The Beauty of Jade Bangle

I don't know what got into me but recently I am so into Jade that I bought myself a Jade bangle.

Well, the Chinese states that, "Gold has value; jade is beyond value."

Jade is a non-conductor, so it feels cool to the touch. This coolness is said to elevate and purify one's thoughts, quiet the mind, and help to induce a state of contemplation.

Wearing jade was thought not only to confer greater health and vitality, but also to ward off back luck and misfortune. It was said that the better the quality of the stone, the stronger it's energy will be.

Some women wear their Jade bangles 24/7. I believe one of the reasons people do not take it off is because the size of the bangle is small. Some who wear jade bangle need to use oil to put it on or take it off. The reasons for wearing small jade bangle is to prevent it get into your way and slip off from your wrist. And they claim that it is good for blood circulation.

If you really want to wear a Jade bangle, do consider wearing it on your non-dominant hand. I didn't like my bangle clunking against my watch, so I now wear my watch on my right wrist.The easiest way to find your jade bangle size is to decide which wrist you will wear your bangle. See illustration below. This shows the points on your knuckle you should measure between. Measure the distance between the points.

Buying the right size of jade bangle is extremely important. If its too small or too tight, you will feel uncomfortable and hinder your blood circulation. When it is too big, the jade bangle may come off if you move your hand too widely.

The best way is to physically put on the jade bangle.

A relaxing Cruise - For short getaway

I like the sea, so we decided to be on a short weekends cruise to unwind.
If you are looking for 1st class service at the Star Virgo Cruise, forget it. It all about relaxing and away from the stressful city. The weather was good, its windy and you can eat all you want, club till you drop and gamble anytime you like.






And did I mention, Ken's boss on the ship too.. a coincidence.. maybe also trying to get out of the city.
Haha!

The Zoo

Was at the Zoo the other day and managed to take photos of these beautiful creatures.


I'm Sunbathing



Hey! Pretty girl look at me



So hot...



Hmph!



Whatcha staring at!!



Do you think all of us are in the pictures?

The office Backstabber

Unless you work on a deserted island, dealing with people is a fact of life. Backstabbing is one of the biggest and common issues in the workplace. Never overlook the damage Backstabbers can do. Do not ignore their behavior. If you do, it just reinforces their control and their negative behavior. They won’t change, because this Backstabber behavior has worked for them in the past.

One thing to keep in mind, backstabbers is very low people in the society. Yes, being backstabbed is very painful.

So how to identify them. A backstabber is usually a very close friend, yet this friend is actually an enemy. Such an enemy is much harder to identify, never mind to overcome.

Identifying backstabbers:
1. See how they treated others: other friends, people of lower social status, their family members, people they don't like.

2. See what happens when people do a serious mistake to them.

3. See, when people of "no use to them" ask for help, do they help the those people? If they do bad to those people, they might be a potential backstabbers.

If they often talk bad about someone to you, beware. They might as well talk about your bad sides to other people.

How to deal with them:
- If you know of someone who is doing things to jeopardize your livelihood, try to get all the facts you can so that you can eventually dispute any wrong information. Never get emotional. You need to stay calm and logical. Your boss will look much more favorably to a cool, well-collected individual who is able to present the facts without bringing any personal issues to the table.

- Especially if the backstabber is circulating rumors and gathering people against you, you should try to get some people on your side as well. Let them know exactly what is happening and try to gain some sympathy. These friends will can not only help in giving you some moral comfort, but possibly also help to dispel rumors or false information about you.

- Try to be on good terms with your immediate supervisor, manager, and those higher up as well. It's a lot harder for a backstabber to kill you off when you have friends in high places.

- It's also possible to confront the backstabber, but be careful about this as it could further ignite the situation. You could politely ask about certain facts, but do not get personal.

Stay cool

Being successful is subjective

My mum used to say to us (that's my brother, sister and I) that we must study hard so that next time we will become successful.

Now that I'm older, I thought to myself, so what is the meaning of "being successful"?

I have went to parties and networking events, only to realise that everyone is talking about materialistic stuffs - what they own, what kind of watches they wear, been to which expensive restaurants, etc. Yawn.. its actually very boring. But if you stay humble and say you don't own that kind of expensive watches, they would give you a disgusting look.

Goodness! What happen to the so-call-art-of communication workshops that we signed up, hopefully that we could engage in a proper communication.

All too often we equate a successful life with material possessions. Yet, there are millions of people out there who lead successful, fulfilled lives who may be of modest means. They may not be rich in the financial sense, but they are rich in life and values.

Being successful is very subjective to different people. Somebody could be a great Doctor that work for a certain hospital, some could be a Doctor that set up their own business. So which is "being successful"? Working for someone else or setting up your own business?

Or rather, is it how many expensive things you own or expensive trips you went to is "being successful"? Or is it that you rather give that money to somebody in need?

Success comes about depends upon our relationships with others. Success is know-how, reputation and a network of contacts. If one day you have no money but if you can keep your smarts, business relationships and reputation, you get it all back.

Having knowledge, social capital and trust is the ultimate security blanket. People who become "successful" and miss a successful life are those who love things and use people. Be sure to put people as a priority in your life.

Stay true, be humble, never forget where you come from and never forget your roots.

Questions to ask about the DBS Layoff

Mr Lim, the secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) had mentioned whether there are alternatives for DBS and The Union to explore reducing costs and save jobs - from a flexible wage system to flexible work arrangements.

However, DBS has defended its decision, saying that cuts affected 3.5 per cent of junior ranks, compared to 16 per cent of senior management.

DBS had also said that a hiring freeze had been in place before the bank decided to retrench 900 staff.

The bank also said it had considered cutting wages, but decided against it due to different labour laws in countries where the bank has branches in.

DBS mentioned there is duplication or redundancy of departments and so they have to layoff staffs.
So does it means that DBS only started to realized these after so long? And that they decided to lay off these people in bad time, during the festive and school holiday period?

Reporters and the media should dare to ask questions like: “Could the lay-offs have been avoided? What other measures did the group look at before deciding to take the present drastic action?, Or were they more concerned in increasing the bottomline and maintaining profit margins than in protecting jobs?, And who are the ones that are going to be laid off at DBS? Are they going to be the so-called non-performers, the underperformers, or those that led DBS into its unfortunate encounter with the Lehman Brothers Mini-Bonds and the DBS High Notes 2 and 5?

Yes, some cutbacks in staff by companies cannot be avoided. But why is streamlining done only during a downturn? Why can’t companies here run a tight ship even in good times, so that the chances of resorting to lay-offs and retrenchment are slimmer?

Too many companies have gone on a hiring binge in good times.

Blogging and preventing layoffs

During past downturns, layoffs were mostly a private affair. Big companies uses “downsizing,” and start-ups do it without telling the world anything at all.

Not anymore. In the age of transparency, layoff will be blogged.
Some bloggers had no choice other than to blog layoffs at the closely watched company — even though some employees had not yet been told they were losing their jobs.

They do these to prevent media reporters from writing articles that were not accurate and companies feel pressure to break bad news so that they can better control the message.

Today, whatever you say inside of a company will end up on a blog. So you have a choice as a company — you can either be proactive or you can have someone else to write the story for you.

To prevent destructive layoffs in companies:

- Making the tough decisions not to hire in the first place or replace less productive positions. Make the tough decisions now rather than later. It just gets more complicated with time.

- Sometimes it's better to have a position vacant than to hire poorly... especially in management. One bad manager can take down tens to thousands with them.

- Keep to continuous improvement. Productivity is the intermediate measure and if it's not always going up, you are becoming less competitive.

- Manage your financial, time, people, space, knowledge, energy, and material resources well. Look at Cost, Effective, thinking and organizing.

- Use both the pessimistic and optimistic views of the economy to shape your business decisions. Listen to people out there and test against reality and the predictions.

- Partnerships and joint ventures can allow you to leverage your core resources and push the variability to others or reduce it.

- Have everyone in the company on the team. Give everyone some level of influence over and responsibility for profits.

- Make decisions for the greater good of the corporation rather than betterment of top management.

- Those pessimists you are tempted to quash have something important to say. Listen but then take positive action on that negative view.

- Have a contingency plan to review if something bad happens than to have to invent something in the heat of a crisis.

- Manage your inventory as anticipating a slowdown can mediate the impact.

- Just because you announce a cutback, doesn’t mean there is unlikely to be a long-term positive impact on stock price.

- Invest in new processes and technologies.

- Expansion is fun, but excitement can hides the pitfalls of rapid growth. Capital can dries up in the middle of a growth spurt and build revenues based on contribution margin and profitability, not the top line.

- Be a team player and failure to look out for others has taken many entrepreneurs and managers down along with their employees.

- If a business unit isn't achieving its goals, it is unlikely to get better if you just shuffle the staff around. Fix fundamental problems and start with the top people.

- If you have to make layoffs, communicate and get everyone involved. Have a clear and fair policy on and take care of both the people being laid off and the survivors.

If you have run your company well to this point, people would understand that you have done everything you could to avoid this outcome.

Remember: “We always carry a responsibility for the people who work for us.”

Harder time fitting into jeans but I'm happy

It's not a good idea to be either underweight or overweight. Eating too much can make you overweight, which can lead to ill health, such as heart disease, high blood pressure or diabetes. Not eating as much food as your body needs could also affect your health.

Since I started running and taking part in 10KM race, my thighs have become more toned. However, my jeans seem to get tighter too. The health expert said that there is nothing wrong with it. Jeans will get tighter as muscle is solid and fats can easily be squeeze into those jeans because it flattens out. Anyway, that does not worry me cos’ I get the excuses to wear more beautiful skirts!

The human body needs energy to survive, so we be able to do our work and for us to breathe, think and move. This energy is measured in "calories". Any of the food categories - namely protein, carbohydrate or fat, can be converted in the body into energy in the form of calories. Naturally, one has eaten less than the body desires if you feels hunger and excess eating is when one puts on weight.

As long as I’m healthy, I do not starve, I eat the right food and exercise, I believe that’s the reason why I’m happier this days.

- EAT NORMALLY: Make a note of everything you eat or drink over the period of a week get to know exactly how much you eat.

- REDUCE FOOD INTAKE IF NECCESSARY: Make a conscious effort to reduce your food intake. Try to eat as little fried and sugary stuff as possible. You may find yourself getting hungry and irritable between meals. This intensity of hunger will gradually reduce as your body copes with the decreased food intake.

- START EXERCISE: Any exercise, as much or as little as you can tolerate and keep it up.

- DON'T BE IN A HURRY: Do not try to lose weight quickly: Go slowly and stick to your aim.

- MODIFY YOUR WARDROBE: When you do lose weight - quickly get a set of tighter clothes or alter your clothes to fit you. Properly fitting clothes get tight and makes you uncomfortable if you eat too much or start regaining weight.

But remember: Diabetics who are on anti-diabetic medication may feel weak or hungry when their blood sugar is getting low, and need to be under supervision of a qualified person.

Do good looks get the job?

As much as we'd like to think otherwise, human beings exhibit a preference for those who are attractive. Beautiful people are perceived to be more sociable, are happier and more successful. And we have sort of been guilty of judging people based on look.
There are bound to have some bias in hiring job candidates. While we're not surprised to learn that some customer-facing professions (sales, entertainment, airlines) reflect the employer's desire to hire those whose attractiveness may impact the bottom line, however, candidate's physical attractiveness may influence the employment process even for positions that are not considered high-exposure.

Let me share with you my experience that happened few years ago. I went for a job interview at a bank for a particular position. This position was introduced to me by a friend working in that bank. I went ahead and after that, I did not hear any news from the hiring person. I called the bank and they told me they have hired someone for the job. Few days later, my friend working in that bank called me up and told me why I was not selected for that role. She found out from that department that why the person was hired, was because she was better looking than me. So that’s it.

Now, I prefer not to believe this and blame it on my lack of ability to do the job. Boy, I was really sad.

In the face of such pervasive bias toward beauty, it's important to educate employees and customers on diversity and acceptance. When it comes to hiring practices, it's essential to teach hiring managers how to overcome the beauty bias.

- When it comes to interview process in place, one that reflects an appreciation for the different levels of appraisal that are involved in any job interview. Managers should overcome tendency to trust gut instinct and to prompt the kind of questions that can provide solid information about the past performance of a candidate.

- In addition to the hiring manager, involve another level of management in the hiring process. This small team of interviewers can help build a team that's both diverse and cohesive in the process.

- Specify explicit job requirements. That makes it much easier for the hiring manager to refer to the specifics throughout the interview - and to stay away from the more personal aspects. This will help achieve workforce alignment, driving productivity and attracting people who create the most value for their organization.

- Use of assessment tools for a good "fit" for the job and for the corporate culture. This will be based on the most objective measurement of a candidate's abilities.

While we know we never totally get rid of the tendency to judge people on appearance, we can change behavior in ways that matter.