Saturday, January 27, 2007

NTU lecturer shares funny teaching feedback survey results



I miss my university days ......

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posted by The Uncharted Waters @ 6:02 PM Comments: 0

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Quote of the Day

I like the above quote from Mark Twain. I guess it sums up the sentiments of many entrepreneurs. In fact, the same can be said about scientists, artists, musicians, and a whole lot of people who dare to pursue their dreams and passions in this materialistic world.

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posted by The Uncharted Waters @ 12:11 PM Comments: 2

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Year 2007 Resolutions

I realised that I did not achieve any of my resolutions last year. In fact, I had never achieved more than 50% of any new year resolutions that I had set for the past decades. One reason may be because I am sort of a perfectionist and I tend to set a rather high target for myself. Or, I am simply not hard-working enough.

So this time round, I shall write down some of my new year resolutions (not in any order) so that I can review them by end of the year:

1. Reduce my weight to around 72 kg

That’s my weight around 10 years ago, when I was able to run 2.4km under 10 minutes and complete SOC within 8 min 30 seconds. I don’t expect to reach the same level of fitness, but at least I hoped to attain a similar physique. Should be achievable if I stick to my work-out schedule of 3-times-weekly 3-km jog plus a weekly gym work-out.

2. Obtain my driving license

Had been postponing this for far too long. Better to settle it once and for all.

3. Build up my company’s cash capital to S$XXX,XXX.

Without enough reserves, I wouldn’t feel comfortable to grow my company. My target for this year would be to build up as much financial and intellectual assets as possible for future expansions.

4. Steadily grow my personal asssets

My personal bank account had been drastically reduced for the past two years. Its about time to build it up again.

5. More contribution to the online programming community

Had been a member of this online programming community for several years, but wasn’t as active for quite some time. Will try to allocate more time to it. It makes me happy when I am able to help new programmers with their problems.

6. Continue learning

There are so many things to learn. Technologies, financial, economics, marketing, philosophy, psychology, literature, etc. Not all are directly useful to my company or closely related to any income-generating avenues, but that shouldn’t be the way to judge the usefulness of any knowledge.

7. More involvement in voluntary works.

Something that I had (shamefully) neglected for the past few years. Had been an active SPCA volunteer during my university days, but ever since I started working, I had become less involved in these voluntary works. Busy is just a convenient excuse.

Though I had donated more money compared to my school days, I would somehow consider that as “Convenient Charity”, that is, giving out some spare money to charities (or some poor families) to make oneself feel better. Sure it is better than nothing. But if I can do a little more than just donating money, why not contribute my bit to a better world?

8. Be a vegetarian for once a week.

I loves to eat. But sometimes I can’t help feeling bad when eating the meat of other animals (Btw, I am not a Budhist). So I think, why not start from being a vegetarian for once a week?


Alright, that’s all. I shall come back to this post by end of the year to do a self-apraisal.

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posted by The Uncharted Waters @ 9:20 AM Comments: 2

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Reflections for Year 2006

I would start the first post of the year with some reflections on year 2006, followed by my year 2007 resolutions.

Time really flies. In one month’s time, I will be celebrating my private limited’s one-year anniversary. After all the ups and downs, I had become more determined and focused on the path I had chosen. Till date, I had been wandering in the uncharted waters for more than 21 months (including the partnership period). The slight feeling of loneliness, fear and uncertainties still hovers around, though I had somehow grown accustom to it.

Looking back, there are of course a lot of things that I think I should have done better. I had wasted too much time during my “depression” period. I thought I was well-prepared for venturing out, but eventually I realized there are so much things I needed to learn. I should have learnt more about marketing before I designed the product. I should have know more about SEO before deciding the design of my company website. But if anyone asked me whether I regret my decision to start-up my company, my answer at any point of the time is a firm ‘no’.

Life is just too short to have regrets. I always think that I am very fortunate to be able to receive education and eventually go into university. My university education and the subsequent work experiences helped to build up the foundation for my present venture. Compared to my father, who only managed to have 3 years of formal education because of financial problems, I am much more fortunate. My father told me that he used to top his class, but was unable to continue his studies because he needed to go out for work.

So, instead of whining about how unfair life is when faced with obstacles, I would rather spend more time to work out a solution. Life is never fair, but how you look at it depends on who you compare yourself with. I am fortunate enough to have the chance to choose the path I wanted. A lot of the older generation didn’t even have the chance.

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posted by The Uncharted Waters @ 12:20 PM Comments: 0