st.andrew’s.day.2010

According to Wikipedia, St. Andrew's Day is the feast day of Saint Andrew and it is celebrated on 30 November.

Scotland.Org: The Official Gateway to Scotland describes St. Andrew's Day is "...Scotland’s national day. There will be parties galore in Scotland..."

Although it was passed by the Scottish Parliament in 2005 as a Bank Holiday, I doubt very much of its impact.

To many of us it is just another at work. Some of the school children had a day off yesterday, and if it wasn't a holiday yesterday, they would've got the day off anyways because many schools were closed due to the snow. (Except for my Cubs who had to go to school, aww poor thing. :P)

Politically, it seemed that this St. Andrew's Day will make a difference with the coalition in London to set agenda with today's publication of its Scotland's Bill.

I am curious to hear what the children at Cubs tonight think of St. Andrew's Day. Somehow I just feel that as significant and symbolic as St. Andrew's Day should be, it just somehow feel it did not serve its purpose.

Hopefully in years to come, the vision and real meaning of St. Andrew's Day for Scotland will materialise. Unfortunately for now, it provides a reason for the English folk across the borders to poke fun of all things Scottish, as heard on the radio on the way to work this morning. Not that there needs to be a day in particular if there are folks who do want ridicule other folks' heritage anyways.

fallen.off

I’ve fallen off the writing bandwagon again.

All the good plan of blogging again somehow went out of the window.

To blame the tools, I would say the lack of access to Blogger is my main issue. Nonetheless there is always way to get around to that. I just have to do it (blogging).

Somehow at the same time the writing juices don't seem to flow anymore. Recently, I had a chance to look back at some of my earlier musings and noticed the quality of writing seemed better then. Perhaps I had a lot of time in my hands or maybe I had a lot to talk about.

Anyways, it is close to year end so there are a lot of reflections and a lot of catching up on what has happened in the year that I have not blogged about.

Hopefully I will be able to spend a bit more time writing again.

auction.step.up

After months and possibly years of contemplation, last night I have finally put not one but two items on eBay.

I'm not sure why I had procrastinated all this while, it could have been I was afraid, not sure how to do it, what is the best way, would it be worthwhile, etcetc, OR just pure procrastination.

Although I had bought stuff on eBay in the past, not very frequent as the last time was more than two years ago, I have never sold anything on eBay before.

I have also looked at the selling guide many times but still haven't had the courage or even possibly the initiative to sell.

But that is now all history.

Last night after my initial fix of Farmville, I jumped onto eBay to get a start.

I had earlier done my research and typed out my description for the two items that I want to sell. First was a fancy dress accessory - Toto the dog from The Wizard of Oz, I bought for a fancy dress party two years ago. I've only used it the once and always intended to get rid of it since I doubt I'll have any use of it in the future. The second item was a pair of red glittery ballerina pumps I bought ages ago. I love the shoes but I didn’t wear it as often as I should, perhaps I didn't have much occasion to wear glitzy shoes like that.

After some fiddling and setting up it finally went live late at night. Apparently statistic shows that the best time to end your auction is on Thursday lunchtime or Sunday evening.

Since I needed to offload Toto and have it sent in time for Halloween (that is the intention), I had to put it on a short auction of three days. This will end just before the end of Sunday night.

Whereas the shoes are suitable for any occasion, I had it on for seven days to end next Thursday night.

Now, I'll just need to get them packaged waiting for the winning bidder and payment to clear so I can send it off on its way.

I'm so nervous and excited about it and have checked my listings a few times since going live. I hope my photos justified the items and will generate a fair amount of interest and attracts some good bids too.

Fingers crossing...

long.lost.blogger

My aim to start blogging again a few months back has slipped into the blackhole of blogging. So many things have happened since my last post, since my regular postings before that, and so many things that are going to be happening.

I was reading one of my most commented post recently and had a quick skim at some of my posts around that time. Reading them brought back memories of why I blogged and showed I had quite a bit of time in my hands to write down my thoughts. I do hope to get back into the routine of writing again.

A round up of what had been happening...

1. Fund raising for World Habitat Day 2010
2. Holiday in Mallorca
3. Meeting newcomers to Glasgow
4. Working down south (Southeast England)
5. Knowledge Transfer to The Netherlands
6. Enjoying Bingo
7. Water Aid Munro Challenge 2010

There are also many other things that have been on my mind. Once I have collected my thoughts I will put them into a post.

Here’s to blogging again! ^^

three.years.on.

Today mark the beginning of my three years working with my present company, although my employment started earlier in the month.

It has been quite an eventful three years of which, I spent two years seconded to Scottish Water Solutions commercial managing a portfolio of infrastructure and capital maintenance works of water and wastewater quality projects.

Whilst seconded, I had wonderful Project Managers who provided me with opportunities travelling around the south west of Scotland visiting many project sites and patient Project Team Members who answer my incessant questions.


The travelling provided me opportunities to get to know my Project Managers better through sharing of life in Glasgow, our individual private lives, technical chats and everything and anything that we can think of. The travelling also provided me opportunities to visit some of the most stunning places around the south west and seeing how treatment plant works. Also, not forgetting the animals that I met along the way.


How can I forget the monthly meet up guys? It was as good as it lasts. Too bad, everyone is away working with their various new employers and locations.

I am currently based in the Glasgow office assisting bids for Pre-Qualification Questionnaires and Invitation to Tender / Negotiation; reorganising our section of the office and document folders; and anything that keeps me out of trouble. Periodically, I assist my colleagues in the Environment sector carrying out environmental monitoring and remediation system maintenance fieldwork in Scotland, which I enjoy immensely.

Recently I was asked what is my best moment or favourite moment at work and I listed the following: participating and completing 2 out of the 3 stages in Construction's Future Leaders 2007 competition; achieving Client Satisfaction score of 97.69%; and being on the Global Knowledge Network. I will soon add going on a week long knowledge transfer programme to The Netherlands to the list too.

I am thankful for the opportunities and the people I meet along the way.

So as a new year begins, I do hope to add more memorable experiences, build better relationships with my colleagues and Clients, and continuously learning from everything I do and everyone I meet.

it's.not.holland

Since I am going to The Netherlands in a few weeks on a transfer programme, I thought I share with you some of my findings taken from The AA Key Guide on Western European Cities which I am currently reading.

Holland Doesn't exist.

The Netherlands is made up of twelve provinces, which include North Holland and South Holland, both in the west of the country on the North Sea coast.

The capital of South Holland is Den Haag, although the largest city is Rotterdam.

The largest city in North Holland is Amsterdam, but the capital is Harlem.

Amsterdam, however, is the capital of the whole country, despite the seat of government being in Den Haag.

It isn't surprising visitors are sometimes confused.

Who would've thought, eh?

Then it goes on with...

About half the land is less than 1m (3ft) above sea level, and much of that is actually below sea level,... A complicated system of sea walls, known as dikes, and pumping stations all help keep the North Sea from flooding in. The very fact that the country exists is a testimony to the determination and ingenuity of the Dutch people.

How ace is that?!

Too bad, I don't think I will be able to go to the coast to see these dikes and pumping stations.

So that is a little insight of The Netherlands for now. When I get there I will see what else I can see and let you know.

not.doing.justice.

Recently I said to TheOtherHalf...

ennazus: Please bear with me and hear me out.

He raised one of his eyebrows.

ennazus: If ever one day we end up having an Aston Martin...

He sniggers and then went on about how and when we will never own an Aston Martin.

I went on with however and whatever way we will own an Aston Martin and just for discussion sake.

He continues to look at me with raised eyebrows.

ennazus: Anyways, when we do have an Aston Martin, what do you think if we go out in the car wearing our 'Sunday Best' t-shirt and shorts?

TheOtherHalf: What do you mean by 'Sunday Best'?

ennazus: You know that comfy t-shirt with the hole and shorts you wear at home kind.

TheOtherHalf: (In disbelief) How can you do that to the Aston? It is so unfair. You are not doing the car justice.

ennazus: (Laughs) I know! Just something I thought about earlier when I was going to pick you up.

TheOtherHalf: I do wonder sometimes what goes on in your head.

ennazus: Yeah, I wonder myself too...