The new year ... 2007

Welcome back ... it is 2007 now.

Wow ... Time was just rushing by and before I even realized, the year 2006 was over. So many things happened and in the end I always end up with the same feeling, that I could have done a bit more in every area of my life. Worked a bit harder; studied a bit more; being more relaxed ... etc ... Can be quite a strange feeling.

Anyway ... 2007 is here now and not that it makes a difference to my life (beside of the fact that I am getting older and older) but things don't really change much ... I went back to Germany to see my parents and family for xmas. I actually also wanted to go skiing, but 2 ice-slides and artificial ice is not really fun to go on ...
Seems like the global warming is already changing the seasons. (I actually read an article about that, mentioning that forecasts show in 2020 Xmas will almost be as hot as summer in Germany - *scary*). It is like a lottery every year, if there will be snow for xmas or not ... this year it was a really bad year. No snow at all (or very limited).
Even tho, I thought that some things would never change, but this year, was the first time again that I did not join going skiing over NY. All the "Bergamer" went - as usual - to Austria to go skiing there. From what I've heard, they had a real blast there and enjoyed there time.
As you might know, my best friend CHE (the bastard who traveled around the world for ages) now lives in Amsterdam with Melissa. So my cousin & me decided to go to Amsterdam and visit them both. I haven't seen him now in almost a year as well and as you can imagine, we had a lot of things to catch up ... It was very good to see him again. I was initially a bit scared, because sometimes the distance and/or the time just change people and/or minds. He is still the same old geek ... *g* ... Just let me advise you NOT to call him RENE any more ;) ... Thanks again for the good time we had!

In the meanwhile - almost 2 months since my last post - not that much happened and I am still sitting at the same desk, doing the same stuff every day and trying to find the best way to enjoy my life. Actually one bigger change for me is, that I actually got much, much more quiet and relaxed lately. Priorities are shifting severely and for the first time (in a long time) actually I do enjoy my life more and more. Is it the age? :) ... Naaaaah ... maybe just the silence before the storm ...

Lately I am discovering - almost every night - the endless depth of the xbox live world. Being such a good boyfriend all year, Sabaa bought me an xbox 360 for xmas and let me tell you... it is simply amazing. I love that thingy already. People might laugh now, but true geeks will understand the feeling, when you prefer to stay back home on a saturday night with the xbox alone, instead of going out or socializing ... Ah ... it is like all new things. It is much fun at the beginning but then it slows down - nevertheless it is a welcome change.

Got a bit of traveling lined up over the next couple of weeks ... and am pretty much looking forward to that. Next week I will go back to the origins of my "Stephan discovers the world" tour and celebrate my friends wedding on Boracay in the Philippines. I haven't been there for 2 years now but am sooo happy to go there and especially to see all my Sydney friends again.

February I actually might end up going for a weekend to India ... I haven't been there yet, as I've been way to scared to go there on my own. But yeah ... let's see how this works out.
My parents are gonna go on tour as well this year. They will be coming over to Singapore to visit us here for a couple of weeks. (They will be spending most of their time in Thailand anyway ;))

And finally in march - honoring the 90st birthday of my grand pa - we will be going back to Germany ... It's gonna be a crazy weekend, as we'll only have 4 days ... Yeah ... call me weird or stupid, but my grand-father is worth it for me. Oh ... yeah ... I am talking about "US" going there ... yup yup yup ... Sabaa is coming as well ... Will introduce her to the german (drinking) culture!

Aiyah ... that's all for today ...

Happy new year to all of you ...

Ste

A night out with work ...

Gosh ... if only I could describe how I feel today ... yuck ...
Had a night out with the people from work. Basically for all our 'hard work' we went out to celebrate a bit. Around 20 bottles of wine & food later, we were sooooo hammered.
Unfortunately my colleague with the cam, forgot the pics @ home, so will upload them at a later stage.

Went out for some more drinks with a smaller version of our team and ended up in Attica. Finally my girlfriend and her house-mates came and rescued me from the evil alcohol. Haven't had so much to drink in ages! OMG ... Noooo more alcohol.

Anyway ... Will try to get some work done now!
Ste

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Va ... va ... va ... vacaaaaaation...

[location: still Singapore]
[mood: tired but excited]

Muhaha ...
What a day ... It is Thursday afternoon, but it feels like a friday. Oh wait ... IT IS FRIDAY FOR ME :D ... OMG ... i am sooo happy. As you might have guessed already, I will be going on vacation from tonight onwards. Gosh ... I am counting the minutes already ...

I am pretty much fully occupied with work at the moment (especially before the vacation to get certain things done). Keeps me entertained ...
Got a prototype presentation on the 31st (just a couple of days after I return from my Trip) and had tons of things to prepare and plan. Well ... it's done now and I can finally leave the office to step on the plane tonight.

Where will we (yes ... Sabaa is coming with me!!) go?!
>>San Francisco<<
>>Las Vegas<<
>>Grand Canon<<
>>Death Valley & Yosemite Park<<
>>San Francisco<<
That pretty much describes the trip ;) ... Being in Asia now for a couple of years, I just needed a little break. I always wanted to go to Vegas (you have to go there at least once in ur life!!) and also San Francisco is listed in the upper section of my to-do list.

Got a neat hotel booked (directly on the "Strip" in Vegas), a car waiting (to take us from Vegas to San Fran) and last but not least almost 2 weeks of vacation available. This means my mobile will be infected by a 2 week disease called "RemainsSwitchedOff" and my mood will certainly improve from day to day we conquer the 'new world'.
And hey - with that I don't mean to get married by Elvis in one of the famous chapels as some of you might think!!

Uff ... we went out last night and i got home at about 4 am this morning. Not a good thing to do during a working week. Considering it is the last day for me - so I don't really have to worry about it.

Anyway ... i am off for today ... Will update after the vacation ;)

Ste

Phuket ...

Hmm ... how nice ...
Just came back from a weekend in Phuket ... *relax*

Ok ... let me make all the hardworking people back home a bit jealous: It is easy to get used to weekends on the beach ... Sun ... the sea ... cocktails ... and tons of food.

As you can see, we've really enjoyed the time - we still look a bit sleepy. But still ... no bloody tan yet. Either white or lobster red *argh*

As usual, I've uploaded more pictures to my page ...

Will keep it short for today ;)
Ste

Sunshine in Singapore

[location: Singapore]
[mood: quite alright]

Another new week - how exciting ;)
I just came back from another working week in HongKong, where I 've attended an 'Interpersonal skills - Effective communication' training. Let me tell you, that this was a real waste of money & time.
I actually was kinda looking forward to go for this course, as I did one of these beforehand in my old company. It is an amazing course, where you learn a lot of things, you are not able to find in books. For example, last time I did it, I had to give a small presentation, where they were recording a video tape and afterwards they were discussing the body language and presentation skills. It is a very valueable lesson, to see for yourself, how you act in front of others and which secret/unconcious messages you tell them.
Nevertheless, this course was really useless - I mean the prof obviously knew what he was talking about, but 1) the training material was very, very old (1972) and 2) the course was most of the time around controversial statements, where time-wasteing discussions started about basic principles.

In the end I was able to spend the rest of the week in the HongKong office, where I had to catch up with several people for my new project. Yeah ... this time I got my own project. *wohoo* ... I've done some small projects already, but so far I have never been responsible for my own budget - got free resources available - and am the 'real' project manager. Unfortunately this all has a huge back side ;) ... I have to deliver an application by end of this year, to be used globally across the whole company.
So far we are doing fine and I've just finished the business requirements / information gathering phase. Functional design is almost done and now the technical design kicks off - that's kind of the best part of the project. You have the ability to create new functionalities and have to interact with tons of people, to make sure in the end you get what you need and want. You are an architect of intellectual property and putting together a piece of 'art'. Thousand little pieces of software and in the end you link them together. Et voila: the final product - a hopefully good and realiable tool.

Beside of work, also in my private life a lot has changed. My cousin and his girlfriend were over for 3 weeks, before I left to HK. It was soooo good to see them again. I picked them up from the airport, went out with them almost every night & day (if I wasn't stuck at work ;)) and we all together enjoyed our time.
We ate yummy Thai-food and I was - maybe for the first time in my life - able to see him speechless. I assume it was more due to the hot chili's in the soup - but anyway ...
We went to Indonesia to spend some time at the beach and then these 2 were flying off to Thailand for a week. From what I saw (pictures) and the stories they told me they must have had a great time there. But I am sure you guys will see the pictures soon anyway ;)
Once they came back to 'sunny' Singapore - it was time for Kathrin to say good-bye, as she was heading back to Germany that night.
One more week to go and us both together. I mean - everybody who knows us both will confirm, that it can't be good to put us together in one room. Our parents started early to separate us from each other, because they knew, that we would end up in stupid things and were causing trouble. Anyway - this time no more parents were around and we both decided to go on tour. Drinking - Partying - Gaming (I actually like far-cry ... but not if I am just the canon-powder. I can't even see this ***censored*** while he is already killing me... I need more training!!)
It was his first time in Asia and from the feeling i got, he really enjoyed it. I hope you'll come back!

Another change in my life is love-wise. Since 3 months now already, i got a new girl-friend. First of all, why didn't it work out with my ex?! Hmm ... it just didn't. That is the most plausible explanation.
Sabaa, yes - that is my new girlfriend, I met her through a 'mutual friend' on a night out. I made her walk with me through half of Singapore in the morning and ended up TALKING in front of the Esplanade, watching the sun-rise.
Since then, we are spending quite some time and do travel together. Apparently we've got another Thailand trip planned in 2 weeks *yippie*.
It has been a while now, but I think I am in love ... Sounds cheezy?! Hmm ... maybe!

My new apartment is also getting more and more in shape. Just bought a new set of pillows & a blanket (OMG u can not imagine how bloody expensive this is!!)
On friday my new curtains will be delivered. Since I moved into the new pad, the curtains in there were more like 'existing piece of fabric without much sense'. It did not block the light at all. You would be awake at latest 9 am in the morning on a saturday. I finally got my ass up and had a tailor coming to my place to get me new ones ... *looking_forward_to_friday*

I just need my sleep!! I can be very, very bitchy in the morning ... So better let me sleep loooong.
Another good news: My sister might be coming to Singapore for a training. Isn't that great? 6 months she'll be staying here.
This means, that also my parents might be coming to town, to celebrate Xmas with us. Actually that is a good question to all of you: Could you see yourself celebrating xmas on the beach?!
Actually i just can't ... I need my snow, the xmas tree, the cold ... Otherwise it doesn't feel like a real xmas!?
Let me know what you guys think - actually i assume it largely depends on where you grew up. If I ask someone from OZ, they will tell me that they don't know it any different.

Ah will see - one after another ... will see what happens next ;)

Au revoir ...
Ste[ph]an

Geeks ...

How true ...
I just found an article on the web about geeks and I have to admit some of it really mirror what I think and drives my motivation:

1. Geeks are curious. Let them feed their desire to learn things

I don?t know how much emphasis I can place on this point. You can take the ultimate geek?give them a rockin? compensation package?and give them ?rubber-stamped? projects (same tasks over and over) for two years and they?ll probably quit anyway. This point is based on the notion that if a geek feels his ability to gain knowledge is hindered he?ll try to find it somewhere else. Let them satisfy their curiosities with the task of picking up the latest technologies and applying them as they see fit. (Even if it?s just for a prototype.)

2. Geeks like to be self-sustaining. Let them figure things out on their own.

I haven?t met a true geek yet that wants you to hold their hand through every step of an implementation. In fact I?ve seen quite the opposite. They want to do things their way. If you suggest something, odds are the solution is wrong in their mind because it?s not what they would have come up with first. There?s many ways to complete a task in the technical arena, why cram your solution down their throats? Don?t hinder their creativity, just let them figure it out. The exception to this is probably in design. You obviously have to define your interfaces between components and have your requirements for the implementation. Let the details get figured out by whoever?s doing the dirty work. You can optimize things later if they aren?t up to par.

...

More can be found here: http://www.retrospector.com/2006/06/21/top-10-ways-to-motivate-geeks/

*g*

Wikipedia - Government

Recently one of my tasks at work, was to write a proposal about Wiki enabled systems in an enterprise. This was actually quite interesting, as a system based on the principles of open-source not often gets along with enterprise requirements.

Referring to WikiPedia - the online encyclopedia - a huuuge success. People are getting more and more familiar with this new technology and the fact of not having any trade limitations of proprietary software - Intellectual property or any other kind of rubbish - and the removal of social limitations of a hierarchy is in a bundled form - building one large internet community.

People are treated the same way - doctors / science professors, teachers, taxi drivers and/or kids can contribute to a fast growing system and instead of having only a definition of one instance, you get a more widely spread (accepted may be the better word) explanation of things.

Real life:
I do like elections - It is always the time when politicans run around in the city and offering everything to the people. This enthusiasm - this positive thinking - 'we can reach whatever we want - because we have the best politicans sitting in our government'.
Come on ... what a rubbish ... The government is driven by certain key people, making decisions based on their own understanding - and in the hope to improve something (or at least to get a good publicity for the votes!!) - in the end, it is only an act of self-enriching.

Don't get me wrong - I am aware that government / laws & politics have a reason and are therefore necessary, but there is almost no influence from the public.
Instead of having the 'I know - you do' approach, I think it is important to know what the people are thinking. Such wiki systems (blogs / rss feeds ...) are a start of a new era (for all geeks out there: you might refer to it as WEB2.0 - which is in my eyes another useless abbreviation) - people offering their knowledge to the outside world. The common thought becomes more visible and I think especially the government could profit from that methodology.

On the contrary, I spoke to my girlfriend about all that and she also agreed that it is a good approach. Nevertheless she made a critical comment about that whole new education: "You have the freedom of speech - just not freedom after speech!" ... She was cross-referencing to asian countries, limiting their people in the usage of new media, like internet and further on also the blog-sphere. Limiting google's search power to block certain pages ... people getting locked up in jail for using their freedom of speech ...

"Rules & processes have been there for ages and they have to be correct & true - otherwise my parents / grandparents wouldn't have established them. Follow these rules and never enter the evil path of trying something new!"

I asked some of my team members to tell me how they think about wiki / government & freedom of speech ... Believe me ... there are huge cultural gaps!

Nevertheless I was pretty surprised about an article I recently stumbled across, explaining the scholarship scheme of my new home country/town Singapore. I was fascinated, that the Singapore government is actually sponsoring local students to go to abroad universities like Harvard / Yale etc. To do so, they agree that once they've finished studying, they will work for the government for a certain amount of time. Having the best people working for the government! That is pretty smart. (*evil_eyes* ... compared to the snoring, air-wasting and f***ing time consuming bureaucrats I am used to from back home!!!!)

Anyway ... I held a presentation of one wiki enabled tools last week, called Confluence (the software is pretty neat and tailored for geeks to play around!!) and from my feeling it went pretty well. Wiki - Here we go ;) ...

Work in HongKong ...

As mentioned in my previous blog, I flew to HongKong last week to work on a project there. So finally arrived pretty relaxed at the airport and a nice limousine was already waiting for me, to take me to the hotel .. *ahhhhh* ... what a service ... why can't I have that every day?!

I checked into my hotel room and fell down on my bed ... what a good feeling - finally getting some more sleep after a long party weekend. I was honestly very impressed of the view from the hotel room across the HK harbour. It is an amazing feeling in the morning to wake up and having the sun shining straight into ur face, to open the eyes and to see such an impressive sight. It kind of reminded me to Sydney ...

Another shot from the harbour @ night! Especially the Bank of China is world famous in the skyline. Just in front of it, the building with the red light wrapped around it, is my office. Pretty much walking distance ...

That is for sure something you can't find in Singapore.
I had a pretty interesting week there. Nathan, a colleague, who's currently living there showed me around and introduced me to a lot of interesting people. On the weekend, the party crew from SIN flew into HK and we were facing another big weekend.

OMG ... what a time ... It is Thursday (the week after) already and I still haven't fully recovered. Friday night - Some drinks @ Lang Kwai Fong ... bit of clubbing, but nothing too serious - I had to work on Saturday. The next night, we went to a house party at the other end of the island and afterwards hit the night life of HK. Wow wow wow ... We left the party at around 2 am and went to the first night club ... dancing dancing dancing ... went to another club ... again dancing ... we left the club to go to an 'After-Party' and I think that was the first time, I realized, it was 10 am in the morning. Went to that party, but just for 1 - 2 drinks and then went back to the hotel room to pack my stuff and get ready for the airport. A weekend to remember!! (In the picture: Jonny, Ben, Charles & me)

Nevertheless I am also quite sad now, as Charlie has left Singapore last night to go back to UK. I think I've mentioned it in an earlier blog, but the people come and go very frequent here. People stay most of the time around 6 months and then head back ...
Anyway ... Charlie - take care ... and I'll see you again in Manchester or Germany!! Say hello to Anna and good luck for the job!

*g* ...

That's it for now!
Step

Kuala Lumpur - lets party ;)

[location: Singapore]
[mood: tired]

*sad* ... *cry* ...
The world cup is over and in the end Germany did not win the cup ... *sad* ...
*kidding*
I am still impressed with the german team and officially congratulate them to their success. The way they played was strong and smart. Very impressive games! I haven't seen such games in a long time. The fact that they lost against Italy was unfortunate, but I think all-in-all fair.
I watched the first game (Germany - Argentina) in KL with friends. For the Italy game, I stood up to watch it in my hotel room. (3am!!) Still ... good game - bad finish :D

As mentioned above, we (10 people from Singapore) went for a party weekend to Kuala Lumpur. Arrived at the airport and took a cab to the city ... Checked into the hotel and watched the rest of the game. In the end, it was already 2:30 until we left the hotel to go clubbing. I was a bit disapointed to realize that the clubs all close at around 3 - 3:30 ... I am not kidding!! We lived straight across from the 'Zouk' - prolly the best known night club in KL - and we got kicked out at 3:30 ...
Even in Singapore the clubs are open longer hours!! Nevertheless, had a relaxing saturday and went shopping. Watched the England game on sat night and was shocked to see them losing! What a pity! On the other hand, the penalties were really bad!

Sunday was close and I had to leave for my next trip to HongKong. I packed my stuff in a hurry and went to the airport. Arrived there and had a nice chat with the lady at the check in counter. I went inside, to discover another bright spot of human intelligence ... I was quite hungover, so I bought myself a coffee & orange juice at a cafe inside the airport, just to realize that they don't accept credit cards and ONLY local currency. Isn't everybody always trying to get rid of all the foreign currency, in order NOT to take it with you back home?? An international location (an AIRPORT!!) should allow credit card payments.
In the end, I had to withdraw money (as u can imagine, the minimum amount was way higher than the actual prize for the coffee plus a huge transaction fee on top.) It was propably the most expensive coffee ever ;)

So quite unhappy about that, I went to the flight counter and hey ... life is beautiful. Upgrade waiting for me *yippie* ... In my new company all flights below 5 hrs are always Economy class, so I happily surprised to see an airline employee waiting for me handing me the new ticket over. *g* ...

This again shows me that I can't be that wrong with my following theory:

HOW-TO get upgrades on a flight: (Assuming there is a need to perform upgrades due to overbooking etc)
- Be sensible with ur choice of clothes: It is a tough statement, but I'd say that wearing a suit will double ur chances of getting upgraded. For the simple reason, that people around you would think you are flying business class anyway. Sitting in the plane with shorts and flip flops would be bad for the other 'paying' guests - as they'd question why they paid for that extra.
- Be nice at the check-in counter: People working there hate the 'wanna-be important' people. Don't ask about upgrades etc. Especially never mention 'Hey i am super gold diamond ultra member - i neeeed to get upgrades' - or 'all other airlines upgrade me as well!' ... won't work! I'll promise!!
Just being nice at the counter and to make her smile - will increase your chances of her adding the 'Recommended for upgrade' comment to ur booking. (The ladies at the boarding gate will use these information if there is a need for upgrades)
- Don't expect to get upgrades to first or business, if you've bought the super-cheap-saver flight ticket for 90$. Every ticket belongs to a certain class and only some of them allow upgrades.
- In general, upgrades only work for one category. It has to be a verrrrry special case, to get upgraded to first class from economy. Don't expect that.
- Upgrades obviously depend on availablity. If there are no seats - there are no upgrades! Easy!
- Frequent flyer miles & status will help! The lady at the ticket counter will see immediately that you are a FF and make ur life easier ;)

Just a short list of things I've experienced so far. And at least for me (I don't really care about flying eco) it worked quite often. At least 65% of my past flights (within 6 months) have been upgraded. I figured, that especially the ladies at the check-in are amazingly powerful. Don't ask them out on a date, but flirting a bit will for sure make her day.

That's it ... Ste