July 31st, 2008 by Eshin
Devlounge has an excellent article on using WordPress as a CMS. It is a great starting point for new projects and lists some good questions to take when you approach a new web design client or project. I wish that something like this was there when I first started using WordPress and CMS, in particular when faced with clients.
I tend to approach website building with a handful of scripts (e.g. WordPress, Joomla!, SMF) depending on what functionality I need. My preference is for Joomla! when it comes to community management as it has some nice functionality geared towards doing stuff whereas WordPress is definitely more content orientated and more pleasant to use in that regard.
Nowadays I tend to approach website building on an instinctual basis as it is more for pleasure rather than work. Nonetheless, the article by Thord Daniel Hedengren should be an essential part to project planning for web design.
July 29th, 2008 by Eshin
This is a nice idea - NowDoThis. A blank white page with the one thing that you need to be doing now with simple (limited) functionality. Can possibly work well when coupled with something like the GTD system where you can import the action points for the day and let it keep you on track.
Seems so simple but if I recall my “get organized” classes back in my teens, it seemed like one of those useful tricks they kept telling you about but never actually used. Besides, multitasking seems a little harder for guys than it does seem for gals (it’s true, this is the premise of books like Why Men Don’t Listen and Women Can’t Read Maps: How We’re Different and What to Do About It.
But will it work in the practicality of a work environment? The testing shall begin.
Via Zen Habits - Now Do This, and The Single- Tasking Philosophy
July 28th, 2008 by Eshin
To the person who decided that it would be worth his (or her) while to steal a pair of gloves from a helmet attached to a CB400 Super Four at Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre on Saturday, I have only one thing to say to you. Was it really worth it?
I mean, the lining is all shot, the leather was all cracked and let me tell you, they were imported all the way from Hong Kong where I once left them to dry once and a whole bunch of mold sprang out on them. I hope some of the bacteria survived the subsequent washing, bred with some new pathogens from Singapore and given birth to some offspring who will shortly become well-acquainted with the insides of your stomach as you will inevitably stick your theiving fingers in your mouth at some point (most likely after a nose picking session).
Really, again, I ask you? Was it worth it? I’m probably somewhat unique in that most bike riders do not wear gloves at all in Singapore. So you can’t be a bike rider. And those that do usually ride Harley’s or expensive set ups. I assume that these folks can afford a measly pair of leather gloves. Maybe it was a car driver? Hmmm, driving gloves are all the rage here in Singapore but wouldn’t you have been better off with something a little more stylish for your nifty ah-beng car?
Or perhaps some unfortunate Singaporean just succumbed to the feeling of kiasu and decided it was too good an opportunity to miss. After all, low crime means no crime. If you have my gloves, I’d like ‘em back but more importantly, explain to me why. It baffles the mind.
July 28th, 2008 by Eshin
Democracy in Asian countries works as long as the economy is booming. The number of dissenting voices is generally kept to a minimum as people enjoy the lifestyle that comes with economic prosperity, and the various governments have a fairly easy ride legislating the lives of their citizens. It works less well when the economic situation isn’t as rosy and its often those without voices or lesser rights that are affected.
So, shame on Donald Tsang and his government for its latest proposed levy on the Hong Kong’s domestic helpers. A proposal to suspend the monthly fee that employers have to pay to employ domestic is being suspended in the name of reducing inflation. Sounds good except that it doesn’t apply to all the domestic workers employed already, only to maids that are newly employed after Sept. 1.
I am relatively sure that Hong Kong employers of domestic maids wouldn’t be as callous to terminate their maids to save on HKD400, barely the cost of a good night out (while your maid cleans up at home). I have faith in human beings to do the right thing.
Of course, it’s hard to do the right thing when Donald Tsang waves a big waiver like HKD400 in front of inflation-hit Hong Kongers. Really, he should be ashamed to be targeting a group that has barely enough rights to qualify out of the category of slave labour.
Perhaps Hong Kong should remember that much of its prosperity is owed to the backs of those less privileged looking after their children and households while they could double their earning power by having two parents working and being able to extend their working hours to ridiculously late.
July 26th, 2008 by Eshin
One thing you get used to in Singapore is the subservience to process. In some ways it is very reassuring since you can’t go wrong if you know the process and if you are a cog in the machine. But human beings usually are fallible so they want might not know the process or a situation occurs that is outside of the process. It is then that we expect or would appreciate other human beings to be able to step in and add the human element to a situation that the process cannot accommodate.
Yet another encounter with the typically Singaporean way of doing things. This time the culprit was the muppets over at the Singapore Safety Driving Centre in Ang Mo Kio Street 62. Arriving there, it was clear they had a ticket queue system but alas no ticket dispenser. Politely asking the muppets where I could get a ticket, I was told that they had closed and I had missed the closing time by 5 minutes (it was about 15.50 when they close at 15.45). I explained that could I join the queue as I had driven half-way across Singapore just to enrol for my Basic Theory Test and there were still a few people left to be served. No, they were shut and come back tomorrow.
Right. I don’t think so. Five minutes late and you can’t exercise your own discretion to open it up for one more potential customer? It’s not like letting me enrol would have opened the flood gates to hell and every other demon would be registering to do their Basic Theory Test. You can register online. No, muppet, I can’t as I don’t own a credit card and why would I have driven across town to do something I could do online? Well, come back tomorrow was the reply.
Yes, I was late by 5 minutes but really, a little leeway would have been nice especially since I actually wanted to give them money. I myself run events which have an opening and closing time so I am well-aware of the necessity to close at a particular time as per our timings. However, we are employed as human beings to exercise that at our discretion. Particularly in the name of customer service.
Thankfully Singapore is not that small so there is some room for consumer choice. Come back tomorrow? Sorry, tomorrow you have lost a customer. Besides, it’s not like they are doing any good or providing some exemplary level of service anyway if you look at the quality of the average Singaporean driver. I think I will refuse to give the muppets at the Singapore Safety Driving Centre the satisfaction and choose another driving centre in Singapore.
For those of you who have stumbled upon this post in order to learn to drive in Singapore or convert your foreign license to a Singaporean driving license, I would recommend the following centres (and not Singapore Safety Driving Centre. I am happy to send some business their way to the detriment of the SSDC.
Bukit Batok Driving Centre Ltd
815 Bukit Batok West Avenue 5
Singapore 659085
Tel : 65611233 Fax : 65611266
http://www.bbdc.sg
Comfort Driving Centre Pte Ltd
205 Ubi Avenue 4 Singapore 408805
Tel : 68418900 Fax : 68418913
http://www.comfortdrivingcentre.com.sg
**UPDATE**
Apparently not the only one who thinks that the Singapore Safety Driving Centre is staffed by unprofessionals - Rude admin officer at Singapore Safety Driving Centre. Hmm, I wonder if I would have gotten a ticket if I had been a happy gweilo.
