.

Vision with a Task

"Vision without a task is only a dream. A task without a vision is but drudgery. But vision with a task is a dream fulfilled."

Finally, we get into doing it. Our vision is to build a comprehensive and generic data exchange framework for mobile solutions.

The idea was born and discussed many months ago. And I finally have the space now to re-jiggle the idea. Leo, as usual, sees it with good technical breadth and depth. It is no wonder that he code named the project NODE (I like it to sound like "Nody") which stands for N-tier Service Oriented Development Environment. I would have code named it something more specific, like Data Exchange Framework for Mobile Solutions. Anyway, we can find a better name as we go along.

The important task now is to get all tasks moving ...