Win Oledy Lor It has been difficult asking my younger son, who is 3 years old now, to do anything.If you ask him to go to bed, he'll say, "I don't want."When you probe further and ask him why, his reply would be, "Because I don't want to sleep."When he refuses to keep his toys and you ask him why, he'll reply, "Because I don't want to keep."When he doesn't want to take his dinner and you ask him why, he'll answer, "Because I don't want to eat."With answers like that, how do I ask my son anything? These answers are what we call the champion answers.Similarly, when my younger son asks for sweets, we'll tell him you've to be a good boy then we'll give you sweet.His answer, "I good boy already."He really champion lor. Untying The Ping.sg Knot The recent developments in the ping.sg community has affected me greatly. Can't believe that the incident started unraveling only 3 days ago. So many posts, comments, forum postings were made in the short span. Contrary to some beliefs, the incident had in fact split the ping.sg community into many fragments. Unhappiness over Daphne's postings were talked about in msn, plurks and private plurks even prior to DK's banning. Many of the early ping.sg members who are friends with Daphne chose to keep their views private and I understand their decision. But it hurts me to see the community being torn apart, a community which I've been a member since its first day. It was so painful that I wanted to take an unscheduled length of hiatus from blogging and from ping.sg. Yes, it was that hurting! But after a private plurk session with a fellow long-time ping.sg member, she had convinced me to stay a while longer and this is my sincere entry in suggesting a solution for the ping.sg community closing this chapter and move forward.Remember "Animal Farm"? Remember the Wee Shu Min scandal? Elitism is the new 4-letter word. The distinction of "in" vs. "out", "popular" vs. "unpopular" should not have been made by a community manager (even though she didn't mean to) and cowboy caleb has succinctly surmised the situation in his entry. Maybe it wasn't right for DK to publicly discuss about it but then the issue has been brought out in the open and the potential ramifications that such distinction or misinterpretation can bring about has been highlighted. It is a reminder that we should be mindful of our words especially when we hold a special role in a community.The chasm in the community was further widened when DK's account in ping.sg was banned. I was surprised when I found out about it in ping.sg forum. But on deeper thoughts, can you fault uzyn for trying to protect a dear friend whom he had known for years (information gleaned from Daphne's comment here)? A dear friend who had helped him by volunteering her time to be the community manager in ping.sg while he was busy and unable to cope with the workload? What would you do as a gentleman when a good friend comes crying to you? What uzyn did was understandable.In his frustration, DK made 10 entries in reaction to his banned status. Please note that I also do not condone some of the postings made by DK yesterday. He had admitted that some of the postings were ill conceived due to his anger but in his final posting, he had expressed his desire to return to the ping.sg community if he is unbanned,...I’ll return back to the community and continue to give him the full support that I’ve given him in the past.Daphne had made a commendable job of apologising over the mess that she had started due to her posting. It takes a person with a big heart to admit the mistake and her effort is highly laudable.As dhope had observed (final comment here), both parties have apologised and are ready to move on. I believe the time of healing is nigh. 解铃还需系铃人. As a community manager, Daphne is in the best position to start mending the cracks formed and reuniting the broken pieces of the community. It is a golden opportunity for Daphne to show us her full mettle as a community manager and that she is up to the task of leading, uniting and mending the community. As community manager, Daphne can and should have the banning of DK's account reversed. The healing can begin when the community is returned to former state before the incident.We are all passionate about ping.sg and we all meant well for the community. I look forward to the time when ping.sg is back to its glorious and happy days again.photo courtesy of rinaz Untying The Ping.sg Knot The recent developments in the ping.sg community has affected me greatly. Can't believe that the incident started unraveling only 3 days ago. So many posts, comments, forum postings were made in the short span. Contrary to some beliefs, the incident had in fact split the ping.sg community into many fragments. Unhappiness over Daphne's postings were talked about in msn, plurks and private plurks even prior to DK's banning. Many of the early ping.sg members who are friends with Daphne chose to keep their views private and I understand their decision. But it hurts me to see the community being torn apart, a community which I've been a member since its first day. It was so painful that I wanted to take an unscheduled length of hiatus from blogging and from ping.sg. Yes, it was that hurting! But after a private plurk session with a fellow long-time ping.sg member, she had convinced me to stay a while longer and this is my sincere entry in suggesting a solution for the ping.sg community closing this chapter and move forward.Remember "Animal Farm"? Remember the Wee Shu Min scandal? Elitism is the new 4-letter word. The distinction of "in" vs. "out", "popular" vs. "unpopular" should not have been made by a community manager (even though she didn't mean to) and cowboy caleb has succinctly surmised the situation in his entry. Maybe it wasn't right for DK to publicly discuss about it but then the issue has been brought out in the open and the potential ramifications that such distinction or misinterpretation can bring about has been highlighted. It is a reminder that we should be mindful of our words especially when we hold a special role in a community.The chasm in the community was further widened when DK's account in ping.sg was banned. I was surprised when I found out about it in ping.sg forum. But on deeper thoughts, can you fault uzyn for trying to protect a dear friend whom he had known for years (information gleaned from Daphne's comment here)? A dear friend who had helped him by volunteering her time to be the community manager in ping.sg while he was busy and unable to cope with the workload? What would you do as a gentleman when a good friend comes crying to you? What uzyn did was understandable.In his frustration, DK made 10 entries in reaction to his banned status. Please note that I also do not condone some of the postings made by DK yesterday. He had admitted that some of the postings were ill conceived due to his anger but in his final posting, he had expressed his desire to return to the ping.sg community if he is unbanned,...I’ll return back to the community and continue to give him the full support that I’ve given him in the past.Daphne had made a commendable job of apologising over the mess that she had started due to her posting. It takes a person with a big heart to admit the mistake and her effort is highly laudable.As dhope had observed (final comment here), both parties have apologised and are ready to move on. I believe the time of healing is nigh. 解铃还需系铃人. As a community manager, Daphne is in the best position to start mending the cracks formed and reuniting the broken pieces of the community. It is a golden opportunity for Daphne to show us her full mettle as a community manager and that she is up to the task of leading, uniting and mending the community. As community manager, Daphne can and should have the banning of DK's account reversed. The healing can begin when the community is returned to former state before the incident.We are all passionate about ping.sg and we all meant well for the community. I look forward to the time when ping.sg is back to its glorious and happy days again.photo courtesy of rinaz A Lonely Path Through the 8 years since I've started my business, many clients have become friends but many friends later also become strangers. We had helped each other through the hard and difficult times. We were locked together elbow to elbow, standing proudly and facing the pounding waves that tried to wash us away. Many a times, after the ordeal, we held our head high and laugh heartily at the golden rays that peeked through the parting clouds after the heavy storm. When we survived the hard times together, I always thought the friendship formed during the tumultuous times will forge a bond that binds us together forever.The reality sucks.I've a client which during the bad times, I've spent countless hours chatting with them, encouraging them on, being their cheerleader and they have always seek my advice when they needed help. When payment was late, I never chased them. Finally, they managed to establish and carved a niche for themselves. I was really glad and happy for them.Once they had an event and asked for my opinion after the product launch. I gave them my honest opinion and constructive criticisms. Later, I heard from other friends that they were very unhappy with my comments. I was shocked and surprised. I thought they had asked for my frank opinion which I've shared. Apparently, they only wanted to hear praises. They no longer can take criticisms now that they are 'somebody' in the industry. Since then, I've become wary of what I can say to them.Just yesterday, I was disappointed by another friend.We had started our business almost at the same time. We've made a pact that we'll not be tainted by the industry and we'll always remain as fast friends. If we were ever successful, we'll never let it consume us and we'll not be overtly proud.Fast forward to today.Due to the current economic sentiments, her business has not been good. But instead of looking at herself, she blames my product for not being able to bring her business. I just grit my teeth. I hated her condescending tones when she spoke to me. Just because someone in the industry praised her talent, she threw all caution to the wind. People in the industry has warned her about them, told her to be careful. After her meeting with them, she chose to value their opinions and put me down with her comments. I'm frustrated. I'm hurt. It cuts like a knife when you are betrayed.What happened to the friendship which we've formed when we've went through thick-and-thin together? Is our friendship so weak that it can't even withstand the saccharine praises by someone who wants to make use of you? Was it necessary for you to put me down?Disappointment.To protect myself from being hurt, I've to run faster. I must not ever be caught in a vulnerable position where I've failed. Some 'friends' are like vultures circling over you, waiting to pounce on you when you fall.I must run faster and be more successful. Because the alternative is failure where 'friends' are waiting to stab you from behind and add insult to injury.I guess success is a path you've to walk alone. A Lonely Path Through the 8 years since I've started my business, many clients have become friends but many friends later also become strangers. We had helped each other through the hard and difficult times. We were locked together elbow to elbow, standing proudly and facing the pounding waves that tried to wash us away. Many a times, after the ordeal, we held our head high and laugh heartily at the golden rays that peeked through the parting clouds after the heavy storm. When we survived the hard times together, I always thought the friendship formed during the tumultuous times will forge a bond that binds us together forever.The reality sucks.I've a client which during the bad times, I've spent countless hours chatting with them, encouraging them on, being their cheerleader and they have always seek my advice when they needed help. When payment was late, I never chased them. Finally, they managed to establish and carved a niche for themselves. I was really glad and happy for them.Once they had an event and asked for my opinion after the product launch. I gave them my honest opinion and constructive criticisms. Later, I heard from other friends that they were very unhappy with my comments. I was shocked and surprised. I thought they had asked for my frank opinion which I've shared. Apparently, they only wanted to hear praises. They no longer can take criticisms now that they are 'somebody' in the industry. Since then, I've become wary of what I can say to them.Just yesterday, I was disappointed by another friend.We had started our business almost at the same time. We've made a pact that we'll not be tainted by the industry and we'll always remain as fast friends. If we were ever successful, we'll never let it consume us and we'll not be overtly proud.Fast forward to today.Due to the current economic sentiments, her business has not been good. But instead of looking at herself, she blames my product for not being able to bring her business. I just grit my teeth. I hated her condescending tones when she spoke to me. Just because someone in the industry praised her talent, she threw all caution to the wind. People in the industry has warned her about them, told her to be careful. After her meeting with them, she chose to value their opinions and put me down with her comments. I'm frustrated. I'm hurt. It cuts like a knife when you are betrayed.What happened to the friendship which we've formed when we've went through thick-and-thin together? Is our friendship so weak that it can't even withstand the saccharine praises by someone who wants to make use of you? Was it necessary for you to put me down?Disappointment.To protect myself from being hurt, I've to run faster. I must not ever be caught in a vulnerable position where I've failed. Some 'friends' are like vultures circling over you, waiting to pounce on you when you fall.I must run faster and be more successful. Because the alternative is failure where 'friends' are waiting to stab you from behind and add insult to injury.I guess success is a path you've to walk alone. The Real Reason Why I'm Getting A Car I know I've been ranting about the taxi services and LTA recently and talking about buying a car for the reasons in my ranted entries. But truth be known, I can put up with all the big and small inconveniences from the public transport and my reasons for not having a car remains. Many of my friends think that I'm a frugal person. When I shared with a friend that I'm considering buying a car, he exclaimed, "It's about time!"He commented among all our friends who can afford to buy a car, I'm the only one who has not gotten one. Yes, I've not even driven a car for the past 15 years. My license is for manual and I've never driven an auto before. So what changed my decision? Simple. My eldest son will be starting primary school starting next year.The reason for getting a car is nothing earth-shattering but simply because the school bus picks him up in the morning at 6.15 am for 7.30 am class and he only reaches home at 2.30 pm after his class ends at 1.00 pm. That means he'll need to wake up for the bus at about 5.30 am and will only have his lunch after 2.30 pm. That really seems like a lot of wasted time in traveling. By public bus, he probably needs to leave by 6.30 am.The other way was to send him to school by cab every morning. As he is still a small boy, my wife does not feel safe for him to travel alone in the cab and will want to accompany him every day. Sending him to school by cab will probably cost $10 and another $10 for my wife's return trip. Then another $20 to-and-fro for my wife to pick up the son in the afternoon. For a month, the taxi fare would probably be $800 ($40 x 20 days). On top of that, the family spends about $300 monthly on taxi fares. It does seem like getting a car is a more logical and economical solution. School is already so competitive nowadays, my wife and I just want to give him more time to rest, play and finish his homework.Funny thing isn't it? I was so adamant about not getting a car for the past 15 years but when you've kids, things change and they bring you a totally different perspective in your decision makings. As parents, if we could, we would even be willing to move the world for them just to make it a better place. The Real Reason Why I'm Getting A Car I know I've been ranting about the taxi services and LTA recently and talking about buying a car for the reasons in my ranted entries. But truth be known, I can put up with all the big and small inconveniences from the public transport and my reasons for not having a car remains. Many of my friends think that I'm a frugal person. When I shared with a friend that I'm considering buying a car, he exclaimed, "It's about time!"He commented among all our friends who can afford to buy a car, I'm the only one who has not gotten one. Yes, I've not even driven a car for the past 15 years. My license is for manual and I've never driven an auto before. So what changed my decision? Simple. My eldest son will be starting primary school starting next year.The reason for getting a car is nothing earth-shattering but simply because the school bus picks him up in the morning at 6.15 am for 7.30 am class and he only reaches home at 2.30 pm after his class ends at 1.00 pm. That means he'll need to wake up for the bus at about 5.30 am and will only have his lunch after 2.30 pm. That really seems like a lot of wasted time in traveling. By public bus, he probably needs to leave by 6.30 am.The other way was to send him to school by cab every morning. As he is still a small boy, my wife does not feel safe for him to travel alone in the cab and will want to accompany him every day. Sending him to school by cab will probably cost $10 and another $10 for my wife's return trip. Then another $20 to-and-fro for my wife to pick up the son in the afternoon. For a month, the taxi fare would probably be $800 ($40 x 20 days). On top of that, the family spends about $300 monthly on taxi fares. It does seem like getting a car is a more logical and economical solution. School is already so competitive nowadays, my wife and I just want to give him more time to rest, play and finish his homework.Funny thing isn't it? I was so adamant about not getting a car for the past 15 years but when you've kids, things change and they bring you a totally different perspective in your decision makings. As parents, if we could, we would even be willing to move the world for them just to make it a better place. Can LTA Wake Up Their Idea? It's been almost three months since LTA had made adjustments to the Taxi CBD rule. In summary, the current rule is such that taxis are not allowed to pick up and alight passengers on the main roads in the CBD area. Also, taxis are not allowed to pick up and alight passengers on side roads if public buses are plying. This rule is in effect from Mondays to Saturdays, 7am to 10pm. Originally, the rule stipulated in the CBD area, passengers can only be picked up and alighted at taxi stands. It caused a huge outcry and fierce furore that LTA had no choice but to back down and made a slight concession. In the end, I believe it only alleviated the problem by a little but it is still not solving the crux of the problem. The rule should not have been implemented in the first place.Why is the rule not effective on Sundays? You mean statistically, taxi drivers are more careful on Sundays? I'm not advocating extending the rule to Sunday but just want to illustrate the absurdness of the rules. The implementation just boggles the mind.The new rules are so confusing as some cab drivers are not sure which road is considered a main road. I was once driven to a back alley to be alighted!If you take taxis as frequently like me and needed to travel to the CBD area, you'll notice that the new rule still greatly reduces the conveniences supposedly to be brought about by the taxi service. For example, if you need to take a cab at Club Street after your business meeting, depending on your luck, it is quite unlikely that you'll be able to flag down a cab at Club Street itself as not many cabs will ply it. The better option would be to walk out of Club Street to the main road where you'll see a lot more cabs with no passengers. But under the current ruling, the cabs are not allowed to stop even if you flag, you are only allowed to get a cab at a taxi stand. Then the next question arises, where is the nearest taxi stand? Even though I'm a Singaporean, I don't know where all the taxi stands are. I can only head towards a general direction where I think a tax stand is. And fortunately, during my walk, I found a taxi stand. After 20 minutes wait with no taxi stopping, I realised not all taxi stands are built the same. Because the taxi stand is in a private driveway of the commercial building and it is not noticeable so the taxi will not drive in. I kept seeing empty taxis passing by on the main road. I can't just walk out of the taxi stand to the main road and flag one down even though I see dozens of empty cabs. The taxis wouldn't dare to stop because if they were caught flouting the rule, they will be fined $100 and 3 demerit points.Even if LTA were to build more taxi stands, but not all taxi stands will attract the cabs. The cabs usually will just queue up at the more popular locations like Ngee Ann City, Paragon etc. Building more taxi stands will still not solve the problem.The new rules were implemented as LTA cited that there were an increased of accidents involving taxis. In the first place, what is the percentage of these accidents that were caused (not just involve) by taxis. Secondly, if most accidents were caused by taxis, was it restricted to a few errant drivers. Thirdly, did the accidents happen mostly in the CBD area? If not, why was the ruling restricted to just the CBD area? If it was to improve safety, shouldn't it be implemented throughout the whole of Singapore? I'm not supporting the implementation at all but trying to understand the logic of the implementation.Finally, why was there a blanket ruling to punish ALL taxi drivers and passengers when the main crux of the problem lies with a small group of bad and errant drivers? These new rulings affect not just the taxi drivers but all passengers as well. This would also affect the tourists and foreigners on business trips here. Paris is the only other city that has similar rules. But we are not Paris. These new rules will definitely affect the impression and experience of the tourists who visit here. They would definitely find these rules draconian and illogical. How does LTA expect the tourists after shopping in places like Chinatown, for example, to carry their bags of souvenirs to walk to the "nearest" taxi stand when we locals don't even where they are located.With the upcoming Singapore F1 night race and the impending completion of two casinos, sorry, I mean integrated resorts, what kind of impression are we gonna leave the tourists. They will be trying to flag down the empty cabs on the main roads and wondering why our taxi service is so lousy as all of them don't stop.What happens during a heavy downpour and you are in the city area and the building you are at, does not have a taxi stand? You can forget about trying to make a taxi booking. Likely the customer service will advice you to wait for your call-booking taxi at the nearest taxi stand! Even if you've paid the extra $2.50 for call-booking a cab, the cab still can't pick you up from where you are just because you are in the CBD area and the LTA rules.I can imagine next year's Lonely Planet edition on Singapore, "Don't bother flagging down the cabs, they won't stop!" :pBy implementing the new rules, LTA in one fell swoop, all taxi drivers, passengers and tourists are inconvenienced and punished. Isn't it obvious then the new rules are draconian?If suddenly, the government sees a dip in tourists arrival number, it'll be too late already. How do you gain back the goodwill that you lost? Is the LTA even aware that their rules may affect the tourism sector of Singapore, one of the backbone of Singapore economy? Really, who would enjoy shopping in Singapore with this ridiculous new rules.If LTA can utilise the traffice police to book the taxi drivers who flout the CBD taxi rule, wouldn't it be more effective and logical to utilise the traffic police to book the errant taxi drivers who drive dangerously instead? Isn't this way simpler and more logical solution to reduce the supposedly high number of accidents involving taxis?Can LTA wake up their idea? They have made taking a cab in Singapore so difficult and troublesome. This again adds to another reason why I'm considering getting a car instead. Can LTA Wake Up Their Idea? It's been almost three months since LTA had made adjustments to the Taxi CBD rule. In summary, the current rule is such that taxis are not allowed to pick up and alight passengers on the main roads in the CBD area. Also, taxis are not allowed to pick up and alight passengers on side roads if public buses are plying. This rule is in effect from Mondays to Saturdays, 7am to 10pm. Originally, the rule stipulated in the CBD area, passengers can only be picked up and alighted at taxi stands. It caused a huge outcry and fierce furore that LTA had no choice but to back down and made a slight concession. In the end, I believe it only alleviated the problem by a little but it is still not solving the crux of the problem. The rule should not have been implemented in the first place.Why is the rule not effective on Sundays? You mean statistically, taxi drivers are more careful on Sundays? I'm not advocating extending the rule to Sunday but just want to illustrate the absurdness of the rules. The implementation just boggles the mind.The new rules are so confusing as some cab drivers are not sure which road is considered a main road. I was once driven to a back alley to be alighted!If you take taxis as frequently like me and needed to travel to the CBD area, you'll notice that the new rule still greatly reduces the conveniences supposedly to be brought about by the taxi service. For example, if you need to take a cab at Club Street after your business meeting, depending on your luck, it is quite unlikely that you'll be able to flag down a cab at Club Street itself as not many cabs will ply it. The better option would be to walk out of Club Street to the main road where you'll see a lot more cabs with no passengers. But under the current ruling, the cabs are not allowed to stop even if you flag, you are only allowed to get a cab at a taxi stand. Then the next question arises, where is the nearest taxi stand? Even though I'm a Singaporean, I don't know where all the taxi stands are. I can only head towards a general direction where I think a tax stand is. And fortunately, during my walk, I found a taxi stand. After 20 minutes wait with no taxi stopping, I realised not all taxi stands are built the same. Because the taxi stand is in a private driveway of the commercial building and it is not noticeable so the taxi will not drive in. I kept seeing empty taxis passing by on the main road. I can't just walk out of the taxi stand to the main road and flag one down even though I see dozens of empty cabs. The taxis wouldn't dare to stop because if they were caught flouting the rule, they will be fined $100 and 3 demerit points.Even if LTA were to build more taxi stands, but not all taxi stands will attract the cabs. The cabs usually will just queue up at the more popular locations like Ngee Ann City, Paragon etc. Building more taxi stands will still not solve the problem.The new rules were implemented as LTA cited that there were an increased of accidents involving taxis. In the first place, what is the percentage of these accidents that were caused (not just involve) by taxis. Secondly, if most accidents were caused by taxis, was it restricted to a few errant drivers. Thirdly, did the accidents happen mostly in the CBD area? If not, why was the ruling restricted to just the CBD area? If it was to improve safety, shouldn't it be implemented throughout the whole of Singapore? I'm not supporting the implementation at all but trying to understand the logic of the implementation.Finally, why was there a blanket ruling to punish ALL taxi drivers and passengers when the main crux of the problem lies with a small group of bad and errant drivers? These new rulings affect not just the taxi drivers but all passengers as well. This would also affect the tourists and foreigners on business trips here. Paris is the only other city that has similar rules. But we are not Paris. These new rules will definitely affect the impression and experience of the tourists who visit here. They would definitely find these rules draconian and illogical. How does LTA expect the tourists after shopping in places like Chinatown, for example, to carry their bags of souvenirs to walk to the "nearest" taxi stand when we locals don't even where they are located.With the upcoming Singapore F1 night race and the impending completion of two casinos, sorry, I mean integrated resorts, what kind of impression are we gonna leave the tourists. They will be trying to flag down the empty cabs on the main roads and wondering why our taxi service is so lousy as all of them don't stop.What happens during a heavy downpour and you are in the city area and the building you are at, does not have a taxi stand? You can forget about trying to make a taxi booking. Likely the customer service will advice you to wait for your call-booking taxi at the nearest taxi stand! Even if you've paid the extra $2.50 for call-booking a cab, the cab still can't pick you up from where you are just because you are in the CBD area and the LTA rules.I can imagine next year's Lonely Planet edition on Singapore, "Don't bother flagging down the cabs, they won't stop!" :pBy implementing the new rules, LTA in one fell swoop, all taxi drivers, passengers and tourists are inconvenienced and punished. Isn't it obvious then the new rules are draconian?If suddenly, the government sees a dip in tourists arrival number, it'll be too late already. How do you gain back the goodwill that you lost? Is the LTA even aware that their rules may affect the tourism sector of Singapore, one of the backbone of Singapore economy? Really, who would enjoy shopping in Singapore with this ridiculous new rules.If LTA can utilise the traffice police to book the taxi drivers who flout the CBD taxi rule, wouldn't it be more effective and logical to utilise the traffic police to book the errant taxi drivers who drive dangerously instead? Isn't this way simpler and more logical solution to reduce the supposedly high number of accidents involving taxis?Can LTA wake up their idea? They have made taking a cab in Singapore so difficult and troublesome. This again adds to another reason why I'm considering getting a car instead. Hear The Lions Roar! From as much as I can gather, even though Ron Lanford (an Australian) has a similar patent in Australia which he first had it registered, it doesn't seem like he has sent any letter of demands or invoices to any of the companies in Australia. Apparently, he has similar patents in New Zealand and USA too. If that is the case, doesn't it make you wonder why did he target only Singapore companies? I wonder if he thought that Singapore being a small country, the local companies here will be easy targets?I also wonder if Paul Smith, the local managing director of Vuestar, is also an Australian? Is he the foreign talent that our government has touted that we need for our local economy? I wonder if sending invoices to Singapore companies to demand payment for a patent which has prior art, a talent that our government was looking for.Where is our government now when we need them to revoke this ridiculous patent instead of wasting the local companies precious time and resources? What is the stance of IPOS and IDA in view of the recent developments? Disappointingly, I believe the local companies cries of anguish and frustration have only been met by silence. Why haven't IPOS or IDA made any press release or public statements regarding this fiasco?It had been said that modern warfare is no longer fought using weapons, no longer military confrontations but war on the economic fronts, it is a war of business strategies. By claiming to have the patent to image linking of websites and demanding annual payments from several local companies, it is akin to invasion of foreign forces to our sovereign land. It is obviously a premeditated attack on the Singapore companies. This is warfare of the modern business kind.If some companies pay this time, what will stop Vuestar from extorting a higher amount next year and the year after next? Remember, they are claiming an annual licensing fees. By definition, it is an amount which they will demand Singapore website owners to pay on an annual basis. So when will it end and how much will be enough for Vuestar?If Ron, an Australian, really think that Singapore companies will be easy pickings, I think he has gravely mistaken. Just take a look at the backlash from the online communities. I've heard rumblings from the ground. It started with a murmur and currently collecting to a crescendo! Several website owners have decided to make their stand and will defend against the claim. Some will even group together to pool their resources together. Imagine, if all the companies targeted by Vuestar were to pool the amount that was demanded, instead of paying Vuestar, the money can be used to engage legal council, the amount would be substantial. Say, $5000 (as demanded by Vuestar) and there were 200 companies targetted, we would be looking at a $1000,000 war chest! I wonder aloud if any local law firm would want to represent Vuestar Tech!Let's all also gather around the battle horn sounded by our civic-minded Alice Cheong who is the brainchild behind this website. For the website owners who are at a lost of what to do, let's gather around a common rallying point! Ultimately, let's bring this ridiculous patent revoked!An army is now marching to defend our land, an army formed by the brave lions and lioness of Singapura - the land of lions!World, get ready to hear the lions roar! Hear The Lions Roar! From as much as I can gather, even though Ron Lanford (an Australian) has a similar patent in Australia which he first had it registered, it doesn't seem like he has sent any letter of demands or invoices to any of the companies in Australia. Apparently, he has similar patents in New Zealand and USA too. If that is the case, doesn't it make you wonder why did he target only Singapore companies? I wonder if he thought that Singapore being a small country, the local companies here will be easy targets?I also wonder if Paul Smith, the local managing director of Vuestar, is also an Australian? Is he the foreign talent that our government has touted that we need for our local economy? I wonder if sending invoices to Singapore companies to demand payment for a patent which has prior art, a talent that our government was looking for.Where is our government now when we need them to revoke this ridiculous patent instead of wasting the local companies precious time and resources? What is the stance of IPOS and IDA in view of the recent developments? Disappointingly, I believe the local companies cries of anguish and frustration have only been met by silence. Why haven't IPOS or IDA made any press release or public statements regarding this fiasco?It had been said that modern warfare is no longer fought using weapons, no longer military confrontations but war on the economic fronts, it is a war of business strategies. By claiming to have the patent to image linking of websites and demanding annual payments from several local companies, it is akin to invasion of foreign forces to our sovereign land. It is obviously a premeditated attack on the Singapore companies. This is warfare of the modern business kind.If some companies pay this time, what will stop Vuestar from extorting a higher amount next year and the year after next? Remember, they are claiming an annual licensing fees. By definition, it is an amount which they will demand Singapore website owners to pay on an annual basis. So when will it end and how much will be enough for Vuestar?If Ron, an Australian, really think that Singapore companies will be easy pickings, I think he has gravely mistaken. Just take a look at the backlash from the online communities. I've heard rumblings from the ground. It started with a murmur and currently collecting to a crescendo! Several website owners have decided to make their stand and will defend against the claim. Some will even group together to pool their resources together. Imagine, if all the companies targeted by Vuestar were to pool the amount that was demanded, instead of paying Vuestar, the money can be used to engage legal council, the amount would be substantial. Say, $5000 (as demanded by Vuestar) and there were 200 companies targetted, we would be looking at a $1000,000 war chest! I wonder aloud if any local law firm would want to represent Vuestar Tech!Let's all also gather around the battle horn sounded by our civic-minded Alice Cheong who is the brainchild behind this website. For the website owners who are at a lost of what to do, let's gather around a common rallying point! Ultimately, let's bring this ridiculous patent revoked!An army is now marching to defend our land, an army formed by the brave lions and lioness of Singapura - the land of lions!World, get ready to hear the lions roar! Corporate Junk #10 We had sent an invoice to a client about 6 months ago after our product had already been fully delivered. The invoice was only $4000. It took us months of phone calls to the client's accounts department before we finally received the cheque 2 months ago. When I slit opened the envelope, the cheque was $2000, half of the total amount!This client is a corporate client. Their boss even won some entrepreneurial award. Bah! The accounts department had the audacity to make a unilateral decision of paying us half of the amount. We were never informed nor consulted before they sent us a cheque of half the amount. When my staff called and checked with the accounts clerk, Amanda (name changed to protect my identity, haha!), she promised that the outstanding payment will be put in their next bill clearing cycle and we would receive the payment next month.Today (which is two months later after the last cheque), we've yet to receive any updates and payments. My staff called Amanda to check again. She informed me our payment was put in their payment queue but was rejected. My staff kept pushing for a definite date which the payment will be sent to us but Amanda just kept repeating she'll do her best.After my staff had ended the conversation, I decided to take things into my own hands. I dialed their reception and asked to be transferred to their Accounts Manager. From the receptionist, I learnt of the manager's name (Jenny, again name changed to protect my identity :p) and her direct line.When the accounts manager answered my call, I told her that our invoice had been due for 6 months already and we have not received full payments. Jenny wanted to pass me to her staff but I informed her that I've already spoken to her staff and we've been informed that the payment for us had been rejected. I told her that's why I called her, to find out why the payment for our goods had been rejected. Jenny was surprised too and said that she'll speak to her staff.Within 5 minutes, Amanda called and demanded to know why did we tell her superior that our payment had been rejected. She claimed that she never said that. I calmly replied to her, regardless if you had used the term "rejected", if as you've claimed that our payment had been put into schedule and later not approved, isn't that rejection? Then she tried the nice lady approach and claimed and she had been helping to settle the problem for us. She had been settling the problem for us in the past few months. I told her off curtly. You've not been settling the problem. Did we receive the full payment for an invoice that had been sent out for 6 months already? No. If that's the case, you've not settled the problem and you've not been settling the problem. Settling the problem is sending the full payment that is due to us. Any other scenario is not settling the problem.Then she told me to check for the payment details next Tuesday and hung up the phone.If I don't receive payment by next week, I don't care if their boss is some big shot who had won some prestigious entrepreneur award, I'm ready to storm their office! Corporate Junk #10 We had sent an invoice to a client about 6 months ago after our product had already been fully delivered. The invoice was only $4000. It took us months of phone calls to the client's accounts department before we finally received the cheque 2 months ago. When I slit opened the envelope, the cheque was $2000, half of the total amount!This client is a corporate client. Their boss even won some entrepreneurial award. Bah! The accounts department had the audacity to make a unilateral decision of paying us half of the amount. We were never informed nor consulted before they sent us a cheque of half the amount. When my staff called and checked with the accounts clerk, Amanda (name changed to protect my identity, haha!), she promised that the outstanding payment will be put in their next bill clearing cycle and we would receive the payment next month.Today (which is two months later after the last cheque), we've yet to receive any updates and payments. My staff called Amanda to check again. She informed me our payment was put in their payment queue but was rejected. My staff kept pushing for a definite date which the payment will be sent to us but Amanda just kept repeating she'll do her best.After my staff had ended the conversation, I decided to take things into my own hands. I dialed their reception and asked to be transferred to their Accounts Manager. From the receptionist, I learnt of the manager's name (Jenny, again name changed to protect my identity :p) and her direct line.When the accounts manager answered my call, I told her that our invoice had been due for 6 months already and we have not received full payments. Jenny wanted to pass me to her staff but I informed her that I've already spoken to her staff and we've been informed that the payment for us had been rejected. I told her that's why I called her, to find out why the payment for our goods had been rejected. Jenny was surprised too and said that she'll speak to her staff.Within 5 minutes, Amanda called and demanded to know why did we tell her superior that our payment had been rejected. She claimed that she never said that. I calmly replied to her, regardless if you had used the term "rejected", if as you've claimed that our payment had been put into schedule and later not approved, isn't that rejection? Then she tried the nice lady approach and claimed and she had been helping to settle the problem for us. She had been settling the problem for us in the past few months. I told her off curtly. You've not been settling the problem. Did we receive the full payment for an invoice that had been sent out for 6 months already? No. If that's the case, you've not settled the problem and you've not been settling the problem. Settling the problem is sending the full payment that is due to us. Any other scenario is not settling the problem.Then she told me to check for the payment details next Tuesday and hung up the phone.If I don't receive payment by next week, I don't care if their boss is some big shot who had won some prestigious entrepreneur award, I'm ready to storm their office! Images of Invoices Sent By VueStar There is now a new website setup to gather the site owners who had received invoices from VueStar Tech to team up and seek legal advice on the actions to be taken.The invoice has 5 pages and the scanned images can be found here.For those who are interested in the full article of the patent registered and accepted by IPOS (Intellectual Property Office of Singapore) can download from the link in this page.More information regarding this ongoing saga can be found in this website. Images of Invoices Sent By VueStar There is now a new website setup to gather the site owners who had received invoices from VueStar Tech to team up and seek legal advice on the actions to be taken.The invoice has 5 pages and the scanned images can be found here.For those who are interested in the full article of the patent registered and accepted by IPOS (Intellectual Property Office of Singapore) can download from the link in this page.More information regarding this ongoing saga can be found in this website. An Australian Invented The Internet I woke up yesterday morning to the news in the papers that an Australian invented the Internet... well almost. You can read the news here. If you don't believe me, you can do a whois search on the registrant of vuestar.biz and all the information points to an Australian company. If you compare the whois information and to the legal page of vuestar.biz, you'll notice that the patent belongs to Robert Neville Langford and the patent was awarded in Australia on 3 October 2001.Basically, anyone who uses an image to link to another website is "infringing" on their patent! If you look at their homepage, they even claim that they are the pioneers and licensor of using images to surf the web. Really, why stop there? Why don't they just claim that they invented the world wide web while they are at it?Apparently, they have begun sending out invoices making claims of payment. I texted my contacts and seeking their views on this. One of my friend replied, "Just ignore." Then, another friend replied that they have received the invoice! I was surprised. I never expected friends in my circle to have received the invoice so I quickly called my friend. My friend filled me up with more details. There seemed to be 3 tiers of license: Gold, Silver and Bronze (I made up the names of the classes for illustration purposes, they may call it first, second, third class for all I care). The tier of license you belonged to seems to be linked to the number of visitors that have clicked on an image in your website and linked to another website. So the more visitors clicked on the link, you'll pay more. I wonder how they are able to collect the click-throughs accurately? It is speculated that they may have based on guesstimate from traffic numbers available publicly through Alexa.com.It seems like their current approach is to coerce the smaller site owners to pay up first. If they are able to collect $5000 from 100 websites, they would have made a cool $500,000 without doing anything (unless you consider sending invoices to 100 websites a tough job, I got nothing to say to you). The amount is comparatively small enough for any ongoing website that is profitable to make payment and is a more attractive option for small companies to challenge VueStar in the court of law. I doubt that they will dare claim payment from the local offices of the likes of Google, MicroSoft, Ebay or Yahoo!. They surely know that the big firms will certainly challenge their claims in court.I asked my friend what is their plan. They said that they are going to adopt a wait-and-see approach. As they have only sent an invoice asking for payment, my friend will ignore the invoice for the time-being. They will only respond if they receive a legal letter.I actually wonder if any local law firm will be willing to take up the ridiculous case of representing VueStar considering the amount of bad publicity that it will bring. Imagine, a local law firm representing a patent troll company setup by an Australian to sue local innocent companies.Seriously, in my humble and non-legally trained opinion, I don't think VueStar has any grounds for their claims. The World Wide Web was first invented by Sir Tim Berners-Lee in 1989 and CERN released World Wide Web on 30 April 1993 that it will be free to use and no fees will be imposed. An image linking to a website has long existed in the humble html code of an anchor tag way before 3 October 2001.Since it is unlikely that VueStar will make claims against the tech giants, I hope some local website owners will have the guts and resources to challenge VueStar to the local tribunal for judgment and I'm fairly confident that VueStar's claim will be found to be null and void and with the patent revoked.If for some reason, no local website owners were willing to challenge VueStar, I've no doubt that the government will take action regarding VueStar (anyone remembers StreetDirectory vs government?).Bad karma, when it bites, it bites back hard on the posterior! An Australian Invented The Internet I woke up yesterday morning to the news in the papers that an Australian invented the Internet... well almost. You can read the news here. If you don't believe me, you can do a whois search on the registrant of vuestar.biz and all the information points to an Australian company. If you compare the whois information and to the legal page of vuestar.biz, you'll notice that the patent belongs to Robert Neville Langford and the patent was awarded in Australia on 3 October 2001.Basically, anyone who uses an image to link to another website is "infringing" on their patent! If you look at their homepage, they even claim that they are the pioneers and licensor of using images to surf the web. Really, why stop there? Why don't they just claim that they invented the world wide web while they are at it?Apparently, they have begun sending out invoices making claims of payment. I texted my contacts and seeking their views on this. One of my friend replied, "Just ignore." Then, another friend replied that they have received the invoice! I was surprised. I never expected friends in my circle to have received the invoice so I quickly called my friend. My friend filled me up with more details. There seemed to be 3 tiers of license: Gold, Silver and Bronze (I made up the names of the classes for illustration purposes, they may call it first, second, third class for all I care). The tier of license you belonged to seems to be linked to the number of visitors that have clicked on an image in your website and linked to another website. So the more visitors clicked on the link, you'll pay more. I wonder how they are able to collect the click-throughs accurately? It is speculated that they may have based on guesstimate from traffic numbers available publicly through Alexa.com.It seems like their current approach is to coerce the smaller site owners to pay up first. If they are able to collect $5000 from 100 websites, they would have made a cool $500,000 without doing anything (unless you consider sending invoices to 100 websites a tough job, I got nothing to say to you). The amount is comparatively small enough for any ongoing website that is profitable to make payment and is a more attractive option for small companies to challenge VueStar in the court of law. I doubt that they will dare claim payment from the local offices of the likes of Google, MicroSoft, Ebay or Yahoo!. They surely know that the big firms will certainly challenge their claims in court.I asked my friend what is their plan. They said that they are going to adopt a wait-and-see approach. As they have only sent an invoice asking for payment, my friend will ignore the invoice for the time-being. They will only respond if they receive a legal letter.I actually wonder if any local law firm will be willing to take up the ridiculous case of representing VueStar considering the amount of bad publicity that it will bring. Imagine, a local law firm representing a patent troll company setup by an Australian to sue local innocent companies.Seriously, in my humble and non-legally trained opinion, I don't think VueStar has any grounds for their claims. The World Wide Web was first invented by Sir Tim Berners-Lee in 1989 and CERN released World Wide Web on 30 April 1993 that it will be free to use and no fees will be imposed. An image linking to a website has long existed in the humble html code of an anchor tag way before 3 October 2001.Since it is unlikely that VueStar will make claims against the tech giants, I hope some local website owners will have the guts and resources to challenge VueStar to the local tribunal for judgment and I'm fairly confident that VueStar's claim will be found to be null and void and with the patent revoked.If for some reason, no local website owners were willing to challenge VueStar, I've no doubt that the government will take action regarding VueStar (anyone remembers StreetDirectory vs government?).Bad karma, when it bites, it bites back hard on the posterior! Corporate Junk #9 Out of the blue, a client sent me an sms today requesting us to provide a service which was stipulated within our contract. The client had asked for my email address as instructions would be sent via email. This is also a client who has not sent us the payment for quite a while and I gladly grab the opportunity to remind the client of the outstanding payment.For a while, there was no reply from the client. After 10 minutes, finally my mobile phone beeped with new message.The client replied that the cheque for the payment had been prepared and will be mailed to us by this week.I stared at the sms incredulously. Today is Saturday which is already end of the week. The message was sent to me after the mail collection time of the postal boxes. Couldn't the client find a better excuse reply? At least tell me that the payment would be sent by next week and it would have been more logical.Well, it does not make business sense to embarrass the client by reminding the client that now is in fact end of the week. I'll just wait till Tuesday, after the public holiday on Monday, to 'check' with the client if the payment had indeed been mailed out. Sigh.Click here for the earlier entries of 'corporate junk'. Corporate Junk #9 Out of the blue, a client sent me an sms today requesting us to provide a service which was stipulated within our contract. The client had asked for my email address as instructions would be sent via email. This is also a client who has not sent us the payment for quite a while and I gladly grab the opportunity to remind the client of the outstanding payment.For a while, there was no reply from the client. After 10 minutes, finally my mobile phone beeped with new message.The client replied that the cheque for the payment had been prepared and will be mailed to us by this week.I stared at the sms incredulously. Today is Saturday which is already end of the week. The message was sent to me after the mail collection time of the postal boxes. Couldn't the client find a better excuse reply? At least tell me that the payment would be sent by next week and it would have been more logical.Well, it does not make business sense to embarrass the client by reminding the client that now is in fact end of the week. I'll just wait till Tuesday, after the public holiday on Monday, to 'check' with the client if the payment had indeed been mailed out. Sigh.Click here for the earlier entries of 'corporate junk'. My Entry Appeared in SammyBoy Forum I was checking my stats and saw a healthy amount of traffic coming from a link I didn't recognise. Upon clicking the link, it brought me to the infamous sammyboy forum! Fortunately, there weren't any NSFW content, else I may be misunderstood by my wife and I'll have lots of explaining to do. Heh! Apparently, a member has copied-and-pasted my entry "Another Reason To Get A Car" there. I would need to extend my thanks to the ShaolinTiger for posting a message and linking the entry back to my blog. Some of the exchanges there were indeed quite lively!In the forum, a posting called me a stinky for complaining about paying an extra $1 (it was $1.40 to be exact :p). I was also called an idiot for wanting to buy a car. One even commented that I'm a weakling for not challenging the taxi driver and if I can't tolerate being charged extra $1, why am I tolerating being charged thousands of dollars by the government for owning a car? On why I didn't challenge the cab driver? Well, for friends who know me, they would know I'm a pacifist in nature. Well, some would call that a weakling if you like. LOL. But I'm comfortable with who I am.It was indeed a very enlightening exchange. When I saw the messages in the forum, I wasn't offended at all. I can understand why they misunderstood my entry. From just that entry, it does seem like I've decided to get a car over $1.40.In reality, I've been thinking about getting a car for quite a while already. Now I've two growing kids and the elder son is going to primary one next year. The school bus arrives at our place to pick him up at 6.15 am and he'll only be back by 2.30 pm. There is just too much unnecessary wasted traveling time for him. Everyone knows how competitive is our school system here. It does not bode him well if he is too tired during lesson time.Of course, there are many other factors to consider while making a decision to own a car. My previous entry was just one of the many reasons that have nudged me towards buying one.One of my friend told me if by getting a car helps me save time and thus have more time in developing my business, I should seriously consider in getting one.I'm still considering my options. Maybe, in one of my future entries, I may just list them all the reasons why I'm thinking of buying a car. One of them is definitely not about the overcharged $1.40 taxi fare but more of the ability to have more control of my time and the convenience of having a car.Of course, in Singapore, the convenience comes at a hefty price. My Entry Appeared in SammyBoy Forum I was checking my stats and saw a healthy amount of traffic coming from a link I didn't recognise. Upon clicking the link, it brought me to the infamous sammyboy forum! Fortunately, there weren't any NSFW content, else I may be misunderstood by my wife and I'll have lots of explaining to do. Heh! Apparently, a member has copied-and-pasted my entry "Another Reason To Get A Car" there. I would need to extend my thanks to the ShaolinTiger for posting a message and linking the entry back to my blog. Some of the exchanges there were indeed quite lively!In the forum, a posting called me a stinky for complaining about paying an extra $1 (it was $1.40 to be exact :p). I was also called an idiot for wanting to buy a car. One even commented that I'm a weakling for not challenging the taxi driver and if I can't tolerate being charged extra $1, why am I tolerating being charged thousands of dollars by the government for owning a car? On why I didn't challenge the cab driver? Well, for friends who know me, they would know I'm a pacifist in nature. Well, some would call that a weakling if you like. LOL. But I'm comfortable with who I am.It was indeed a very enlightening exchange. When I saw the messages in the forum, I wasn't offended at all. I can understand why they misunderstood my entry. From just that entry, it does seem like I've decided to get a car over $1.40.In reality, I've been thinking about getting a car for quite a while already. Now I've two growing kids and the elder son is going to primary one next year. The school bus arrives at our place to pick him up at 6.15 am and he'll only be back by 2.30 pm. There is just too much unnecessary wasted traveling time for him. Everyone knows how competitive is our school system here. It does not bode him well if he is too tired during lesson time.Of course, there are many other factors to consider while making a decision to own a car. My previous entry was just one of the many reasons that have nudged me towards buying one.One of my friend told me if by getting a car helps me save time and thus have more time in developing my business, I should seriously consider in getting one.I'm still considering my options. Maybe, in one of my future entries, I may just list them all the reasons why I'm thinking of buying a car. One of them is definitely not about the overcharged $1.40 taxi fare but more of the ability to have more control of my time and the convenience of having a car.Of course, in Singapore, the convenience comes at a hefty price. Another Reason To Get A Car Last Sunday, I was going to meet a friend at Raffles City so I took a cab down. The normal route would be for the cab to take the CTE route and exit into Orchard Road near the Istana. Instead of turning into the CTE towards city, he took the route of Lavender Street all the way to Raffles Avenue. I even get to see Singapore Flyer close up!I wasn't very happy so I asked him why didn't he take the CTE route. He turned around and looked at me.Yes, he was wearing those cannot-see-the-eyes-dark-sunglasses like the Terminator, he didn't say a thing and just turned his head around again and continued his driving. For a moment, I felt that my life was in mortal danger and half-expecting him to pull out a gun. :pFor the rest of the journey, I just sucked thumb kept quiet and pretended to read my Businessweek magazine.By the time I reached Raffles City, the fare was $7.40. The usual fare would have been about $6! There was really no reason for him to take the Lavender Street route. It was more expensive and took a longer time.Ever since the taxi fare increased, I seemed to encounter more drivers taking the longer route with more traffic lights. I can't help but wonder if it was deliberate ploy.I'm really seriously thinking of getting my own car now. I don't want to put up with such drivers and put myself in their mercy anymore! Another Reason To Get A Car Last Sunday, I was going to meet a friend at Raffles City so I took a cab down. The normal route would be for the cab to take the CTE route and exit into Orchard Road near the Istana. Instead of turning into the CTE towards city, he took the route of Lavender Street all the way to Raffles Avenue. I even get to see Singapore Flyer close up!I wasn't very happy so I asked him why didn't he take the CTE route. He turned around and looked at me.Yes, he was wearing those cannot-see-the-eyes-dark-sunglasses like the Terminator, he didn't say a thing and just turned his head around again and continued his driving. For a moment, I felt that my life was in mortal danger and half-expecting him to pull out a gun. :pFor the rest of the journey, I just sucked thumb kept quiet and pretended to read my Businessweek magazine.By the time I reached Raffles City, the fare was $7.40. The usual fare would have been about $6! There was really no reason for him to take the Lavender Street route. It was more expensive and took a longer time.Ever since the taxi fare increased, I seemed to encounter more drivers taking the longer route with more traffic lights. I can't help but wonder if it was deliberate ploy.I'm really seriously thinking of getting my own car now. I don't want to put up with such drivers and put myself in their mercy anymore! An Assignment A few months ago over lunch with a friend, he invited me to give a speech to share my entrepreneurial experience in a seminar. Being the idiot that I am, I gamely agreed.This was going to be the first time I'll be making a public speech. In all honesty, I was pretty excited about it. I imagined that my speech would inspire future generations of new entrepreneurs to "boldly go where no one has gone before!". I even planned what to wear on the day of the speech. I wanted to look good and respectable because I'll be representing my company, my dreams and my aspirations of the past 8 years when I'm delivering my speech when I'm standing there at the podium. I even planned to get a new pair of shoes as my pair of suede Timberlands was too scruffy to be worn on that day.I imagined that my speech would be as eloquent and inspiring as Steve Job's and as moving as Popagandhi's. I had even planned to do a presentation using "Flash" where it'll display amazing graphics and information complementing my speech. The flash presentation will be 10 minutes long which I can use it as guide to keep the pacing of my speech. It was only a 10 minutes speech, how difficult could it be?By using both Steve Job's and Popagandhi's speech as reference, I knew that my transcript will be about 4 A4 pages of Times New Roman of font size 12.On a Saturday which was two weeks before the speech day, I plonked myself down at a Starbucks cafe and began typing my "inspiring" speech over a cup of Grande Latte. I was confident that I'll complete drafting my speech that day.After 4 hours, I was shivering from the cold in Starbucks and I had to visit the washroom, I packed up and put my laptop into the bag calling it a day. I had only written 2 paragraphs! After 4 hours!A part of me was beginning to panic. I thought it was going to be easy writing the speech by sharing my experience. Unfortunately, through the course of writing, self-doubt crept into my heart. Should I really encourage the audience to carpe diem, seize the day? Can I shoulder the responsibility that if someone really took my advice and become an entrepreneur but did not succeed? What if their life become miserable?I didn't know what my message was going to be anymore. I was lost.On a Sunday that was just the day before speech day, I told my wife I'll be going to Starbucks to write my speech. I swore that I'll only be back when the speech is done.At Starbucks, I ordered a triple-shot Latte to keep me going. After a week of thinking, I've finally decided to share my naked experience. I've also made up my mind to encourage anyone to take the plunge but I'll not sugarcoat my experience. I'll share all the pain and tribulations that I had to go through to be where I am today. I'll be a hypocrite if I don't take a stand and encourage entrepreneurship.After 4 hours, I had re-written my first 2 paragraphs and added 2 new paragraphs. But I was very tired already. The 4 paragraphs really drained me. I don't why it was so difficult to write the speech. I wanted to continue to toil but I was really tired. I guess it was emotionally draining to dig deep into myself and revisit the past bittersweet experiences.For a brief moment, I felt like I was back in my University days - The night before exams and I'm still cramming. What if I can't finish studying? I want to sleep but I can't. If I can't finish studying, I'll surely flunk my papers. It was a similar fear: What if I can't finish writing? How do I face the audience tomorrow?Just the thought of it brought fear to my heart. It was so thick that my throat choked. But I was really tired. The fear was paralysing I decided to go home and sleep. I planned to wake up early the next morning to continue writing.By the time I reached home, my family was asleep already. I had a quick shower and plonked down into the bed and tried to sleep. Maybe due to the triple shots Latte, I had a hard time falling asleep. Due to the buzz of the caffeine, it was a very fitful sleep.I woke up feeling tired. But I had to complete my speech. I was awake before any of the family members. Gently cursing, I swore to myself I'll never agree to another speech assignment anymore.By 2 pm, I finally finished drafting my speech but it was only 2 pages long. That was how much I could muster. I showed it to my wife and she commented that it'll be a 10 minutes speech if I talk really slowly. Heh!After gulping down a quick lunch, I rushed out to get a new pair of shoes. Knowing myself, I knew that I'll be shivering from fear while giving the speech so I got myself a jacket too. Total damage: $300.By the time I got back, it was time for me to bathe and get ready. I gulped down a small glass of Brands Essence of Chicken before I left home.At the auditorium, while other speakers were giving their speech, I was busy memorising mine. Even though the auditorium was not cold, as my turn approaches, I began to feel cold and had to put on the jacket which I had fortunately and correctly bought.Finally it was my turn to deliver my speech. I could feel the blood being drained away from my hands and they felt clammy. When I started giving my speech, my mind was actually in a blank state but words just shot out like machine gun. I remembered making some jokes and the audience laughed. I knew I missed some paragraphs and created some new paragraphs which were not in the speech. I kept my eyes fixated at one spot of the auditorium. That helped to calm my nerves a bit.If you want to be an entrepreneur, you must be mentally prepared that it will be the most difficult thing to do. You must be ready to risk everything and may not get anything in return. Most startups fail during the first year. That is the reality.Was I ever hesitant of starting on my own? Was I fearful of failures? Of course. But I just had to know. I just had to know for sure if I can make my idea work. If someone had successfully implemented a similar idea, I don't want to be left to wonder for the rest of my life if that could have been me. I don't want to be plagued by what ifs? If I had tried and failed, at least I would be satisfied with the knowledge that I wasn't the better person to make it work. But at least, I've tried.We only live once. I don’t want to live with regrets and wondering about the ‘What ifs’. Even if I had failed, I would have lived.With that, I ended my speech. In my delirium and hazy state of mind, I thought the audience gave me a slightly, just so slightly, louder ovation.When I went back to my seat, my friend who was also one of the speakers told me I sounded very kan cheong (nervous). I nodded my head. Two of my friends who were in the audience, texted me that my speech was very heartfelt. I was glad that it came across as heartfelt. It should, as the speech was indeed the sharing of my intimate personal experience. I was also very grateful to the two friends who found time to attend the speech and supported me. It helped to know that there were 2 familiar faces among the sea of strangers.During the Q&A, there were quite a few questions directed at me. After the session, a few members of the audience crowded around me to ask me more about what I had gone through. I think I may have touched some of the budding entrepreneurs. If that was really the case, the weeks of anxiety and stress that I put myself through to write the speech would have worth it.When most audience left and I was alone, I texted my wife, "I survived." An Assignment A few months ago over lunch with a friend, he invited me to give a speech to share my entrepreneurial experience in a seminar. Being the idiot that I am, I gamely agreed.This was going to be the first time I'll be making a public speech. In all honesty, I was pretty excited about it. I imagined that my speech would inspire future generations of new entrepreneurs to "boldly go where no one has gone before!". I even planned what to wear on the day of the speech. I wanted to look good and respectable because I'll be representing my company, my dreams and my aspirations of the past 8 years when I'm delivering my speech when I'm standing there at the podium. I even planned to get a new pair of shoes as my pair of suede Timberlands was too scruffy to be worn on that day.I imagined that my speech would be as eloquent and inspiring as Steve Job's and as moving as Popagandhi's. I had even planned to do a presentation using "Flash" where it'll display amazing graphics and information complementing my speech. The flash presentation will be 10 minutes long which I can use it as guide to keep the pacing of my speech. It was only a 10 minutes speech, how difficult could it be?By using both Steve Job's and Popagandhi's speech as reference, I knew that my transcript will be about 4 A4 pages of Times New Roman of font size 12.On a Saturday which was two weeks before the speech day, I plonked myself down at a Starbucks cafe and began typing my "inspiring" speech over a cup of Grande Latte. I was confident that I'll complete drafting my speech that day.After 4 hours, I was shivering from the cold in Starbucks and I had to visit the washroom, I packed up and put my laptop into the bag calling it a day. I had only written 2 paragraphs! After 4 hours!A part of me was beginning to panic. I thought it was going to be easy writing the speech by sharing my experience. Unfortunately, through the course of writing, self-doubt crept into my heart. Should I really encourage the audience to carpe diem, seize the day? Can I shoulder the responsibility that if someone really took my advice and become an entrepreneur but did not succeed? What if their life become miserable?I didn't know what my message was going to be anymore. I was lost.On a Sunday that was just the day before speech day, I told my wife I'll be going to Starbucks to write my speech. I swore that I'll only be back when the speech is done.At Starbucks, I ordered a triple-shot Latte to keep me going. After a week of thinking, I've finally decided to share my naked experience. I've also made up my mind to encourage anyone to take the plunge but I'll not sugarcoat my experience. I'll share all the pain and tribulations that I had to go through to be where I am today. I'll be a hypocrite if I don't take a stand and encourage entrepreneurship.After 4 hours, I had re-written my first 2 paragraphs and added 2 new paragraphs. But I was very tired already. The 4 paragraphs really drained me. I don't why it was so difficult to write the speech. I wanted to continue to toil but I was really tired. I guess it was emotionally draining to dig deep into myself and revisit the past bittersweet experiences.For a brief moment, I felt like I was back in my University days - The night before exams and I'm still cramming. What if I can't finish studying? I want to sleep but I can't. If I can't finish studying, I'll surely flunk my papers. It was a similar fear: What if I can't finish writing? How do I face the audience tomorrow?Just the thought of it brought fear to my heart. It was so thick that my throat choked. But I was really tired. The fear was paralysing I decided to go home and sleep. I planned to wake up early the next morning to continue writing.By the time I reached home, my family was asleep already. I had a quick shower and plonked down into the bed and tried to sleep. Maybe due to the triple shots Latte, I had a hard time falling asleep. Due to the buzz of the caffeine, it was a very fitful sleep.I woke up feeling tired. But I had to complete my speech. I was awake before any of the family members. Gently cursing, I swore to myself I'll never agree to another speech assignment anymore.By 2 pm, I finally finished drafting my speech but it was only 2 pages long. That was how much I could muster. I showed it to my wife and she commented that it'll be a 10 minutes speech if I talk really slowly. Heh!After gulping down a quick lunch, I rushed out to get a new pair of shoes. Knowing myself, I knew that I'll be shivering from fear while giving the speech so I got myself a jacket too. Total damage: $300.By the time I got back, it was time for me to bathe and get ready. I gulped down a small glass of Brands Essence of Chicken before I left home.At the auditorium, while other speakers were giving their speech, I was busy memorising mine. Even though the auditorium was not cold, as my turn approaches, I began to feel cold and had to put on the jacket which I had fortunately and correctly bought.Finally it was my turn to deliver my speech. I could feel the blood being drained away from my hands and they felt clammy. When I started giving my speech, my mind was actually in a blank state but words just shot out like machine gun. I remembered making some jokes and the audience laughed. I knew I missed some paragraphs and created some new paragraphs which were not in the speech. I kept my eyes fixated at one spot of the auditorium. That helped to calm my nerves a bit.If you want to be an entrepreneur, you must be mentally prepared that it will be the most difficult thing to do. You must be ready to risk everything and may not get anything in return. Most startups fail during the first year. That is the reality.Was I ever hesitant of starting on my own? Was I fearful of failures? Of course. But I just had to know. I just had to know for sure if I can make my idea work. If someone had successfully implemented a similar idea, I don't want to be left to wonder for the rest of my life if that could have been me. I don't want to be plagued by what ifs? If I had tried and failed, at least I would be satisfied with the knowledge that I wasn't the better person to make it work. But at least, I've tried.We only live once. I don’t want to live with regrets and wondering about the ‘What ifs’. Even if I had failed, I would have lived.With that, I ended my speech. In my delirium and hazy state of mind, I thought the audience gave me a slightly, just so slightly, louder ovation.When I went back to my seat, my friend who was also one of the speakers told me I sounded very kan cheong (nervous). I nodded my head. Two of my friends who were in the audience, texted me that my speech was very heartfelt. I was glad that it came across as heartfelt. It should, as the speech was indeed the sharing of my intimate personal experience. I was also very grateful to the two friends who found time to attend the speech and supported me. It helped to know that there were 2 familiar faces among the sea of strangers.During the Q&A, there were quite a few questions directed at me. After the session, a few members of the audience crowded around me to ask me more about what I had gone through. I think I may have touched some of the budding entrepreneurs. If that was really the case, the weeks of anxiety and stress that I put myself through to write the speech would have worth it.When most audience left and I was alone, I texted my wife, "I survived." Be Hungry, Be Very Hungry It's been 8 years now since I've started my venture. For a while, I'm satisfied with what I've achieved. For friends who know me, they all know that I'm a simple person. I don't have many material needs. I don't aim to stay in a private condominium or drive a flashy car. Like any boys, I like and admire Ferrari but I never desired to drive one. I'm happy to stay in my humble HDB abode and take the public transport. Well, I did aim to become a millionaire by 30. The goal was more chosen as a marker rather than the million dollars. Anyway, I'm 36 now and I'm not even half-way there. :pI've no regrets. In fact, I'm happy. Yes, I'm struggling with the daily mess and firefighting but at least it is my own mess and not putting out fire of others. I get to make my own decisions and be my own boss. I've a rebellious streak and for friends and colleagues who have worked with me have seen the anti-establishment side of me. So I'm happy that I get to make my own decisions and plot my own future now.I'm not rich but I make enough to live comfortably within my humble lifestyle. No matter how much you make, if you spend more than you make, you'll always be poor. So what if you make million dollars a year but you spend spend twice that amount? You are actually in the negative of a million dollars. If you make $3k a month and manage to save $1k a month. In one year, you would have saved $12k and be wealthier than the person who overspent his/her million dollar salary.However, with the recent inflation rate of 6.7% (CPI of March 2008) and ever increasing oil price, it caused me to think: by simply keeping my money in the bank and just making the same amount of money, I'm already losing money at a rate of 6.7% (economists, feel free to correct me if my layman understanding is not accurate). At this staggering rate of global price increases and inflation, I'll soon find the amount I'm making is no longer sufficient. I shudder to think the university fees for my sons in about 15 years time. I think I need to make more money so that I can keep pace with the inflation.Recently, I attended the open house of my client's office. It was a casual party and I had the opportunity to meet my client's husband as they share the same office. He had started his company for about 3 years now and he already have a staff strength of 10 and is continuing to expand.Me, after 8 years, I only have a staff strength of 3 full-time and 2 part-time. I still don't have an office, even though it was a conscious choice but I can't help but think if I would have survived if I needed to pay office rental. For 3 years, I'm still in the same accounting mess (well, getting better each year) and many projects are not progressing. I feel that I'm running in circles and I've not been able to expand my company even though I need to but I just don't think I've the resources to employ more. The revenue potential seemed to have reached a bottleneck. I feel stagnant. I'm stuck.My heart feels a dull ache when I read about successful entrepreneurs who have launched their IPO and have an army of staff. A few of them just took 10 years to reach that stage. I look back at myself and I only have 2 more years before I reach the 10 year mark. Can I reach the same level of success? I wonder.But I'm still comfortable at where I am. I can still get by because I don't need and spend much. I've also realised my dream, the dream of being an entrepreneur. I'm so comfortable that I believe I'm taking things too slowly. I don't have a sense of urgency (maybe I do but somehow it doesn't feel urgent enough). However, deep down inside, I know my dream has so much more potential than I ever dream of. My dream can achieve so much more (not in terms of monetary) but to build the new features, I need more funds. I need to be hungry.I've tried the Zen approach where less is more. Maybe this approach is no longer sufficient. Maybe I should start aiming for that swanky apartment in district 9 and the fiery red Ferrari. Maybe I should aim for more stuff and not rest on my laurels.I'm going to be more aggressive from now on.I need to be hungry, very, very hungry. I want to feel inspired again. Be Hungry, Be Very Hungry It's been 8 years now since I've started my venture. For a while, I'm satisfied with what I've achieved. For friends who know me, they all know that I'm a simple person. I don't have many material needs. I don't aim to stay in a private condominium or drive a flashy car. Like any boys, I like and admire Ferrari but I never desired to drive one. I'm happy to stay in my humble HDB abode and take the public transport. Well, I did aim to become a millionaire by 30. The goal was more chosen as a marker rather than the million dollars. Anyway, I'm 36 now and I'm not even half-way there. :pI've no regrets. In fact, I'm happy. Yes, I'm struggling with the daily mess and firefighting but at least it is my own mess and not putting out fire of others. I get to make my own decisions and be my own boss. I've a rebellious streak and for friends and colleagues who have worked with me have seen the anti-establishment side of me. So I'm happy that I get to make my own decisions and plot my own future now.I'm not rich but I make enough to live comfortably within my humble lifestyle. No matter how much you make, if you spend more than you make, you'll always be poor. So what if you make million dollars a year but you spend spend twice that amount? You are actually in the negative of a million dollars. If you make $3k a month and manage to save $1k a month. In one year, you would have saved $12k and be wealthier than the person who overspent his/her million dollar salary.However, with the recent inflation rate of 6.7% (CPI of March 2008) and ever increasing oil price, it caused me to think: by simply keeping my money in the bank and just making the same amount of money, I'm already losing money at a rate of 6.7% (economists, feel free to correct me if my layman understanding is not accurate). At this staggering rate of global price increases and inflation, I'll soon find the amount I'm making is no longer sufficient. I shudder to think the university fees for my sons in about 15 years time. I think I need to make more money so that I can keep pace with the inflation.Recently, I attended the open house of my client's office. It was a casual party and I had the opportunity to meet my client's husband as they share the same office. He had started his company for about 3 years now and he already have a staff strength of 10 and is continuing to expand.Me, after 8 years, I only have a staff strength of 3 full-time and 2 part-time. I still don't have an office, even though it was a conscious choice but I can't help but think if I would have survived if I needed to pay office rental. For 3 years, I'm still in the same accounting mess (well, getting better each year) and many projects are not progressing. I feel that I'm running in circles and I've not been able to expand my company even though I need to but I just don't think I've the resources to employ more. The revenue potential seemed to have reached a bottleneck. I feel stagnant. I'm stuck.My heart feels a dull ache when I read about successful entrepreneurs who have launched their IPO and have an army of staff. A few of them just took 10 years to reach that stage. I look back at myself and I only have 2 more years before I reach the 10 year mark. Can I reach the same level of success? I wonder.But I'm still comfortable at where I am. I can still get by because I don't need and spend much. I've also realised my dream, the dream of being an entrepreneur. I'm so comfortable that I believe I'm taking things too slowly. I don't have a sense of urgency (maybe I do but somehow it doesn't feel urgent enough). However, deep down inside, I know my dream has so much more potential than I ever dream of. My dream can achieve so much more (not in terms of monetary) but to build the new features, I need more funds. I need to be hungry.I've tried the Zen approach where less is more. Maybe this approach is no longer sufficient. Maybe I should start aiming for that swanky apartment in district 9 and the fiery red Ferrari. Maybe I should aim for more stuff and not rest on my laurels.I'm going to be more aggressive from now on.I need to be hungry, very, very hungry. I want to feel inspired again. A Near Accident I was walking towards my sons' childcare centre to pick them up on Monday evening. It was the start of the week and there were many things on my mind. I was thinking about how I can pick up the pace and have more projects completed in a more compressed time; I was also thinking how I can improve the efficiency of the company; I was also deeply in thoughts on how to increase revenue for the company so that I have more resources to employ more staff; I was also thinking how the day went by so quickly and I seemed to have achieved so little; I was also wondering how to deal with the avalanche of emails I receive daily.Suddenly, my handphone beeped to signal the receipt of a new sms. It was from a supplier and I was typing the reply.I was about to cross the road.There was a firm tug on my arm and I stopped.A car zoomed passed inches from me with a few more cars following closely behind. I think there was a van within the group of vehicles that went zooming by.I turned to look at my wife. She was the one who tugged my arm. She was wide-eyed and with ashen face. Only then did I realise I was nearly knocked down by cars if I had taken one more stride and step off the pavement. I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I was about to cross the road without looking. My walking was done in subconscious mode without me consciously realising the environment.If I had taken just one more step, I'll probably be knocked down by the oncoming traffic and flung away by the impact. I can't imagine what will happen if after that, the vehicles following closely behind the sedan that hit me and if they were not able to stop in time.I shudder at the thought.I was never so careless. I was never so deep in thoughts. What is happening? Why am I so consumed by work recently?I need to snap out of it. A Near Accident I was walking towards my sons' childcare centre to pick them up on Monday evening. It was the start of the week and there were many things on my mind. I was thinking about how I can pick up the pace and have more projects completed in a more compressed time; I was also thinking how I can improve the efficiency of the company; I was also deeply in thoughts on how to increase revenue for the company so that I have more resources to employ more staff; I was also thinking how the day went by so quickly and I seemed to have achieved so little; I was also wondering how to deal with the avalanche of emails I receive daily.Suddenly, my handphone beeped to signal the receipt of a new sms. It was from a supplier and I was typing the reply.I was about to cross the road.There was a firm tug on my arm and I stopped.A car zoomed passed inches from me with a few more cars following closely behind. I think there was a van within the group of vehicles that went zooming by.I turned to look at my wife. She was the one who tugged my arm. She was wide-eyed and with ashen face. Only then did I realise I was nearly knocked down by cars if I had taken one more stride and step off the pavement. I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I was about to cross the road without looking. My walking was done in subconscious mode without me consciously realising the environment.If I had taken just one more step, I'll probably be knocked down by the oncoming traffic and flung away by the impact. I can't imagine what will happen if after that, the vehicles following closely behind the sedan that hit me and if they were not able to stop in time.I shudder at the thought.I was never so careless. I was never so deep in thoughts. What is happening? Why am I so consumed by work recently?I need to snap out of it. Vertu Phone A friend of mine bought a Vertu phone recently. Yes, the each $10k-comes-with-concierge service phone. The phone is by the same Finnish company Nokia.One day, while we were at a friend's retail shop shooting breeze, he came in looking flustered.Vertu friend: Anyone has Nokia charger I can use? My phone's battery is flat!My friend took out his Nokia charger and passed it to him.Vertu friend: Crap! The Vertu phone does not fit into a standard Nokia charger.Smart Alec friend: Oui! Call the concierge service and ask them to bring you a charger or a charged battery lah.Vertu friend: Yeah hor! Good idea!Just a short moment later.Vertu friend: Crap! The battery is flat, how to call the concierge?!O.o||So much for the $10k comes with concierge service phone, when the battery is flat, it is as useless as any normal phone. :p