New Year countdown to 2009

New year is drawing near. Within another 4 more hours, 2008 will be over and we will be ushering in 2009. It marks the 10th year of this new millennium.

Right, so what about last year's resolution?

Frankly, i didn't fulfill any of them. This year is really a bad year for me. It's like, nothing really seemed to go my way. The most crucial thing in my mind when I first boarded the plane to return to Malaysia, is to get hired and start working as soon as i can. The last thing that i have never thought it would occurred to me had happened through out the year.

I might regard myself to have gone through the misfortune among all times. The world economy has turned into its negative phase in less than a week. The economic slowdown hits every corner of the world and it fails to make a climb back on track.

How the world would become if this goes on for a long period?

I came across this question when i first graduated from my Masters:
So if one day, my degree doesn't get its recognition anymore from the world's top institutes, what would i do to survive?

Clearly, it is happening to me now. Every developed country and under-developed country are all in consensus to reject excessive trained engineers, as the number of these professionals are increasing exponentially but the demand of engineered products are still in stagnant. No doubt, companies have to call for retrenchment to maintain their financial stability. This cause the recession to reach its new height everyday.

So what do we learn from this incident?

Some people just fade like this. They fell too hard to the ground. Some paralyzed, some died of concussion. And some even wonder where can they find hope again. Is there still hope?

Psalm 39:7-8 reads, "But now, LORD, what do I look for? My hope is in you. Save me from all my transgressions; do not make me the scorn of fools..."

In the midst of crisis, David didn't blame GOD for not making his life the way he (David) had intended to live in. Rather, we can feel his appeal for God's mercy because he could sense that the life is so brief.

Here, i highlighted the importance of living out a life of a Christian by abiding to God's word.

To be able to live in a spiritual realm likewise to what God has called us to is easy to say and difficult to accomplish. We can sense more stability in the spiritual realm than the reality of this world that we are living in. To draw an example: Many working people tend to suffer when financial crisis hits them because they think apart from money, nothing else can they hold onto. As Christians, God called us to cling on to Him regardless of what crisis it might be. For most of us, money doesn't come that easily. But it sneaks away faster than you could realise it. So why not God instead of worshipping money instead?

To survive in this world is not what God wants from us. He crowned us the first day we were born and the crown means to transform us to be like conquerors over His created beings and objects. We are more than money can control but to control money. We serve the one Master, who is the LORD over the Heavens and the Earth and not money which is only a creation from God.

Financial crisis doesn't mean harm to us. It is yet another warning for all mankind from the LORD. The days on the Earth is a preparation for all God's people before we are admitted to the Paradise awaiting us. An analogy of this can be seen when we are in our mothers' worms. God prepared us even before we were born into this world.

So my new year resolution for this coming year, is to walk closer to God's calling.
I might face oppression in my work place or i might have to put up with certain work pressure, but i believe this is what God wants in me, as a preparation for me to excel in my future undertakings, as well as the day after life - the Days of Paradise.

Hallelujah, the old has gone and the new has come. Pray that there will be new converts this year as God has prepared a field for every Christian in every corner of the world. May there be more redemption of souls and loads of happiness.

Wishes you all a Happy New Year. God bless and peace be with you.

Sudha, good to see you!

Met up with one of my close friends, whom i knew from A levels last time.

He is the only Indian in the class. To extract it further, he is also the only vegetarian.

Never in my thoughts that I would see him again after 7 years and I am glad to be able to catch up with him this time before he heads back to London.

I remember every time when we organised party or went out for meal, he would look for the nearest Mc Donald's for his Mc Egg value meal (vegetarian). After he packed his food, then he will follow us to the designated location. I really feel bad for him sometimes as we were happily feasting, he could only chew on Mc Egg.

That's even more challenging when he first started his degree in Surrey. Under a strict and typical Indian upbringing, his parents didn't really allow him to eat out that often when he was young until he left senior high school. To make it worse, Surrey doens't really have much of the Indian vegetarian food for his diet. So i guess he is finding it even more difficult to cope with this eating habit in foreign country like this. Resultantly, he has grown thinner. Actually, it comes with work pressure to be more precise.

I learned that he doesn't like the life in UK as he finds the people there hard to get along with. I bet it is his eating habits that is drawing him from the social groups. Poor thing. He has this plan to return to Malaysia after he finishes his 5 year work there. I am not surprised that he thinks that way. Work is not everything. You still need your family and friends to colour up your life. To not communicate with other people makes us feel dull as if life is just about achieving your goals and not relating yourself to others. Looking at the problem in the Biblical way, if Adam can survive on his own, what did GOD create Eve for?

Changes that i can spot in him that's telling me that behind his silence, it actually comes with a terrible ordeal. He used to be very talkative in class and nobody seemed to have the ability to succumb him in debates. But he talks less after his mother passed away in his midst of pursuing his engineering degree in London. Now he doesn't feel like talking to other people as he sense the hostility of the people around him.

Would really like to take this opportunity to pray for this friend of mine. Hope to see him with a breakthrough in his social circle. I believe if he wants, he can make good friends in the UK. He need to be ready to face challenges even bigger than to repress the feelings of the loss of his love one. He needs to leave the past and move on. May GOD have mercy on him.

It is easy to make friends. Long term problem will be how to cherish the relationship. We should care for those who we seldom see because we might not know when we will be seeing them again.

That wraps up pretty much of what I have been doing today - chilling out with friends and recalling the wonderful moment of our A levels time...

Broken promise and disappointment

Another email that spoilt my mood today.

I received the reply from this company again. And now the company has replaced the previous product engineer position to an internship program. The salary is halved and i might have to work 5-6 days per week.

According to my friend, when the salary is halved, the working day is halved as well because the electronic companies are cutting down the expenditure on the operation.

This company is exploiting me too much and i might have to undergo the interview again, which is sucks. Man...really can not stand the management who fail to keep their promises.

So why at the first place they advertised this position one and a half month ago, if they knew that they weren't able to allocate money to hire more people? And it took 3 interviews to get me to the job but in the end, the President of the company took back his word and left me miserably stunned. Probably the President didn't realise that his decision has caused so much hurt to me and my family. With this incident, it really shows the failure of the management team in handling their own finance when crisis hits. I think there should be more failure of the company to be unraveled if time allows.

Can we have a toast for this team of people? Yam...Seng...

The cut-and-paste email is as below:

Dear Wayne,

The position is hold and will be replace with an attachment program by our goverment. Do let me know if you are interested. One thing to concern is the allowance is only RM1,500.

If you are okay, I can recommend your name for the program.

Regards

A****

**********************************************************************

NCITES INTERNSHIP PROGRAM (COLLABORATION WITH NCIA)
(Kedah)

Responsibilities:

• To undergo 12 months On-The-Job training in Silterra Malaysia Sdn Bhd
• Able to commit to undergo this attachment program for 12 months
• Ability to work in a team and as well as individually to carry out projects.
• To liase with other modules to ensure efficient job execution and timely data dissemination.
• Lead/Support cost saving initiation for maximization factory quality output and cost performance
• To participate and contribute constructively to the various meetings/Projects.
• Must be willing to work in shift if requested

Requirements:

• Fresh Degree/Diploma graduates (unemployed) from recognized institution either locally or overseas (recognized by LAN)
• Preferred with CGPA of 3.0 or Second Class Upper
• Candidates with exposures in fab or semiconductors during universities, practical training, final year projects, internship or working experience are strongly encouraged to apply.
• Field of studies:
  • Electrical, Electronics and Engineering (Semiconductor, Microelectronics, etc)
  • Material Science
  • Physics (Solid State, Device Physics, etc)
  • Chemistry (Polymers, Photo Chemistry, etc)
  • Others courses that related to semiconductor, electronics and microelectronics
  • Management Information System

Succesfull candidate will received allowance of RM1500/month (Degree)/ RM1000/month (Diploma) from NCIA

Lexus LF-A Roadster concept car

As a long time supporter of Lexus vehicles, I am once again fascinated by this concept car developed for speed and style.

Let's check out the exterior and interior design of this futuristic transport that one day might be released in the market.

Lexus LF-A Roadster. Courtesy from zcars.com.au

Engine: The V10 engine built in front of the passengers compartment has an approximate 5.0 liters in displacement. It can demonstrate its capability of more than 500 horsepower and test-track speeds greater than 200 mph.

Front view. Courtesy of Lexus.com

Man...this is a manual compressor. You can hide this flap when it is not in use...x10 cool!

Rear View A. Courtesy of zcars.com.au.

Rear view B. Courtesy of Lexus.com.

Heat Venting: Figure above shows a pair of large grilles just below the rear signal lights constructed for venting the heated air from the car's 2 rear-mounted radiators.

Wow...the radiators are at the back of the cockpit! This design aligns with the heat-dissipating system, as the cool air is fed into the radiators from the side intake ducts (Refer to Side view A) just above the rear wheel wells. It's more interesting to learn from the engineers that the radiators' positioning also aides them in search for the car's optimal weight distribution. A brilliant idea indeed.

Side view A. Courtesy of Lexus.com

Side view B. Courtesy of Lexus.com

Side view C. Courtesy of Lexus.com

Of course we are not neglecting the interior design of the car. Two words - Simple and elegant. Taking away the complexity of a central processing system mounted with multiple functional buttons. The car user doesn't want to see himself in the position of the Knight Rider. In reality, we don't need those buttons and additional to that, they make the car look so packed and intricate. No doubt the LF-A Roadster has caught my attention for its innovative idea, laying its finest touch in manufacturing a simple, yet safe and stylish cockpit. Grrr...how long will it take for me to own one?

Interior view A. Courtesy of zcars.com.au

Interior view B. Courtesy of Lexus.com

Lexus LF-A Roadster Concept Preliminary Specifications

Body Type:
Two seat roadster

Powertrain
Type: Front-mid-engine, rear-mid-transaxle
Engine: V10 (under 5.0 liters)
Transmission: SMT (sequential manual transmission)
Horsepower: More than 500
Top Speed: More than 200 MPH

Tire Size
Front: 265/35R20
Rear: 305/30R20

Dimensions (inches)
Overall Length: 175.6
Overall Width: 74.6
Overall Height: 48.0
Wheelbase: 102.6

[Source: Lexus]

Disappointment...speechless!

Two weeks since I was given an oral confirmation from this company for a product engineer position. A long wait has finally come to a conclusion when i decided to email the HR instead of continue to wait for them to get back to me.

The HR sent me a short email which is written like this:

Dear Wayne,

Thank you for your email.

It is still pending our COO approval and I was informed that the position is being hold for some reason. Give me another one week to follow up.

Regards

A****

Another week? This is really pissing me off. So if i didn't remind the HR, i don't think they will ever get back to me about my application status. How irresponsible the HR can be! It might only another piece of work for them to follow up, but to me, the job is what i need for living. They just want to finish up tasks with the highest priority and needless to say, they care about whether i get the job. People are so self-centered when it comes to the point of disaster...Speechless!

I think i mentioned before about me meeting the Senior VP for my job interview. And now i received another nonsense from the HR telling me that my offer letter is currently under pending status with the President a.k.a the Chief Operating Officer of the company.

For crying out loud, why does the application of a junior engineer has to go through the President? I don't see this one necessary as the hiring manager or the senior engineer is already given authority to hire. Again I am not applying for the company's directorship or vice presidency and i hope that they get this right.

Sometimes, I really wonder whether the President has to approve the staffing of a janitor? This is ridiculous + hilarious. In another way of viewing this matter, all the hiring managers, senior managers and senior engineers are only a bunch of useless puppets who only earn their titles without real authority...Speechless!

I take the above email as an indirect rejection for me since the position is being held for some reason. Come on, tell me the reason then. Sigh...these people are not more than a bunch of maggots who are only good at issuing empty promises.

Back to square one again. Hope to see a new beginning in this coming new year.

I am so down. GOD help me!!!

Lost but not Defeated!

As expected, the interview today was really hard.

Especially when i need to face a Senior VP, who interviewed me with a long face and doesn't smile.

He asked me questions that i don't know how to answer. Straight away he condemned me for not be able to tackle such basic questions. According to him, the difficulty of that question is graded an undergraduate level. And i should have what it takes for the job that he is offering.

I can still remember vividly his posture throughout the whole interview - looking at me with his eyes half closed and shaking his head. From the way he reacted to my answer, he must be thinking this fella is hopeless. To further add the heat to the conversation, he turned to me and ask me how many times have i been to the interview. I told him that time was my 3rd time. Without even giving me a chance to explain, he started to raise his tone questioning why i am giving such poor presentation after attending 2 interviews. He furthered his question asking me why i didn't put effort in studying more about the topic that we wanted to discuss. But hey, nobody told me beforehand about what he wanted to ask me.

Before I could defend myself, he interrupted my speech. More and more anger were poured into this conversation which leads us no where. His final question to me was why should he hire me since I couldn't answer his technical questions, which he thought were simple rhyme that most of the engineers will know how to recite. I took courage to ask him to try me because I am a fast learner. But he refuted me by saying that if I am a fast learner, I would have gone to the websites to look for solutions regarding the EASY BASIC technical knowledge.

I didn't even have a chance to finish my talking and he stopped the whole interview. The next thing he did was making a call to the HR officer to escort me out of his office.

Basically, this was my INTERVIEW!!!

Luckily I didn't burst out crying. I have repressed my feeling until the interview was called to stop. Sad ending for the application of this job but I didn't know what's turning up next.

Inside the lift on the way down to the lobby, the HR officer asked me the progress of the interview. So i told her that i did badly and received a lot of scolding and humiliation.
The HR officer smiled a bit and in the next second, she broke a good news to me.

There was this engineer who first thought I wasn't sincere enough for the work, has requested to meet me for the second time. So unexpectedly, another chance is given for me to perform my best. He brought along a Taiwanese engineer and we did the interview in 2 languages.

The interview only lasted 10 minutes as there were only 2 questions being asked. Praise the LORD, these 2 questions fell into the subject that i studied in my masters. I got the question solved so fast that the two interviewers were so impressed with me and they decided to HIRE ME!!!

They even gave me a feedback that out of the 10 candidates that he had interviewed, I am the only person who can answer both of the questions correctly without fault.

I was depressed at the first hour, but GOD came in the RIGHT TIME for me - closing one door and opening another.

That ends the 9 month unemployment. I hope that this will be the greatest testimony ever witnessed by me. Trust in the LORD and work along HIS way and HE will add to you the necessities. Praise GOD that even in this time of economic crisis, HE still shines. And HE has delivered to me the job when i least expect it.

GOD has done it again, way ahead of me, to claim "Jericho". Hallelujah!

Crossing the Jordan - Preparation

Like other mature Christians, I would like to be "cool" over matters which are still in waiting.

Continued from the last entry, mentioning about me waiting for the next arrangement on my interview. I have waited for 2 days and still the HR officers hasn't got back to me.

There is no problem for me to wait, as God taught us to wait upon His instruction for the right time and the right place to strike. I guess I have prayed too much on getting more interviews - there are another two companies which called me yesterday and today respectively for job openings. It should be exciting to receive calls for interview, but somehow my worries doubled.

Speaking of being unfortunate, or rather being too fortunate, I can't exactly plan my time well for all those interviews as they are scattered around Malaysia. Planning my trip and getting bus ticket are the last few things I'd want to do, except for vacation planning.

It doesn't happen to me that the companies are calling from only one state, that is Penang. If so, I could even arrange to have 2 interviews, one after another in a day's time. A tedious journey to look forward to.

So much to think on how to schedule my interviews for this and week after, it is kind of causing me to lose all my focus on my revision in Semiconductor Physics. The actual schedule tells me that I need to finish studying the whole thing by today as I was supposed to have my 3rd interview with the Senior VP tomorrow. But till now, I still haven't received calls from them to arrange the time with me. I wonder whose turn to be unavailable this time. It's always the interviewers' time that I must tolerate. They are busy people who are so engaged with work. And SO AM I!!!

Life is so hectic even before I start working. Can't imagine how it'll be like when I am hired... Well, since there is no point forcing myself to continue my revision due to this insurmountable problem, I instead, put myself into a rather useful and peaceful moment to read God's Word.

Praise the LORD, I am enlightened from that hour of Bible study. Primary reflection gave me the impression that I may be too hurry to achieve my goal. Joshua 3 really helps in calming me in that issue. I may look like I am prepared for the coming challenge but I think God is holding this back because I have not fully comprehended His way of consecration prior to the head-on battle. Sometimes when we are in the rush, God will make us stop and listen. We'll tend to be too focus on our work and forget the divine purposes. The lesson for today: Stay put to God's instruction from time to time and we will be saved from making the wrong move.

It's happening to me in reality reflecting on Joshua's chronicles. I am looking forward to see God's miracle on my job application, like wise to the second greatest miracle He performed before the Israelites on Jordan crossing. It's later learned that the Amorites and Canaanites who were residing along the coast of Jordan river, fled with fear after hearing the mighty power demonstrated by the God of Israelites.

Sometimes, God's strategy of triumphing over a battle can be as simple as drying up the Jordan river for the crossing. The Israelites might had no idea on the tactics used by God in the battle field, but God took that opportunity to teach them that by trusting God only, will the toughests problem be solved.

Holy Spirit will you guide my heart always, so that what I have in my heart will lead to the Heart of the Father. Help me to listen to the instruction properly and follow His plan in the exact pace. My prayer will be that I can make a difference in my community to be, LORD, your witness in my success in life. Amen!