Books and Interviews

I am reading 3 books simultaneously: Kua Kia Soong’s “May 13: Declassified Documents on the Malaysian Riots of 1969”; Dean Johns’ “Mad about Malaysia”; and Nesa Sivagnanam’s (ed) “25 Malaysian Short Stories: Best of Silverfish New Writing 2001-2005”. Unlike the previous 2 books I was reading, these 3 represent “light” reading, and so I can be expected to finish them off in a relatively short period of time. For those of you who have yet to cultivate the reading habit, go ahead and find a book to read. Reading enriches. Didn’t Mary Wortley Montagu once said, “No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting”?

Todate, our Andy McDonough’s “Out of the Blues” sales have climbed to 600 CDs. It may appear that CD sales are slowing down – alas, this is true but we are confident that once the students are back from their hols, there will be another concerted push to fast-forward the sales momentum. I trust Mathew can look into this.

The interviews I am involved thus far, have not been able to yield the lecturers I am looking for – many of them do not have the right type of qualifications, or if they do, they are weak in knowledge-content, which is not too surprising, especially since many of them are from the local IPTAs. But of late, there has been more and more applications coming in – and this, I take it, is a sure sign that our Malaysian economy is on very unsteady ground, and the corporates and professionals are now seeking “safer” jobs such as teaching. But I am only interested to build a small core group of teaching staff, and that they are strong in the following disciplines: Finance, HRM, International Business, Marketing, Communications, Psychology, Law, and English. So are there anyone interested in the teaching profession? The biggest benefit is that you get to work with me, and that is, believe me, a real privilege and an honor! Okay, some of you may think that I am a vain pot, but really “the advantage of doing one's praising for oneself is that one can lay it on so thick and exactly in the right places” – at least that’s what British writer, Samuel Butler believed. I do too – besides, if you are as good as I am, why not trumpet it? Otherwise, who knows, kan?

On the football front, Liverpool must know that they could not afford to forfeit points, especially after both Chelsea and Man United won their last games. And Liverpool (what a relief!) did not disappoint – Bolton received a 0-3 drubbing in their hands; the scorers were Riera (26th minute) and Keane (53rd and 58th minutes). Sadly, Arsenal could only managed a 2-2 draw in their game with Aston Villa; and in this case, the less said the better.

Blogging is Mainstream?

I was reading this Onn Yeoh article (p N47) in The Star today (December 25), and he was proclaiming an interesting fact: That like it or not, blogging has become mainstream. Okay, nothing really earth-shattering about it, but for us bloggers, we will have to sit up and pay attention, right? After all, it is right up our alley, and as active bloggers, we make up the statistics too. He even quoted tech author, Nicholas Carr as saying, blogging has entered a midlife crisis and likens it to “the state and fate of a literary form that once seemed new and fresh and now seems familiar and tired”. Don’t they know that the passage of time itself makes new becomes old, and fresh becomes familiar? I do not necessarily disagree with Oon Yeoh’s and Carr’s views that many popular blogs are today commercial ventures, bloated and geared towards selling ads.

(As an aside question: What is wrong with that? I say, if blogs can make money too, so be it).

Another tech writer, Paul Boutin is also mentioned. “Scroll down Technorati’s list of the top 100 blogs and you’ll find personal sites have been shoved aside by professional ones”. Let us not forget that personal blogs are, by definition, individual – so unless the contents are something that can reach out to touch a significant majority of the world’s IT-connected population, I guess we won’t make it into this list. I have no pretensions – my own blog is very personal. Who is reading my blog? I venture a guess. My friends, my students, acquaintances who may be remotely interested in me (Hahaha, but somehow I don’t think so), HICT (if you care to know about HICT’s happenings), Toastmasters stuff (probably not unless you are like me – just starting out as a Toastmaster and my reflections can help you learn about the journey that we as Toastmasters must walk through), football results (only if you are interested in EPL and SPL football), and other trivial stuff which I may deliberately choose to write about. But this is just an educated guess. So, readers, tell me – who are you? Why do you read my blog? Nice to know, I guess. Hehe, now, I am curious!

Anyway, back to this contention that blogging is so mainstream now. I would argue that every activity that popularizes itself will become mainstream, sooner or later. Unless, of course, it stays as just a fad, but fads disappear as quickly as they make their presence felt.

Remember Nike? The company started out as Blue Ribbon Sports (renamed Nike in 1973 after a Greek goddess) selling athletic shoes, way back in 1962. It was catering to a niche market because this was before we mass-adopt the fitness craze, the healthy lifestyle; before we consider shoes to be a fashion statement; before we covet them like some self-important badge of social prestige. But today, can anyone consider Nike to be a niche company? A resounding and thumping No. Nike is the leading maker of athletic shoes, equipment and apparel, and their products cover a broad range of sports including basketball, football, running and so on. Wholly-owned Nike subsidiaries include Converse Inc., which designs, markets and distributes athletic footwear, apparel and accessories; Cole Haan, which designs, markets and distributes luxury shoes, handbags, accessories and coats; Hurley International LLC, which designs, markets and distributes action sports and youth lifestyle footwear, apparel and accessories; and Umbro Ltd., a leading United Kingdom-based global football (soccer) brand. In fiscal 2008, Nike had revenues of $18.6 billion (a 14% increase from 2007) and net income of $1.9 billion. And in terms of staff strength, Nike employs over 30,000 people worldwide; in addition, to about 650,000 workers who are employed in Nike contracted factories around the globe. So, Nike is a mammoth company serving a gargantuan market – hardly what you would call a niche player! [Source: Webpage http://nyjobsource.com/nike.html, accessed December 25, 2008].

My point is, we blog because we have a simple goal to begin with. We want to write and share our views, activities, interests, and opinions (what I call VAIO). It is our personal diary; a motley collection of our reflections, appraisals, and memories (what I call RAM).

Yes, Oon Yeoh cited some impressive statistics from Carr: 133 million blogs were identified since Technorati started indexing them in 2002. At least 94% of them have gone dormant; only 74 million blogs have any postings in the last 120 days; and get this – 1.5 million had any postings in the last 7 days. Well, listen Oon Yeoh. I am one of these 1.5 million active bloggers. And I would even argue that if the number of active bloggers has indeed massively dwindled, it can only mean that blogging has ceased to be mainstream, that blogging has reverted to becoming a niche activity. I mean, 1.5 million is just a drop in the ocean when we compare to the number of worldwide Internet users standing at 1.407 billion (according to Internet World Stats, at webpage http://librariesinteract.info/2008/07/26/size-of-the-internet-2008/, accessed December 25, 2008), right? Hah! So c’mon, Oon Yeoh – try and answer this!

We Are Replaceable

I have been informed that I must complete at least 6 speeches before I can even consider taking part in any Toastmaster competitions… well, except for the Table Topic competitions. Having done only 3 todate – the race is on for me to finish another 3 speeches by February 2009. My HICT colleague and fellow Toastmaster Arul was kind enough to get me all the details of the speeches I need to prepare – Speech No. 4 is “How to Say It” (selecting the right words and sentence structure as well as using rhetorical devices to enhance and emphasize ideas); Speech No. 5 is “Your Body Speaks” (using stance, movement, gestures, facial expressions and eye contact to express your message); and Speech No. 6 is “Vocal Variety” (using voice volume, pitch, rate and quality to reflect and add meaning and interest to your message). I am likely to attempt to do these speeches in 3 different clubs this January 09 – and already the thought of doing 3 speeches is causing an adrenalin rush inside of me! It's gonna be an exciting month...

Even on Christmas Eve - there are many people still working. Good, because at HICT, there's much work to be done. For those who did not have the privilege of reading Dr. Paul Chan's "Replaceable" email dated December 18, I provide below an excerpt:

"The global economic crisis is worsening. More companies are bankrupt and the layoffs are increasing. There is mammoth unemployment. It is hitting Asia – S Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, China, and definitely Malaysia.

New York has 165,000 highly qualified people who lost their jobs because of Wall Street. About 10,000 are highly educated Chinese who studied in some of the best B schools and were (repeat: were) holding well-paid jobs in some of the best known companies in the world. 10,000 of them (just from New York) are returning to China and Asia. These are PhDs, MBAs, engineers, financiers, bankers, IT experts who have some of the best exposures working in Fortune 500 companies. Their spouses are equally qualified - professors and senior staff of universities and research houses. Now they are coming home to Asia.

They can easily replace us. I cannot think of one position in HELP that they cannot take over. They are hard working, experienced, global-minded, and realistic with their remuneration. These are the people we want.

But wait a minute, there are also many brilliant Indians who are in a similar situation. They are also returning from the Silicon Valley and the investment banks. But they can't find jobs in India. So they, and others from India, are coming to Singapore and Malaysia and Asia. And they are also quality people, including Malaysians, who are leaving Singapore and Hong Kong to return to Malaysia.

We are nothing compared to these "gold collar workers." Companies are now replacing existing staff, who are average to mediocre or overpaid, with these returnees. I have never seen such massive movement of top quality people. No one is indispensable, and no one is not irreplaceable now.

Once upon a time we take things for granted, getting too complacent and getting even arrogant. They hold employers hostage. Not so now: this is a buyer's market. Caveat venditor."

Now, isn't this a sobering message? There are those who will even say that this is a scary proposition. When I say, work is becoming scarce, you'd better believe it!

So Close...

Arsenal scored first through Van Persie (24), and Liverpool managed to thankfully equalize through Robbie Keane (42) to give both teams a one-all draw. Both goals were beautifully executed, and I would award this match 9 out of 10 points for sheer entertainment value! While neither side earned full points, it was nonetheless a fair result. Still, I rue the fact that Liverpool was really playing well, but the goals just didn’t come…

In Scotland where really miserable weather prevails, Celtic, not unexpectedly, trounced Falkirk 3-0 (Samaras, 48; Mizuno 90; and McDonald 90). But Celtic manager, Gordon Strachan got it right when he said, “When opportunity meets preparation, then you get that today”.

This lesson can also be applied elsewhere. Just as we must be alert and be quick to exploit opportunities, we must at the same time, be prepared. I can also relate this to my work – I am preparing my team for the 2009 year ahead – so that the groundwork is readied for us to begin our assault on Klang schools to bring in the students for my programs.

And last but not least, here's me wishing everybody Merry Christmas!!!

Paul Chan's Email

It has been some time since I checked my emails, what with training sessions this week and all, but when I did managed to, this email dated December 17, 2008 from Dr. Paul Chan regarding the organization of the Open Day & Career Fair was most enlightening:

"Victor and all,
We recognize the focus, priority and tenacity you and your team demonstrated. I observe how you all work and I am glad that you are functioning as teams, not groups of individuals. Always keep in mind that matrix management and project leadership work somewhat differently from the conventional hierarchical model. This is mostly vertical whereas the other is more horizontal. Power and authority are somewhat distributed differently. When we understand this then there will be no conflicts during execution. Good luck to your recruitment. Paul"

While we can take comfort from his words of encouragement, I cannot deny that my job has barely begun - I must focus on bringing in the ADP student numbers...

Today, is the last day of a 3-day training session that I have attended this week, but this time, the topic was on "Learning Strategies and Psychology of the Learners" facilitated by Audrey "Experiential English" Boudville from HUC's Department of English Intensive Programme. Unlike Tuesday, where we saw the participation of only 10 staffers, today, 25 faculty members came. And from HICT, there are already 6 of us, with Arulkumar from Pre-University joining us for the very first time. With a big group such as this, today's session is bound to be lively and perhaps even rollicking and uproarious - and how true, it was all that and more! Besides, Audrey is one alluring lollapaloosa - she's bubbly, chirpy, upbeat, perky - you name it, she's it!

And what did I take home from today's session? The most important lesson was actually about Kolb's learning styles model and Experiential Learning Theory (ELT). Kolb's model and experiential learning theory are today acknowledged by academics, teachers, managers and trainers as truly seminal works; fundamental concepts towards our understanding and explaining human learning behaviour, and towards helping others to learn. We were also exposed to Gardner's Multiple Intelligences and VAK learning styles models, which assist in understanding and using Kolb's learning styles concepts. For those who are still blur, VAK is an acronym for visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning styles.

Someone had remarked that I talk a lot about the "other" club, but what about our very own HICT Toastmasters Club? So I have included here a photo of some of the members who attended our last meeting (i.e. October - this is also the month that I began this blog!) for the 2008 year. We had two special guests – Soh Fong Wai of Klang Bilingual Toastmasters Club and of course, Lee Wei Seong of D’Utama Advanced Toastmasters Club. Note that we didn’t organize any meetings in November and December because our students who form the majority of our membership are on a very long holiday break…

The next HICT Toastmasters Club meeting is scheduled for January 20, 2009. Jane, please organize...

Anyone for a Sloppy Joe?

For those of you who came to our HICT Open Day & Career Fair 2008 will know that Blackout Bistro opened its doors for this special event. We also welcomed a Saturday visitor who dropped by in Klang not because he was interested to find out about our (academic) courses, but that he was singularly focused on checking out the chow we are dishing out on that day. This food blogger gave Blackout Bistro the following rating:

Ambience: One star
Food Presentation: 3 stars
Food Taste: 3 stars

Service: 5 stars
Bang for Buck: 4 stars

For a more detailed report, check out his blog at www.foodposition.com

I am pleased that at least we scored well for service (thank you, Wei Wei) and "bang for buck" (i.e. value for money). We had two offers: nasi kunyit with chicken curry and/or Sloppy Joe hotdog. Personally, I did find Sloppy Joe genuinely appetising as far as looks go, and to me at least, it was also yummy - if we compare to, say, A&W's Coney Dog, this Sloppy Joe wins hands down, methinks!

Still, I have no quarrel with his opinions, and we will, for sure, be mindful of his observations, and make the necessary improvements. After all, we intend to view his review positively.

Christmas-y Toastmasters

Hmmmn, I forgot to mention that last week, I did my speech No. 3 entitled “Thin is Sexy – You’d Better Believe It” at the House of Pakeeza at Jalan 14/22, Petaling Jaya. It was hosted by D’Utama Advanced Toastmasters Club, and what was really odd was that I had a script but I didn’t have the time to learn it nor put in any practice. Instead, I depended on just speaking off the cuff again… I am thankful to have three friends (Shireen, Brandon & Mathew) who came all the way from Klang to give me moral support. Personally, I didn’t think the speech was that great although the trio thought otherwise. Such dear friends! And for D'Utama Advanced Toastmasters, this was their last meeting for the year, and so it had a very Christmas-y mood - how appropriate!

Yesterday (December 16), the price of petrol is trimmed by another 10 sen. Honestly, this very modest price cut is not going to make any appreciable difference to the liters of petrol that goes into our tanks. If the BN government wants to earn the goodwill of the rakyat, then they should consider a more significant downward adjustment because really, what can you buy with 10 sen nowadays?

The second day of academic training again focused on Teaching Methodology but zeroed in on the subject of Assessment and Alternative Assessment. It is timely that we re-visit this subject and I reproduce Nitko's (2004:13) definition of assessment as: "A process for obtaining information that is used to make decisions about students, curricula and programs, and educational policy" because I for one, really want to re-visit the way we assess our ADP/Diploma in Business students. To do this, we would need to look at various assessment techniques, what Dr. Andrew Poh likes to refer to as "a cocktail of assessment procedures" - which includes paper-and-pencil tests; formal and informal observation; homework, exercises, and research papers; projects and exhibits; performances; portfolios; oral questioning; and analyses of students' records.

This Sunday (December 21) will see Liverpool squaring off with Arsenal in a match that is important to both teams - both need the points to break away from the pack. Certainly, I would like to put my money on Liverpool and hopefully, they can deliver this time around. Patrick Vieira (former Arsenal captain and now with Inter Milan) was quoted as saying the Gunners can forget about winning the Premier League title if they lose to Liverpool. It's the same with Liverpool too, kan?

Jump!

Today, I went over to Wisma HELP for academic training; today's session was on 'Teaching Methodology: Pedagogy & Andragogy" conducted by a Dr. Andrew Poh, a very engaging, even absorbing fellow. There were 13 of us altogether, this group of academics coming from different disciplines and interestingly, from different geographical locations – we had representations from Hong Kong, Myanmar, Canada, and Spain, besides those from Malaysia amongst this group of HELP "trainees". I had previously attended academic training when I was with Nilai Intrernational College, and the trainers then were from Universiti Malaya – looking back, I realize how outdated they must have been when they delivered their stuff, as compared to what I am now learning from today's facilitator. Now this only demonstrates how far Universiti Malaya has descended into the delinquent depths of mediocrity – so why should we be surprised if their rankings plummeted?!

By the way, Rymond from Marketing confirmed today that the final tally of applications total 44 for HICT's Open Day & Career Fair 2008. However critical we want to be, it was a decent effort overall.

Kelvin emailed me this story: Back in 1929 during the financial crash, it was said that some Wall Street stockbrokers and bankers jumped from their office windows and committed suicide when confronted with the news of their firms' and clients' financial ruin. And many people were said to almost feel a little sorry for them... But in 2008 the attitude has changed somewhat:

I thought this is really hilarious!

Sunday at HICT

Today's Open Day & Career Fair was better attended, and at the debriefing meeting, we counted something like 43 applications made over the 2 days. Whilst we didn't even manage to come close to our own targets that we have set for ourselves - nonetheless, we fared better than HUC, or so we are told. Still, it is a small consolation because the fact is, we did not achieve the crowd numbers that we anticipated, and neither did we signed on 300 applications. Valuable lessons can be drawn from here though...

As for my talk, it was attended by about 30 persons, and generally, I can say "Future Career Directions: Options After SPM" was well-presented, if I may say so myself. The talk from Toastmasters International on "Become a Communication Maestro" which came on next, saw 23 people attending. Foong Weng Tuck and Chan Siew Peng did this segment, and it was a nice surprise to have Dr. CP Lim on stage to also give her take on this topic. When these individuals speak, it makes me realy proud to be part of the Toastmasters movement - they were so eloquent.

And I am glad too that Blackout Bistro opened for business this weekend because I dearly missed their simple but tasty fare.

I should thank the following for being a great help this weekend: Shireen, Say Pin, Brandon, Rachel Tan, Wai How, Wei Wei, Chin Hooi, Iona, Mathew, Edric Ho, Arun Kannan, Edrickson Duane, Hassen, Pek Kuan, Aisha, E-Foong, Mike Cheang, Ivan, Siew Mei, Jacklyn, and Jane. They went out on a limb for me - thanks, people! Did I leave any names out?

Given how occupied I was this weekend, I had to forgo my football, and believe me, I didn't miss a thing! Both Liverpool and Arsenal persisted in disappointing their fans by giving us uninspired games. Likewise, Celtic. As a matter of fact, all 3 games ended in draws: the Liverpool-Hull match produced a lackluster 2-2 scoreline (Liverpool's Gerrard scoring in both the 24th and 32nd minutes); the Arsenal-Middlesbrough match was equally disagreeable, with a 1-1 scoreline (Arsenal's Adebayor scoring in the 17th minute); and Celtic and Hearts played to a one-all draw (McManus producing the only goal for the Bhoys in the 79th minute). I am so disappointed that I am not putting any photos of the games!