CEO vs COO

Are you a leader, or are you a manager? Do you have followers, or do you have subordinates? Do you want to be a CEO who sets directions and makes important decisions, or a COO who runs the day-to-day operations?

I read a lot of management books... probably more than some superiors and others who should have read them. To me, management is too much task and result oriented. I like to also focus on people and achievement. Management is too much going by the book... and a bit too impersonal. It's like accounting vs finance, principles vs practice, and tactical vs strategic.

I think I can do a much better management job than many other managers... but do I want to be just a better manager? I guess not... that's not enough for me. It's too easy to do.

But then again, CEO could just be Chief Entertainment Officer... also, don't forget the good old EIEIO.

Got bum?

Different companies have different cultures. Some are so concerned about attendance and working hours, some have flexible office hours.

Do I really have to be at work to prove that I am working? What about those endless nights of working at home? Is anybody counting those?

I'm not complaining coz I don't care how others feel and I feel no shame of not working 'from' the office. haha.. nicely put.

Here's my 2.2 cents. I use my brain, not my bum, to work, so I don't have to sit at the office in order to work. My brain is still functioning wherever I physically am. Where's your brain?

The Death of Phil

On Feb 2, 2008, Phil emerged from his burrow, saw his shadow, and told the world we still have six more weeks of winter. Six weeks later, Phil, 122, was found dead near a 7-11 at Gobbler's Knob.

Apparently the rodent suffered from hypothermia as he struggled to survive the unexpectedly fierce weather that lingered on for months. Poor Phil could have survived had it not been the effect of Global Warming that changed mother nature. Conspiracy theory suggests that Phil could have been a victim of a prank played on him by his human friends who invented thermometers and other temperature measuring devices some 300 years ago, and who sent satellites above the earth to monitor weather.

The use of a rodent to predict the arrival of Spring is simply an insult to mankind. For years, Groundhog Day has generated substantial commercial benefits to the event organizers and media, who were in fact treating Phil as a sheer money-making plush toy.

Some have seen the depressed rodent frequenting neighborhood bars days before his death, suggesting Phil may have discovered the good intentions of humans and committed suicide himself.

However he died, there's a lesson to be learned (for our furry friends, that is): www.theweatherchannel.com

May Phil find peace as he returns to his burrow for good. Amen.

Information is free

You know what I'm talking about. I knew you have done it. And you knew I have done it.

So how exactly is information free? Does it imply information have a price? If so, who determines the price? Can it be free then?

I guess it depends on who owns the information. Does the creator of the information owns it? What if the information contains other information? Should we give credit to all who contributed? Anyway, I don't want to get into the topic of copyright or copyleft... for that matter.

With the advent of the internet, the speed and proliferation of information is phenomenal. Many new media has emerged and quickly became part of our lives. Sharing of information is key to the success of a lot of chic social networking utilities such as facebook, and file sharing technologies such as napster, emule, and bittorrent.

A reminder for you and me - Just because information can be freely obtained, does not mean that it is free.

fivefive

Those who have known me for 10 years or more should have heard of fivefive - my dream dog.

Haha. People have dream cars, but it's quite unusual to have a dream dog. Right, so how exactly does this mystery creature enter my dream? I've given away a little already.

I wish my brain had a good timestamp system. Until then, it tells me vaguely that it all happened in 1997-8. I had a bad dream... or should I say weird dream.

I was walking up a flight of stairs leading to a castle... ok... spooky isn't it? It's dark... crows covering the skies... I don't know why I was there... or what I was doing there. I was trying to walk up to the castle, I remember I fell, trying to get up, but can't somehow...

A few moments later, a white dog came to me... a dog that resembles a schnauzer but pure white in color... it's got red eyes, and the weird thing was that his mouth has the word 'five' painted on it in blue. He helped me get up and led me to the castle.

fivefive has been my handle in icq since then. There's no such dog in the real life that resembles fivefive, not even a white schnauzer. If I really have to materialize it, the drawing above would be as close as I possibly can with my current drawing skills. But it has been in my memory since then.

If I will get a pet dog someday, one can bet that its name will be fivefive.

Past and Future

How much time do you spend reminiscing the past? And how much thinking or planning for the future?

If I were to create a new saying, I would suggest "The future is becoming the past bit by bit, by the second".

How frightening that was! Future is coming nearer and nearer as we plan for it. If we are not fast enough, it became the past and we wasted our time even during planning.

But then reminiscing is already a positive motion. Many people even dwell in the past wrongdoings and mistakes, blaming themselves why they didn't do this or that, and feeling that they have wasted their time. But the only thing they didn't realize is that they are in fact wasting even more time doing so.

For me the past is the past, no matter how great or bad we were. We should focus on the future, and plan well ahead of time as "The future is becoming the past bit by bit, by the second".