The One With The RFP

Gemuk mengambil buku nota ku lantas mula melukis process diagram.

Gemuk: Mula-mula kita hantar RFP.
Aku: RFP tu ape?
Gemuk:RFP tu Request For Purchase
Aku: Ooooo
Gemuk:Lepas tu kena dapat signature Head Of Dept.
Aku:Lepas tu?
Gemuk:Lepas tu kau kena hantar kat Budget Coordinator
Aku: Hari ni tak dapat la..dia MC.Lepas dia sign baru hantar gi procurement?
Gemuk:Yap
Aku:Ooooo...ni dah settle ke? (masa ni aku dah start boring sebab diagram dah nak abis satu page)
Gemuk:Ha?Belum la...ada lagi ni...

Gemuk meneruskan bebelannya sambil melukis process diagram sampai 2 page!
Punya la susah nak apply kat procurement for picking a vendor.

Aku: Muk..overall process how long?
Gemuk: Ini 3 days..Ini 7 days bla..bla.. 2 weeks

Aku dah start garu kepala.

Gemuk: Dont worry lama-lama buat nanti biasa.

Lama-lama buat?Manual? Wish i can do it automated. Come on we should have a system to manage these processes.

Ini adalah first day aku start belajar administrative work yg Assistant Manager which is currently Gemuk selalu buat. . I begin to sense these stuff would be tougher for me to digest..developing an FTP client is easier. Mungkin kalau aku rebus diagram 2 page tu and minum air nye....hmmmmm

Entry at 6:59 PM

My parents are going to Mecca this coming December. We have been staying with my parents since Jannah was born. So secara default nye my parents adalah penjaga rasmi Jannah while we are off to work. Dengan keberangkatan parents ku untuk mengerjakan ibadah Haji.. ini bermaksud we have to find Jannah a babysitter or send her to nursery. To me it's about time and my parents being away to Mecca is a good excuse for me to take her off from her grandparent's care giving. Dont't get me wrong here. My parents are superb care givers..sapa tak sayang cucu oi! But it's almost 2 years now. Initially i planned for a 6 month stay...then a year stay lepas tu sampai la sekarang. It has been too long and everytime i mentioned it my mom would go bla..bla..bla.Actually dia nak jaga cucu dia tu hehehe. Anyway it's time for the three of us to start living our own life as a family. I'm sure going to miss few things like:

1. Don't have to cook for dinner everyday since my mom took care of that
2. Peace of mind as i know Jannah is in good hands
3. Abusing my brother's powerful PC untuk bermain game.
4. Rumah dekat dengan TESCO so senang nak shop for groceries
5. My mom's sambal tumis petai
6. Hearing Jannah calling her grandmother, grandfather and uncle. She calls her uncle by name 'Syammm....' siap berirama tuuu...
7. Free Internet access.
   

So last weekend we went back to our apartment looking for babysitter ads. After that balik to my parent's and this thought crossed my mind: it may not be a good idea to leave Jannah at babysitters yang tinggal di apartment. There are potential dangers like falling off from the balcony..issh..nauzubillah. Well call me a paranoid but my instinct told me to scrap off the idea. So this morning i told my wife why don't she ask her mak angkat about babysitters in Taman Melawati ..near her parents' home. My wife's mak angkat used to be her babysitter.She already retired from babysitting. Sending Jannah around that area seems like a good decision since my father in law could pick her up while waiting for us to return from work...if he wants to la(my mom in law is still working). Kadang-kadang boleh pakai juge otak aku ni ye hehe. During lunch time my wife told me that she already have few babysitter on the list. This coming Wednesday both of us are taking a day off for reconnaissance mission.
Should everything goes well and we settle for a babysitter in Taman Melawati, we have to prepare for:

1. Going out early in the morning from Tasik Selatan to Melawati
2. Outside dinner 5 days a week since i don't think we have enough time to prepare one
3. Less TV time
4. Less couple time
5. Less time to work on my pet project (which i have to start from scratch again due to my stolen laptop)

However i'm looking forward to this new shift. Just the 3 of us for now... Abah,Ummi and Jannah...

Entery Jam 8:35 PM

Assignment claim data conversion ke SAP file interface sudah pun complete. Cuma tinggal untuk melaksanakan System Integration Test dengan pihak di sana. Isteri masih belum habis bekerja. Perut sudah lapar..nasib baik Fendi membawa turun kuih La Cucur hasil seludupannya dari meeting Sales Commitee di atas. Makan karipap yang berharga seringgit. Dengar khabar karipap tersebut di beli dengan harga 3 seringgit. Untung besar le macam tu. Sambil merehatkan otak sekejap sambil men'download' trailer untuk Ipodku. Filem Heartbreak Kid lakunan Ben Stiller macam best aje.Kerja agak kucar kacir sekarang.Di samping membuat coding, saya juga di beri tugasan untuk melakukan kajian mencari sumber data transaksi untuk projek mega yang akan di lembutlancarkan around next week (yelah tu..). These days i'm beginning to receive assignment sebegini. Atas alasan apa saya pun tidak tahu.Yang nyatanya tangan dan otakku amat tak keruan kerana tidak membuat sebarang system development secara hard core akhir-akhir ini.Bos sudah bertanya selesakah saya dengan tugasan di luar domain kepakaran? Saya menjawab: Bos saya memerlukan skill skill lembut (soft skills) ini untuk menjadi aset yang berharga kepada syarikat. Thinking back..it was quite a bodek punya answer heheh. But i do need these skills..since i've spent quite a long time with for loops, object oriented other java programming syntaxes. Seorang kawan pernah berkata..dunia corporate bukan dunia kau..dunia kau adalah develop software..kau dan aku sama we dont belong in that world. Kawan ini dulu nye penah bersama di dunia korporat tetapi mengorak langkah berani keluar dari hidup yang stabil mengejar apa yang paling disukainya. Mungkin not my time yet but it will happen someday. I am trying to climb the ladder here..at least if i wont make it sekurang-kurangnye aku die trying. I know it's a bit susah dilakukan but bak cogankata Pengakap "Buat Sehabis Baik"!

Help!MCKK Old Boy Missing

I know my blog don't have many readers. But who ever is reading this please spread the news. My junior when i was in MCKK way back in 1995 has gone missing. This year, he's 27 years old. Please go to the link below and spread the news..it might help..

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/7/27/nation/18416888&sec=nation

Thank You

Petet if you are reading this: i don't know if you remember this guy...it is Salhi of class 1997. Maybe you already saw Mat Syam's post on our batch yahoo group.

July..July...July

7 is my lucky number. So supposedly July is a lucky month? Well quite.

Week 1
My laptop got stolen. Silly me for lefting it purposely inside the car boot and told myself that thing is gonna be fine in there, the car was parked near the KLCC center court elevator by the way..nothing could happened. The laptop weighed around 2 kg, so i don't feel like carrying it while i go book browsing at Kino. So what happened? Some asshole/s force open the boot and stole it. I realized when i got home..aiseh mana laptop gua? Made a police report the next day. Eric somehow managed to get me a Centrino Duo company laptop which is a lot better than mine except for the memory but it helps to get the job done. Grieved for a week. I actually became KLCCphobic whenever my wife wants to meet at KLCC for dinner.

Week 2
Zam gave us a new project. Basically we have to code the report module in his new system. Alhamdulillah..rezeki. God is fair. 25 reports and each cost 300 bucks. Coding begins immediately. Timeline is a week. Completed in 7 days.

Week 3
Boring. Attended 2 workshops in a week. Semua off site. The food is good though. I hate it when people invited you for a workshop when your participation is 10% or less. The second workshop however is a lot better since they have this new product brainstorming session. At least i played a role from a technical standpoint..so takde la aku rasa macam kehadiranku sia-sia belaka. Plus a 'kakak' likes my jacket..so that was quite a moment hehe.

Week 4

Trainee's lecturer coming for assestment. New assignment involves SAP integration..why SAP R3 file interface is so complicated ha? Ooo yeah..paycheck is on 25th July...horayy!

Take A Picture

Awake on my airplane
Awake on my airplane
My skin is bear
My skin is theirs
Awake on my airplane
Awake on my airplane
My skin is bare
My skin is theirs
I feel like a newborn
And I feel like a newborn
Awake on my airplane
Awake on my airplane
I feel so real

Could you take my picture
'Cuz I won't remember

I don't believe in
I don't believe in
In your sanctity
Your privacy
I don't believe in
I don't believe in
Sanctity
A hypocrisy
Could everyone agree that
No one should be left alone
Could everyone agree that
They should not be left alone yeah
And I feel like a newborn
And I feel like a newborn
Kicking and screaming

Hey dad what do you think about your son now
Ah hey dad what do you think about your son now

Happy Fathers Day. I wonder what my daughter will think about me?

Entry Number ?

KL rains again today. It just stopped. Hopefully no flood. I am super duper hungry. Wife had to stay back late so i have to wait for her. Having a good time experimenting with Visual C# Express. Coming from a Java background i don't find any trouble getting accustomed to the C# syntax. I would love if Swing could be this simple. I just got a new freelance project from my former colleague. The deal is the same as before. So for a month i may have less sleep as i have only night time and weekends to code. But the pay is good so what the heck. I need the money anyway. Damn credit card bills are killing me. But everyone needs one right? Maybe i need more la hehe. It's just happen that ter 'spend' really a lot with it. Now really feel the pain. Regret? Mesti la. But as usual once dah settle we hutang some more..now this habit is so hard to kill. I am damn hungry..imagining ikan kembong goreng masak 3 rasa.....arghh!

The Chest drawer Experience

I bought a chest drawer from IKEA. We have other IKEA stuffs like bed frame,dining table but this new chest drawer is special. For the record i am not the D.I.Y person.
But for the first time i assembled the new chest drawer myself. And i never thought that it would be so much fun and the feeling of looking at it after all the hard work.The joy of accomplishment.
Took me almost 2 hours to put 90% of the chest drawer together. It began with transferring the pieces from my car to the bed room. After flipping through the manual, i took off my shirt, put on my ipod and start working. Good tunes, sweat, putting the boards together..i really had a good time. It's like playing with LEGO. Probably it's the joy of tinkering with the tools, seeing things developed as i connect the boards..have to admit i felt like a kid once again.
I halted work when Jannah came in and do her 'poo-poo' business. Abah to the rescue. After cleaned her up, we went to visit my in laws.
Came back half hour before 8 PM, had dinner and back to the chest drawer. And at 11 PM..voila! It standing shiny and new. And i went to sleep..a happy man whom just put together his own chest drawer..

Goodbye my love..

No this is not a break up. This year marked my fourth year with the company. I came in with a big ambition, to show them how open source technology can really cut down their OPEX and CAPEX. And i did. 4 systems under my belt. Zero OPEX. Zero CAPEX. I had my glory. Being a corporate programmer is not easy. Software is not an easy thing to built. In my corporate environment,rules of software engineering doesn't really apply. You get crazy project time lines. You push your skills to the limits. And political games matters more than what i think is most important:the system. I don't call the shots. The rigidness and defensiveness of some divisions do give us a hard time.Politics. Red tapes.Hidden agendas. And it cost the decommissioned of one critical system that i built. It has 2 years life span. I know it's for the better. The road map that they have is huge. It's going to take more than 2 seasoned programmers to deploy the system of that magnitude.We need help. And help will arrive in a bunch of vendors helping us to built the system. And vendors cost you lots of 'fulus'. At some point i do feel sad because of my inability to save the system due to conditions that i can't control.Politics.I told myself its for the better.It should be this way. Corporate programmers can't be too attached with their craft. We don't own the system. Have to learn to let go...may you rest in peace.

2 days to road trip 2007

2 days to my road trip to Kuala Kangsar. This time i'm going with my old buddy:Ricky. Few months ago Ricky came out with this idea:Hey let's go back to Koleq (our alma matter as it fondly called by its ex-students) old boys weekend this year. Didn't took me too long to agree. My wife gave her green light. Ricky's wife gave her's and we are set to roll.Tried to recruit the other guys:Krai ,Nyem ,Lab,Errer(where are you man?) but no luck. Everybody have their own plans and somehow they are not as excited as we are.I don't know maybe its because of the journey back that excites me. Like the one four of us had just right before Ricky got married:the trip to Langkawi.We stayed up almost all night all the way from KL to Perlis.
By the way we made no reservation for accommodation. So 'ni memang gamble aje la'..comes to the worst we'll spend the night in my RIO. Hope we are going to have a fun and safe journey.

meetings and me

i hate meetings. meetings suck but without it things cannot be done.decisions must be made.some heads has to be chopped off.some people will have their glory.i hate it.i do love the coffee though.i am a man of action.let's go straight down to the coding stuff..its much more fun!yeah i wish.i do less coding these days.i craved for them.makes me feel itchy all over ouch!call it a vacation?well maybe.lets look from another angle. now i get to do:

1. my pet project.
2. i can play computer games
3. i can read (this year i already finished 2 books..WOW!)
4. i get to play with my little girl.
   

but still i have to attend meetings.i hate meetings.meetings have minutes and what ever you say will be written/recorded and used against you when things go wrong.never swear in meetings.never say i can 100% do it.say i'll try my best but never ever commit when you are unsure.i love meetings when it's quick and achieve it's objective.i love meetings when people work together to find a solution and not blaming each other.i love meetings when people tell you have done a good job and appreciates your work.i love meetings when they serve coffee..black.so do i love or hate meetings. i can't decide.i can't run.i still have to attend. have another one coming tomorrow.wish me luck.

Experimenting with Apache Struts 2

Spent my Sunday fiddling with Apache Struts 2.0.6. I chose to experiment with the distribution targeted for JDK 1.4.2. After going through the samples i must say that migrating our applications from Struts 1.X will take a big effort and lots and lots of patience because we have to rewrite almost 50% of the codes, save the DAOs and Business Delegate classes. It's tempting to have the dependency injection feature in our apps plus other features like Ajax tags, but i always remember the mantra: if the software ain't broke don't fix it. Rewriting the apps might reintroduce the bugs we squashed.
Anyway Struts 2 impressed me. The combined forces of WebWork and Struts indeed gives fruitfull result. To me the best feature in the framework is the ability to intercept your code via interceptor class. Now AOP became a clearer concept for a 3 year Java developer like me. Altering one's perception of the world does take a practical example to make him/her see..in my case theories alone doesn't work...i need practical examples.
Since Struts 2.0.6 is still in GA (General Available) release i'll assume there will be more things to come(especially the plugins) and the framework will get better and better.Till then i'll depend on our current struts 1.2.x.
which has been our team's de facto standard for web based enterprise applications.

m:n table mapping is the way to go

New System Requirement Scenario:

Allow Account Manager(AM) to monitor distributors and dealers sales performance. Distributors shall be assigned specific dealers. These distributors and dealers will be assigned to the AM.

Existing System Scenario:

1. No AM role yet.
2. No relationship between distributor and dealer.

Been thinking of using a classic solution= m:n table mapping. I will have a table called distributor_dealer which has these fields:

1. distributor ID (Primary Key)
2. dealer ID (Primary Key)
3. Account Manager User ID

will code the classes tommorow and test the relationships.